Finnikin of the Rock

Finnikin of the Rock

Finnikin of the Rock first edition cover.
Author	Melina Marchetta
Illustrator	Cathy Larsen (maps)
Cover artist	John Churchman / Photolibrary and Dougal Waters/Getty Images (photos)
Country	Australia
Language	English
Genre	Young adult, Fantasy
Publisher	Viking Press
Publication date	29 September 2008
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	416 pp (first edition)
ISBN

Finnikin of the Rock is a 2009 young adult fantasy novel by Melina Marchetta. It follows the story of Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian who have been away from home for ten years, since the royal family was killed. But when he is told that the heir to the throne is still alive they must follow a young woman, Evanjalin, in order to reach the prince.

Finnikin of the Rock was first published in Australia on 29 September 2008 by Viking Press in trade paperback format. In February 2010 it was released by Candlewick Press in the United States in hardback format.Finnikin of the Rock won the 2008 Aurealis Award for best young-adult novel and the 2009 Australian Book Industry Awards Older Readers award. It was also a short-list nominee for the 2009 CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers award.

Finnikin, Sir Topher and Evanjalin start travelling to Sorel, Finnikin reluctantly. Sir Topher tells Evanjalin the story of the Five Days of Unspeakable. Later, they travel to a town in Sarnak. Finnikin and Evanjalin go to the market to buy food. A boy thief steals Evanjalin’s ruby ring. Evanjalin runs after the thief. She chases him into an alleyway but there are four men there. Finnikin comes and they both start fighting the men.

Evanjalin and Finnikin fight the men, then steal a horse and ride to Sir Topher. They see the thief again and Finnikin brings him to their camp. In the following days, the group reaches Charyn. They come to an exile camp and a man tells them that Lord August wants Finnikin and Sir Topher to travel to Belegonia. At Belegonia, Finnikin and Sir Topher ask Lord August to ask the Belegonian king to spare a piece of land for the Lumateran exiles.

Lord August says that he will only help them if they provide him with information that the king doesn’t already know. Evanjalin tells him that Charyn wanted to take over Lumatere, which was between Charyn and Belegonia, so that it could take over Belegonia. The group takes a ship to Sorel and they reach there. They talk but then soldiers come and Evanjalin says that Finnikin is pretending to be Balthazar. Finnikin is arrested.