Rossamünd, an orphan boy with an unfortunate name, has lived in Madam Opera’s Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls practically all his life. In this orphanage-of-sorts, the kids are trained for a useful career – usually on the sea. Rossamünd, however, has been passed over time and again until finally, he is selected, not for a career on the sea, but as a lamplighter. Foundling is the story of his journey from the orphanage to the place where he will train to be a lamplighter, and oh what a journey it is.

He gets into all kinds of trouble, and meets the most amazing people on this journey – plus, he not only gets to see and speak with monsters, but he also gets to travel with some people who kill monsters for a living.

I was sent an ARC of the second book in the Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy, so had to go out and get my hands on Founding, the first book, before reading the second. I had no idea what to expect, so was pleasantly surprised when I found myself being sucked into the book right from the start.

The story was exciting, but it was the characters that did it for me (as per normal). They were all so vibrant and real – there were only a couple bit characters that seemed like they could have been developed more; with everyone else it was a joy to read about them and get to know about them, even if they weren’t the nicest of people. The transformation of Rossamünd through the book was fabulous to watch too – he went from a passive kid to someone who had a backbone and wasn’t going to let people push him around any longer.

I am most certainly looking forward to reading the second in the trilogy; I think I’ll be picking that up in a couple of weeks or so. I have a couple of suspicions about things that are going to be revealed about Rossamünd’s character, so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing if I’m right or if the author will throw some curveballs my way.