Shadowbridge by Gregory Frost

"Shadowbridge" is a ocean, spotted with a few islands and an eternal ribbon of bridges on which people live. Every bridge has its own traditions, its own culture, and its own gods/myths. The bridges are going somewhere but people never seem to travel more than their own bridge. Hence puppeteers, the wandering storytellers that use everything from hand puppets to full body pantomiming.

Our heroine starts her story off like waking in the middle of a fairy tale. She has the hard life and heart break that ultimately give her the push she needs to shove off and get into her new life, her real life. There are reasons she leaves and reasons she cannot be a puppeteer but because of her talent her friends help her hide it. There are hints that her world is reborn after ours destroys itself and that this is a new earth. The new myths are beautifully detailed so that when someone starts talking about a dragon bowl and madness you are only confused until the titbit of information unfolds in the next few pages. Then the next time you hear or see one you understand the dangers and then a whole new set of fears for our heroine reaches you. You want her to win, you want her to succeed because as with any good fairy tale heroine she deserves it. She is well on her way in this first book. read Lord Tophet to see her ending.

I asked Mr. Frost once if the object she finds is a "-----" and was confirmed. read it its page a hundred and something. IF you can tell me what the object is I will confirm. Again I met him at a book signing at Between Books in Claymont Delaware.