| A Riddle of Roses | |
| Author: | Caryl Cude Mullin |
| Illustrator: | Kasia Charko |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Young adult Fantasy |
| Publisher: | Second Story Press |
| Pub Date: | October 2000 |
| Media Type: | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages: | 222 pp |
| Isbn: | 1-896764-28-2 |
| Oclc: | 43390355 |
A Riddle of Roses is the debut novel of Caryl Cude Mullin. It was illustrated by Kasia Charko[1] and released by Second Story Press in 2000. The novel is well suited for young readers and marketed for young teenagers.[2] The novel's topic is influenced by Celtic mythology and Arthurian legends.
The story is about an orphan girl named Meryl and her dream of becoming a bard like her mother before her, and the quest she must go on to achieve this goal. She and a Draoi (dro-aw-eye) named Halstatt come together to journey to a great kingdom and drink from a magic cauldron to discover her true destiny.
The book was nominated for the 2002 Hackmatack award in Canada.
When reviewing the book for SF Site, Scientist George T Dodds called the novel as a "delightful story for young readers" that "reads remarkably well for its target audience, with a nice mix of fantasy, interesting and unusual characters, and an avoidance of didacticism and moral preaching." Jeffrey Canton, reviewing the novel for Quill & Quire, compared the novel to Welwyn Wilton Katz's A Third Magic, concluding that the "novel mirrors the great tradition of songs and stories that her young heroine longs to place herself in but, more importantly, it leaves readers with a story that does the bardic tradition proud."