The basic premise here is not an unfamiliar one - a teenage boy learning
to use magical powers has to leave home to avoid persecution.
Fortunately, the author has neatly sidestepped the cliché-fest by
setting the story outside the traditional medieval feudal system.
Zerrick’s home is a colonial small town surrounded by jungle, far from
the cooler home climate, and with a well-established system of slavery.
The society is in many ways similar to early-post-settlement America,
with a strong religion and an abhorrence of magic. Witches are often
burned at the stake, and when the town’s herbalist, Alden, and Zerrick
himself are both revealed as magic-users, they are condemned to die.
Zerrick escapes into the jungle (well, it would be a very short story if
he didn’t) and attempts to find a hidden tribe who will help him learn
to use his powers. His encounters and experiences along the way form the
body of the story.
Zerrick is a nicely realised character. He is
that perfect blend of over-confidence and insecurity typical of his age
- standing up to his charismatic and powerful father, and yet still
yearning for acceptance. His desire to belong to a group and his final
acceptance that his abilities will always make him different were very
moving. He displays intelligence and initiative, and isn’t wildly
reckless. Mira, the female lead, has a less plausible reason for taking
off on a journey (she feels stifled by her over-protective family), but
she too is resourceful and capable, when she’s allowed to be.
Interestingly, she's been largely brought up by the household slaves
(from an indigenous tribe), with the result that she speaks their
language, knows all their customs and feels more affinity with them than
with her own family and culture. Both Zerrick and Mira are well drawn
characters. The delicate little romance that develops between them is
rather sweet, although (as with almost all fictional romances) there are
moments when I wanted to bang their heads together and yell at them to
just talk to each other, dammit. And sometimes the circling round each
other just felt too adolescent for words.
The magic system in
this world is derived from living matter like plants, and those with
magical ability can draw on that power and use it in various ways, but
it’s difficult to control and can drive the user insane. This
instability makes Zerrick’s desperate attempts to use magic very
fraught, since it’s such an uncertain business. He never quite knows how
it’s going to turn out (and neither does the reader, of course). All of
this makes for a truly exciting journey for Zerrick and Mira. I
honestly never knew what was going to happen next, and it was refreshing
to read a fantasy story which was so unpredictable. It's hard to
describe magic in understandable terms, but the author brilliantly
conveys both the beauty of a world with magic almost everywhere, and the
frightening power of it. And everything was completely consistent and
followed naturally from the nature of magic (and the gods) and the
characters themselves. The intricate intertwining of magic and the gods
was very cleverly worked out, and made perfect sense.
Some
grumbles: I would have liked a map. I always like my fantasy to come
with a detailed map, and although I more or less kept track of where
everything was, it would have been easier with a visual aid. And the
book needed a final edit. There weren’t many typos, but there was a lot
of untidiness, particularly towards the end, when even the gaps marking a
new point of view disappeared, which was very confusing, especially as
the story began to bounce between Zerrick and Mira more and more
frequently. The ending was very slightly glib, the only part of the book
that was at all predictable. But these are minor points.
This is
a fabulous coming of age story, well-written in a nicely unobtrusive
style, with realistic characters, a pacy and exciting plot, and a world
filled with magical wonders. I don’t know whether it’s intended as a YA
book, but there’s nothing here that would disturb a teenager. There are
some deeper themes for those who want to look for them - on slavery,
organised religion, intolerance of outsiders, faith and trust, illusion
and reality, and more - but it’s an enjoyably entertaining page-turner
too. Only the messy editing and that rather clunky romance keep it from
the top rating. A good four stars.
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