Jess French has a very broad and encompassing imagination. She has an excellent writing style. Everything is credible and clear. Unlike many YA books, she has a prologue that succinctly sets the stage. This is a very well written and presented book. The three main characters are Kayla, Rustus and Aletha. Kayla is a rather solitary girl, with no real friends, whose winged Pangram, called Faro, has been stolen. Rustus is an exiled warrior, brought up and trained to fright to protect the kingdom. Aletha is a healer seeking a cure for a mysterious and deadly disease, and again, is a rather isolated character. The three of them meet up and, united by a common cause, they forge very strong ties. There is always an undercurrent of cautious fear. The volcano’s random eruptions can burn you, the Scourge illness can infect and kill you, and then there are the people and beasts who live outside the walls and even plants that can all be offensive!
The names of places and things are so evocative. The distillery produces barrels of “firewater”, the test of a warrior is the “scorching” up on the active volcano, a weapon is a “knucklebone”. Beware of becoming lunch for a giant “webspinner” and of climbing the “Frostfall” mountain to the “Shivertips”.
No matter how fast or slow you read, the action packed story flows so well you will not be distracted. The various encounters with people plants and beasties carries a subtle theme, that a lot of trouble, fear and aggression, is caused by people, not beasties or plants, and that we really can live with one another peacefully with more understanding and tolerance. You will see how people invent stories or attitudes about themselves as a defence, and it is impossible to make yourself fit other people’s expectations of you. All this wisdom is threaded through the story - or stories - that are packed into this great book.
The three heroes, at one stage or another, rescue one another. Can they stop the evil mutations of beasts into new creatures? Can they find a cure for the deadly disease? The book ends with an illustrated guide to the beasties of Ramoa, very useful to know! A well conceived and excellently executed book.
Finally, be careful not to be eaten by the nasty little scuttleclaws! You have been warned!
The names of places and things are so evocative. The distillery produces barrels of “firewater”, the test of a warrior is the “scorching” up on the active volcano, a weapon is a “knucklebone”. Beware of becoming lunch for a giant “webspinner” and of climbing the “Frostfall” mountain to the “Shivertips”.
No matter how fast or slow you read, the action packed story flows so well you will not be distracted. The various encounters with people plants and beasties carries a subtle theme, that a lot of trouble, fear and aggression, is caused by people, not beasties or plants, and that we really can live with one another peacefully with more understanding and tolerance. You will see how people invent stories or attitudes about themselves as a defence, and it is impossible to make yourself fit other people’s expectations of you. All this wisdom is threaded through the story - or stories - that are packed into this great book.
The three heroes, at one stage or another, rescue one another. Can they stop the evil mutations of beasts into new creatures? Can they find a cure for the deadly disease? The book ends with an illustrated guide to the beasties of Ramoa, very useful to know! A well conceived and excellently executed book.
Finally, be careful not to be eaten by the nasty little scuttleclaws! You have been warned!