Yes, I am a ‘skipper aheader’ when it comes to books. I’ve jumped to the end of a book so many times it’s a wonder I even bother reading the first sentence and paragraph. But this time I didn’t with Melina Marchetta’s Finnikin of the Rock, a new fantasy by the Printz Award winner. I read deliberately, slowly and pondered fates, actions, characters, personas, landscapes, envisioned lands and peoples and read my way to the end of a great new fantasy novel. I am really not sure why this book seems so different. I am not a big fantasy reader…I’ll read anything with no particle niche (except adult mysteries from Scandinavian authors, translated, of course) that I dwell in over and over. The book came across the returns desk; I looked at the cover, read the first few lines and said, ‘Hmmmmm, best take this one home.’ There are lots of great reviews of this book so I am not going to top them off with my feeble attempts. I do want to say the characters speak loudly in this book, especially the ‘heroine’ , Evanjalin. She is not your kick-ass Katness or your ‘oh what is my problem’ Bella. She’s both frail and strong and has a hidden past which she lies about often to get her way and yet, she IS no doubt the savior of this book and her people. Quote: “Because of the authenticity created by these strong characterizations, when Marchetta introduces the real atrocities of this war, including rape, abuse, and slavery, readers feel a profound sense of shock and grief as an abstract political struggle becomes horrifyingly concrete.” end quote, from Kate Quealy-Gainer, The Bulletin. While the Hunger Games spectacled tactical force as the weapon of the main characters; Finnikin of the Rock brings us the ‘neither black or white’ world of conflict and the sad diaspora of the people of Lumatere. A savored read from Australian author Marchet
ta. Tell me what you think.
PS: I made this sound like a desperate, dark tale…and parts are but there is humor, again well-developed male and female characters. In this book there are – like the theatre actors may say – no small parts…everyone weaves a piece of this story cloth.
