E Ihowa Atua - God of Nations at Thy feet
Jul. 16th, 2009 09:10 pmI accidentally stood up the person I was supposed to meet for lunch (cellphone was dead, wasn't in my calendar and I forgot) and went to the library instead.
Along with others, I got out The Bone Tiki by David Hair, which is a new young adult New Zealand fantasy novel. It's very New Zealand; so much so that I'm not sure how well people who don't know the country will follow it. So much of what happens in the book assumes an inherent cultural knowledge - it's not something I'm really capable of judging. Although things are explained, they're explained to the level of a local reader. One thing I really liked about it was that Maori words were not in italics to indicate a foreign language, but in the same text as the rest of the book to show their everydayness.
I have to admit, one of the things I enjoyed about this book was the trip through the New Zealand countryside from Napier to Taupo, along the Waikato River through Hamilton, to Auckland and eventually to Kaitaia, where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. I grew up in Hamilton and did some study on the Land wars, so the countryside, both now and parallel is familiar. It tries to deal with the intermingling of Maori and European (Pakeha is not a word I use to describe myself), but ends up being far more about good vs evil. However, the theme of joining together, working together as Maori and European, both of New Zealand is very strong, symbolised most obviously by a koru-and-celtic-knot pendant. Concerns of the country brought down to family size, if that makes sense.
There is a clever take on the all-stories-are-true concept and I quote: ...every land has a shadow twin. The real land is where the people live and die - but the shadow land is where all the things those people believed and remembed still exist. This is mostly set in New Zealand Aotearoa's shadow land, and people can move between the two. Plus there is an awesome haka. And, you know, Maori myth and legend, nineteenth century settlers, evil tohunga, good tohunga, warriors and vagabonds - all you would expect, really.
This is a first novel, but it is a good, fun first novel (I really wish publishers would stop saying books are first novels as it really puts me off). The Bone Tiki is engaging - it kept me occupied waiting for the bus, on the bus and after I got home and had to finish it - with interesting concepts and I look forward to seeing what the author can do with future works. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for future works of his. I will probably even buy them. I will certainly reread this one; probably tomorrow.
Along with others, I got out The Bone Tiki by David Hair, which is a new young adult New Zealand fantasy novel. It's very New Zealand; so much so that I'm not sure how well people who don't know the country will follow it. So much of what happens in the book assumes an inherent cultural knowledge - it's not something I'm really capable of judging. Although things are explained, they're explained to the level of a local reader. One thing I really liked about it was that Maori words were not in italics to indicate a foreign language, but in the same text as the rest of the book to show their everydayness.
I have to admit, one of the things I enjoyed about this book was the trip through the New Zealand countryside from Napier to Taupo, along the Waikato River through Hamilton, to Auckland and eventually to Kaitaia, where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. I grew up in Hamilton and did some study on the Land wars, so the countryside, both now and parallel is familiar. It tries to deal with the intermingling of Maori and European (Pakeha is not a word I use to describe myself), but ends up being far more about good vs evil. However, the theme of joining together, working together as Maori and European, both of New Zealand is very strong, symbolised most obviously by a koru-and-celtic-knot pendant. Concerns of the country brought down to family size, if that makes sense.
There is a clever take on the all-stories-are-true concept and I quote: ...every land has a shadow twin. The real land is where the people live and die - but the shadow land is where all the things those people believed and remembed still exist. This is mostly set in New Zealand Aotearoa's shadow land, and people can move between the two. Plus there is an awesome haka. And, you know, Maori myth and legend, nineteenth century settlers, evil tohunga, good tohunga, warriors and vagabonds - all you would expect, really.
This is a first novel, but it is a good, fun first novel (I really wish publishers would stop saying books are first novels as it really puts me off). The Bone Tiki is engaging - it kept me occupied waiting for the bus, on the bus and after I got home and had to finish it - with interesting concepts and I look forward to seeing what the author can do with future works. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for future works of his. I will probably even buy them. I will certainly reread this one; probably tomorrow.