Apr. 10th, 2010
"Guardian of the Dead" by Karen Healey
Apr. 10th, 2010 10:33 pmI have to confess that I was a bit wary of this novel. Supernatural YA thriller/romance is a genre that's becoming increasingly mediocre, and there's always the fear that books by People From The Internet will turn out to be half-baked LotR self-insert fic with the serial numbers filed off. And I have to confess that the premise -- about a white New Zealander becoming enmeshed in Maori mythology -- promised lots of racefail.
Two things made me want to read it: uniformly good reviews from people on my flist, and a thoughtful post from![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
karenhealey about the challenges in writing a novel that uses indigenous mythology, without racefail. Oh yes, also this really interesting post about finding cover art that wasn't massively racist.
Anyway, it turned out to be a decent read. Ellie Spencer's parents have taken off to Europe for the year, celebrating her mother's recovery from cancer. Ellie wanted to stay with her sister in Melbourne, but her dad was afraid she might catch The Gay from her sister, so instead, she's been sent to a prestigious South Island boarding school. She's lonely, but not totally isolated -- she has exactly one friend, who has, immediately before the book opens, confided to her his deepest secret. Through him, she becomes involved in an undergraduate performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. There's also the boy she likes, who has considerable secrets of his own, but doesn't sparkle in sunlight. As these threads merge, Ellie finds herself alone, armed with little more than a black belt in tae kwon doe, magical skills she barely understands, and an A minus in Greek history, with the fate of New Zealand in her hands.
It's quite an easy read; the prose is solidly workmanlike - not remarkable, but there are no terrible SMeyer-style metaphors, and Healey tells a good story. Ellie's a likable character, with a wry sense of humour and an acute awareness of her own inadequacies. More interesting are the supernatural elements -- discussing these in depth would be spoilery, but Healey's blending of Maori tradition with other mythologies is carefully handled and well-executed. There's a marvellous scene towards the end, where magic-wielders from all over New Zealand gather -- European, Maori, Fijian, Africa, Christian, pagan and everything else in between, all bringing their own beliefs (and food).
The multi-racial society depicted here is familiar, from Ellie's Muslim room-mate to the Chinese-New Zealander uni student majoring in Maori. There were moments where I felt the writing was too-obviously a product of a post-racefail landscape, but I'm sure that wouldn't be apparent to anyone who hadn't followed the shenanigans last year. (And I don't think it's an inherently bad thing to have a main character who consciously tries not to be racist, and fails, and admits it and then keeps trying.)
My main criticism is that the first half is incredibly slow, and not nearly as gripping as the second half. Set-up is important, but the pacing felt a touch off. Nevertheless, I'm really keen to see whatkarenhealey writes next, and in the meantime, I'm going to rectify my shameful ignorance of New Zealand literature.
Two things made me want to read it: uniformly good reviews from people on my flist, and a thoughtful post from
karenhealey about the challenges in writing a novel that uses indigenous mythology, without racefail. Oh yes, also this really interesting post about finding cover art that wasn't massively racist.Anyway, it turned out to be a decent read. Ellie Spencer's parents have taken off to Europe for the year, celebrating her mother's recovery from cancer. Ellie wanted to stay with her sister in Melbourne, but her dad was afraid she might catch The Gay from her sister, so instead, she's been sent to a prestigious South Island boarding school. She's lonely, but not totally isolated -- she has exactly one friend, who has, immediately before the book opens, confided to her his deepest secret. Through him, she becomes involved in an undergraduate performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. There's also the boy she likes, who has considerable secrets of his own, but doesn't sparkle in sunlight. As these threads merge, Ellie finds herself alone, armed with little more than a black belt in tae kwon doe, magical skills she barely understands, and an A minus in Greek history, with the fate of New Zealand in her hands.
It's quite an easy read; the prose is solidly workmanlike - not remarkable, but there are no terrible SMeyer-style metaphors, and Healey tells a good story. Ellie's a likable character, with a wry sense of humour and an acute awareness of her own inadequacies. More interesting are the supernatural elements -- discussing these in depth would be spoilery, but Healey's blending of Maori tradition with other mythologies is carefully handled and well-executed. There's a marvellous scene towards the end, where magic-wielders from all over New Zealand gather -- European, Maori, Fijian, Africa, Christian, pagan and everything else in between, all bringing their own beliefs (and food).
The multi-racial society depicted here is familiar, from Ellie's Muslim room-mate to the Chinese-New Zealander uni student majoring in Maori. There were moments where I felt the writing was too-obviously a product of a post-racefail landscape, but I'm sure that wouldn't be apparent to anyone who hadn't followed the shenanigans last year. (And I don't think it's an inherently bad thing to have a main character who consciously tries not to be racist, and fails, and admits it and then keeps trying.)
My main criticism is that the first half is incredibly slow, and not nearly as gripping as the second half. Set-up is important, but the pacing felt a touch off. Nevertheless, I'm really keen to see what
karenhealey writes next, and in the meantime, I'm going to rectify my shameful ignorance of New Zealand literature.