Reviews
Catherine Fisher looks at the first volume in a new trilogy for young readers.
Jewel and Thorn
Richard Poole
Simon & Schuster
£12.99 Hardback
ISBN 0689872909
Welsh children’s fiction in English has been a somewhat neglected area, nourished only by the consistency and quality of the excellent Pont imprint, so it is good to see signs of a wider breakthrough, with writers like Cat Weatherill, Richard Poole and the well-established Malachy Doyle producing significant work. It’s also encouraging that these writers don’t feel circumscribed by any constrictive pressure always to set their books in Wales, but have ranged broadly in terms of their imaginative cultural references.
Richard Poole’s debut novel for young adults is the sprawling and action-packed first volume of an ambitious trilogy. When Thorn’s young sister, Haw, is kidnapped, he sets off in pursuit of her into the fearsome Judy Wood, guided by an enigmatic traveller and equipped only with his bow and his wits. Meanwhile, Jewel sees her father murdered by thieves and vows to take her revenge on them. On her journey she becomes involved with treachery and murder and comes to discover her own strange powers of foreseeing.
Set in an alternative world where humans are only six inches tall and live among the relics of the ancient civilization of the giants, Jewel and Thorn moves through a landscape of deep woods and rural settlements, of haunted barrens and brackish lakes. Poole has a great affinity with his world: the reader really feels its bizarre reality, especially in the scenes in the underground caverns, the nightmarish murder in the fairground hall of mirrors, and the climactic exploration of the giant's house, with the thieves’ marquee pitched on a snooker table only reachable by a staircase. There are a few leisurely moments, but in general the plot moves quickly, the protagonists helped and waylaid by a cast of wisewomen, innkeepers, rantors and ratmen.
As with any book of this kind, the credibility lies in the evocation and depth of the imagined society. This one is well thought-out, and the reader’s lingering desire to know whether the humans were indeed once the giants and how they shrank will hopefully be satisfied in the succeeding volumes.
The main difficulty with the book is that though it is long, it remains
unresolved: the mysterious crystal stolen by Thorn right at the beginning is hardly mentioned again, though there are hints of its importance, and the book ends with the protagonist being sent on another quest by the villains, who remain unscathed. Presumably all this will come right in the end, but there may be a problem with so much deferred gratification: a greater sense of something temporarily gained would have suited this reader. Also, the cast is very numerous, with some characters barely established and appearing only briefly before vanishing. Again, one assumes they will reappear in Volume 2.
Thorn is an engaging hero and Jewel a feisty girl: they have a few
quirks of personality to distinguish them, but are easy to sympathize with. As their stories run parallel, they know nothing of each other’s existence and don’t actually meet until the end, so there’s no chance for any empathy between them. This is a daring risk for any novelist: at any rate it contributes to the slightly hungry feeling the reader still retains at the end.
The book is difficult to categorise; though fantasy, it mixes elements of other genres (the miniature world, the detective thriller, even a touch of noir). Teenage readers will enjoy the laconic dialogue and variety of perils: there is certainly plenty of violence and death, and the morals of this small but bloodthirsty society are sometimes disconcerting. Thorn, for instance, kills twice, and is remarkably insouciant about it. This is unusual for any hero, and particularly one of this age-group. But there are hints that his character may change, and Jewel, when faced with the opportunity of shooting her father’s killers, is not at all sure she can do it. However, the reader feels no doubt of her desire.
Jewel and Thorn is well written, pacy and exciting. It is a considerable achievement and promises much.
Page(s) 87-88
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