Drift

July 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-Tenjat is a farmer who wants more than a life of planting cassava on the shores of hell. Hell is their ocean, which is filled with naga monsters that feed on people who get too close to the shore. The teen wants to be a Handler, one who fights the nagas and helps support their island-a massive Turtle on which the islanders live. He does not want to be a farmer or a father who slows down the island by bearing children. In spite of the pleas of his sister, Eflet, Tenjat refuses to get married, and joins the Handlers, even though the group might have been the cause of his parents' death years ago. Eflet has many secrets of her own though, and they could change the way Tenjat has understood their world. As the protagonist hones his fighting skills, a budding romance with his trainer complicates his internal conflict. This book has an interesting premise rooted in Mayan folklore. The narrative is slow to start, but if readers push through it, they will not be disappointed. The world-building is clear and well-developed; details about the setting's mythology are deftly integrated into Tenjat's story and will engage high fantasy fans. Themes of marriage, family, friendship, and loyalty are evident throughout and are not overly done. For those who enjoyed Ambelin Kwaymullina's The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (Candlewick, 2014).-Kristyn Dorfman, The Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, NY

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2014
Original worldbuilding and cosmology spice up a save-the-world romantic adventure.Five years after fleeing their Turtle-back island home in the dead of night for a treason he was too young to understand, Tenjat and his sister Eflet scrape out a living as subsistence farmers on the back of a different massive Turtle, Island Gunaji. While Tenjat is determined to become a warrior Handler in order to care for his sister, Eflet is disgusted with his goal. But since Eflet (inexplicably) won't tell Tenjat why his clever plan is so flawed, he sees no alternative. A man who doesn't pass the Handler tests or apprentice to an artisan has no choice but the shameful life of a hub, or husband, disgracefully burdening the Turtle with children. Luckily, Tenjat passes the Handler tests; less luckily, he feels disgustingly hubbish about Avi, the young woman who is his Handler trainer, who must whip Tenjat into shape in order to save Island Gunaji from starvation, rampaging nagas and the enslaving hordes of other Turtles. Though too much of what Tenjat needs to know is revealed through Eflet, her revelations are so intriguing that her nigh-omniscience is less distracting than it could be. Readers will find watching Hutchins' unusual magical rules bring about startling consequences for family and political structure utterly fascinating.Totally fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)

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