Before the Rising, by Keryn Powell.                Young Adults.

 

 

           How many visitors to the beautiful New Zealand East Coast city of Napier have had their photos taken next to the lovely statue of Pania of the Reef, legendary sea-nymph who defied her people for love of Karitaki, a handsome human, only to have her love betrayed and tragedy ensue, but not before having a child.  In Maori legend the descendants of this union still exist, as Keryn Powell’s debut novel attests, and it is up to them to prevent their world from certain destruction.

            And that’s not so easy when you don’t even know you’re a descendant!

            Eighteen-year-old Rebecca lives with her adoptive mother Mary, a midwife at the local hospital.  She has just finished high school and is trying to decide what career options appeal the most – hopefully, something connected with the sea, for which she has a great love.  She is excited too, because her best friend Polly’s older Marine Biologist brother Martin is back in Napier trying to finish his thesis for his PhD;  he has asked her to be his assistant for a week as he studies pods of dolphins and other sea life on a chartered boat – how lucky is that?  What a great start to the holidays, and Rebecca cannot deny that Martin is even more interesting than the creatures of which he is so knowledgeable – until she realises that another ‘crew-member’ is Jessica, Perfect Jessica, she of the gorgeous looks and figure, and Rebecca’s long-time bully and tormentor. 

            It will obviously be another of those weeks.  Rebecca will just have to bite the bullet:  so much for her timid feelings of attraction – Jessica will be all over Martin – he doesn’t stand a chance!

            But the very opposite happens, and Rebecca finds that her natural swimming and diving skills in the water, especially near Pania’s reef, introduce her to a people she has never known before until they decided to reveal themselves:  her own Sea-people, relatives of whom she would never have been aware, had they not shown themselves.  And they revealed their identity because the world as we have always known it, is in mortal danger – from the Rising.  The implacable, unstoppable rising of the sea-level everywhere, resulting in terrible coastal destruction and huge loss of life, thanks to unscrupulous trickery and misinformation by WeatherTech, a huge international profit-driven firm now established in New Zealand:  only Rebecca as a direct descendant of Pania, holds the key (which she doesn’t even know she has) to averting tragedy.

            Ms Powell takes us on a wild but importantly credible ride with the Sea-people, Kaitiaki (guardians) of an environment the human race has so shamefully desecrated.  And her great affection for Napier and its still-beautiful coast and wondrous wild-life shines;  she has done her city proud.  Not every ‘t’ is crossed at the conclusion of this great story – can this mean there will be a sequel?  Hope so!  FOUR STARS.         

 

Eddy, Eddy by Kate de Goldi.

 

  

          Teenager Eddy Smallbone, orphan, lives with his uncle Brian (unkindly called Brain by Eddy, for Brian’s absurdly knowledgeable vocabulary) in Aotearoa New Zealand’s South Island city of Christchurch.  Christchurch has recently been devastated by a huge earthquake which reduced the city to ruins and killed 185 people:  recovery of any kind will be a long-term process, and Eddy is not doing so well at it.  He hates his life with middle-aged bachelor Brain, despite Brain legally adopting him so that he wouldn’t be lost to the family, thereby changing Brain’s life plans irrevocably;  he hates the Catholic secondary school he attends and manages to get himself expelled after organising a ‘survey’ proving (he said) that two thirds of the school’s pupils didn’t believe in God.

            Yes, Eddy is an angry young man, and his attempts to make sense of his life so far are causing distress to the people who love him the most – Brain, and Brain’s eclectic and ‘catholic’ variety of friends, which include a disgraced Catholic priest, an atheist union organiser and Eddy’s godmother Bridgie, proud lesbian companion to the atheist – and, as much as all these loving, well-meaning people irritate him, they are the only constants in a life which seems to have little purpose – unless he finds one.

            And that is what this marvellous story is about:  Eddy’s attempts to carve out a different future for himself, beginning with a pet-minding business that he starts through word-of-mouth advertising that inadvertently turns into minding the children of the pets of one particular harried and divorcing family as well.  He is surprised to find that he has some success at it, having a natural affinity for animals which seems to go down well with the kids, too, especially when they meet Mother, a male cockatoo belonging to a nun (!) called Sue who has just had a hip replacement.  BUT!  The very best thing to happen is the return of his beloved ex-girlfriend Roberta – but for how long?

            For Eddy has more than family and religious problems to contend with, if he can’t face up to the fate of his very best friend.

            Kate de Goldi is queen of the marvellous metaphor and a superb writer, marshalling her dazzling array of characters with great humour and wit. Her skilled and beautiful language  describes the ruination of a city, its cautious renaissance, then the return of that most elusive of feelings:  hope – for all.  SIX STARS.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

Violet Black, by Eileen Merriman.                   Young Adults.

 

            Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand:  the time is the foreseeable future, and a huge new Measles pandemic has swept the region, infecting children and teenagers with deadly accuracy.  Scientific modelling so far has revealed a shocking 95% fatality rate, leaving myriads of families grieving for those they have lost, and the 5% who survive find it a long, hard road back to recovery – until ….. until some of the few survivors realise that they are equipped with a frightening new knowledge:  they can read the thoughts of those who are speaking to them.  They know what those people are thinking – whether they want to know or not!

            Violet Black is such a survivor:  seventeen years old and thankful to be alive, she is nevertheless frightened of her new ability, especially when she learns that all is not above board with the people who are managing her recovery.  In her search for others who share her ‘gift’ she meets teenager Ethan Wright in hospital and, aside from the fact that they find each other irresistible, it becomes obvious that certain ‘authorities’ are very interested in their new-found talents and want to exploit them for their own mysterious purposes.

            This is the first book of an action-packed trilogy that Young Adult author Eileen Merriman has written, and international terrorism is the theme:  it eventually becomes clear – after hair-raising kidnappings and misunderstandings – that the shadowy ‘Foundation’ who, after snatching them from hospital has published false death notices for them, all supposedly suffering relapses of the dreaded M-fever – are the Good Guys:  they want to harness this new talent to monitor people’s thoughts by sending (with intensive training) the Thought recruits to infiltrate various worrisome Far-Right and Ultra-National Groups and Cults, thereby learning in advance of plans for violence and murder.

            All fine in theory, until the first mission:  Violet is sent to Germany – not with Ethan as she’d hoped, but with ex-soldier Phoenix:  they are to get as close as they can to a couple who have a handicapped child – a couple who are planning terrible violence.  Sure enough, everything turns pear-shaped, Violet is seriously wounded by someone not calculated for at all, and tragedy overtakes her in her efforts to stay alive.

            Ms Merriman has done herself and her readers proud here – I already have Book Two ‘Black Wolf’ lined up next. An extra treat, quite apart from the clever plotting and suspenseful action, is her view of Auckland in the not-so-distant future:  everyone gets around in Zubers – and they appear to be free.  That’s my kind of transport!  FOUR STARS.   

 

Violet Black, by Eileen Merriman.                   Young Adults.

 

            Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand:  the time is the foreseeable future, and a huge new Measles pandemic has swept the region, infecting children and teenagers with deadly accuracy.  Scientific modelling so far has revealed a shocking 95% fatality rate, leaving myriads of families grieving for those they have lost, and the 5% who survive find it a long, hard road back to recovery – until ….. until some of the few survivors realise that they are equipped with a frightening new knowledge:  they can read the thoughts of those who are speaking to them.  They know what those people are thinking – whether they want to know or not!

            Violet Black is such a survivor:  seventeen years old and thankful to be alive, she is nevertheless frightened of her new ability, especially when she learns that all is not above board with the people who are managing her recovery.  In her search for others who share her ‘gift’ she meets teenager Ethan Wright in hospital and, aside from the fact that they find each other irresistible, it becomes obvious that certain ‘authorities’ are very interested in their new-found talents and want to exploit them for their own mysterious purposes.

            This is the first book of an action-packed trilogy that Young Adult author Eileen Merriman has written, and international terrorism is the theme:  it eventually becomes clear – after hair-raising kidnappings and misunderstandings – that the shadowy ‘Foundation’ who, after snatching them from hospital has published false death notices for them, all supposedly suffering relapses of the dreaded M-fever – are the Good Guys:  they want to harness this new talent to monitor people’s thoughts by sending (with intensive training) the Thought recruits to infiltrate various worrisome Far-Right and Ultra-National Groups and Cults, thereby learning in advance of plans for violence and murder.

            All fine in theory, until the first mission:  Violet is sent to Germany – not with Ethan as she’d hoped, but with ex-soldier Phoenix:  they are to get as close as they can to a couple who have a handicapped child – a couple who are planning terrible violence.  Sure enough, everything turns pear-shaped, Violet is seriously wounded by someone not calculated for at all, and tragedy overtakes her in her efforts to stay alive.

            Ms Merriman has done herself and her readers proud here – I already have Book Two ‘Black Wolf’ lined up next. An extra treat, quite apart from the clever plotting and suspenseful action, is her view of Auckland in the not-so-distant future:  everyone gets around in Zubers – and they appear to be free.  That’s my kind of transport!  FOUR STARS.