My reading has been going very slowly lately, in part because it’s been Christmas-New Year and with all the visitors and visiting I didn’t end up getting in all the reading time I’d hoped—almost none in fact, alas!  And since the holidays finished I’ve been concentrating on getting into writing my next book so for all these and other book related reasons, reading has been on the back burner.

So although I wrote about having just received Joanna Orwin’s YA novel, Sacrifice, on December 23rd (yes, that was indeed the same day as the latest round of big earthquakes, so not much reading that day as you may imagine!) and about being keen to read it because it is one of those books on the SFFANZ list of works eligible for nomination for this year’s Sir Julius Vogel Awards, I am “still reading” it now!

So, finished or not, I thought it was time I told you a bit about how I’m finding it. The fundamental premise behind the story is that of a “nuclear winter” type scenario caused by the ash from widespread volcanic (with accompanying earthquake and tsunami) activity. Fundamentally, both this cataclysm and its after effects, rather than being the speculative focus of the book, are taken as a “given” in order to set up a society and a situation in which an ocean-going quest-journey can occur. As the publisher, HarperCollins sets out in background notes to the book: “As harsh as this … [post apocalyptic] … scenario sounds, this moving novel is really about the indomitable human spirit, the positive effects of co-operation and the carrying out of courageous acts for the greater community good.”  So far—I am about two thirds of the way through—I agree that it is the quest which is the ‘heart’ of the story.

As readers we follow four young men, the “Travellers”, as they bond into a unit through building their “moki” (from “mokihi” for reed raft, but in this case think think of a catamaran made from bundled flax) and set out across the Pacific in a quest to find the kumara (called “kuma”) which together with all other arable crops has died out as a result of the volcanic “winter.” This canoe voyage is effectively a reversal of the great voyages that led the Maori to New Zealand in cross-Pacific journeys that led Sir Peter Buck to describe them as “the vikings of the sunrise.”

So if you’re thinking this is an adventurous book, you would be right. It also includes interesting character development—and although the initial tension between the central protagonist, Taka, and his fellow Traveller, Matu, follows the more traditional dynamic of a quest-journey story, I think the more subtle interaction between Taka and his cousin Kai is the more compelling relationship. And there is some fine writing around the ocean voyage, from it’s beginning to it’s end. Here’s a sample, from the journey’s outset:

“Beneath him, Kua-the-Seeker was bumping softly on the skids as each wavelet of the incoming tide passed under her. Soon she began to tremble, a distinct vibration that rose up through the packed reeds and into Taka’s body. He could hear faint rustlings and ripplings as the craft slowly began to lift on the deepening water. Time passed. He knew the tide must be close to its full height. The moki was still bumping on the bottom, not yet fully afloat. He held his breath. Would the water reach enough depth to set her free? At last the bumping slowed. The trembling increased. More time passed. Then, quite suddenly, between one breath and the next, they were afloat.  As the moki rocked gently, cradled by the water, he heard the others let out a sigh, a deep, concerted sigh that matched his own. His apprehension faded away as Kua-the-Seeker rode the river, high and proud.

Matu said quietly, ” Take up your paddles.”

As the Travellers held their paddles aloft in a silent salute, Taka heard the sonorous beat of the farewell drums. Matu gave the word and they dug their paddles into the water. Slowly, without trying for speed, they paddled out into the middle of the river. Although Taka knew intimately every reed bundle, every rope and cord, every piece of timber on board, he was acutely aware of the new strangeness of everything — the size of Kua-the-Seeker, the length of their paddles, their height above the water. But despite their inevitable tentative awkwardness, they reached the middle of the river without mishap …

… The drumbeat rose to a climax. Now they were leaving, the Hara crowd raised their voices in the song of farewell … The Travellers raised their paddles in one last salute. Then Matu leaned on the steering oar and turned the moki in a wide curve towards the bar and the open sea beyond.”

(c) Joanna Orwin, Sacrifice, 2011

.

Does it make you want to read more? It did me—and I am looking forward to finishing the book. (Soon now, very soon!)