Mau’s greatest worry is that he has no soul (he thinks he has left his “boy soul” on the island and he has never gotten his “man soul”). He has lost his faith in the gods that have allowed the wave to happen. Nevertheless (and despite his age) he is a hero, in the truest sense of the word. He never shirks when there is something that he can do to help others (no matter how unpleasant the task may be). He considers everything and everyone to be his responsibility and tries to do his duty as well as he can. Daphne is also a character I’ve very much liked: her inclination for science and scientific explanations was one of my favorite things in the book. In her own way she was just as much a hero as Mau was (even more so actually if we take into account her sheltered lady-like upbringing).

The alternate world the story takes place in looks very much like our own world years ago (when the British Empire still ruled the seas). The planet is round, Saturn has his rings, Newton has existed, Einstein will exist. There are a lot of small islands, all named after calendar significant dates (including a Mrs. Ethel J. Bundy’s Birthday Island :) ). Mau’s island (a small dot in the “Mothering Sunday” chain) is a haven as yet untouched by civilization (as many islands were at the time, even in our own version of reality), filled with pantaloon birds (noisy birds that throw up their food at times), paper vines (vines like rolled up paper) and tree climbing octopi. A strange and yet delightful world.

Terry Pratchett is one of my favorite authors and has been so for almost a decade. As such, I was thrilled to get to read his latest (non-Discworld) novel, expecting to see it dripping with his British humor, like all his other books. I was surprised to discover this wasn’t the case though: sure, there still are a few jokes here and there, and even a few “Pratchettian” footnotes, but the story was mostly poignant and serious. It speaks of loss and of growing up (both physically and mentally), of surpassing difficulties and creating new realities. A masterpiece that I enjoyed, despite its being not what I expected.

Two quotes:

Somewhere out there, flying to him from the edge of the world, was tomorrow. He had no idea what shape it would be, but he was wary of it. They had food and fire, but that wasn’t enough. You had to find water and food and shelter and a weapon, people said. And they thought that was all you had to have, because they took for granted the most important thing. You had to have a place where you belonged.

and

This was not the time to say “I don’t know.” The brothers had begging, hungry looks, like dogs waiting to be fed. They wanted an answer. It would be nice if it was the right answer, but if it couldn’t be, then any answer would do, because then we would stop being worried…and then his mind caught alight.

That’s what the gods are! An answer that will do! Because there’s food to be caught and babies to be born and life to be lived and so there is no time for big, complicated, and worrying answers! Please give us a simple answer, so that we don’t have to think, because if we think, we might find answers that don’t fit the way we want the world to be.

What I liked most: Lots and lots of things, best summed up in this quote (Mau’s answer when asked whether he would go back to the world before the wave):

“How can I answer you? There is no language. There was a boy called Mau. I see him in my memory, so proud of himself because he was going to be a man. He cried for his family and turned the tears into rage. And if he could, he would say ‘Did not happen!’ and the wave would roll backward and never have been. But there is another boy, and he is called Mau, too, and his head is on fire with new things. What does he say? He was born in the wave, and he knows that the world is round, and he met a ghost girl who is sorry she shot at him. He called himself the little blue hermit crab, scuttling across the sand in search of a new shell, but now he looks at the sky and knows that no shell will ever be big enough, ever. Will you ask him not to be? Any answer will be the wrong one. All I can be is who I am. But sometimes I hear the boy inside crying for his family.”

Especially the metaphor of the blue hermit crab that has left his old shell behind and now can no longer find one large enough because his world is full of questions :)

What I liked least: Predictably enough, the last part of the chapter before last. I did understand, of course, why it had to happen but… I really didn’t want it to end like this :( :(

Recommend it? Absolutely, I have loved it. Read the most part of it in one sitting too :)

Written by the same author:
Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman)
Small Gods

Amazon Affiliate. If you click an Amazon link and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Popularity: 45% [?]