Lili Wilkinson, A Hunger of Thorns, Allen & Unwin, April 2023, 409 pp., RRP $24.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760526948
The prolific and richly imaginative Lili Wilkinson is on top of her game for this fantasy novel about magic, infatuation, bravery and grief. Maude, whose deceased mother was a rogue witch, has been raised by her Nan and her Nan’s partner, Halmoni. Nan too is a witch, but she keeps her magic within the strict laws that govern such things. Maude was once magically gifted too, but once she reached puberty the magic disappeared. Or did it?
Maude’s enduring gift is storytelling, but when her stories create real places inhabited by her own imagined monster, and that place swallows Odette, the young woman she clearly loves but doesn’t realise it yet, then her life is turned inside out and upside down. In the world of this novel there is a substance called mettle, held inside each living person, but when extracted can be used for magic. Of course this mettle becomes a darkly tradeable commodity. And those who allow it to be taken from them, or find it has been extracted from them unwillingly, will become hollowed out, almost lifeless versions of themselves.
When Maude enters the world of one of her stories in order to rescue her impulsive Odette, she will have to face dangers, threats, lies and truths that just might be beyond her powers. Will love win out, will magic overcome Maude, will she find the powerful object her mother hid away, and will she die before she can find Odette? One thing is for sure, the pages will turn faster and faster for the reader as this novel approaches its climax.
Recommended for readers from thirteen to eighteen.
Reviewed by Kevin Brophy
