Laura Dockrill Lorali, Hot Key Books, 1 July 2015, 337pp., $16.95 (pbk) ISBN 9781471404221
This is one of the most original fantasy tales I’ve read in a long time, with incredible detail and an intriguing array of very different characters, some of whom also narrate the story. The key characters of Rory and Lorali provide a strong moral compass for some of those that are less than well intentioned, so that by the end readers are left to draw their own conclusions, while still probably having questions but also satisfaction in the conclusion. It is not a book for the faint hearted in that it has carefully constructed emotional highs and lows throughout, as it swings in focus from adventure to love to rite of passage to mystery, danger and freedom. It is set in the small coastal town of Hastings and above and below the great oceans. The quality of Dockrill’s writing is superb with one of my favourite sections being the depiction of a storm as a life and death struggle for supremacy between the sea and the wind.
Suitable for sophisticated readers from 15 up.
Reviewed by Sue Clancy
