15-year-old Agatha takes her job as Hawk very seriously, patrolling the walls of her clan's island home, always on the lookout for danger. Though many are dismissive of her abilities (she seems to have Down's Syndrome) she knows she's a good Hawk. She has a special gift, too, one she keeps hidden--she can communicate with animals. Then one night she makes a mistake, and fires a burning arrow at one of her own clan's boats, and she's no longer allowed to be a hawk.
Her friend Jaime, always anxious, a thinker rather than a doer, was assigned to be an Angler, though he gets seasick. For reasons he doesn't understand, the clan has chosen him for another role--he must marry a girl from a nearby clan, though his own people haven't married for generations.
Jaime and Agatha are friends, and their friendship ends up saving them both when Jaime's wedding day ends in disaster. Raiders from Norveg attack while the clan is celebrating, and Jaime, Agatha, and the young girl who's now Jaime's wife, adrift in a boat, look on in horror as the enemy's ships carry away all of the clan who survive. Knowing it's probably futile, they try to pursue the raiders across the ocean...but fate sets them on a different path.
Agatha and Jaime must travel across the mainland of Scotia instead, a place whose inhabitants were killed by a plague. It's not, in fact, empty. Nomadic Highland bull riders come to their aid, and thanks to Agatha's gift, help them along their way. It wasn't just the stories of plague, though that kept Agatha and Jaime's clan from leaving their island--there are stories that Scotia is home to deadly shadow spirits. And this story is true, but the shadows were made to be a weapon....and poor, mad Queen Nathara, left all alone in a decaying castle with only the shadows when all those around her died, can command them...
It's an exciting adventure, told in the alternate voices of the two teenagers, in which the world of the story keeps getting bigger and bigger. The beginning, where the kids are held tight in place by the traditions of their clan, is almost claustrophobic in its rigidity (and was slow to grab my interest) but as they venture out on their quest, they learn to value themselves for who they are, and not for what the clan expects them to be. The magic of the world likewise keeps building, with the violence and tension of the shadows, and Agatha's growing realization of how important her gift with animals can be, makes this much more than a simple alternate history adventure.
Agatha's difference in thinking and moving are presented as being what they are, not something pitiable, but simply there, though her clan is not always accepting of her; some call her retarch. She proves herself a hero, though--she is, indeed, a good Hawk, and her character is really what makes this book stand out. Jaime's point of view provides a good contrast, giving the reader a more nuanced understanding of what's happening.
The violence of the book (the shadows rip people apart pretty ripingly) and the age of the main characters, suggest a YA audience, but there's an upper middle grade feel to the central quest and there's no romance for the main characters; I'd be comfortable giving it to an 11 or 12 year old as well as to older readers.
This is first book in the planned Shadow Skye trilogy, and I'm very curious to see what Agatha and Jaime do next!
Here's the Kirkus review, which makes some additional points.
disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.
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