Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #292552 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amanda Craig, THE TIMES
'...remarkable...'

Review
'Ann Halam writes magnificently with a book that is part future, part now and possibly part then too; part fantasy, part realism and totally gripping.' (SCHOOL LIBRARIAN )

John Millen, SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
'one of those books that keeps you thinking after you have finished reading it.'

Customer Reviews

A powerful futuristic fantasy.
A futuristic fantasy, set in a time where, due to climate change, much of the world is covered in snow and ice for most of the year, thawing for just a short time - just enough time to grow some essential fruit and veg.

Rosita is a little girl of about 4 years old, and she and her mum arrive at a settlement camp way out in the wilderness on the back of a tractor. Rosita has no idea what has happened to her Dadda. She's too little to really understand what's going on, but she and her mum are shown to a small bare hut with a concrete floor, a place for a bed, and a workshop. It's a prison camp, but there's no need for wire fences or high security - there's nowhere to escape to.

Rosita is a lonely little girl as her mum has to work hard in her workshop all day making nails. But then one day her mum shows her some 'magic' and Rosita's life takes on new meaning. When she gets older she goes off to school and has to change her name to the more common 'Sloe'. An accident leaves her with a severe limp. Life is really tough in the camp, even tougher in the corrective boarding school she's sent to, but all the while Sloe is aware of the destiny she must one day fulfil.

The day comes sooner than she thinks when Sloe, at age of 13, must take charge of her mum's 'magic', little seeds that are the last remnants of the wild animals of the world. These little seeds, called Lindquists, are precious and every so often they must be given nutrients and grown in a little pod. They then naturally die after a while and their remains are harvested for new seeds, to the start the cycle anew. This has to be kept going until the wild animal seeds can reach their intended destination. Each time the growing process is started, Sloe can decide to grow an animal to it's full state to check that the seeds are still of good quality... but this is a risky business when there are death warrants for these wild creatures. Zoe faces a long and treacherous journey in the bitter cold, to try and get these seeds to safety.

This is a well-written book, and Sloe is a skilfully crafted main character. Perhaps at times a little far-fetched in its outlook, it certainly does highlight one area of risk with global warming - another ice age - and raises numerous important questions about environnent and technology. A worthy read for young adults+.

wonderful futuristic adventure
I agree with some of what the previous reviewer says about how it would be good if we'd got to know more of the characters in-depth, but in the end it didn't matter because the heroine, Sloe, is so interesting. The daughter of an exiled scientist, she learns the secret of the case her mother carries, which has the "seeds" of the last real wild animals left on earth. Once a monht, the seeds need to be fed "new treat" (nutrient)to be kept alive, and even be allowed to grow into fully formed animals before collapsing back into seed form. Sloe gets into trouble and is sent away from her mother to a horrible boaridng school, from which she eventually escapes, half-crippled. Her mother has gone, but the case is still there, and Sloe has to find her way to freedom, where she may rejoin her mother. One by one, the tiny animals are brought to life to help her, until there is only one left - and her mother's mortal enemy in pursuit.
This is a novel that would make a fantastic film. I thoroughly recommend it for 12+

Fantastic Idea for a Story
I read this book a month or two ago - but have been delaying writing the review, uncertain as to whether I enjoyed it or not. It's always easy to write reviews for those books you either love or hate - but in this case I merely liked it ... I think!

There's certainly nothing amiss with the writing, which is smooth, efficient and evocatively conveys the bleakness of the icy cold setting. I did find it slightly odd that the opening (set in the narrator's past) was in the present tense, while the main narrative, (set in her present) was in the past tense; strange!

I thought the basic idea for the plot - that the heroine has to guard minute living 'seeds' of extinct animal species - a truly brilliant concept. However, on reflection, I realised that it was the brief lifespan of these Lindquists that I found rather undermined the plot for me. Each little creature, secretly brought to life, rarely lived longer than a single chapter - then, having fulfilled its plot function, died. I found this a continual disappointment as I really bonded with and warmed to these beautiful miniature life forms, and would've preferred their ongoing involvement in the narrative rather than brushing them aside to make way for the next one. In many respects, I can see that their demise is integral to the plot (each with a different natural skill to help their guardian out of danger) - but it would've been nice if at least one could have lived all the way through.

Even the human characters that Sloe (the main protagonist) meets during her travels tend to be somewhat transient. So, the overall impression I was left with was that of not quite getting to know any of the characters in any depth except, perhaps, Sloe herself, and I didn't find her the most compelling of heroines.

In summary: an okay-ish book, a pleasant enough story - but with such a fantastic idea, I think it could have been so much more.