Medium – Book
About the Book – Agatha is a young ‘Hawk’, a member of a clan in the Isle of Skye, who patrols the sea wall, looking for enemies and keeping her clan safe. She has Down’s Syndrome, and although many people question her right to be a Hawk, she knows that she is good at her job, brave and clever. Jaime is an Angler, a fisherman in the tribe who is worried about everything and is deathly afraid of the sea. One day, disaster strikes the clan, and Agatha and Jaime are left abandoned and betrayed as their clan are stolen away from them. To find them, they must travel to the abandoned land of Scotia, where there is magic, terrifying beasts and creatures that come out in the shadows.
My Rating – 5/5
My thoughts – I am a massive fan of YA fiction, so was super excited to pick this book up to read – and I wasn’t disappointed. This book came as part of a set of two from the Book Box Club, with the theme of ‘Deadly Secrets’. Although the previous book I had read from this particular box wasn’t my favourite (see the review here), this book more than made up for it. The book has a beautiful, wide Celtic setting, with enrapturing characters and a real sense of dread in places. I really enjoyed the fact that the two main characters weren’t your standard fantasy fiction heroes – a boy who is very scared of many things, and a girl with Down’s syndrome – but the book was all the better for that.
My favourite character was definitely Agatha, and I am so impressed by her characterisation. I liked that her having Down’s Syndrome was not a key plot point, and instead that she had a really unique view on the world, with her own special magical powers and courage. The author worked in an SEN school, and this completely shows in his building of the character and her voice – she is straightforward, unique and completely believable. I have family members with Down’s and this book felt like it was doing justice to them – not something that I have seen in any other book.
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