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A review by thebooklender
Gullstruck Island by Frances Hardinge
4.0
I've done it! I have now read every (published) Frances Hardinge novel, and have yet to be disappointed!
Gullstruck Island (also published as The Lost Conspiracy) is a fantasy novel set on an isolated island under colonial rule. The island is populated by numerous tribes, deadly beetles, angry volcanoes and lots of intrigue. The Lost are a group of people from all tribes and cultures who can detach their senses from their bodies and send them across the island - sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste...
The book follows Hathin, a 12 year old Lace girl whose job is to look after her vague and distracted Lost sister and whose strength lies in her invisibility. The Lace are distrusted and persecuted, especially when they are blamed for a series of deaths on the island.
I am struggling somewhat to summarise the book - as with all Hardinge novels, the fantasy world is so layered and realised, it is difficult to get it all across in a brief review. This level of detailed world-building is both a strength and a weakness of the book. It takes a long time to get going - at the start of the book, the narrative is constantly disrupted by explanations of geography, culture, magic, language, race, names, politics and history. Once the story does get going however, boy, does it get going! It is a rip-roaring adventure of murder, revenge, intrigue, humour, heartbreak, betrayal, loyalty and volcanoes. Of birds that unravel your soul, and beetles that kill you with bliss.
It was a long book (my copy has exactly 500 pages), and at first I was not exactly relishing the prospect of a tome-full of world-buildery exposition, but once into the heart of the book, the pages flew by! And as ever, Hardinge has some delicious prose. Her language and turns of phrase often have me re-reading sentences for the sheer joy of them.
Great stuff. I can't wait to see what will be next for Hardinge.
Gullstruck Island (also published as The Lost Conspiracy) is a fantasy novel set on an isolated island under colonial rule. The island is populated by numerous tribes, deadly beetles, angry volcanoes and lots of intrigue. The Lost are a group of people from all tribes and cultures who can detach their senses from their bodies and send them across the island - sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste...
The book follows Hathin, a 12 year old Lace girl whose job is to look after her vague and distracted Lost sister and whose strength lies in her invisibility. The Lace are distrusted and persecuted, especially when they are blamed for a series of deaths on the island.
I am struggling somewhat to summarise the book - as with all Hardinge novels, the fantasy world is so layered and realised, it is difficult to get it all across in a brief review. This level of detailed world-building is both a strength and a weakness of the book. It takes a long time to get going - at the start of the book, the narrative is constantly disrupted by explanations of geography, culture, magic, language, race, names, politics and history. Once the story does get going however, boy, does it get going! It is a rip-roaring adventure of murder, revenge, intrigue, humour, heartbreak, betrayal, loyalty and volcanoes. Of birds that unravel your soul, and beetles that kill you with bliss.
It was a long book (my copy has exactly 500 pages), and at first I was not exactly relishing the prospect of a tome-full of world-buildery exposition, but once into the heart of the book, the pages flew by! And as ever, Hardinge has some delicious prose. Her language and turns of phrase often have me re-reading sentences for the sheer joy of them.
Great stuff. I can't wait to see what will be next for Hardinge.