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Foxmask (The Sevenwaters Trilogy book 2) by Juliet Marillier
01/10/2004 . Source: Paul Hanley 
pub: TOR UK. 558 page hardback. Price: £17.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-4050-0524-6). TOR USA. 464 page hardback. Price: $27.95 (US), $36.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30674-3. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.tor.com and www.panmacmillan.com and www.julietmarillier.com
This is the second book in a series. The first was called 'Wolfskin', whilst a following volume due for publication in 2005 is to be titled 'The Dark Mirror'.
I should say at the outset that I have not read the earlier book and, perhaps, as I understand they run in chronological order, found that this book was a stand-alone story quite comprehensible on its own.
Juliet Marillier, a New Zealand writer living in Australia, taps into the rich veins of Celtic and Norse mythology for 'Foxmask'. The story is in the classic format for fantasy of a disparate group on a journey/quest. The writer tells the story from several viewpoints primarily those of Thorvald, a rather surly youth, and the girl who adores him, Creidhe. They live in northern Scottish islands still uneasily occupied by the ancient people and the Vikings who arrived within the previous generation.
This arrival and its consequences are, I gather, the story told in the earlier book.
When Thorvald discovers that he is actually the son of a tyrant who was exiled from the island before his birth, he sets off to find him on distant islands to the north west. These islands, roughly where the Faroe islands are and equally roughly matching their geography, terrain and other characteristics are where are characters are tested and come of age.
The travellers' boat is wrecked on one of this group of distant islands. There are signs of habitation but before they are found Thorvald pleads with his companions not to reveal his quest to find his long lost father.
Most of the more recent inhabitants have, it transpires, been thrown out of, rather than voluntarily left, more civilised places. The islands are inhospitable and only the hardiest or those with nowhere else to go have been able to settle them. They are mostly Norse folk scrapping a living from farming and fishing. A few Christian monks from Ireland also inhabit the place, calling themselves the Long Knife people. On some of the other islands are creatures they call the Unspoken. It transpires the vengeful Unspoken have put the Long Knife people under a terrible curse.
Their children are being killed off and, in order to stop this, they must provide a seer for the Unspoken. This person, a child has apparently been kidnapped to a cloud shrouded island which can only be approached for a few days per year when the winds and tides are favourable. Each year, the ever more dispirited menfolk of the Long Knife group cross to the island in thus far vain efforts to capture/rescue the seer. They are attacked and ambushed and each year have suffered grievous losses.
It is to these demoralised people that the heroes and heroine come. Gradually, the truth of the situation is revealed and they all participate in resolving many matters and mysteries they are pursuing. These are not all resolved as one might have expected, so there are one or two surprises in the story even at the end.
I do not want to say much more about what occurred as I do not wish to ruin any potential reader's enjoyment by giving away the entire story.
I did find it a little slow at first. It is well crafted and written but, and this is a personal preference, I generally prefer my fantasy with an Orc spilling his entrails on someone's sword every page. This book was much more concerned with feelings and although there is action, the book as a whole was not entirely to my taste. That said, it is well written, clearly steeped in Norse and other ancient mythologies and tells a coherent tale.
Paul Hanley
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