Children of the Furnace by Brin MurrayMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I began reading Children of the Furnace with some trepidation as I thought it was a dystopian fantasy narrated in the first person and aimed at Young Adult readers. I am certainly nowhere near the age of young adults and find most fantasy novels lacking when I compare them to those of Tolkein and Mervyn Peake. Generally I prefer fictional tales told in the third person since it allows other scenes to be portrayed in a different time and place without obvious errors in the telling of either portrayal. For the first few chapters of Children of the Furnace some of the events that happened to Wil, one of the main protagonists, were so gross I did not think I could carry on reading.
However, it was not long before I was gripped by this fast-moving, intriguing and very gritty tale. It was so very well written with such realistic characters in Wil and Leah that I found myself rooting for them right to the exciting denouement, when I found I was disappointed. Disappointed because I wanted more! And luckily there is a sequel for all the readers who will enjoy this fascinating tale of oppression, tyranny and cruelty – and even with strong hints of young romance. The conversations are believable and the characters are so well drawn that I was impatient to find out their destinies. Even though most of the narrative used by Wil is in some kind of southern state (?) future vernacular, difficult sometimes to understand, it did not spoil the “telling” and greatly added to the “showing” of the story. It just required a little patience and added colour to it. Revout Sachs and Dagmar Clout are exquisitely evil enemies of Wil and Leah and the twists in the tale delightfully pleasing. I can thoroughly recommend this novel to anyone, young or older and maybe with a strong stomach? But particularly to those that enjoy a story of good versus evil in a futuristic, very interesting, dystopian setting.
View all my reviews
RSS Feed
