Title: The White Horse TrickAuthor: Kate Thompson
Publish Date: 8/1/2010 HarperCollins, Harper Teen
Synopsis:Publish Date: 8/1/2010 HarperCollins, Harper Teen
The world is drowning.
Freak storms and devastating hurricanes sweep across the countryside. No one has enough food or firewood—electricity is an option only for the tyrannical Commander—and then the Commander begins stealing young children away. Pup's little brother is one of the missing.
Determined to save his brother, Pup confronts the Commander and finds himself “volunteered” for a special force. One that will slip through the barriers of time into a land where the sun never sets . . . just as another boy from Kinvara did long ago. With the future of both realms at stake, the fairies and humans must take drastic measures to stop the destruction. But not everyone wants the human race to survive. . . .
The thrilling conclusion to the story that began in the acclaimed The New Policeman.
I have not read the first 2 books in this series, The New Policeman and The Last of the High Kings, so I am giving this review as a stand-alone novel.
The setting is Ireland after global warming has dramatically affected earth. Land that was once fertile and beautiful is under water or being washed away by constant rain. As a result, homes have been lost, money has become obsolete because we no longer have trade between countries and with no functioning governments, people have reverted to a king/servant system. If you bought all the land when it was available, you controlled what happened on it and who could live on it.
Additionally, the rain has affected the natural resources like trees and most other vegetation. We no longer have animals to provide meat or milk either. Most people are starving and struggling to survive on a daily basis. The setting is bleak and I found myself angry and upset as I was reading. I can’t imagine a world like Thompson describes and I felt it was a little too much or over dramatic. It detracted from the story for me as a reader.
On the flip side, literally, the land of Tír na nÓg is still a functioning society with fertile land and happy people….or faeries. Nothing changes here~ no one has to eat because they are never hungry, the weather never changes, everything you need is provided for you, and you never age. The faeries rarely cross over to the other side because they have no need to….unless they have a tobacco addiction like Aengus. What he finds when he comes back is distressing to say the least and he finds himself stuck here for a time.
The self-proclaimed “king” of the area is Aidan Liddy and he has stockpiled all the comforts of his previous life. He bought several metal containers and keeps the people around him working as slaves. He forces them to work on the dirt around his “castle” to try to shore it up and keep it from washing away. The people slaving for him are all ages, including children who are taken from their homes at a very early age to dig and move dirt. The children are also taken from their homes to serve in the military and it is the military that Liddy begins sending over to Tír na nÓg in small groups to find provisions for them.
The ending was interesting and provided a ray of hope that the climate here was improving. We are left with an ending in which a man and a woman are forced to return to Ireland and are not allowed back to Tír na nÓg until they have had children and grandchildren which will serve to repopulate the area.
I began to feel overwhelmed by the characters and the story line. This could be a result of coming in so late in the series, but I lost interest. Again, I think it was too much to keep track of amid all the global disaster. The writing is very detailed and the setting is very vivid.
My Over All Rating: 
I was curious about this book! I didn't know it was already released or that it was part of a series!
ReplyDeleteGreat review, I know how have a better understanding of the book :)