The Call

As the author writes in his acknowledgements, this is a grim book! The setting is Ireland in a dystopian future, where the country is isolated from the rest of the world, and the fairies are taking revenge for centuries of history, in a pretty gruesome way. Every teenager will at some point get 'The Call' and disappear for three minutes (in human time, but a whole day to them) into a grey violent world where they will be hunted and tortured. One in ten come back alive, but most of those will be deformed in hideous ways as well as psychologically scarred. Nessa, who is physically disabled, is determined she will, against the odds, be a survivor, and the book tells her story at survival school. The idea is an interesting one, but it did seem after a while that the author was trying to come up with ever more bizarre and gruesome ways in which characters could be tormented and deformed. Every time a character disappears when their call comes, the violence became more imaginative. 'Fairies' is a misleading name, as these creatures are cruel and ruthless, also known by the Irish name of Sidhe. And at school, where the youngsters are trained in survival, they are divided amongst themselves and seem determined to hurt each other. The characters didn't really come to life, but were rather two-dimensional. Nessa herself is admirable for her determination, and it is certainly a positive thing to see a disabled character so physically active and successful at a time when we are looking for more diverse characters in fiction. However, characterisation is not a strength of the novel. The action sequences are probably the best written parts, and there is plenty of excitement and tension. The book may appeal to fans of dystopian fiction, but strayed well into the horror genre as well. And I'm not sure how successful the central role of Irish mythology will prove amongst readers. 336 pages / Ages 14+ / Reviewed by Carol Williams, school librarian.

Suggested Reading Age 11+