Reading a new Frances Hardinge novel is always an adventure into a new, carefully constructed world - where things are never quite as one might imagine as you begin. Here two friends, raised together in poverty and scavenging are leader and led, counterpoint to each other, one believing in friendship above all, the other of a very much darker outlook. They live on one of a series of islands that form the Myriad, each island with its own long dead gods, each with its own strange traditions and stories. The sea surrounding the islands hides many things within it, wrecks, bones as one may expect, but also the undersea where danger lurks ready to take any who venture too far and spit them out utterly changed.
In this world Hardinge has created a masterpiece of tension, fear and friendship. A slow coming to the realisation of the world that they inhabit, and a look at power and how it can be manipulated for politicians, gods and evildoers own nefarious ends. It makes your mind race with the adventure but pulls you up to consider the philosophy behind the characters motivations. A truly great read – I think I may have to read it again now!
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea meets Frankenstein in Deeplight, an inventive YA fantasy from award-winning author Frances Hardinge.
The gods are dead. Fifty years ago, they turned on one another and tore each other apart. Nobody knows why.
Now, even coin-sized scraps of dead god are worth a fortune because of the strange powers they're said to possess. But few are brave enough to dive and search for them.
When 15-year-old Hark finds the still-beating heart of one of these deities, he'll risk everything to keep it out of the hands of smugglers, scientists, and cults who would kill for its power. Because Hark needs the heart if he wants to save the life of his best friend, Jelt. But the power of a god was not meant for human hands.
With the heart, Jelt begins to eerily transform, and Hark will have to decide if he can stay loyal to his friend-or what he's willing to sacrifice to save him.
"Monsters and mortals collide in this fantasy adventure that explores the hypnotic allure of fear, the adamant grip of the past, and the redeeming power of stories." -Kirkus Reviews