Deeplight

Product Information

However, 14-year-old Hark has more to fear from people than from the sea. Hark and Jelt have been friends, close as brothers, working together to survive on the islands. Jelt however keeps demanding more and more from Hark, and to see Hark slowly become more certain of himself and his unhealthy bond with Jelt is very admirable and brave. It does get quite dark in places and there's not really any humour in it, but it raises some really interesting ideas and provides some wonderful characters for us to judge with all of our perfect righteousness (note sarcasm). I feel quite justified in calling Jelt a jerk, though. It's been a while since I hated a character this much.

Hark is a troubled young orphan being constantly led astray by his best buddy, Jelt. They're living in a world where the gods are dead and pieces of them can still be found in the ocean. These pieces can be used for technological advancement - or sold to the highest bidder. Naturally, one particular piece might just be lurking, waiting to get Hark into an ocean of trouble ... The writing was as pretty as I'm used to by this author as well. On one hand, you have the action of running / hiding from "the law", of trying to find a cure for Jelt and of trying to save the world from the gods returning. On the other, you have Hark's lies and the almost magical way he tells them. Because this is also a story about the power of stories. Not lies, necessarily, but the worlds a good storyteller can spin around his or her words. As such, Hark might be a (partial) representation of Hardinge herself even. Woven throughout is a testament to the power of story to preserve memory, to preserve identity, and to keep alive that which would otherwise pass from existence.

This book is so full with adventures and magical relics and unique underwater gods and crazy priests!! we followed Hark a 15 years orphan boy who love to lie to survive and telling story, Hark one day caught up in trouble because of his bestfriend Jelt and need to be sold as a slave to a doctor.. and the story goes on :D

Berry, Michael (5 May 2020). "Deeplight - Book Review". Common Sense Media. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021 . Retrieved 18 September 2021. Distinctive appreciation for the inclusion of sign language. And also for the refreshing exclusion of any ham-fisted romantic plot line. Beautiful book inside and out, absolutely exceeded my expectation! I enjoyed my reading journey so much This is one of the best YA novels I’ve read in a long time, and will most likely secure a place in my top ten books of the year, and here’s why: The gods are freaking COOL. I mean, forget everything that you know about gods. These guys are basically all tyrannical monsters that once lived in the ocean devouring seafarers and ships and submarines and basically the floor was lava only the floor was an ocean full of these guys. They're gone now but their legacy is ingrained in the inhabitants of the Myriad and there are still some priests with memories of the time they terrorised humanity with their godliness. I loved the stories and was right by Hark's side when he was pestering people for more information. It was really fascinating to learn about these dark deities. It got dark enough to actually give me nightmares. That was unexpected. This is not a cheery story, my friends.Hardinge is at her prime with this kind of world and writing; its fantasy in the best way. There is a fleshed out world which is dark and intriguing, the premise of the recent history of this world has set up a perfect culture to explore whilst reading - an archipelago called Myriad once terrorised by these gods from the depths of the waters around them who mysteriously perished after the cataclysm. Since then, an entire economy has been built (in an almost steam punk fashion) around the procuring and utilising of their remains also knows as godware. It took a few chapters for it to grab me, but in the end I really enjoyed this story. At first, I was a bit disturbed about the 2 main characters' relationship, but as the story unfolded, I knew it was going somewhere I could accept. Deeplight is a young adult fantasy novel by Frances Hardinge, published October 31, 2019 by Macmillan Children's Books. It is her 9th novel. The world building is one of a kind. It's one of those places that you would love to explore but would not want to live there at the same time. It's a place filled to the brim with stories. The characters are drawn just as well. What I really appreciate is that the author included deaf representation. She was approached by a reader one day who asked her whether she would consider writing about deaf characters. Not only did Frances Hardinge proceed to do so, she also worked closely with the said fan and her community to ensure an accurate deaf representation and she ended up dedicating the book to the girl. And that, my friends, is how to be a decent ally. The story weaves and unfolds in ways that you both expect but are surprised by, and the language used to deliver this is delicious, a feast for the senses. It evokes the setting perfectly, it casts the story in a darkness that suits the world, and it delivers prose that is flavourful but not too drenched in empty metaphor.