Wyrmeweald Returner's Wealth by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
Set against the backdrop of a vast, unfriendly landscape, at the heart of this tale is a young man on a journey to master this terrain, a journey to bring back the fortune he was denied by his low birth.
In Returner's Wealth, the first book of their Wyrmeweald trilogy, Stewart and Riddell bring us an imaginative, highly visual tale of creatures and lands unlike any other from myth and legend. The protagonist, Micah, finds himself surrounded by dragon-like creatures called wyrmes that fill the skies above and rough ground below. This landscape, the weald, inspired by both the Scottish highlands and the American West, is almost an extra character in the book. This rich and hostile environment is perfect to highlight one of the driving themes of the novel: the extremes of human nature. The base evils of the human condition - greed, violence, exploitation, betrayal, deceit are brought to the fore in the story's characters. And it's these qualities that serve to bring about the most heartbreaking consequences. At the same time, this darkness is juxtaposed with hope, love and friendship, possible even against the odds. Including a beautifully described harmonious relationship between man and beast.
For me, the novel begins to ask: what is it that drives our actions? Is it greed, adventure, hope, love? And then as the story progresses the question becomes – which of these will win out in the end? The action, the twists and turns of the plot, and the fates of the characters are all outcomes of these desires. What is it that makes someone a hero?
A dark and sometimes violent fantasy story, Returner's Wealth haunts the mind, but like a waterfall through the cracks of rock, there are glimmers of light shining through ...
I eagerly await the next instalment, as the closing chapters leave me wondering which way the story will turn next, and I couldn't help thinking all the way through, wouldn't Returner's Wealth make a good film ...
Click here to view Random House’s trailer for the book on youtube
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