The Good Hawk (Shadow Skye, Book One)
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In a mythic Scotland, two unlikely heroes must make a dangerous journey to save their people. Agatha is a Hawk, brave and fierce, who protects her people by patrolling the high walls of their island home. She is proud of her job, though some in her clan whisper that it is meant to keep her out of the way because of the condition she was born with. Jaime, thoughtful and anxious, is an Angler, but he hates the sea. Worse, he’s been chosen for a duty that the clan hasn’t required for generations: to marry. The elders won’t say why they have promised him to a girl in a neighboring clan, but there are rumors of approaching danger. When disaster strikes and the clan is kidnapped, it is up to Agatha and Jaime to travel across the haunted mainland of Scotia to Norveg, with help along the way from a clan of nomadic Highland bull riders and the many animals who are drawn to Agatha’s extraordinary gift of communication. Thrilling and dark yet rich with humor and compassion, this is the first book in the Shadow Skye trilogy, written by a wonderful new voice in fantasy and introducing a welcome new kind of hero.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Elliott's debut, a series opener, alternating narrators Jaime, 14, and Agatha, 15, travel by land and sea to rescue their clan. Agatha, who has a condition similar to Down syndrome, is a proud Hawk, who watches from the walls of the clan's Isle of Skye compound; anxious Jaime is an Angler, meant to gather food from the sea. After being forced to marry as part of an alliance, Jaime and his bride spend their wedding night on a boat as does Agatha, who has stowed away with the idea of preventing the marriage. This renders the three safe from a raid by marauders who kill or carry off the rest of the clan to Norveg. When the trio rescues a Norvegian prince, they determine to trade him for their surviving clanspeople. As they cross Scotia, a land rumored to be home only to "terror beasts and shadow things," Agatha demonstrates an ability to communicate telepathically with animals, while Jaime takes a leadership role despite his youth and uncertainty. Elliott, a former special needs teaching assistant, gives each vulnerable, determined teen a distinct voice and adds another layer to this character-driven fantasy via Scottish Gaelic and Old Norse inspired terminology. Ages 10 14.
