Set in Kyrkata,
a world where magic is a natural resource that people can tap into and use
according to their talents, MK England’s second novel is a fast-paced adventure
featuring lots of dangers and high stakes for the characters.
Diz lives on
the fringes of society. A poor kid, she is housed with the other thousands of
children orphaned by the magical plague that wiped out a chunk of the population
a decade earlier.
Not only did the plague kill people, it somehow slowed the
magic flow, ‘maz’, to a mere trickle and turned it into a rare and valued
commodity.
Diz has a unique skillset. She and her friends are a formidable
team, who together can break in and siphon the maz from the company that
controls and limits its distribution. Diz know her magical skills are not
strong, but she is awesome at hacking into security systems.
Although the
team’s pilfering is limited to a small quantity, it is enough for the company
to notice and go after them. Diz and her friends are forced to go into hiding,
and along the way unearth some clues about the truth that the company is
keeping from the population abut maz. Secrets that they believe they were close
to uncovering when they siphoned off a new type of maz that nobody had seen
before – and nearly killed them in the process.
Although this
is an adventure story, it is also about trust, self-acceptance and family.
As
an orphan, Diz’s instinct is to push people away when they come too close. Her three
friends are on-track to go to a fancy university in another town and leave her
behind in Kyrkata – or so she thinks. So she starts to cool on them, even
though she loves them all, particularly Remi. Although she would like nothing
more than a close relationship with the talented Remi, Diz pushes them away
whenever they need her.
The use of the pronouns ‘them and they’ was deliberate
in the previous sentence, as Remi is a non-binary gendered person. This book
has the honour of being the first I have read featuring a non-binary character.
Although I found those pronouns confusing at first, I ended up feeling that
more such characters are needed in fiction and hope that Remi was the first of
many.
Overall, a funny,
fast-paced read, peppered with action. Despite one twist being predictable, it was
an enjoyable novel.
Title: Spellhacker
Author: MK England
Publisher: HarperCollins, $34.99
Publication
Date: 20
January 2020
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9780062657701
For
ages: 14+
Type: Young Adult Fiction
