Book Review: Shikari
And yes, it is a series. Imagine that!
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned Alma Boykin’s books here before. I’m a pretty big fan, and privileged to know her in person, so I can say that not only are her books good, she’s a lovely human being. It’s nice to say that about an author, I always think.
The other thing you should know if you aren’t familiar with her work is that she is a scholar, and boy, does it show in her books. Right down to the occasional bibliography at the back of a novel. I love this, so, so much. Because the stories don’t suffer for it. She doesn’t put the world-building and research ahead of the plot and characters. It’s just that extra touch that takes a fun read to a new level of ‘I’m learning things’ and sets up worlds which feel immersive and real.
Shikari1 is one of those. Set on a planet where humans showed up to colonize, with no good way of going back where they had come from, only to discover to their great dismay that an alien species already lived there. Trying to make the best of a bad situation, humans and the kangaroo-like Stare learn to mesh their resources and get along. Most of the time. There are, of course, deep rifts in their communications.
The book focuses on young Auriga, called Rigi, and her friend Tomas. Although this book could easily be categorized as YA, the series follows Rigi as she grows into adulthood, marries, has children, so for me it’s more like a maturer version of Anne of Green Gables or perhaps Little Women as that story goes into the sequels. I like this pattern very much, and it’s rare.
Rigi and Tomas have spent most of their lives on Shikari, so they can speak the Stare language, and more importantly, they can smell the scent portion of the language which adult humans cannot, or at least not well. This puts them in a unique position as interpreters. They also have a shared uncle (just don’t try to pin the adults to the exact relationship of how many times removed he is) who is a xenoarchaeologist. Rigi and Tomas discover and explore enigmatic ruins, with Rigi using her budding artistic skills to draw in a way that sophisticated technology can’t scan. It’s a mystery. One that isn’t solved in this book, but as you read through the series more and more is revealed.
Which I am not giving away in a review! Go read the book! I think my readers will really like it. It’s very much a family story, and yes, you could hand this to any reader aged 12 and up and feel safely confident they would enjoy it without themes which would discomfit parents.
And yes, I did do that cover, although not the others in the series. I’ll be doing the cover for book 7, though.
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