Triggerstone

Ged Maybury (author)

Ashton Scholastic, New Zealand, 1993: 186pp

ISBN: 1869431456

Genres: adventure, myths/legends, science fiction

Issues: environment, friendship

When Jinnie hears the first long, low, rumbling noise, and feels the first of the disturbing earthquakes, she naturally assumes that everyone else is aware of it, too. She is more than a little worried to find that she alone feels the ground shake and the earth scream.

Gradually, however, more and more people begin to feel the disturbances, and Jinnie realises that many strange things are happening in her small community, all centred around the area called Halcyon, where a small group once tried to build a town based on a mystical form of energy. When Jinnie is visited by Ruby, the mysterious Maori elder, and hears the old stories her school friend, Marama, tells her, she realises that she has been chosen to do the apparently impossible - restore peace and health to a troubled earth.

This science-fiction adventure, set in New Zealand, is an unusual combination of Maori spiritual beliefs and more universal environmental concerns. As is the case in many of Scholastic's Apple Paperbacks, characters in this novel are somewhat two-dimensional and the author shows an inclination to tell the reader how they are feeling or thinking, rather than allowing the reader to infer that from the character's behaviour. That said, however, it should be noted that Maybury at least does the ‘telling' through dialogue between characters rather than direct instruction to the reader. Strong female characters of all ages dominate the narrative, and it is good to see that the ‘nerd' teenager who helps unravel the scientific and mathematical aspects of the puzzle is also a talented sportsman, challenging the usual stereotype. The adult characters are also more realistic than is often found in children's literature, being both sensitive to their children's needs and reasonable in their responses.

Altogether an imaginative action-adventure that makes entertaining reading