Review of The Fisherman's Son

By Becky Alexander, Educator

In her email to me about The Fisherman's Son Trilogy, Becky wrote: "I read the first one last weekend and I was going to read the second one this weekend and the third next weekend but I got engrossed and oops, I finished them off."  I'm delighted to present Becky's review of The Fisherman's Son here:

This is the first book in a trilogy of children's books perfect for either boys or girls in the 3rd through 6th grade levels and maybe also for adults who enjoy time travel and books of magic and fantasy. They are definitely best read in order. The Fisherman's Son is the first book, The City of the Golden Sun is second and Return of the Golden Age is third. The books' style is a combination of magical/fantastical and realistic and includes a bit of time travel. All of this combines to make for a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience for children as well as adults.

In the first book, The Fisherman's Son, young Wiley O'Mara, a 12 year old boy of 19th century Ireland, is grieving his mother's recent death and left pretty much to his own devices as his alcoholic father goes off to get drunk. It's up to Wiley to make his way through a deep and dangerous forest and fetch the priest who can give his mother a proper burial. Along the way he enters a magical world and encounters a beautiful and mysterious woman named Lucinda who gives him a strange quest; he must join two worlds. She also gives him a mysterious golden goblet along with the strange and haunting admonition to "Drink deeply by land or sea. Earth comes only once." But then Wiley meets with a fearsome beast and gets out of the forest by only a hair's breadth.

After the burial of his mother, Wiley is swimming with the dolphins near his home when one of them, Elden, magically asks about the goblet. From then on the story is action-packed with fantastic adventure upon adventure as Peake tells of a young boy's courage and love and generosity of spirit. The underwater world through which Wiley travels is lovingly described in breathtaking beauty and realism, while the mission, including a trip to a time and place not unlike Atlantis, is hugely imaginative, daring and fantastic.

This is a novel of both realism and magic. Poverty stricken Ireland is portrayed probably much as it was. The realism of the underwater ocean voyage is stunningly depicted with all its abundant and strangely beautiful aquatic life providing a bridge to the fantastic underwater adventures. These scenes give the idea that reality can be as fantastical as magic and that the past is full of wonder and possible treasures.

Copyright (c) 2008 Marilyn Peake