| Children's |
| Fiction |
Summary
Summary
Ash Tyler knows that times have been tough in his area of northern England. There has been drought, and the sheep that didn't die from disease were killed by government officials trying to prevent the disease from spreading. His father returns from war physically unharmed, but carrying emotional and psychological scars. Even Ash's best friend, Mark, isn't acting like himself. Ash feels more disconnected from his loved ones than ever. All he wants is for everything to go back to how it used to be. As Ash trains to run in the Stag Chase-a race rooted in violent, ancient lore-he's certain that if he can just win the race and make his father proud, life will return to normal. But the line between reality and magic, between the living world and the dead, is rapidly blurring, and the past has a way of threatening the present. Ash's friend Mark is on a quest to bring his late father back from the dead in a ritual that now threatens Ash. When a run in the mountains brings Ash face to face with Bone Jack-a figure with the ability to take different natural forms-everything changes once more. Bone Jack guards the boundary between the living world and the dead, and he's reappeared after centuries of dormancy, summoned by the dark energy taking root. As Ash tries to sort out why the very fabric of his world-and the people in it-are falling apart, it becomes harder to distinguish reality from illusion. Ash must literally run for his life if he is ever to help his friend, save himself, and restore things to their proper order. For fans of Neil Gaiman's THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, a haunting story for older middle-grade readers.
Reviews (1)
Horn Book Review
Crowe taps into Welsh and British folklore in this story of two boys struggling with grief. Ash and Mark used to be best friends, but that was before Mark's bereaved, debt-laden father killed himself and Ash's father returned from military service with PTSD. Now, Ash is busy training for the Stag Chase, an annual race and ritual hunt in which he'll play the coveted part of the quarry, and Mark one of the hound boys who chases him. But as he trains, Ash learns that Mark plans to use this ancient rite of blood sacrifice to bring his father back from the dead--and that Ash's own life may be at stake. The boys' pain, the drought-blighted land, and the imagery of Bone Jack, guardian of the boundary between the living and the dead, combine with increasing intensity, resulting in an extended paean to friendship and familial love, the land and its history. Crowe is particularly effective in evoking the sensory elements of the natural world--a "lash of tingling heat" as a nettle brushes against a hand; the look of the "leathery remains of a frog"; or the "thin shriek [of] some tiny mammal taken by owl or stoat or fox." Reminiscent of David Almond's work in its sensuality and mysticism. deirdre f. baker (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
