The Kin - Softcover

Dickinson, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1504014782 ISBN 13: 9781504014786

Publisher: Open Road Media Teen & Tween, 2015

Synopsis

Four children embark on a quest for a new land at the dawn of human history Africa, two hundred thousand years ago: Suth and Noli were orphaned the night the murderous strangers came, speaking an unfamiliar language and bringing violence to the peaceful Moonhawk tribe. Determined not to die in the desert, Suth and Noli slip away with Ko and Mana. Suth, the eldest, leads them; Noli s dreams of the future guide them. Ko gives them courage; Mana gives them peace. Their search for a new Good Place, one of food and safety, will take them across the valleys and plains of prehistoric Africa and bring them together as a tribe and as a family. "

About this title

Review:

In this ambitious quartet of novels for older children the award-winning author Peter Dickinson takes us back two hundred thousand years to witness the birth of the human race in Africa. The Kins are the first modern human beings and this epic tale starts with their forced exodus from their traditional homelands. Dickinson introduces us to Suth, Noli, Ko and Mana, all children of the Moonhawk Kin. As they roam the vast plains and valleys in search of new "Good Places" where they can peacefully live, so the children confront natural disaster, cruel hardships and brutal enemies, as well as their own developing hopes and fears. Dickinson intersperses his narrative with a series of magical interludes that are the mythical stories the Kin have made up to explain their world to themselves. But it is when the children take centre stage that these stories really come alive. Whether they are eating roasted leg of fox, travelling through the unknowable wilderness or exhibiting acts of essential human kindness in an entirely believable ancient landscape, once again Dickinson's cast of characters is capable of grabbing the reader's imagination and tweaking the heartstrings. --Nick Wroe

Review:

“The Kin is a thrilling piece of work. . . . Peter Dickinson has an appetite for large ideas and the power and skill to bring them to life. Dickinson is a writer of great vision.” —Philip Pullman
 
“An exciting read. . . . The real adventure here is the exhilarating mix of ideas the novel so nimbly sets forth.” —Publishers Weekly
 

About this edition

• Publisher: Open Road Media Teen & Tween
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1504014782
• ISBN 13: 9781504014786
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 438