Thursday, March 8, 2007

Swordbird Is No Martin the Warrior, But Fan's Heart is in the Right Place

"Have you ever heard of the book Swordbird?" my aunt Nancy, aka The Book Lady, asked me over the phone shortly before my birthday. As is so often the case with books she brings up, I hadn't, so she informed me that it was written by an 11-year-old and was making all kinds of waves. "I'm not crazy about it," she confided, "but then I'm not too into fantasy. You might like it." She told me the audio book was on its way.

I try not to be a bitter person, but it seems I always am afflicted with just a touch of resentment whenever I hear about wunderkind Christopher Paolini and his amazing fantasy novel - make that trilogy. I wanted so badly to be a teenage novelist; how did he manage it? So while I didn't enjoy Eragon all that much, I am suspicious that my impression of it may have been tainted by jealousy. I tried not to fall into that trap with Nancy Yi Fan's novel. I'll admit I had little flares now and then when I reflected on the fact that someone half my age had accomplished something so impressive, but for the most part, the altruistic undertone of the novel helped me to center myself on nobler thoughts.

While I love movies, I don't generally "read" audio books because I find it hard to absorb what is happening with no visual cues and limited ability to go back and re-read or pause when I am interrupted. Just like I find it hard to catch everything in a telephone conversation, and when I miss something I usually just have to fake my way through or I'd be on the phone forever. So I was afraid I might not have much success in getting the real gist of the book with this form of reading. On my first attempt - admittedly late at night - I fell asleep. But then I found a project to occupy my fingers for four hours one morning, and I got through the book in one sitting.

It's read by Colleen Delany; the name doesn't mean anything to me, but she has a clear and pleasant voice. Because the vast majority of characters in the book are male, a man's voice might have sounded a little more natural, but the author is a girl, after all, and I suppose birds have rather higher voices anyway, so I have no objection to the narration. One nice aspect of the audio book is that we get an interview at the end with Fan and the president of HarperCollins, to whom she rather audaciously sent the manuscript after its completion. Listening to Fan talk couldn't help but elevate my opinion of the book, since her motivation for writing it was so pure. A lover of birds and a striver for peace, Fan decided to combine these two passions in a response to the horrors of September 11th, spurred on by a dream she had about warring cardinals and blue jays and a glorious white bird who eradicated the conflict.

In the book, we meet several representatives from each of these two groups, which used to be friendly with each other. We're also introduced to the fierce hawk Turnatt, who has built a fearsome fortress and intends to add the red and blue birds to his already considerable slave force. These beaten-down songbirds know their best hope lies in conveying to the warring tribes that it was Turnatt who stole the food each group blames the other for taking and that he poses a threat to the entire forest. A brave young robin volunteers to attempt a rendez-vous, but this meeting is only the beginning...

I found the blurb on the back of the audio book to be a bit misleading, as it caused me to conclude that Swordbird was primarily about the conflict between the cardinals and the blue jays. In truth, reconciliation between those groups comes a fourth of the way into the novel, so it's just as much about banding together to fight a common foe as it is about eschewing hostilities altogether. There is a crucial difference, of course; Turnatt is an evil dictator who cannot be made a friend through diplomacy, and the thuggish crows and ravens who work for him are little better. Still, I was a little surprised at how violent the book occasionally becomes. Even when bundled with the comedy of an epic food fight, a lot of feathers get singed, so to speak.

I was reminded a lot of Redwall, Brian Jacques' epic fantasy series featuring a wide variety of woodland creatures, each with certain personality traits and dialects tied in with their species; ancient writings; definite delineation of good against evil and lots of food. All those elements are in Swordbird, which is much shorter and not quite as engaging but still pretty darn impressive, especially for an 11-year-old. The mythology Fan creates for her world recalls not only Jacques but Richard Adams, whose Watership Down was so richly steeped in his invented rabbit religious traditions. Each chapter of Swordbird begins with a quote from some significant text, usually The Ancient Scriptures, studied by most songbirds, or The Book of Heresy, with which Turnatt is obsessed. Though there seems to be a certain blandness that creeps into the book now and then, her descriptions are often very rich indeed, and little of the dialogue comes across as clunky.

Ultimately, Fan weaves a compelling tale whose intent is not only to entertain but to uplift, to inspire people into seeking peace and unity. She's already working on a related novel, and I wish her the best of luck. Swordbird is not quite up there with Redwall, but Fan has many years of writing ahead of her to get there.

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