catebaum

When you pick up a fantasy genre book for teenagers, you expect Tolkeinesque trekking through rocks and meeting strange hybrid creatures, right? You expect lengthy descriptions of mountains, tunnels and pathways, yes? You expect charm, betrayal, adventure and friendship across species and a hero with the odds against him, don’t you? You get all of this in the first volume of this Saga by Hawaiian author Brian Tashima, but he adds some extra ingredients to make his writing unique.

Firstly, the touch of his Hawaiian culture comes through: There is a laid back, grass roots way that Tashima writes that […]