The Sailweaver’s Son combines epic fantasy with a dash of steampunk and creates a world unlike any other – Etherium. A world where mountains rise like islands above a sea of clouds and adventurers travel the sky in sail-driven airships. When fifteen-year-old Tak rescues the survivor of an airship destroyed by one of the giant flammable gas bubbles mysteriously appearing in the sky of Etherium, the authorities react like a flock of startled grekks. To prove his innocence and prevent a misguided war, Tak must do what anyone knows is suicide – visit the Gublins and find out what they know. When the wizard’s adopted daughter, an oddly beautiful and irksome, intelligent girl from the Eastern kingdoms, asks Tak to help her do just that, he can’t say no. The adventure will take Tak from the deepest underground caves to a desperate battle on Etherium’s highest mountaintop. It will force him to face his worst fears, and to grow up faster than he expected.
The Sailweaver’s Son is Minerd’s first novel; a sweet coming-of-age tale in an enthralling world, mixing epic fantasy with a dash of steampunk that includes sailing airships, exploding gas-bubbles and floating islands!
The story mixes action and character development in equal measures; we see as much of Tak and his relationships with his family, friends and foes as we do the events that shape his course. In some ways I wish the story was longer; some scenes and conversations are glossed over and I would have liked to ‘hear’ some of the discussions, particularly the political ones! The plot itself is fairly standard, and it’s not too hard to guess what’s going to happen. However, we do see Tak grow over the course of the story, and see how he reacts to events and how his choices shape his character; he is affected by the events that he takes part in even as he changes what’s happening in his world.
I also would have loved to see more diversity in the secondary characters; Tak’s mother and his love interest are the only women in the story, and they don’t ever meet…however, I loved the backstory of the Gublins and Tak’s exploration of their history. The political setting between the two cultures was nicely done as well, woven into the story and the world. I liked that – through Tak’s eyes – we do get to see pretty much every area of his world; the wizard’s floating island and the mountains, the cloud ‘sea’ and the beasts in it, the descent into the Gublin’s world…it’s an enthralling land to be in, even if it’s only for the course of the story.
There’s the possibility of a sequel but thankfully no major cliffhangers from this one, so the story is rounded off nicely. While the plot was nothing different, the setting is more imaginative; I’d recommend this to the YA audience as the story’s an easy one to read, and the world is delightful.
© Kate Coe, October 2016
The Sailweaver’s Son by Jeff Minerd
Published September 1st 2016
http://www.jeffminerd.com
Review copy courtesy of the author
310 pages
