Castle Grim product reviews

My thirteen-year-old friend and I both enjoyed this book, but for quite different reasons. Mr 13 enjoys adventure stories and is especially interested in stories with a survival theme or a maritime background. This book features both, so it was tailor made for him. He was so engrossed in the story that he finished it in just over two days, and was then eager to share his reactions with me. He liked the way that the events are not dumbed down; some of the characters die, and others are injured. These references are often glossed over in books for younger readers, but as he explained, this one is true to life.

He also liked the development of the friendship between Polly and Herman. In his words, "they were good mates and it never got soppy the way things sometimes go in novels". He could picture himself being a resident in the orphanage, working out the dynamics between the different children. Tane was his favourite character, but he also thought some of the adults like Sam and Grip were worthy of interest. Incidentally, he commented that the recommended age group was a little young - this is a book aimed at readers nine years and older, but he thought twelve and over might be more realistic.

I agreed with Mr 13's perspective; his comments were well thought out but he did not have the advantage of having grown up when some of the books referenced in the story were popular. Not only are several books from the 1950s and 1960s mentioned, but there are further references from even further back to classics like Treasure Island, and forward to new stories like the Harry Potter series. Herman is familiar with these books as they are the volumes that have survived the devastation that has caused most of the world to revert back to the frontier days of subsistence farming and barter. No new books can be printed, so only those that survived are available to those that would read them.

Author Shaun Barnett does not just include mentions of many different books in the course of the story, he also incorporates details from some of them. In a reference to Enid Blyton's "Famous Five" series he refers to "lashings of ginger beer", and in another reference to CS Lewis' series, he likens the sewer access to the wardrobe gateway to Narnia. Fairytales too are a constant, with the idea of Grimm's fairy tales being enjoyed in Castle Grim providing a source of amusement for the children. These underpin the importance of the role books play in Herman's life; he respects them, knowing that some are 150 years old or more, and understanding that they contain important life skills as well as good stories.

The idea of Aotearoa New Zealand being a last refuge in the event of a planet-wide disaster is not a new one. The isolation of an island nation, the temperate climate, and the wealth of natural resources all make it a perfect sanctuary for humanity's renewal. It is easy to imagine a sequel to this book in which the descendants of the main characters become colonisers, moving back across the rest of the world and repopulating it bit by bit. There is mention in the story of pockets of survivors in other countries, but the total breakdown of communications has made this impossible to verify. Readers are left to draw their own conclusions!