Outcasts of Skagaray

Last month I got a comment on my original Good Vs. Evil post recommending this book by Australian writer Andrew Clarke. I responded to the writer that I would check the library system to see if it was available--it wasn't. So then I checked Amazon.com--it was. It took me a little time to put two and two together before I realized that it was Mr. Clarke himself that had somehow found my blog and recommended his book to me. I don't know how he found my blog but I am a big believer in Serendipity or Divine Intervention (you can choose which one you prefer). I was pretty chuffed to realize that someone other than my friends and one person in my hometown, Idabel, actually read my blog. Since I wanted to get Oklahoma writer P.C. Cast's new House of Night novel (teen vampire book). I decided to get Outcasts of Skagaray to qualify for free shipping.
This is a Christian fantasy novel, not nearly as subtle as C.S. Lewis which is really the only other fantasy that I have read that would qualify in the genre.
Skagaray is an island community of warriors that thrive on blood lust that drives the death-and-exile-of-the-weak rampages that elders and their priest whip up in the community. The people live in fear of their god the Kirkil that demands blood sacrifice to ameliorate is wrath. Like all distopia novels (1984 & Brave New World) Tarran, our hero, is different. He is compassionate and thinks that there must be a better way. This is viewed as weakness, and so he flees into the Wild Domain. Tarran has already gathered a small community of other Outcasts when a stranger from the sea arrives carrying the Word. A battle between the all encompassing evil that is brewing on the island that the goodness of the True God will determine the fate of the Skagar's. Who will prevail?
Clarke has excellent descriptive skills. I felt that I was on the island with Tarran and his fellow outcasts. It was a pretty good read in the end-despite the fact that it was out of my normal genres--Christian and Fantasy. I also liked that Tarran had to struggle with his impulses--to seek revenge through violence--and his conscience which demanded better reactions that did not a mirror of what he was fighting against. I would have liked to have seen this aspect developed a bit further actually. What I didn't like was the poor editing of typographical errors. Although most books have the unavoidable one or two errors, this one had in a conservative count about 100. I never realized how distracting is could be. (Maybe I should be more diligent on the editing of my own blog). This though is not the fault of the author and should not reflect on the quality of the story told. In the end, I liked the overall story but I felt that miracles were relied on too much to overcome the very human hunger for power and control through pain, fear and suffering. I don't discount miracles--I am writing this post on my laptop that by all accounts should have been waterlogged & mud encrusted. And as often as I have blundered through situations unscathed, trust me as Hot Chocolate sings "I believe in Miracles." Although fantastical things can and do happen in fatansy novels--hence the moniker--events need to be grounded in the reality of the world being described. I didn't get that Kirkil regularly intervened in the ways of man was firmly established before Tarran was exiled into the Wild Domain.
Overall, I don't regret buying the book and reading it at all. I wish Mr. Clarke the best because he is a good storyteller.