What do you think?
Rate this book
Earth Dragon, Fire Hare
The ultimate tale of New Zealand's forgotten war - Malaya 1948 - and two men's linked destinies, foretold by horoscope and forged in battle.
the conflict in Malaysia during and after World War two, as seen from the perspectives of a Kiwi soldier (Peter) and a Chinese Malay freedom fighter (Ng). Against a background of culture clash and political and individual conflicts, two young men are drawn inexorably together as victims and products of the Malay conflict. Will events or their deeper selves guide them when their backs are against the wall? An action-packed, compelling, and ultimately moving book about a war that in which New Zealand participated, but which has not been written about.
the conflict in Malaysia during and after World War two, as seen from the perspectives of a Kiwi soldier (Peter) and a Chinese Malay freedom fighter (Ng). Against a background of culture clash and political and individual conflicts, two young men are drawn inexorably together as victims and products of the Malay conflict. Will events or their deeper selves guide them when their backs are against the wall? An action-packed, compelling, and ultimately moving book about a war that in which New Zealand participated, but which has not been written about.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
4 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Ken Catran
55 books14 followersKen Catran is a children's novelist and television screenwriter from New Zealand. He is the author of many teen novels, including Taken at the Flood, Voyage with Jason, Doomfire on Venus, Space Wolf, Talking to Blue and its sequel Blue Murder. He is perhaps best known for his Deepwater trilogy series
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 25, 2014
A Grade 6 student asked me to read this book: it has a focus on history set in Singapore and Malaya during WWII and the aftermath, so I was interested. Then the student said something that really got me interested: "I'm tired of reading books that are about goodies and baddies or winners and losers. This book is more complex than that and I want to read more like it."
We talk about "hinge questions" in education as the questions that show us whether students have really connected with an underlying concept or whether they're just parroting learning from our classrooms. What this student had pointed out to me was a hinge in his learning; he was making a transition from a world of black and white to one where he was ready to live with the greys.
So I had high expectations as I started to read and Ken Catran lived up to them. He is a master storyteller and the novel moves with all the dramatic pace needed to keep me and the average Middle Schooler engaged. It pulls no punches and the violence of war is graphic. On these grounds I would think of it as more of a Grade 8 novel than a Grade 6 one, but the violence is in no way gratuitous and, in the end, the nature and purpose of violence is as much the focus of the novel as the friendship of the two protagonists.
Catran tells the story of two very different characters. One is a Chinese Malay who fights with the British during the war and then against them in the Malay Emergency. The other is a New Zealander who enlists to fight the Japanese in the last days of the war and ends up in Malaya fighting the insurgents instead. Good and bad, right and wrong, winners and losers all get lost in the complexity of a war that is much harder to understand than a war between the imperialism of the Japanese and the British.
As our Middle Schoolers in Singapore engage with the history of this place, this novel can help them understand that the past is not black and white. More profoundly, it may be a hinge I can place in the hands of students ready to understand a world that is also less black and white.
We talk about "hinge questions" in education as the questions that show us whether students have really connected with an underlying concept or whether they're just parroting learning from our classrooms. What this student had pointed out to me was a hinge in his learning; he was making a transition from a world of black and white to one where he was ready to live with the greys.
So I had high expectations as I started to read and Ken Catran lived up to them. He is a master storyteller and the novel moves with all the dramatic pace needed to keep me and the average Middle Schooler engaged. It pulls no punches and the violence of war is graphic. On these grounds I would think of it as more of a Grade 8 novel than a Grade 6 one, but the violence is in no way gratuitous and, in the end, the nature and purpose of violence is as much the focus of the novel as the friendship of the two protagonists.
Catran tells the story of two very different characters. One is a Chinese Malay who fights with the British during the war and then against them in the Malay Emergency. The other is a New Zealander who enlists to fight the Japanese in the last days of the war and ends up in Malaya fighting the insurgents instead. Good and bad, right and wrong, winners and losers all get lost in the complexity of a war that is much harder to understand than a war between the imperialism of the Japanese and the British.
As our Middle Schoolers in Singapore engage with the history of this place, this novel can help them understand that the past is not black and white. More profoundly, it may be a hinge I can place in the hands of students ready to understand a world that is also less black and white.
December 11, 2015
So there was no indication from the blurb of this book that it was YA, but low and behold when it arrived by post, there was a 'Childrens Book Awards' sticker on the cover.
It is fair to say I probably wouldn't have bought it, had I known that.
Having said that, it was a readable, although very simple, straightforward book. The plot and the setting were interesting, and appealed to me enough to seek it out, but it has very straight forward themes, and what plot twists there are, are fairly simply choreographed.
My rating of 4 stars is basically a rating of the book in its YA genre, not to be compared to 4 stars I would give a book more suited to me as a target market!
It is fair to say I probably wouldn't have bought it, had I known that.
Having said that, it was a readable, although very simple, straightforward book. The plot and the setting were interesting, and appealed to me enough to seek it out, but it has very straight forward themes, and what plot twists there are, are fairly simply choreographed.
My rating of 4 stars is basically a rating of the book in its YA genre, not to be compared to 4 stars I would give a book more suited to me as a target market!
October 2, 2014
Earth Dragon Fire Hare is a book by Ken Cartan, about a young Chinese, Malay boy called Ng, who is brought up by a communist group and trough war meets and a same aged boy from Britain named Peter, who turns out to be his natural astrological partner.
This book presents the ideas of opposites, the differences between right and wrong and good or bad, it tells a tale of how two very different people meet and share a very similar experience. These characters are very well developed, as you see them through every perspective as they grow from teens to adults in the tragic Malaya war. As readers, we see both points of view and really get to understand the in and outs of each side of the story.
I was very sceptical when picking up this book and I only did because it was a strong recommendation from my English teacher. It did take awhile for the story to progress, but in the end it was a very enjoyable book that had a very interesting plot and very well developed characters.
This book presents the ideas of opposites, the differences between right and wrong and good or bad, it tells a tale of how two very different people meet and share a very similar experience. These characters are very well developed, as you see them through every perspective as they grow from teens to adults in the tragic Malaya war. As readers, we see both points of view and really get to understand the in and outs of each side of the story.
I was very sceptical when picking up this book and I only did because it was a strong recommendation from my English teacher. It did take awhile for the story to progress, but in the end it was a very enjoyable book that had a very interesting plot and very well developed characters.
June 17, 2015
Another roaring war story by prolific author Ken Catran. But this is a war story not known to most – The war in Malaya between the British and Japanese and then between the Malayan Communist Guerrillas against their British oppressors.
Two stories are told – one of a young kiwi, signing up to the army after WWII to fight in Malaya, and one of Ng, a Chinese boy taken in by Communist guerrillas after he loses his family to British bullets.
Earth Dragon, Fire Hare is brilliantly written, the reader sharing the teen’s experiences almost first hand – in 1940’s NZ and in the jungle of Malaya as the bullets sing around them. A great way to learn about this forgotten war.
Two stories are told – one of a young kiwi, signing up to the army after WWII to fight in Malaya, and one of Ng, a Chinese boy taken in by Communist guerrillas after he loses his family to British bullets.
Earth Dragon, Fire Hare is brilliantly written, the reader sharing the teen’s experiences almost first hand – in 1940’s NZ and in the jungle of Malaya as the bullets sing around them. A great way to learn about this forgotten war.
May 11, 2013
Ken Catran is a very experienced writer of books for children and young adults, and writing for Television. To learn more about the author, click here. This means that this novel feels very assured.
The story begins in Singapore,1942, after the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbour. Phillip Hayes is a civilian engineer on his way back to New Zealand to rejoin his wife and son. Unfortunately, he meets an Indian infantry, treats them with terrible supremacy, and dies for it.
Am I to be shouted at like a dog? wondered the subedar. There were three bullets left in his revolver. He fired them all, watching without pity as the man collapsed by his car, his shirt stained red. .
Part One begins, still in 1942, but in New Zealand, where the young Peter Hayes is playing war games with Barry, 'a natural leader' Peter is trying to impress. The 'Japanese' are the local Marist boys on their way home from choir practice. The flawed logic for their battle, developed by Barry, is brilliant in the way that it conveys the terrible and apparently simple arguments for any kind of prejudice and the apathy or willing blindness to its wrongness that supports it:
After all (he said) it was a known fact that Catholics obeyed the Pope - who was Italian. That Italy, Germany and Japan were the enemy was a known fact, too (Barry said). And Barry's family had been bombed out when the Germans flattened Belfast; his granny and sister dead in the ruins of Cromwell Road. And (he said) the Irish Catholics had made that happen because they took their orders from the Pope and Hitler - and weren't the IRA blowing up public lavatories in London? So it was alright to pretend the Catholics were Japanese so they would be ready if the invasion came.
Peter thought there were some flaws in Barry's argument, but did not point this out.
The second chapter begins the narrative of Ng, a fourteen year old Malaysian boy who is fighting a very real battle in the jungle of Malaya, staying alive by joining the communists who are battling the Imperialists. This is a stark contrast to the previous chapter, where the game of war is ended with the sharing of humbugs behind the Presbytarian church.
Silence, then dark figures advancing warily out of the black afternoon shadows; men and women, Malay, Chinese, and Tamil, dressed in an assortment of tattered clothing. As they picked up the rifles and ammunition pouches from the crumpled bodies, one man walked up to Ng. He was Chinese, short and thickset, with heavy, strong features, and he wore a ragged army shirt and patched baggy shorts. He had a British Army belt and revolver, a sandal on one foot and a two-toed Japanese boot on the other.
He looked down at the quivering Eurasian, then gestured to Ng to get up. 'Why did the patrol stop you?'
Northern Malay-Chinese, Hakku perhaps, thought Ng. There was a dull splashing sound behind them as the bodies were thrown into the paddy.
Ng is forced to follow a leader, in a very different way to Peter, 'Chengsai, the ironwood tree, hard enough to defy even the voracious white ants: a good nickname for a tough leader. Chengsai might be a Communist, but Ng had already decided what to do, even though his father would not have approved. So he followed Ahmed into the dark, humid forest.
As might be expected, Ng and Peter's stories follow a trajectory that finds them both on opposite sides of the 1948 - 1954 Malayan 'Emergency' - the colonialist term for this war. There is an inevitability to each story that means that the reader does not take sides. Both characters are drawn with strengths and faults, and are products of their heritage.
The complications of war became a barrier for me, but I suspect would not be so much of an issue for those readers who find the strategy and battle of war good plot narrative. Also, I know very little about this conflict and the factions involved, so this became confusing for me as well.
The biggest barrier for me was that I did not like Peter as a character, at all. So, I didn't really care about his story. There were confusing elements that were probably supposed to show a more sensitive side to his nature, such as his love of poetry and drawing - but they never really contributed to who he was. They were very much side issues which had to be drawn to our attention every now and then.
As for Ng, he never allowed us to really know him. Appropriately for the plot, Ng had to be a little chameleon-like, to survive. And, although he had some great moments in the story, we only ever got to watch him, rather than become acquainted with him.
I read this book just over a week ago, and left writing a review about it because I hoped that it would reveal more to me as I thought it through. There are some very good elements to this book, and it is well constructed and well written. For me, it was not engaging, but I think there are many people that would find it engaging. I have put some links below to other reviews that perhaps have more connection to this book.
NZ Boooksellers Review
Bobs Books
The story begins in Singapore,1942, after the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbour. Phillip Hayes is a civilian engineer on his way back to New Zealand to rejoin his wife and son. Unfortunately, he meets an Indian infantry, treats them with terrible supremacy, and dies for it.
Am I to be shouted at like a dog? wondered the subedar. There were three bullets left in his revolver. He fired them all, watching without pity as the man collapsed by his car, his shirt stained red. .
Part One begins, still in 1942, but in New Zealand, where the young Peter Hayes is playing war games with Barry, 'a natural leader' Peter is trying to impress. The 'Japanese' are the local Marist boys on their way home from choir practice. The flawed logic for their battle, developed by Barry, is brilliant in the way that it conveys the terrible and apparently simple arguments for any kind of prejudice and the apathy or willing blindness to its wrongness that supports it:
After all (he said) it was a known fact that Catholics obeyed the Pope - who was Italian. That Italy, Germany and Japan were the enemy was a known fact, too (Barry said). And Barry's family had been bombed out when the Germans flattened Belfast; his granny and sister dead in the ruins of Cromwell Road. And (he said) the Irish Catholics had made that happen because they took their orders from the Pope and Hitler - and weren't the IRA blowing up public lavatories in London? So it was alright to pretend the Catholics were Japanese so they would be ready if the invasion came.
Peter thought there were some flaws in Barry's argument, but did not point this out.
The second chapter begins the narrative of Ng, a fourteen year old Malaysian boy who is fighting a very real battle in the jungle of Malaya, staying alive by joining the communists who are battling the Imperialists. This is a stark contrast to the previous chapter, where the game of war is ended with the sharing of humbugs behind the Presbytarian church.
Silence, then dark figures advancing warily out of the black afternoon shadows; men and women, Malay, Chinese, and Tamil, dressed in an assortment of tattered clothing. As they picked up the rifles and ammunition pouches from the crumpled bodies, one man walked up to Ng. He was Chinese, short and thickset, with heavy, strong features, and he wore a ragged army shirt and patched baggy shorts. He had a British Army belt and revolver, a sandal on one foot and a two-toed Japanese boot on the other.
He looked down at the quivering Eurasian, then gestured to Ng to get up. 'Why did the patrol stop you?'
Northern Malay-Chinese, Hakku perhaps, thought Ng. There was a dull splashing sound behind them as the bodies were thrown into the paddy.
Ng is forced to follow a leader, in a very different way to Peter, 'Chengsai, the ironwood tree, hard enough to defy even the voracious white ants: a good nickname for a tough leader. Chengsai might be a Communist, but Ng had already decided what to do, even though his father would not have approved. So he followed Ahmed into the dark, humid forest.
As might be expected, Ng and Peter's stories follow a trajectory that finds them both on opposite sides of the 1948 - 1954 Malayan 'Emergency' - the colonialist term for this war. There is an inevitability to each story that means that the reader does not take sides. Both characters are drawn with strengths and faults, and are products of their heritage.
The complications of war became a barrier for me, but I suspect would not be so much of an issue for those readers who find the strategy and battle of war good plot narrative. Also, I know very little about this conflict and the factions involved, so this became confusing for me as well.
The biggest barrier for me was that I did not like Peter as a character, at all. So, I didn't really care about his story. There were confusing elements that were probably supposed to show a more sensitive side to his nature, such as his love of poetry and drawing - but they never really contributed to who he was. They were very much side issues which had to be drawn to our attention every now and then.
As for Ng, he never allowed us to really know him. Appropriately for the plot, Ng had to be a little chameleon-like, to survive. And, although he had some great moments in the story, we only ever got to watch him, rather than become acquainted with him.
I read this book just over a week ago, and left writing a review about it because I hoped that it would reveal more to me as I thought it through. There are some very good elements to this book, and it is well constructed and well written. For me, it was not engaging, but I think there are many people that would find it engaging. I have put some links below to other reviews that perhaps have more connection to this book.
NZ Boooksellers Review
Bobs Books
June 28, 2019
Finally finished this. Great for readers who want to know the intricacies and personal impact of war. The book was really slow until about half way through. Lots of backstory, but it is relevant later.
November 27, 2019
The cover looked like a fantasy novel. The tagline said: when the fates go to battle. Adding to the first impression that this was a spec fic novel. It's not.
It's YA and it's a complex story of entwined destinies: Peter Hayes, a soldier from New Zealand, and Ng, a Malaysian boy who through privation and circumstance becomes a fierce and dedicated guerilla fighter. Between them looms the long and enigmatic shadow of Geoffrey Staples, a British officer who has been sent into the jungles of Malaysia.
The year is 1948 and the Communist advance in South-East Asia has brought down an allied force drawn from the British Commonwealth to battle the terrorist insurgency. The war is fierce, full of treachery and excessively violent.
Peter and Ng cross paths and strike up an unlikely friendship. And suddenly, the black-and-white of who is the good guy and who the bad is no longer clear. Who can be trusted? Who is honourable? Who truly wants peace? Is this really a fight for freedom? Who is benefiting by the sacrifice of lives and toil and blood? Who will survive the conflict?
It's YA and it's a complex story of entwined destinies: Peter Hayes, a soldier from New Zealand, and Ng, a Malaysian boy who through privation and circumstance becomes a fierce and dedicated guerilla fighter. Between them looms the long and enigmatic shadow of Geoffrey Staples, a British officer who has been sent into the jungles of Malaysia.
The year is 1948 and the Communist advance in South-East Asia has brought down an allied force drawn from the British Commonwealth to battle the terrorist insurgency. The war is fierce, full of treachery and excessively violent.
Peter and Ng cross paths and strike up an unlikely friendship. And suddenly, the black-and-white of who is the good guy and who the bad is no longer clear. Who can be trusted? Who is honourable? Who truly wants peace? Is this really a fight for freedom? Who is benefiting by the sacrifice of lives and toil and blood? Who will survive the conflict?
April 11, 2015
This is really a 3.5 review and I wanted to like it more than I did, but something about this novel left me flat. It never really got going until the very end. The writing was solid and it is a well-told story, but there were simply too many characters, and none of them explored with much depth.
It is a great starter book for middle school kids in the war genre, but misses the weight that some more adult oriented books can deliver. If you like this try The Thing Red Line and The Naked and the Dead.
If you are interested in post WWII Singapore and Malaysia, I would recommend this book. Or if you just want to try something different.
Although, I didn't love this one, it is worth your time and good fiber for your reading diet. Also, check out Mr. Tymns review more a more positive review.
It is a great starter book for middle school kids in the war genre, but misses the weight that some more adult oriented books can deliver. If you like this try The Thing Red Line and The Naked and the Dead.
If you are interested in post WWII Singapore and Malaysia, I would recommend this book. Or if you just want to try something different.
Although, I didn't love this one, it is worth your time and good fiber for your reading diet. Also, check out Mr. Tymns review more a more positive review.
July 31, 2016
This book was such a good read. It so vividly describes each and every scene and is filled with the doubts and thoughts of Ng and Peter. Ken Catran has done such a good job of weaving together the two characters' perspectives after they meet, and although I found it a bit hard to follow up with the plot in the first few pages of the book, my ambiguity was replaced by clarity and I was able to keep up with the story.
October 29, 2012
Beautifully written. It would have scored more but I waited in vain for a fantasy twist in the story. This is the first book by Catran that I have read. I will definitely check out more books by this author.
Read
April 23, 2015WWII & beyond - in Malaya and Singapore - a Chinese Malay boy and a young New Zealand soldier must decide for themselves which side to fight on. (NZ)
Read
August 11, 2016Interesting
April 10, 2016
It is a good book, but slows down in the last few bits, then speeds up in the very end.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews