The Sileku

by Zharel Anger

The most feared warrior of her day and the favored prodigy of the legendary Tana was paradoxically called Karateni, a name that translates to “Delicate Love.” She believed that none were more blessed or fulfilled as she until her life was upended beneath the force of a great deluge, losing her lover, military commission, and even the respect of her own tribe. A budding civilization is pressured by a myriad of disasters brought on by a rapidly warming climate. The resulting floods and rising seas force desperate human migration into pastoral lands, already stressed by extreme weather patterns that have decreased yields and have thrown the harvest cycles into disorder. What can one individual do against such chaos, rage, and destruction? Despite her downfall, Karateni takes on the challenge to salvage some worth for the lives callously assaulted by both humanity and the planet itself.

309 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 3, 2018

Reviews

[Wendy Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me take you back to 6200BCE. We’re in northern France. Karateni is the main character of the book. She is the favourite prodigy of Tana. Karateni’s story was written by her brother Lewo-Dewjo on clay tablets in a mixture of two language groups; one a pre-cursor to Proto-Celtic and the other, a collection of insular languages called Wildling. The story of The Sileku is told in ‘human’ with Wildling words in the glossary.

Karateni is an extraordinary woman, silver haired and blue eyed and of slight build, but with the strength, fearlessness and strategic know-how of a great warrior. Through the book, the reader follows her facing personal battles, as well as physical ones, and we admire her courage and strength as she travels to a new land with her brother, to seek help for a peaceful tribe who need a new place to call home.

The writing is lyrical and descriptive, painting pictures of the lands Karateni and Lewo-Dewjo travel and the people they meet on the way. Descriptions of land and sea are stunning, transporting the reader from fruit laden orchards to the wildest, stormiest seas and back again. The writing is magical, emphasising the majesty and awesomeness of nature, and the interactive part humans play in the natural world.

This book is a keeper, and I look forward to more stories by this author, including ‘The Life of Tana’, the greatest warrior who ever lived whose name means ‘Strong Life’.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother made me read this, but I liked it. As with all of Anger's animal characters, the horse was amazing and realistic. I liked the inclusion of Jak. I would like to see more stories with Jak in them.

[Monica Spanke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The child from the Life of Tana has grown up and faces her own challenges in this beautifully written and uplifting work. Karateni is wonderfully flawed and compelling. The way that mental illness is handled in this work is both realistic and sensitive.