Akela

by Ben Goodridge

Legend has it that when the first humans evolved, the Ambimorphs were already there, first as our protectors, and then our teachers. Over the centuries we've created separate worlds on the same planet. Every once in a while, those worlds collide.

Akela is a leader among the Ambimorphs, a great teacher of their songs, and the keeper of a prophecy that foretells the sunset of the human race. When a deal with the wrong side goes bad, he wakes up in the desert to find that he's lost three years of his life, his family has been taken by humans, and his community has scattered. With his people on the brink, Akela is offered a fatal choice: he can reclaim his family and save his people, but only at the cost of his heritage and history.

It's Akela's job to protect them, whether they want him to or not.

288 pages, Paperback

Published February 22, 2019

About the author

While all the other kids in my class wanted to be rock stars, I wanted to be Jessica Fletcher from "Murder, She Wrote." Besides, I could only play keyboards, and there was no such thing as a sexy keyboardist. Still, this was the 1980s. Your mileage may vary.

My first story was published in 1993. My second story was...much better. I've published a bunch of short stories and a couple of novels since then, and I can still play several Duran Duran songs on the piano.

Reviews

[Jako Malan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Akela is a novel set at the intersection of societies, but the world Goodridge has created feels much, much larger than even this. The Animorphs - even more so than the Aborigines and First Peoples - have developed an intimate relationship with the land we’ve colonised and claimed as our own. They have seen civilizations come and go and their songs will forever remind them of the transient nature of life.

The California Consortium follows the narrative that Animorphs should be domesticated for the survival of modern man. This is alarmingly reminiscent of the Aborigional Integration policies applied in Australia, not too long ago. This and other issues provoke thought without resorting to excessive violence or sentimentality. Intentions are blurred and one cannot help but wonder. Akela feels relevant to our world - even without the presence of Animorphs.

An overarching theme is the resilience of native peoples to find their own way of survival and integration - at their own pace and on their own terms - to the toxic world we have created around them.

The only criticism of this piece is that readers who want to dive right into the action might find the pace in the first half of the book a bit slow. There is a lot of necessary world-building and character exploration. It is, however, done in an interesting manner so it is never boring and the investment is worth it in the end.

Whereas “The White Crusade” left me wanting, Goodridge is right back on form with this offering. Akela is an amazing book and comes highly recommended. The world is larger than life, the characters are relatable and the issues it raises are topical without being preachy. It is a world that begs further exploration.

[Lupin Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a jewel. It's not just a "furry novel"; it is a good NOVEL, period. The prose is exquisite and poetic; the main character is multi-layered, complex and beautiful in his flaws; it quotes frigging Milton.

"Jimmy was a Bushchild. The Eastern Bushchildren were tall and lean, and Jimmy had meticulous bronze-colored fur and fiery, golden eyes. His mane was long and flowing. Akela thought he looked like an angel. (...)
Akela rose, suspicious. Jimmy put out a paw, but Akela didn’t take it—not to be rude, but to keep from staining the angel with his grubby grip. A nearly-forgotten fragment of Milton ran through his head: “Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely, and pined his loss.” Jimmy was too beautiful for a crawling maggot like him to touch. (...)
That night, they lay side by side in Akela’s den. He’d chosen a place that was small and well-defended. One almost had to be on top of them to see them. As Jimmy slept, Akela held him, and in holding him felt lonelier than ever. He heard a heartbeat that wasn’t his. He inhaled the scent of fur that didn’t belong to him. He listened to the even breathing of a Bushchild at peace. I could have this, he thought. I could follow him, and be with other people, every day. I could talk to them. Walk with them. Lie with them on cold nights, sing with them to while away the heat of the day. He’d been lonely a long time, hadn’t noticed the loneliness in his grief, and had wound up feeling sorry for himself. Having a pack would have made rough living a lot more tolerable, but he’d neglected himself these past few years. This wasn’t mourning. It was stagnation.
As he rested, he felt his loneliness ebb. It was like the stars emerging from behind the clouds, water flowing through a dry riverbed, the sound of thunder on a silent night."

More than anything, though, this book oozes maturity and wisdom. The characters in this book have lived long lifes and have things to say about it. No other book deserves a Leo Award more this year.
My only gripe with it is the structure seems a bit too untidy, introducing characters at the beginning only to never use them again (Kip), introducing main characters in the final pages (Merc, Danny and Rollie), ending a character's role by sending them into the sunset only to make them appear again after two chapters for a new epilogue (Powers) and an overall confusing final chapter that feels needless and ruins some of the feeling of brilliance you had been reading.
Despite all this, I was overjoyed to have read this book.

[J.F.R. Coates · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable read with a good voice - Ben Goodridge certainly captures the Australian nature of many of these characters (though I believe the repeated use of one particular word comes from a lack of understanding about how that word is perceived in this country).
A few characters came and went from the story quite suddenly - to the extent that Akela himself barely seemed to be the main character initially. It would have been nice to see some of these characters again, especially Kip, but the strength of Akela's character did help to move on from those left behind by the story.

A few short stories at the end helped to contextualise the conclusion to the story and give a little update on how it all ended. These shorts at the end were actually some of my favourite parts.