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Shadow Waters
After a devastating pandemic, Hoheria and Kevin travel through a decimated landscape to fulfil a promise. What they discover is a world where myth has become real. As long-dormant evil spirits increase their power with terrifying consequences, Hoheria and Kevin must face them in a battle for survial. Shadow Waters sweeps the reader into the future and deep past, invoking old magic, strong friendships, and hope for a new life.
- GenresFictionYoung Adult
178 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 8, 2017
Shadow Waters is set in a post-apocalyptic New Zealand, where a plague has killed off most of the population and mysterious forces from Maori mythology have awakened. Sounds like a great read. The post-apocalyptic genre will always resonate with anyone born in the shadow of the bomb, and the Polynesian mythos is underused in literature, so it's always entertaining to see what beasties lurked in the dark corners of the Pacific.
Unfortunately the book is just plain bad.
The post-apocalyptic aspect of the novel is just window dressing, only really present in the prologue and epilogue. All the standard hallmarks of the genre -- the struggle for survival, societies rebuilding, the aftershocks of the end -- are missing. The world of Shadow Waters, when stripped of its mystical elements, is really just a slightly more lawless rural New Zealand. The characters never have to worry about food, water, or supplies. There are thriving societies everywhere they go, most of which are friendly. The author mentions unburied corpses a few times, but that just comes across as another of the books incongruities -- how long ago was the Fever, and why didn't the dead decay? Perhaps this is an intentional message, about how rural New Zealand would get along just fine if the cities snuffed it, but that is never developed either. It feels like the author just added it because it seemed cool. That is a pattern throughout the book.
As a mystical tale about the horrors of Maori myth coming to life, the book is not much better. There are a few cool bits, like the idea that time is "nature's way of making sure everything doesn't happen at once". However, that is never developed. The character that raises it immediately dismisses it as not important so as to not distract us from the plot. We could do well to be distracted from the plot, given the holes, loose ends, and inconsistencies. Most annoying of all is the rate at which the author raises and forgets about what seem to be important plot points. Sean has some seed, presumably magical, that he doesn't do anything with. Kevin goes into trances which allow him to communicate with some mystical beings at the start of the book, but that has no bearing on anything later on. The Ponaturi are afraid of lavender for some reason, except when they're not, except when they are, except when they're not. Not need to worry about that, because that is dropped halfway through the book anyway. Sometimes the monsters possess people, sometimes they attack in person, sometimes they kill, sometimes they feed on emotions (except when they don't, of course), sometimes they can be hurt and others they can't. Several characters develop unspecified magical powers which involve blue/white flame, for no other reason than it looks cool presumably, which they can only use when they think of love except the times when they can only use it when they get angry. The day is saved by a Taniwha who sometimes helps, sometimes doesn't, presumably because he is busy visiting his cuzzes in Nagaland.
It seems to me that the author intended pathos to play a central role in the book, as seen from the hints of rape and murder in the characters' pasts, but he doesn't make us care about any of the characters. They don't feel real in their reactions, or lack thereof, to the world around them. At times they are perfectly okay with magic being a part of their world, others they seem to forget it exists. The early chapters play up Sean to be some all-important character that Kevin and Hoheria must find, but when they do he doesn't really do anything and we soon forget about him. Many extras are introduced, named, and then dropped from the narrative. Maybe they resurface again, I don't know, I soon stopped reading about names that weren't Hoheria, Kevin or Paki as they seemed to be the only characters who seemed to do anything.
Unfortunately the book is just plain bad.
The post-apocalyptic aspect of the novel is just window dressing, only really present in the prologue and epilogue. All the standard hallmarks of the genre -- the struggle for survival, societies rebuilding, the aftershocks of the end -- are missing. The world of Shadow Waters, when stripped of its mystical elements, is really just a slightly more lawless rural New Zealand. The characters never have to worry about food, water, or supplies. There are thriving societies everywhere they go, most of which are friendly. The author mentions unburied corpses a few times, but that just comes across as another of the books incongruities -- how long ago was the Fever, and why didn't the dead decay? Perhaps this is an intentional message, about how rural New Zealand would get along just fine if the cities snuffed it, but that is never developed either. It feels like the author just added it because it seemed cool. That is a pattern throughout the book.
As a mystical tale about the horrors of Maori myth coming to life, the book is not much better. There are a few cool bits, like the idea that time is "nature's way of making sure everything doesn't happen at once". However, that is never developed. The character that raises it immediately dismisses it as not important so as to not distract us from the plot. We could do well to be distracted from the plot, given the holes, loose ends, and inconsistencies. Most annoying of all is the rate at which the author raises and forgets about what seem to be important plot points. Sean has some seed, presumably magical, that he doesn't do anything with. Kevin goes into trances which allow him to communicate with some mystical beings at the start of the book, but that has no bearing on anything later on. The Ponaturi are afraid of lavender for some reason, except when they're not, except when they are, except when they're not. Not need to worry about that, because that is dropped halfway through the book anyway. Sometimes the monsters possess people, sometimes they attack in person, sometimes they kill, sometimes they feed on emotions (except when they don't, of course), sometimes they can be hurt and others they can't. Several characters develop unspecified magical powers which involve blue/white flame, for no other reason than it looks cool presumably, which they can only use when they think of love except the times when they can only use it when they get angry. The day is saved by a Taniwha who sometimes helps, sometimes doesn't, presumably because he is busy visiting his cuzzes in Nagaland.
It seems to me that the author intended pathos to play a central role in the book, as seen from the hints of rape and murder in the characters' pasts, but he doesn't make us care about any of the characters. They don't feel real in their reactions, or lack thereof, to the world around them. At times they are perfectly okay with magic being a part of their world, others they seem to forget it exists. The early chapters play up Sean to be some all-important character that Kevin and Hoheria must find, but when they do he doesn't really do anything and we soon forget about him. Many extras are introduced, named, and then dropped from the narrative. Maybe they resurface again, I don't know, I soon stopped reading about names that weren't Hoheria, Kevin or Paki as they seemed to be the only characters who seemed to do anything.
June 11, 2013
Chris Baker has interesting ideas – futuristic speculative fiction set in a post-apocalyptic Aotearoa where disease has wiped out most of the population. I enjoyed his first novel Kokopu Dreams more than this one though. The writing was at times rather pedestrian and stilted, too many characters, and it took ages to get into the real crux of the story.
The spiritual and fantasy elements were imaginative but not developed or conveyed in a believable way.
Ultimately this needed quite a bit more work on it before publishing. I was sad to hear recently though that Chris has died.
The spiritual and fantasy elements were imaginative but not developed or conveyed in a believable way.
Ultimately this needed quite a bit more work on it before publishing. I was sad to hear recently though that Chris has died.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews