Children’s fantasies are meant to take the reader on an adventure in a new world where they learn lessons that are applicable to ordinary life. K. S. R. Kingworth does exactly this in
Secret Speakers and the Search for Selador’s Gate.
Liver is a Secret Speaker, a small being of light that lives in the throats of hoomins, a race that inhabits our world but is invisible to us. Liver, however, is not a typical Secret Speaker. Most Secret Speakers are assigned to a single hoomin, but Liver is only the third one assigned to an era.
Because Secret Speakers have to latch onto a hoomin, Liver is sent to reside in Fair O’Nelli, a wee hoomin who is about to reach her thirteenth birthday and thus become an adult hoomin. After her brother and father were captured and presumed killed, Fair’s mother locked her in the cellar to protect her from the leader of Cloven Grave, Harold King, who rounded up all the wee hoomin Fair’s age to prevent the fruition of a prophecy that he would be overturned.
At Fair’s birthday party, she learns she is more than just a plain hoomin – she is destined to free the residents of Cloven Grave from Harold King’s rule. To do so, though, she must pass through many gates and find Selador’s Gate, the gate that will lead her people back to the world they come from. Harold King, though, will stop at nothing to prevent this from happening, including taking her dog, Sauveren, and locking her up with the rest of the matternots, the wee hoomins he rounded up years ago, including her brother, Hale.
Fair has a wonderful strength of character that is needed in any good fantasy. Despite adversity, she always presses on to save her friends and meet her destiny. And this is not easy as her journey is fraught with twists and setbacks at every turn.
The unique and charming characters are the strong point in Secret Speakers and the Search for Selador’s Gate. The plot, however, while highly creative and imaginative, starts off rather complicated and meanders a little too much. There are also too many deus-ex-machina moments for any older fantasy fan. The world-building also suffered as some points were introduced either in too much depth too soon or not enough depth too late. Plus, the constant use of the word “hoomin” and “wee hoomin” got old quick – in the real world, we have plenty of synonyms for the words “human” and “child”.
Young fantasy fans will enjoy K. S. R. Kingworth’s imaginative new world. Older fantasy fans, however, will find Secret Speakers and the Search for Selador’s Gate both too simple and too complicated, often at the same time.
Book Stats:
- Paperback: 475 pages
- Publisher: Brigham Distributing (April 6, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0980130352
- ISBN-13: 978-0980130355
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