posted on 15 Sep 2016

Stormwalker by Mike Revell

This interesting novel covers several ambitious themes and kept my attention right up to the last page. As ever, I am reluctant to give away too much of the plot but think that I can tell you that all comes right in the end despite some precarious moments for the young protagonist, Owen Smith ( an unfortunate choice of name perhaps) living in Cambridge whose main motivation is to help his dad get back on track after a rocky first year of not coping with the death of his wife from leukaemia

Writing about caring for parents with depression seems to be more of a common subject in children's books lately, or perhaps I am just selecting them to read? In my view this is a welcome theme so long as it does not overwhelm the story. It must be very difficult to avoid this, particularly as it must be so all consuming as a real experience. Mike Revell manages the dilemma pretty well as Owen appears to be a sensitive but quite resilient young boy who loves football who with his best friend Danny has the ultimate dream of being selected by the academy talent scouts. All this becomes less likely to happen as he is pitched into a frightening adventure that involves him mysteriously disappearing for days into a parallel world, often preventing him from playing football.

His father is a children's author who has been unable to write anything for a long time due to his grief. Owen eventually encourages him to start seeing a counsellor who persuades him that beginning to write again would be cathartic. And here the troubles begin because dad follows the advice with some enthusiasm and tells his son that ' the hero is a lot like you'. In fact it appears that the hero is him, although his fictional name is Jack, and so Owen is physically drawn away from the real world into his fathers new story every time he spends time writing it:

'It felt like I was two people. Two sets of thoughts, two lives wrapped up in one body'

The fictional story is certainly not a happy one set in a dystopian future where a terrible sinister storm known as the Darkness looms over Cambridge and threatens everything in its path. 

He is being trained to be a Stormwalker who with others can learn to take control of the storm and re establish communication with families who have been left behind in the devastated city. Throughout there is some impressive descriptive writing to paint a convincing picture of this dark and dangerous world where Jack becomes gradually aware of his fictional back story and his despair at making contact with his fictional father again. There are also some light touches to provide some texture and there is a funny scene where I was reminded of the Woody Allen film Sleeper as he tries to explain to his teacher and classmates what exactly is the true purpose of tiddlywinks counters that they have discovered - he is not believed!

It soon becomes clear that the Darkness is also a metaphor for Owen's own memory of his mother's last few months that he has been trying not to think about. So as he tries to make difficult decisions in the fictional world he learns to face his own real demons.

This is Mike Revell's second very enjoyable novel for children packed with unusual adventures but this time tempered with reflective moments where we glimpse the painful gap left by the death of somebody important. The very close relationship between the motherless boy and his dad reminded me of a similar one in Danny the Champion of the World. I happen to know that this young author is a huge Roald Dahl fan and I suggest that this obvious literary influence is an excellent omen for future stories.

Karen Argent

September 2016