Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep 

Utterly Dark has never been afraid of the sea, unlike the rest of the population of Wildsea. For them, the sea is where the Gorm comes from, and why there should always be a Watcher. But who – or what –  is the Gorm? And who is Utterly, found washed up on the beach as a baby and raised by Andrew Dark, the Watcher?  When Mr Dark is found drowned, can Utterly take his place? Can she keep Wildsea safe from the sea?

The worlds created by Philip Reeve are real whether set in the past, or a dystopian landscape, or space traversed by singing trains. Here, Wildsea seems to be firmly rooted in a recognisable reality – a Hebridean island, perhaps – and yet the magic of imagination is embedded. As a result there are sea dragons, men made of kelp, a witch whose magic is tied to the land – and Utterly born of the sea and a mortal father.  However, this coming-of-age narrative takes fantasy seriously, exploring as it does identity and relationships, both between people and the natural world as well as between rational thinking and the imagination. The result is a richly immersive story that engages the reader from the first sentence to the final words in the company of captivating, resourceful young protagonists. The adult characters are more than ciphers too, but it is the sea that is the most important presence throughout; not a person, not a god, not even a monster – an element that can give and as easily take and should be ignored at one’s peril.  Reeve’s prose style is fluent, beautifully crafted and unpretentious, his descriptions apt and vivid, ‘Moonlight trickled over the sharp edges of the stone blade’, the dialogue natural and immediate.  In this novel with its subtle nod to the Selkie tales, Reeves once again takes his readers on a journey that provides enjoyment but also much food for thought, a very contemporary fantasy to be highly recommended to adventurous readers.