The Inferior: Peadar O. Guilin

Absolutely incredible. Peadar O Guilin gives us a relentless first novel with The Inferior. A richly crafted world of rival sentient species provides the backdrop for almost non-stop action, and the sequences where the story is progressed are so encaptivating with their depiction of man struggling to survive in an entirely predatory world that you don't even notice the lack of violence.

The Inferior follows Stopmouth, a stuttering hunter living in the shadow of his brother Wallbreaker. Without his brother's reputation in the tribe, Stopmouth would have been volunteered (traded to neighboring tribes for fresh flesh) long ago. But on the day of Wallbreaker's wedding, Stopmouth is betrayed by him and left for dead. And when a beautiful woman falls from the sky, it further drives a wedge of animosity between the brothers for the woman, Indrani, favors Stopmouth, but what Wallbreaker wants, he eventually gets.

And when Wallbreaker sends Stopmouth for a device that will give him the upper hand over the neighboring tribes, it's a suicide mission that Stopmouth must accept. Nobody really expects him to come back alive. But when he does and tries to flee the tribe with Indrani, Stopmouth will find that life in the tribe with a backstabbing brother is hard enough, but life away from the familiar, with all manner of new beats and tribes to defend against, can be downright deadly and much more unforgiving than a powermad brother.

O Guilin writes The Inferior with a purposely simple voice to symbolize the basic thought processes of the Man tribe. The names of the neighboring tribes - Hairbeast, Armourback, Flyer - are also simple, almost childlike, the way they would be if a simple species were to name them, and this lends a sense of credibility to the narrative while at the same time maintaining a perfect reading level for his young adult target audience. Even when elements of advanced technology are introduced the names and ideas are broken down into basic concepts and terms and keeps the book from ever getting ridiculous or asking you to abandon your sense of disbelief. Perfectly executed and solid enough that it doesn't have to rely on a twist in the story to make you enjoy the book. This is a cover-to-cover great read.

The entire time you're reading this struggle for survival, O Guilin is peppering the work with morals, social commentary and views on religion and politics. All are amazingly well underplayed and the captive audience is not taken advantage of, nor is the book used for the author's soapbox. I don't remember ever reading an author quite so subtle and for this I applaud him.

My words of warning though: this book is a story of survival. As such, it is dark and unfriendly and the reader will experience lots of bloody violence, brutality, cannibalism and even rape and allegorical drug use. This is not a problem in my eyes, but those out there with munchkins who might be picking this up should well be forewarned. Nothing is graphically described but a lot of people die. Seriously. Like I don't remember the last time this many people died that wasn't an "End of the World" novel. So if your kid might be susceptible to nightmares, pass this by till he's older. Truly, though, an exhilarating read, highly recommended and a incredible first novel in what is going to end up an incredible career.

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Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: David Fickling Books (June 10, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385751451
ISBN-13: 978-0385751452