Alone on a desert island — everything and everyone he knows and loves has been washed away in a storm — Mau is the last surviving member of his nation. He’s completely alone — or so he thinks until he finds the ghost girl. She has no toes, wears strange lacy trousers like the grandfather bird, and gives him a stick that can make fire. Daphne, sole survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy, almost immediately regrets trying to shoot the native boy. Thank goodness the powder was wet and the gun only produced a spark. She’s certain her father, distant cousin of the Royal family, will come and rescue her but it seems, for now, that all she has for company is the boy and the foul-mouthed ship’s parrot, until other survivors arrive to take refuge on the island. Together, Mau and Daphne discover some remarkable things (including how to milk a pig, and why spitting in beer is a good thing), and start to forge a new nation. Encompassing themes of death and nationhood, Terry Pratchett’s new novel is, as can be expected, extremely funny, witty and wise. Mau’s ancestors have something to teach us all. Mau just wishes they would shut up about it and let him get on with saving everyone’s lives!
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0Nation is one of those young adult books that I think could be a bit difficult to sell. It has multiple levels that make it more of a complicated and slow burn kind of read. That's not to say it isn't wonderful, it's just not going to be for everyone.
The most basic level of the story is about two kids stranded on an island after a massive tidal wave wrecks both their worlds. Mau is an islander who belongs to the Nation, a tribe that is swept away by the wave. This leaves him alone and with nothing and no one to belong to and completely unsure if the gods he's spent his life praying to are really even there at all. Daphne is a young girl from a colonial empire whose ship wrecks on the island and strands her there. As other survivors begin to gather on the island, Mau and Daphne have to find a way to function in a new and very different world from all that they had previously experienced and lead this rag-tag group in a fight for survival.
Pratchett mixes humor with serious contemplation on death, life, gods and belief in a way that is fascinating but also very cerebral. There's some action in the story but a lot of the writing is really more about how Mau and Daphne come to terms with the situation they are in and how this changes the ways in which they view the world. It's very philosophical as well as being well written and entertaining (the humor is as wonderful as usual for Pratchett) so if you have a teen (or an adult) that is into philosophical speculation, it would be a good recommendation. I'm a sucker for anything Pratchett writes so I very much enjoyed it!
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