First
thing’s first. I thought this would be a horror story and I was a little
hesitant and I started reading it, only after assurance from the author that it
was only a little scary, but after that it was just ‘light hearted fantasy’. :)
SA Hunt’s
‘The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree’ is a slightly ambiguous book. Or maybe I should
say the second half, of it is. It begins with the protagonist, Ross Brigham
returning from active military service. He arrives only to discover that he
only has his home left but his wife and dog, long gone.
He is
coming to terms with that when he learns of the fact that his estranged father,
Ed has died. He goes to the funeral of a man, who was an author and has a lot
of fans. The effect of his father’s writing was a different story altogether.
Ross, who was almost never close to Ed now, has a new task at hand. He is meant
to take over the writing of Ed’s fantasy series.
Ross, at
the funeral becomes friends with two of his father’s biggest fans, Sawyer and
Noreen, who offer to help him finish the book, since they know a lot more about
the books. Ross who has no idea of what the book truly contains agrees, after
some pushing.
The story
moves forward with Ross, who ends up at his father’s home and comes face to
face, with what he thinks is a demon and it leads him to a place in a church. Till
now, the part was brilliant writing. Hunt manages to grasp your interest, and
leads us on into another world.
Ross, who
is dependent on Sawyer and Noreen’s version of the fantasy series, finds himself
in another fantastical world, where there are people alright, but they have
their own version of events, weapons, and creatures. Ross is caught between
worlds, times, and also the love story of Sawyer and Noreen, and the numerous characters
including what Hunt terms as the non-humans and also his father and brother in
the alternate world. Wow, I told you they were a lot of them.
It’s
fascinating, but still lacks the clarity, which I felt should have completed it.
There is a second part to this story, and am sure I will read it because of a
thing called curiosity. Hunt manages to have me kind of hooked on to the murder
mystery, plus fantasy.
I felt
however, that he went a little overboard with the other world. I did not find
it as brilliant as I thought it would be, going by the first part. Hunt does
have the talent, he manages to grasp the reader at his lowest, but he does not manage
to hold on to him.
If you
can have no expectations, then you will be in an absolutely strange world, and
come back safe. Hunt does have a sense of the surreal, and he runs away with
it, I felt. It depends on you as the reader, to read about this book in a book.
You should have the little patience and must be willing to go with it if you want to enjoy it.
Author: S.A Hunt
Genre: Fiction (Paperback, Import)
Price: Rs 1,060
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