Gool is the sequel to ' Salt'. Sixteen years have passed since Pearl from Company and Hari from Blood Burrow defeated the tyrant Ottmar. Now their children, Xantee and Lo, face an even more dangerous foe. Hari lies dangerously ill with a fragment of a strange creature wrapped around his throat, draining his life. The beast is called gool, meaning Unbelonger. It is one of many, destroying the mountains and jungles of the world. Somewhere a hidden mother nourishes her gool brood - the children must find and destroy her to save Hari and the world they know. Xantee and Lo, accompanied by Duro, a brave and practical youth who is also a 'speaker', set out on a dangerous mission that takes them through jungles and over mountains to the ruined city, and on to Ceebeedee, where a terrifying clash with the cruel rival leaders and lurking gool awaits them.

About the Author

Maurice Gee is one of New Zealand's best-known writers, for both adults and children. He has won a number of literary awards, including the Wattie Award (twice), the Montana Award, and the New Zealand Fiction Award (four times). He has also won the New Zealand Children's Book of the Year Award.

Reviews

Gr 7 Up-Gee begins the action immediately with Hari, the hero of Salt (Orca, 2009), being attacked by a creature from beyond this world. While he and the children with him escape, a part of the thing remains attached to his throat, slowly killing him despite everyone's efforts to remove it. Xantee and Lo, Hari's children, learn that this thing is a "gool" and that only if its mother is killed will the rest of it die. The only clue to annihilating it is an ancient story that told of a red star and a white star that must be destroyed first. Xantee, Lo, and Duro travel to the city that once was Belong in order to search for a book that might give the story in full and thus tell them what they must do. To get there, they rely on the help of "the people with no name" who dwell, unseen, in the jungles and on the Dog King, Hari's father. While Gool is nominally the second book in the trilogy and includes many characters from that story, it stands on its own nicely. Gee has done a terrific job of describing his world, giving life to his heroines and heroes while making their foes truly frightening. This is fine speculative fiction, accessible to readers of horror, fantasy, or science fiction and worth a look by anyone who enjoys adventure that doesn't trod the usual paths.-Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.