Alex Adank reviews outdoors author and photographer Shaun Barnett’s middle grade novel
A dystopian novel, set in New Zealand, for kids?! That’s several boxes ticked for me, so it’s no surprise I was thoroughly hooked by the new middle-grade fiction from Shaun Barnett, Castle Grim.
A mega-pandemic, combined with the Great Quake has rendered Wellington a semi-lawless wasteland. Regions have formed their own governments, but there is little cooperation between these entities. Several decades have passed since the plague and the quake, but it’s still a dog-eat-dog world and resources are scarce. There is no central government, and the area around the Beehive has been transformed into the Walled City, a fortress ruled by the remaining city leaders who command The Guard, a police force who keep a tenuous sense of order.
Our protagonist is Herman, from Nelson, a region considered wealthy due to its abundance of food crops. His family plays a quietly instrumental role in the community: his father is a bookseller and aspiring librarian, his mother is quietly campaigning to support those in need in Wellington, and Uncle Charlie is a sea captain with ties to various leaders in the capital.
… all the tension and triumph of a Famous Five novel
When Herman stows away on a ship bound for Wellington with his father and uncle, he has no idea that he is about to become embroiled in a political plot far beyond his understanding . A ferocious storm knocks his father overboard, and his uncle makes the desperate decision to leave Herman at Castle Grim, a bleak orphanage-meets-fortress, while he heads back out on a rescue mission. Herman quickly becomes familiar with the terrifying siblings who run the orphanage, gets used to long days of forced labour and dreadful food, and makes fast friends with his fellow inmates, particularly the inimitable Polly.
What follows has all the elements of a great adventure story: run-ins with a pirate known as Raider, expeditions into the wildlands outside of the walled city, a dastardly plot to overthrow Wellington’s leadership, and a good old-fashioned sea-battle in treacherous waters. Herman is a down-to-earth, relatable character, whose comfortable life is disrupted when he realises not everyone has it so easy, and whose inner strength ultimately saves the day.
I particularly enjoyed the fully thought-through aspects of societal collapse, the descriptions of our native bush and plants (you can tell the author had a particular affinity with our landscape and outdoors), and the ‘what-would-you-do?’ questions that arise when faced with the loss of our most essential systems. I also really appreciated that despite having a vast cast of characters and at least three locations where the action is happening simultaneously, the narrative never became confused or too busy. Each scene fed seamlessly into the next, and the end sequence in particular had all the tension and triumph of a Famous Five novel.
Shaun Barnett was a long-time writer and editor of Wilderness and Backcountry magazines, and wrote and photographed many of his own books about hiking and exploring the wilderness of Aotearoa. This posthumously published tale is a rollicking adventure, which examines so many prescient issues: environmental collapse, human cooperation, how we care for those in need. Appealing to readers of dystopian fiction, but also adventure seekers of all stripes—the writing is propulsive and utterly enjoyable.
Grateful thanks to the Barnett family for seeing this into the world—I loved getting to know Shaun’s voice through this tenacious, timely tale, and know many young readers around Aotearoa will be drawn into this adventure, as I was!
Castle Grim
Shaun Barnett
Scholastic
$20.99
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