Page 45 Review by Stephen
Delicious!
Even the covers to these FOUR POINTS Young Adult graphic novels are providing some thrilling sequential-art narrative with the identical twins now firmly set sail, for most of book two sees them at sea - though a lot less confused about their true, biological parentage.
COMPASS SOUTH was packed. It was fast, furious and reactive, its cover conveying both energy and urgency as Cleo and Alex escaped across America while attempting to elude the multiple factions intent on tracking them down, hampering their progress and taking what little they have left, while consequent repercussions conspired to keep them apart.
Cleverly, Rebecca Mock enables you to tell the two individuals apart through one of them wearing a waistcoat, and it's Cleo.
COMPASS SOUTH began in Manhattan, 1848, with the twins being bequeathed to a man, Mr. Dodge, by their mother whom he once loved and in all probability still does. Alas, he'd been parted from Hester for a span of five years. They are not his, but he had no hesitation in adopting the babes even though his own prospects were small and he had to travel in order to provide. The stranger also bore two objects from which, Dodge was told, they must never be parted: a pen-knife and a compass.
But in 1860 Mr. Dodge had failed to return from his most recent travels and wind of what he'd inherited had reached ruthless pirate Felix Worley who had known Alex and Cleo's mother, Hester, all too well.
Finally the two twelve-year-olds will discover why Dodge failed to return at their key moment in their lives, who Hester really was and what became of their father, as well as the true purpose of that pen-knife and compass.
They'll also discover why Worley wants what is now theirs and why he's being so tenacious about it. Everyone has a childhood, you know; some are bleaker than others.
As with Vaughan and Chiang's PAPER GIRLS, a second instalment reveals a certain structure by its conclusion, but just as I didn't give away COMPASS SOUTH's, so there'll be no spoilers here - for either volume.
KNIFE'S EDGE is a much brighter, more spacious affair with a lot more open, ocean sky and a lot less confinement below decks to cargo holds. Alex and Cleo are now comparatively in command of their own destinies, even if they need Captain Tarboro and his galleon The Almira to steer them in the right direction. For that Alex will have to agree to take Tarboro's direction to begin at the bottom, swabbing decks, while Cleo resents being assigned to the cook as a girl and is determined to take what she considers far more practical and potentially life-saving instruction from the Captain on sword-fighting.
It rankles still further when, at a vital moment, Alex is handed a sword without any training simply because he is the lad. Cleo wouldn't have survived so far if she hadn't proved perfectly capable of looking after herself. She has grown a lot given that which they have so far endured, and no one is noticing, so there will be tensions, complicated further by the return of... well, quite a few unexpected personages from their past. As I've said before, words unsaid are pretty powerful.
Their first stop for supplies is Honolulu, Hawaii, with its submerged reefs, virtually invisible but for the small, gentle breakers, requiring some unusual assistance in navigating. The island itself won't be easy to negotiate without causing trouble.
Thence it's the Marshall Islands which Captain Tarboro has had prior experience with, well aware to his cost that the inhabitants are hostile and its seas swarming with sharks. There too lurk reefs...
You've lots of the lush to look forward to, all lit to time-specific perfection, and plenty of action too once the puzzles start being solved. Picking up speed will require some extreme measures, while lessons learned early on will prove vital but not necessarily completely successful.
There are some terrific aerial and subaquatic shots and one full-page panel in particular at the end of chapter two had me staring at it for ages, wondering why is was so particularly effective: it managed to be both dramatic and intimate whilst set at a remove.
Lastly, the importance of the oral tradition is explored (see MEZOLITH), once more set up in advance so that when it comes into its own we are reminded that stories, when passed along, do have a way of travelling very long distances indeed.
I do wish I could reveal this book's punchline!
