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A review by katykelly
Landfalls by Naomi J. Williams
5.0
Utterly engaging historical account of a sea voyage.
It took a little while to settle to the change in narrator, but I loved the period from the get-go, the unfolding story of an exploratory sea voyage to surpass previous famous voyagers (Cook) and fill in maps in a time of discovery and enlightenment.
In a series of connected but not always sequential chapters, we see the preparations for the years-long voyage, life on board ship, storms, accidents, contact with native peoples, wrecks, and the voyagers (and their families) in the years after they first set sail.
Each chapter asks you to start from scratch and see the voyage from a new perspective, some characters are more likeable than others, more trustworthy and sometimes a new account backs up a previous one, or shows their narration to be unreliable. The picture builds of the hardships, camaraderie, dangers and adventures they undergo.
And their adventures are amazing. The world is such a different one, so much still unknown to these men, with communication and travel a world and several centuries away - it's an education seeing our small-seeming planet through their eyes.
I absolutely loved it. The fate of many characters is tragic, deaths at sea regular and brutal, some escapades taking several chapters and narrators to give us the full picture. Cleverly done.
This surprised me when I learned partway through (reading the notes at the end) that this is an account based on a real-life voyage and persons. It only made it all the more intriguing and astonishing, putting myself in the mindset of these intrepid explorers.
Fictionalised true account, and one that is beautifully conveyed. A superb way of accessing the past, and a very talented new writer. This was recommended to me and is one I won't hesitate to recommend to others.
It took a little while to settle to the change in narrator, but I loved the period from the get-go, the unfolding story of an exploratory sea voyage to surpass previous famous voyagers (Cook) and fill in maps in a time of discovery and enlightenment.
In a series of connected but not always sequential chapters, we see the preparations for the years-long voyage, life on board ship, storms, accidents, contact with native peoples, wrecks, and the voyagers (and their families) in the years after they first set sail.
Each chapter asks you to start from scratch and see the voyage from a new perspective, some characters are more likeable than others, more trustworthy and sometimes a new account backs up a previous one, or shows their narration to be unreliable. The picture builds of the hardships, camaraderie, dangers and adventures they undergo.
And their adventures are amazing. The world is such a different one, so much still unknown to these men, with communication and travel a world and several centuries away - it's an education seeing our small-seeming planet through their eyes.
I absolutely loved it. The fate of many characters is tragic, deaths at sea regular and brutal, some escapades taking several chapters and narrators to give us the full picture. Cleverly done.
This surprised me when I learned partway through (reading the notes at the end) that this is an account based on a real-life voyage and persons. It only made it all the more intriguing and astonishing, putting myself in the mindset of these intrepid explorers.
Fictionalised true account, and one that is beautifully conveyed. A superb way of accessing the past, and a very talented new writer. This was recommended to me and is one I won't hesitate to recommend to others.