KIDLIT :: Cuckoo’s Flight :: Wendy Orr

If she had stayed to load the kiln as she should have, she’d never have seen the ship. Mama said the ship still would have been there, so everything had to happen the way it did. But that’s not true. Clio saw it, and the world changed.
When a raiders’ ship appears off the coast, the goddess demands an unthinkable price to save the town – and Clio’s grandmother creates a sacred statue to save Clio’s life.
But Clio is torn between the demands of guarding the statue and caring for her beloved horses. Disabled in an accident, she must try to put aside her own grief at no longer being able to ride – and in the process, save a friend’s life and stop a war.

Cuckoo’s Flight is an engaging story about adventure and friendship. I found this one really full of heart – Orr does a fantastic job of getting us inside the mind of main protagonist Clio, and I loved experiencing the story adventure through her eyes.

The style of writing in the book is a bit different to anything I’ve read before – Orr uses a combination of prose and passages of narrative poetry. It took me a few pages to get used to the poetry, but once I got into the flow of it I felt like it really added to the reading experience. The verses of poetry almost feel like stream of consciousness, and something about this made those passages feel more intimate, and sometimes more urgent.

This was the first book I have read by Orr. She has written two other Bronze Age Adventures – Dragonfly Song and Swallow’s Dance – which I get the impression sit with this one as companions, rather than them necessarily needing to be read in chronological order (although I image that would help with building the backstory of some of the characters we meet in this one). In any case, I have added those ones to my tbr!

Big thanks to Allen & Unwin for sending a free copy for me to read and review.

xo Bron

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Cuckoo’s Flight by Wendy Orr
Out now from Allen & Unwin
Source: Sent to me by the publisher (thank you!). All views are my own.
Format: Paperback, 266 pages

Find Wendy Orr online here.