A beautifully illustrated coming-of-age tale about a boy who lives with his stone age tribe. Reality and mythology are mixed in his life to create something else, something that feels true though it couldn’t possibly be.
“Poika, at the heart of the world there is a cave and in that cave there are countless urgas, all sleeping… all dreaming… and when one dreams that a brother has been destroyed he wakes. Crawls into the world. Finds some humans and cries pitifully near them… until someone comes to care for him…”
How do you imagine that Stone Age peoples explained phenomena that scientists today have only begun to unravel? Where does love come from? What brings a fever or trouble? They explained these things by telling stories.
There’s the story of a man who fell in love with a woman who was actually a swan, so he travels to the end of the world to convince her father, the Swan King, to let her live with him.
There’s a demon who conceals itself as a baby and then in the night, if you take it into your tribe, it wakes and consumes everything in its path.
There’s a woman who should have died, but survived, and now has an uncanny relationship with crows and can see through their eyes… and more.
It’s magical and strange, and Adam Brockbank has illustrated Ben Haggarty’s stories beautifully. It is easy to see why this was a Times pick for Best Graphic Novel.
Despite this excellence, only one library in my enormous, interconnected library system owned this book. I was surprised. It has appeal for both young adults and the young-at-heart. The violence in it isn’t overly graphic. The themes are appropriate and intriguing for reluctant readers.
If any librarians read this review, please consider buying a copy of Mezolith for your shelves. I think your patrons would enjoy it. I certainly did.
Thanks for reading!
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