Jewel and Thorn

Reading this novel, the first in a planned trilogy, is rather like following the passage of a winged bird. Sometimes it takes flight, but at other moments it seems dangerously earthbound. The plot concerns a race of inch-high survivors who some time in the future have come to inhabit the wreck of the human world. One of them, 15-year-old Thorn Jack, is in search of his abducted sister and another, Jewel Ranson, is out to avenge her murdered father. Both meet some colourful characters in their searches before finally coming together. But there is too much padding in the writing throughout, with long passages of inconsequential dialogue plus a tendency to paint village folk as constantly hearty and hospitable, come what may. A tendency towards adjective inflation must also be noted, even though this novel is well written for the most part. Perhaps the next two stories will finally soar after this worthy but occasionally lacklustre start.