Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Akea - His Mother's Son by Elizabeth Jade.
About the Author
Elizabeth Jade was born in 1998 in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England, but moved with her family to Wellington in Somerset when she was very young. Her early schooling did not go smoothly, and as a result, she was home-schooled from the age of seven. Her parents soon learned she had a unique slant on life and quickly abandoned attempts to follow the national curriculum in favour of child-led learning.
Elizabeth stumbled into writing at the age of fourteen when she began to suffer from anxiety and depression and quickly found her story ideas pouring out faster than she could get them onto paper. It wasn’t until the age of eighteen that she realised her struggles in school had been due to Aspergers Syndrome (an autistic spectrum disorder).
As an enthusiastic animal lover, Elizabeth volunteered first at the Conquest Riding Centre for the Disabled and then at St Giles Animal Rescue before moving on to the Cats Protection Homing and Information Centre. Her gifted way with the cats quickly earned her the title of ‘Cat Whisperer’ from the staff. Since she had always possessed such a way with animals, it was only natural for her story ideas to revolve around them.
Elizabeth’s personal experience as a young author with the challenges of autism, depression and anxiety, along with her writing theme of acceptance and overcoming obstacles, have led to her having a junior school class named after her.
About the book
Akea is no ordinary husky and taking her place as Wolf Queen was just the first step in the journey set out for her by the Great Wolf. Akea's world turns upside down when humans raid their home, scattering the pack and capturing her hybrid son. Salvador struggles to adjust to a life in captivity quickly realising not everyone approves of his mother's rise to Wolf Queen. When the Great Wolf sends him warning dreams, Salvador discovers his true purpose for being there.
Review
This is the second in the Akea series, it's a short novella length read and the characters are animals. Specifically the world of wolves and huskies, which has its own hierarchy and even a type of ideology that runs closely to eugenics. The Volk, the master race of animal in their species, which Jade accentuates by using certain language and words linked to destructive ideology, which determined the majority of the 20th century.
In the first book Akea asserts herself, against all odds as the Wolf Queen, which doesn't go down well with the purists in the pack. This idea of Akea being in a position not belonging to her, tends to rear its head when she leaves the pack to solve problems.
In this book the pack is faced with intrusion by humans and Akea has to resort to specific powers when her hybrid son has to navigate the difficulty of being on both sides of the genetic code. Is he a leader or will he kowtow to accusations and discriminations, especially when it comes down to the freedom of his fellow pack members and species.
It's a short story, one that can be read by children, young adults and older readers. Jade gives readers parallels between human and animal, which is perhaps a way of making people more aware.
Buy Akea - His Mother's Son at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: i2i Publishing pub date 2 Dec. 2019. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Bookshop.org.
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