The Storm Keeper's Island

The Storm Keeper's Island. Catherine Doyle. 2018. 320 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: In a field full of wildflowers, a boy and a girl stood side by side beneath an ancient oak tree.

Premise/plot: The Storm Keeper’s Island is a new children’s fantasy novel by Catherine Doyle. Fionn Boyle is coming to the island of Arranmore for the first time. His family is from the island—and it’s a magical island, of course, being a fantasy novel. His sister, Tara, is with him; they’re both staying with their grandfather, the current storm keeper. The children on the island including Tara and Fionn spend their summer days looking for a magical sea cave and also possibly a magical tree. The island has both good and evil magic, and of course there is always a threat of war and global calamity. Fionn mustface his biggest fears as he gets to know the island and the island gets to know him.

My thoughts: This is the first in a new series. I feel that ninety percent of this one is setting up the world and establishing the rules of how it works. We get tons of background with only small glimpses—towards the end—of actual action and adventure. Plenty of scenes feel repetitive. Notably Tara and Fionn do nothing but argue, well sometimes they whine too. But I did enjoy the scenes between Fionn and his grandfather. That relationship was well done. I just didn’t care about the other characters. I think action and adventure will happen in the next book. Perhaps because this one spent so much time foundation building, the next can just jump right in and have more story. I haven’t decided if I will seek out the next book or not.
© 2019 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews