The New World

May 25, 2015
Motion, poet laureate of the U.K. from 1999 to 2009, provides a strong dose of swashbuckling, adventure-driven historical fiction in this second of a trilogy, a cheeky reimagining of Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Motion’s story catches up with characters from his first book (Silver), Long John Silver’s daughter, Natty, and Jim Hawkins’s son, Jim. Natty has persuaded Jim to sail with her to Treasure Island to recover the silver Jim’s father believed was left behind. As this novel begins the youths find themselves the only survivors of their shipwreck off the Gulf Coast of Texas. Ashore, they attempt to journey north and east through desert and thicket to the Mississippi River, which they hope will eventually lead them home to England. But Jim, stricken perhaps by the same greed as his father, has stolen a beautiful power-laden silver necklace from Black Cloud, who had captured and thrown Jim and Natty into a cabin. Jim and Natty manage to escape with the help of a child, but they realize soon enough that Black Cloud and his sidekick, the Painted Man, are willing to pursue them to the ends of the Earth to recover the necklace. There is meaning and metaphor just under the surface of Motion’s New World, including the symbolic killing off of one Mr. Stevenson, who is on board the ship. Jim and Natty learn much about themselves from the land they cross and the Native Americans they meet, some of whom they live among and grow to love. But then again the novel, which was labeled crossover fiction in Great Britain, can satisfy simply as a good, page-turning yarn. It is clear the author enjoys writing these tales, and the reader will find it easy to sit back and enjoy reading them.

May 1, 2015
Motion, the distinguished British man of letters, has retained the two principals of Silver (2012), his robust sequel to Stevenson's Treasure Island, but otherwise, this is a stand-alone frontier novel. Those principals are young Jim Hawkins, same-named son of Stevenson's cabin boy, and Natty Silver, the biracial tomboy daughter of rascally Long John and his Caribbean wife. Shipwrecked off Texas in 1802, the only survivors, they are captured by Native Americans (Red Indian "savages," thinks narrator Jim), escorted through the wilderness to their settlement, and imprisoned. The fearsome chief, Black Cloud, sports a magnificent silver necklace, a power source, which Jim will steal after a surprisingly easy escape. His theft sets in motion a dilatory yearslong pursuit by the chief, the only throughline the novel offers. Jim and Natty ride away on stolen ponies. Though he has declared his love for her, he doesn't act on it. At key moments it's Natty who's the decision-maker, leaving Jim a blank slate recording their impressions. "They made a very pretty picture," concludes Jim, after they meet a much different, peace-loving tribe, and indeed Motion, a former poet laureate, provides many pretty pictures. Action is harder to come by. The English adventurers spend an idyllic two years with these friendly Indians, who offer sanctuary until Black Cloud reappears. They then throw in with some traveling entertainers, but their gig is interrupted by the chief, who is wounded but not by Jim; this further undercuts his position. More travel gets them to the climax in New Orleans. Jim has learned that Indians vary greatly, from fierce to friendly to destitute, but has he learned much about himself? To the recurring question of why he must keep that troublesome necklace, he can only answer "We're like our fathers," to which Natty assents. More of a rough approximation than an imaginative penetration of the period.

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May 15, 2015
The new novel from Motion continues the sequel to Treasure Island begun in his previous novel Silver (2012). This one finds Jim, son of Jim Hawkins, and Natty, daughter of Long John Silver, bereft and shipwrecked off the coast of Texas, where they are captured by a band of hostile Indians led by the frightening Black Cloud. Escaping, they find temporary sanctuary with a village of peaceful Indians. Their adventures continue, however, when, leaving the village and pursued by Black Cloud, they fall in with a company of entertainers led by an extravagant man who calls himself Boss. But Black Cloud is persistent and they must flee once again in search of the river, the Mississippi, where a boat might carry them to safety. But is there any true sanctuary from their tireless pursuer? Beautifully writtenMotion is the former poet laureate of the UKThe New World is a thoughtful story of adventure underlay by guilt and the uncertainties of love. An open ending suggests another sequel is in the works, a happy possibility.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

February 15, 2015

A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature who once served as Poet Laureate of the UK, Motion had great success with his swashbuckling Silver, a sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. In this follow-up, Jim and Natty have washed up on Texas's Gulf Coast after the wreck of their ship, the Nightingale, and are soon taken hostage by incensed natives.

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May 15, 2015

In this thrilling sequel to Silver (itself a sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island), Natty (daughter of Long John Silver) and Jim (son of Jim Hawkins) continue the adventure that began when the two purloined a treasure map, hired a crew, and sailed off across the Atlantic to recover the cache left behind years earlier by their fathers. Having been shipwrecked at the end of the previous story, Natty and Jim find themselves alone in a hostile new world where they are soon captured, imprisoned, and tortured by a tribe of thuggish natives, ruled over by the fearsome Chief Black Cloud. Before they manage a daring escape, they make off with the chief's signature silver neckpiece, the supposed source of his power, placing them squarely in his sights for the remainder of their journey. Making their way back to the sea, they are befriended by a peace-loving tribe that provides them protection and educates them in the ways of native customs and survival skills. But England beckons, and eventually they face the dangers of returning home. VERDICT You don't have to have read Treasure Island or Silver to delight in this engaging tale, but fans of the earlier works will be especially pleased at the return of these two likable young adventurers. [See Prepub Alert, 1/25/15.]--Barbara Love, formerly with Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.