Review: Fantastic Creatures
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 3, 2013
Emergence, by Gary Fry, if you ask me, can be read two ways.There's absolutely no doubt that it is written beautifully, with language which is honed to perfection, and a cracking storyline.So, we have Jack, recently widowed, probably spending a little too much time by himself at his remote seaside house in North Yorkshire. He worries about his mental faculties and about ageing. His seven-year-old grandson Paul comes to stay for a week. Paul himself is dyslexic and Jack, a former school teacher, helps him to read of fantastic creatures and the like. Do the stories they read have a bearing on what happens next? Is Jack over-thinking, or actually going a bit mad?When the two see strange things on Google Maps, cone-like structures appear on the beach, followed by a wondrous city made of sand, it would appear not.The sense of creeping dread is palpable, and mimics the storms which batter the house and coastline. Fry uses nature as another character wonderfully. And when strange creatures threaten their existence, your heart does beat in terror for the two.So, a supernatural story definitely.But Emergence is also a really touching tale about the relationship between grandfather and grandson, who would do anything for each other, though the young boy might not know how much his presence is a comfort. And when Jack has to reach into his very being to be brave beyond belief to keep his grandson from harm, both of their lives change - for the better.I can't think of another book where the essence of the characters is so well done, it goes far beyond physical description and right into the heart of them.An absolutely marvellous read, can highly recommend it.