Wanderling by Hannah StahlhutMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wanderling is an exciting YA novel about a seventeen year-old woman, Adala, and her younger brother, Shem. They live in the city of Gerstadt, in the empire of Bolgir. This is a society that has reached a time when people sail the sea under wind power and fight battles with knives, swords, and bows and arrows. They are a privileged society, but a brutal one, banishing anyone found guilty of a crime to the surrounding desert and never allowing them or their descendants to return. The banished people have formed into tribes which compete for the meager resources in the desert.
Adala and her brother are forced to leave their home for a village of banished people when Shem's unique skills are revealed. Shem is kidnapped and Adala follows him. The plot is about Adala's efforts to protect her brother, but also about her relationships and dreams. She is a trained, efficient warrior, but also an emotional teenager.
The land of Gerstadt and the people who reside there are carefully described with each detail having purpose and fitting into the plot like pieces of a puzzle. This is the first volume of a series (Spirit Seeker), so there are unanswered questions leading readers toward book 2. Yet Wanderling still stands on its own. It is a well-written, exciting novel with a carefully woven plot.
Steve Lindahl - author of Motherless Soul, White Horse Regressions, Hopatcong Vision Quest, and Under a Warped Cross.
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