{NIN} Review of Finnikin of the Rock

Finnikin of the Rock is quite a departure from Melina Marchetta’s previous books. For one, the protagonist in this story is a guy, and two, the story takes place in the fantasy land of Sendecane as opposed to Australia. Regardless of any of that, the book had the same strong plot, characters, and writing that I’ve come to expect and look forward to from MM.

A lot of times in fantasy novels, the story is overly descriptive of the lands, kingdoms, people, and history that the author wants to tell the reader about. Sometimes, the author is so intent on painting a vision of their world for the reader that the story gets lost in all the details. Melina Marchetta does a fantastic job in ensuring that only the necessary details of the land are included such that they serve the primary purpose of helping the plot move along. In some ways, it didn’t feel like an imaginary land but rather sometime in the Middles Ages of Europe with a bit a fantasy thrown in.

The title character, Finnikin, is a wandering Exile of the Lumateran kingdom. Ten years earlier, the royal Lumateran family was cruelly murdered, the kingdom cursed, her people scattered…never able to return home due to a strange mist blocking all access to the kingdom. Early in the story, he and his mentor, Sir Topher, pick up another wandering Lumateran girl named Evanjalin – who is not all what she seems to be. What appears at first to be a meek and submissive novice (who took a vow of silence, afterall) turns out to be one smart, strong, conniving, visionary, and kick-ass girl.

An underlying theme that seems to appear in all of MM’s books is for the protagonist to see beyond their own self-imposed limitations to achieve their potential. This story is no different and it wraps up in a very satisfying way. The book was a bit dark at times, especially when it alluded to the horrifying things that happened to the women and children or refugees that no other kingdom wanted to deal with, but it was a very (unfortunately) realistic portrayal of what happens to those innocent folks swept up in the tides of war and political intrigue.

One detail of the story that stuck out to me was that it seemed to somewhat mimic the theory put forth by The Da Vinci Code – that the men of the world were so afraid of the power of a woman (Mary Magdalene) that they changed the story to reduce the woman’s power and ensure that men controlled the church. In this instance, the ancient Lumaterans worshipped a single, powerful goddess. However, the Lumateran men were afraid of her power and so split her up into two beings, Lagrami and Sagrami, which results in devastating consequences down the road for the Lumaterans.

Overall, I enjoyed this book very much and it was a refreshing departure for Melina Marchetta that has made me admire her talent even more.