Skin Hunger
Atheneum, 2007
Fantasy Fiction
ISBN: 0689840942
368 pages
National Book Award Honor Book
Synopsis
Two stories take place throughout the text, and at first, are seemingly unrelated. Sadima, who has the ability to understand and communicate with animals through her thoughts, joins with two men who are attempting to resurrect the old knowledge of magic, which has been outlawed for many years. A few generations in the future, a boy named Hahp has been exiled by his wealthy and disapproving father to live and be taught at the school of wizardry. As the text progresses, it’s apparent that the two stories are related, with a dark and twisted undercurrent. Sadima often fears for her life as she seeks to resurrect magic, while Hahp watches his fellow students starve to death because they can’t figure out how to use the crystal to magically get food.
Critique
It’s no surprise that this dark fantasy was a National Book Award nominee. There are so many elements throughout the text, both subtle and blatant, that make it a layered and robust story. First, the two stories running side-by-side is not only a brilliant idea, but it’s well executed. Only someone with true writing talent could write two stories, one from 3rd person and the other from 1st person and make them feel so genuinely unique from each other, yet intertwined so masterfully. At first, it’s difficult to see the correlation, but as soon as things start clicking, it’s hard to put the book down.
Of the major categories of conflict, three of them weave throughout the text, giving it depth on several levels. Hahp is a character who communicates his riddles psychology effectively, and his abusive experience in the school of wizardry is told poignantly as only someone with that kind of depth can. Sadima’s love and personal conviction for an individual’s responsibility to enacting social change both on a macro and micro level is magnetic and contagious. You hate the things she hates, loves the things she loves, and find yourself rooting for her to succeed, only to be left hanging when the story takes such a dramatic turn. It was dark but enthralling, and as soon as I finished reading, I wanted to jump right into the next one. I recommend this book to readers 12+, but be warned that it contains many elements that could get it banned from reading lists.
The other book in this trilogy so far is Sacred Scars (book 2).
Rating Rubric
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For the Classroom
Although this is a fiercely engaging text with many layers of conflict that show the deeper struggle of man vs. man, man vs. self, and man vs. society, it operates completely in a different world with separate natural laws and histories. As such, it’s not something that can be used as a classroom companion for any subject other than reading or literature.
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