Reckoning by Kerry Wilkinson, Silver Blackthorn #1In the village of Martindale, hundreds of miles north of the new English capital of Windsor, sixteen-year-old Silver Blackthorn takes the Reckoning. This coming-of-age test not only decides her place in society - Elite, Member, Inter or Trog - but also determines that Silver is to become an Offering for King Victor.
But these are uncertain times and no one really knows what happens to the teenagers who disappear into Windsor Castle. Is being an Offering the privilege everyone assumes it to be, or do the walls of the castle have something to hide?
Trapped in a maze of ancient corridors, Silver finds herself in a warped world of suspicion where it is difficult to know who to trust and who to fear. The one thing Silver does know is that she must find a way out ...
The big thing in young adult fiction is the dystopian setting and a lot of books have been published with this as the the backbone. Kerry Wilkinson's latest book Reckoning, a dark dystopian story, kicks off a brand new and exciting young adult series. Reckoning was acutally recommended to me by someone and when I read the synopsis I really wanted to read this book, I have read a few similar stories earlier this year and last year that I enjoyed and hoped that Reckoning would give the same experience. To be honest, Kerry Wilkinson manages to create the spot on setting that you want to see in such a story. An engaging protagonist, an engaging world and a setting which has many dark moments but also those few happy moments wherein you see the character shine. Solid start to a new series.
One thing about Reckoning that readily pulled me into the story was the world that Kerry Wilkinson started to build from the first sentence of the book. If you look closely at the cover of the book you see the main protagonist carrying a sword but wearing plain clothes. This readily threw me of whether I should expect the story to be set in the present, past or future time. As you start reading more and more hints are being dropped, the country is being ruled by King Victor and there is definitely technology involved, like the watches of that Silver and everyone else if wearing, though the realm time frame isn't mentioned. Only you do learn, and this is perhaps the most important part, that the story takes place in the United Kingdom and that the world more or less destroyed itself and that King Victor managed to pull everything back together. I am a big fan when authors don't use a specific frame for there story as it really encourages you as a reader to think about all else that might happen.
As for the story in Reckoning. It centers the main protagonist of the series, Silver Blackthorn, to who the series is named after. Silver was called silver because of the lock of silver hair she has in the midst of her black hair. She lives with her mother and younger brother in the city of Martinsdale and now that Silver has "come of age", reached 16 year, she is to participate in an event known as the Reckoning. This test designates what your place in society will be. You will either become a Trog, the lowliest of them, an Inter which is one step higher, an Member another step up the ladder or an Elite, the highest rank you can achieve. Basically everyone has to do this test. Furthermore the now United Kingdom is divided into four different parts the North, West, East and South, based on how they work they get appointed rations which they have to divide amongst the people. There is more to this test as when you have got your designated role in society as Trog, Inter, Member and Elite, you have a chance to become an "Offering" for King Victor. This is randomly chosen but I think you can guess where this is going, Silver gets to be an Offering. From this point onwards the story of Reckoning takes off as Silver finds herself in a completely different and hostile environment, though the living in Martindale wasn't that great as well, now she doesn't even have her family or her friends to fall back on. The faith of the one who are desginated as Offering is unclear, when Silver does the math a certain number of Offerings should still be around but when she discovers the horrid truth... there is only one solution fleeing this terrible castle as soon as possible. But this proves to be harder than she dared to think.
If you want to make a story appealing to young audience you definitely require a strong protagonist, resourceful and determined are just two to name, and this is exactly what we find back in the characteristics of Silver. Silver is literally thrown in the depths when she is picked out as an Offering to the King, in the ride to the castle she is amongst complete strangers and here already you see the strong division that rules society, Elites think that they are more than Trog etc. In this first scene you get to see that Silver doesn't let people march over her and she punches a boy much bigger than her nearly unconscious, if that isn't though what is? Only later to see her character become even stronger when she must navigate her way through the perilous maze of the castle, needs to convince other people to join her cause to escape and keep undetected by the King and his kingsmen. As for the secondary characters there are a few that readily stands out and that is a boy that Silver meets at the castle Imrin, it's in these situations that you always have to have a certain reservation of who you can trust, perhaps it is a bit naivety of Silver but she readily accepts their friends as genuine. You also have Hart, a boy from Silver's village of Martindale who as picked out as an Offering years earlier, Kerry Wilkinson really showed his character in a great way. Hart is heavily emaciated and has been shaped by the horrendous events that happen in Windsor Castle. Just the description of Hart gave a very clear picture of how he should look like. The last of the characters that both intrigued me and gave me goosebumps was King Victor. He is one of the main reasons that Reckoning gets a mightly dark air surrounding his story. King Victor is nasty. Yes he perhaps has managed to bring the United Kingdom back on it's tracks but has demanded a lot and still is. Take the Offerings. Yes, they are exactly that, Offering. Victor sees them as objects to with them as he pleases. And it doesn't stay with cleaning the floor but live swordfights where only one can be left standing at the end. Having such a violent perspectives in the story readily gave me the creeps. Though the violence in the story isn't overwhelming at all but Kerry Wilkinson doses this nicely so that it doesn't take over the story completely but remains this dark and unexpected twist behind each page. You never know what the Victor will be up to next. Who will be next?
Reckoning is a solid start in a new young adult dystopian series. Kerry Wilkinson has created a likeable protagonist in Silver Blackthorn, writing from the perspective of Silver helps to show all the hardships and struggles that she has gone through and still is going through in this dystopian United Kingdom. Though there are some shared concepts with other big young adult hits, Kerry Wilkinson uses them in his own way and spins them more than enough to create an engaging and absorbing story. Reckoning will definitely be appealing for the young readers among us, the pacing is fast (it's not breakneck but just enough) and there are a few twists and turns in the story to keep it exciting.
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