Allen & Unwin 2009 ISBN:978 1 74175 868 9 (pbk.)

In Celine Kiernan’s The Poison Throne, the first book in The Moorehawke Trilogy, we are taken into a fantasy based loosely on the Europe of the Middle Ages but with an alternative history spin. Filled at once with the familiar (court intrigue and an increasing religious intolerance) and the unexpected (talking cats and ghosts who take an active part in castle life) Kiernan has created a strongly visualised world which doesn’t shy away from the darker side of a mediaeval society.

When fifteen year old Wynter Moorehawke returns home with her father, Protector Lord Lorcan Moorehawke, after five years on the king’s business in the north, she is expecting to find things much as they were when she left. Now an authorised apprentice carpenter in a trade dominated by men, Wynter hopes she and her father will be able to leave the Court and earn their living by practising their trade.

After the brutalities of the north she looks forward to life where King Jonathon has created a model kingdom, peaceful, humane and tolerant of religion, and where the gibbets and cages common elsewhere have been banished. But then a cat responds to her greeting by fleeing instead of answering her and an old friend, Rory Shearing’s ghost, panics when he sees her and fades away with a warning gesture that they are not safe.

Growing up with the king’s sons, secure in the friendship of the King and her father, Wynter is shocked to find out from Razi, the king’s illegitimate son, that his half brother – and heir to the kingdom – Alberon, is not at court and no one seems to know where he is. Equally shocking is that the king has brought back the gibbets and cages. He has decreed that the ghosts inhabiting the castle do not exist, and anyone who claims to commune with them will be gibbeted. Even worse for Wynter, once the King’s Cat Keeper, Jonathon has poisoned the talking cats. Worst of all though, Lorcan is ill, his health damaged by the years in the north.

Wynter is also disconcerted to find Razi, now a doctor, has a new friend in Christopher Garron and this sparks sisterly jealousy.

All this leads the reader into a complex story where little is as obvious as it seems. The characters are well developed and the changing relationships are convincing. We feel with Wynter, whose life and world has been turned upside down. She’s a feisty and intelligent protagonist and totally believable. The writer has not shied away from the less savoury parts of an age that is sometimes seen as romantic and has raised questions about moral issues such as exactly what makes an action justified and how far are we entitled to go in our search for the truth, which are just as relevant in the present day.

Kiernan has worked extensively as a classical feature character animator and it shows in her skilful evocation of the visual world of The Poison Throne. She is observant and it translates into the detail that brings us into the world she has created.

Although on a few occasions the action slows a little this is perhaps inevitable when dealing with a seriously ill major character and is more than made up for in the complexity of both the plot and characters. There is much still unexplained and given the unexpected turns in this book I suspect the answers will be worth the wait for the next book.

Although The Poison Throne is aimed at the young adult market I found it was also enjoyable for an adult reader. There are dark areas here but in general they are dealt sensitively and at a distance and I think young adult readers would find it a satisfying read. I look forward to the second book.

Celine Kiernan was awarded The Reading Association of Ireland Children’s Book Award 2009 for The Poison Throne.

You can find out more about Celine Kiernan and her work at http://www.celinekiernan.com/