The Red Wind by Isobelle Carmody

Title: The Red Wind

Author: Isobelle Carmody

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Puffin

Published: 11^th October 2011

Format: Paperback

Pages: 240

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: Winner of the 2011 CBC Book of the Year – Younger Readers. The first book in The Kingdom of the Lost series. When a devastating red wind sweeps across the land, brothers Bily and Zluty are forced to fight for their survival and journey into the perilous unknown. A magical new series for younger readers from the award-winning author of the Little Fur. In this captivating first book, brothers Zluty and Bily live happily in their little house in the desert. Every year Zluty journeys to the great forest while Bily stays to tend their desert home. And every year Zluty returns with exciting tales of his adventures.

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Bily and Zluty are brothers who live in a small hut in the desert. Once a year, Zluty heads of on a jaunt to the forest for a grand adventure, whilst Bily stays at home to care for the cottage, awaiting Zluty’s return and his stories. But this year, a storm is coming in the form of a red wind, with dangers that nobody ever thought they would see. As Zluty is trapped in the forest, Bily must take shelter in the cottage cellar and hope it doesn’t fall down around him from the wind and a cat-like monster that has taken shelter in the cottage with Bily after being bitten by a blackclaw – a deadly creature to the digger animals that live nearby, and that Bily knows he can’t fix. Whilst Bily is trying to help the monster, Zluty is trying to get home from the forest – but will the brothers be reunited, and will they both survive the red wind?

The Red Wind is the first in a fantasy trilogy from 2011 for middle grade and early young adult readers – those aged I9 to about 13 or 14 and is a delightful and sometimes scary adventure about two young brothers who hatched from the same egg and have always lived together – apart from the one time of the year they separate for their own adventures. But this year, something will separate them for longer than usual, so the story flits between Zluty’s adventure in the forest, and Bily’s days stuck in the cellar, tending to the monster whilst hiding from the red wind and the many threats outside. This worked well for me – because we needed to see how each brother coped with the storm, and how they got back to each other. They each had a journey, as they each needed to face things that they feared, and this ensured that the story made sense, and allowed the brothers to grow separately, as well as how they grew when they were together.

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of this novel is the connection that Bily and Zluty have with each other that is a consistent throughout the whole book. The brothers are close, and this forced separation is making them miss each other. I loved their relationship because it showed what they meant to each other – I thought this was a beautiful representation of the relationship, and was reassuring that they never forgot about each other – that they were always seeking to be reunited because they didn’t know what they would do without each other after they had had their time apart once a year. I found this was one of Isobelle Carmody’s quieter books – one of her less well-known books in comparison to The Gathering or the Obernewtyn Chronicles, and I think this is really nice – because whilst most people will name the other two as what they like or know, I am glad to have discovered this one and found a story that is at times quiet and at times adventurous – showing that Isobelle has a breadth of talent and an ability to write all kinds of stories. I think this is a great starting point for Isobelle’s books and I hope that others can discover this book and enjoy it.