THE LIGHTHOUSE LAND
by Adrian McKinty
In this fantasy-like space-travel trilogy opener, a grieving boy finds his strength in a distant land. Mute since he lost his arm to cancer a year before, Jamie lives with his mother in a Harlem slum. An inheritance from a forgotten relative brings them to a new home on an Irish island, where Jamie hopes to start fresh. Along with new friend Ramsay, Jamie discovers a strange device hidden in an old lighthouse: the Salmon of Knowledge, which carries the boys to the planet Altair. Here, Jamie is not a mute, one-armed child but a hero, the Ui Neill, a descendent of those who saved this world in the distant past. Ramsay and Jamie need to save a beautiful alien girl from the invaders who threaten her city, but they’re only children against numerous warriors. And once Jamie has become the hero, why should he return to Earth, where he’s “a voiceless cripple?” Despite weak dialogue and flat characters, an entertaining adventure. (Science fiction. 11-13)