LULI & THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

In this middle-grade novel, an Arctic boy goes on a quest to find his parents and fight an evil shaman.

Ever since he was discovered as a baby at the Whalebone Gate, a boy named Aluliaq, who goes by “Luli,” has been raised by his adoptive father, Oolik. Now, a dying Oolik gives Luli tools and a kayak, instructing him to travel and find answers about his origins. During his quest, Luli feels lost and alone and calls out for his adoptive dad, who appears to him as a fellow teenager. This version of Oolik can now reveal that Luli’s father, Aglavit, was a powerful shaman. He and the sea goddess, Sedna, fell in love, but a jealous and wicked shaman named Vang defeated Aglavit in a duel. When Sedna bore Aglavit’s son, she left him at the Gate to protect him from Vang, and this is where Oolik found him. Oolik teaches Luli how to find his spirit animal (a gyrfalcon) and instructs him to travel south to his mother’s Ice Kingdom, where he can “find protection, learn how to defeat Vang, and free your father.” Along the way, he’ll have help from his spirit animal and from Siku, a seal who knows the way; he gains another ally in Arud, a dwarf who operates and lives inside of a large, mechanical polar bear. Luli faces many trials as he joins in the battle to vanquish Vang, discovering himself in the process. The Arctic setting for this hero’s quest story is unusual, making it stand out from many other adventure tales. Santa Teresa (Lake of Clustered Stars, 2016) draws on authentic Inuit vocabulary and mythological elements, such as the deity Sedna. But the story also offers fanciful additions, such as the mechanical bear, which propels itself along magnetic stones by using magnets in its feet. Some may find this mixture to be culturally appropriative. However, the briskly paced adventure and crisp writing is undeniably appealing, as in an evocative description of Sedna’s guards, who have “a long-legged crab wrapped around their mouths and face, revealing only their eyes and the bridge of their noses.”

An entertaining coming-of-age story with an Inuit flavor.