Alysa of the Fields By Tina Field Howe

• 03/18/2014
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Alysa of the Fields: Book One in the Tellings of Xunar-kun (Audio Book)
Tina Field Howe
Oasis Disk Manufacturing (2010)
ISBN 9780976858560
Reviewed by Ben Weldon (age 12) for Reader Views (09/10)

“Alysa of the Fields: Book One in the Tellings of Xunar-kun” by Tina Field Howe is the story of Alysa, a young woman of the Field Folk clan as she travels far and wide to try and save her people.  A long time ago there was a horrible event called the Cat’clysm that nearly wiped out all of the living things of Xunar-kun.  The few that remained set up a small civilization and called them selves the Field Folk.  They had lived in peace for many cycles until the Marauders came.  The Marauders kidnapped many of the Folk’s younglings.  Can the Marauders be defeated and the younglings freed before it is too late?

The Field Folk had considered themselves to be the last people left on Xunar-kun except for the feared and distant Trailmen.  The Trailmen were thought to be savages, their bodies were painted and they were said to have a violent nature.  The only people who ever had contact with the Trailmen were the traders and even then they had to use a kind of sign language to communicate.  Alysa’s father was a trader and when he died Alysa decided to take on his vacant duty.  The rest of the Field Folk were shocked because no female had ever taken on the duty before. Caught and injured in a blinding snowstorm, Alysa was rescued by a Trailman and brought to his camp.  There Alysa learned that Trailmen did not deserve their horrible reputation.  Alysa learned the Trailmen’s ways and found some practical and some despicable.  It was from the Trailmen that Alysa first heard hints that the Marauders could be about.

When Alysa’s best friend’s child disappeared, Alysa immediately suspected the Marauders.  However, when Alysa brought the matter before the Council no one believed her.  As more younglings disappeared, Alysa knew she had to take action.  Can Alysa convince her people that the Trailmen are their only hope?  Can she reveal an ancient secret that could heal a separation that occurred over three-thousand cycles ago? Can the younglings be rescued?

The book had a lot of excellent background music that represented characters and what was going on.  At the end of the book it had a whole track that described the music and played all of the themes.  I found that the themes represented the characters and events very well.  I hope that if I get the sequel on audio book that it has the same composer.

I would recommend this book to people who like adventure and sci-fi.  My entire family enjoyed listening to this book, even my five-year-old brother and my mom.  “Alysa of the Fields: Book One in the Tellings of Xunar-kun” was a very intriguing audio book and almost immediately immersed me in it.  This was the first book in a series and I can’t wait to read or listen to the next one.