Review of Return of the Golden Age

By Becky Alexander, Educator

In her email to me about The Fisherman's Son Trilogy, Becky wrote: "I read the first one last weekend and I was going to read the second one this weekend and the third next weekend but I got engrossed and oops, I finished them off."   I'm delighted to present Becky's review of Return of the Golden Age here:

Return of the Golden Age is the third and final book in the trilogy, The Fisherman's Son by Marilyn Peake. The 12-year old Wiley O'Mara, motherless and abandoned by his drunken father, continues the quest and adventures begun in books one and two. He is to "bring the two parts together," whatever that means, and remember "Drink deeply by land or sea. Earth comes only once."

So far Wiley has discovered a world, (Atlantis?) that was destroyed by meteor thousands of years prior and saved six boys who had been protected by sleep and an air bubble provided by the magic dolphin, Elden. If this sounds far fetched it's because I can't begin to recreate the magical journey that Peake so beautifully and expertly develops. Reading the two prior books, this plot is entirely within the realm of the literarily believable.

As Return of the Golden Age opens, Wiley and the rescued boys are deposited on Wiley's island (Ireland?) by a group of friendly dolphins, including Elden. The boys make their way to an orphanage where they find food and shelter and Wiley goes to his own home on the other side of the island where he awaits further instructions from his magical guide, Lucinda. After this the story is full of fantastical adventures in caves with magic rings and powers sure to delight any child or adult interested in good time travel and fantasy books.

But maybe there is more to the book than meets the casual, plot-oriented eye. Perhaps Wiley's real quest is to discover, save and share the very special and ancient heritage of his poverty stricken people. Perhaps he can save them.

Copyright (c) 2010 Marilyn Peake