North Sun by Ethan Rutherford

With enormous shipworms below deck and a talking birdman in the hold, this is no ordinary whale hunt.

The extraordinary is described without second glance. It’s a cool effect.

When Arnold Lovejoy is invited to captain the Esther on a rescue mission to the Arctic, he thinks his luck has changed. He’s mesmerised by the shipowner’s daughter, and given a strange talisman to guide him - a huge yellow sperm whale tooth . . .

The Esther is a whaler, and the crew soon get to hunting. The scenes in which the whales are chased, harpooned, and rendered into oil are vivid and slick with historic gore.

As the journey gets underway, magic elements appear - the most compelling of which is Old Sorrel, a mysterious, talking birdman, visible only to the two abused cabin boys.

Old Sorrel is fascinating. Like Mother Nature, he is nurturing, indifferent, and cruel. But as protector of the boys, he is also, arguably, the hero.

The boys themselves are the heart of the story. James and Tom. Twelve and ten. Mankind’s plundering of natural resources is symbolized in their rape and the silence with which they bear it. It’s brutal.

North Sun is written in short, choppy, unconnected scenes. Like a logbook, the narrative records only important moments, and dispenses with transitions and body. It keeps the story fleet, and gives it a dream-like feel. The magic elements are treated with complete objectivity. They are merely ordinary parts of the voyage. East wind rising. Whale to port. Massive bruise-drinking shipworms. The extraordinary is described without second glance. It’s a cool effect.

A hard story to warm to, but interesting techniques and material.

WHAT TO READ NEXT

Hm. Working on it…