Customer Reviews

Children of Morrow

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book many years ago, whilst still at school and I still love it.
Tia and Rabbit are considered odd by their primitive post-apocolyptic community. They share the same dreams of a far more civilised community and wish to escape their home, where Tia is considered a blasphemous witch. Several hundred miles away, Ashira and Varas reside, their telepathic powers recieving Tia and Rabbit's thoughts and wondering where they are. After Rabbit accidently kills the head cook, they have to run. Guided by Ashira and Varas, they must make their way to the sea and safety.

HM Hoover has created a wonderfully absorbing tale, full of danger and wonder. She paints the picture of a world completely changed by ecological disaster and presents it in a believable and engaging way. The characters seize your attention and keep hold. The adults are as well drawn as the children and rouse either your sympathy or hatred. I finally found a copy of this tale and would love it to be re-released for this generation of children.

One of the first SF books I ever read, led to thousands of others. Similar to Escape to Witch Mountain but in a distant, possible future; two special siblings journey to find their roots as humanity's new hope, the next step in our evolution.

I loved this book as a youth and read it many times. On a whim, I looked in Amazon to see whether it was still out there and was delighted to find it (albeit from my era - not in print anymore). The book is dreamlike - a bit like fantasy/SF of the era but not sterile - it has alot of heart. I am happy to have found it and add it to my library as I approach fifty (oy vey!). Too bad it is not still in print, but perhaps for this generation's serial approach to just about everything (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, movies, video games, etc.), this book would lose some allure because it simply is what it is - a single volume of vision and adventure.

Two societies survive the great Destruction, caused by the poisoning of the planet's earth, water and air. One group lives in log cabins at the Base under the leadership of the Major and a brutal militaristic cult regime. Over generations, physical mutations have caused these humans to shrink in size.

The other society lives in a protected subterranean human environment, Lifespan, the brainchild of Simon Morrow. Several generations of overbreeding and stagnation resulted in contamination of their yeast supply and mutations taking the form of both massive physical malformations and brilliant intelligence, including mental telepathy. Their downward turn was halted under the leadership and fanaticism of Simone Morrow who decreed that only the outstanding in intellect and body could reproduce. Each subsequent generation of intelligent telepaths has spurred their culture's technological advancement.

Tia and the younger Rabbit are misfits at the Base, children of the Morrow strain as part of a clandestine experiment in artificial insemination by a geneticist of Lifespan. Her uncanny "knowing" causes Tia to be labeled as a Witch, and results in constant harsh discipline and work. Escaping into her Dreams, sometimes with Rabbit, Tia is in contact with Varas and with Ashira The Elite, who is a direct descendant of Morrow and the leader of her people. Tia believes her dreams are fantasies although Varas has been trying to teach her for a long time. He, Ashira, and their Council endlessly debate theories about the existence of Tia's society.

The situation at the Base rises to a crisis when Rabbit, believing that Tia is about to be beaten to death, lethally mind stuns her attacker. Ashira receives these shocking images telepathically and a small group immediately sets off in a ship to find and rescue the two children. In the weeks that follow, the children are hunted by the Major's band, intent on revenge, while heading towards the promised rescue. Hoover also wrote on a similar theme in 'This Time of Darkness', about a subterranean post-apocalyptic oppressive society and its counterpart.

I couldn't remember the title of this book for anything; after much investigating though, I'm so glad to have finally found it. I read Children Of Morrow several times, while in middle school. I haven't read a book since that time, that caused my heart to race so. This book had become such a part of my psyche (to this day, if I see a jar of honey or mushrooms in my garden, I think about Tia and Rabbit on the run). I'm now 42, and have recently come out of a cult that I was a member of for 18 years. This was a faith-based "Christian" organization. Had I read the book as an adult, I might not have found myself wrapped up in the dogma of the church. However, now that I'm free, I've returned to the Old Religion of Wicca. I've rediscovered the spiritual realm. I'm going to read the book again as soon as I can find a copy. There's a very deep and spiritual message in the story...a message of survival and the realization of self. It would make a great feature film.