Kamori, Mystery of the Paui by P. A. Mundi (Children's, 11 years +, Fantasy, 9/10)

 

April 2013, 4th Floor Press, 522 pages, Ebook, Review ocpy

Themes: being different, unethical inhumane experiments on so-called broken children, orphans, kind hearts, evil doctor, compassion, exploding things, fire, a circus, betrayal, bullying, punishment, unlikely friends, deception, fugitives, strange flora and fauna, being naieve, learning hard life lessons, broken heart

Content: some strong scenes of torture, weird things, human experiment, humiliation, tissues needed

Book summary from Amazon (I don't receive anything by mentioning Amazon)

 Kamori are the chameleon-people of planet B’hu. Their color-morphing skin is a natural wonder of the universe. But in kamori society color-morphing is shunned. Adults must display fixed, National Colors on their skin, like a uniform.

Meyu, a kamori orphan, knows nothing of social norms. He was raised by animal friends in the wilderness. He learned to color-morph in order to survive.

In civilization, Meyu is seen a freak who must be rehabilitated or sacrificed to science. Nobody realizes that Meyu’s skin holds the key to ancient secrets of the Pau’i. An ancient kamori civilization, the Pau’i discovered hidden powers in their color-morphing skin—powers that allowed them to speak without words, move objects with their thoughts, and transform the very fabric of reality.

Will Meyu rediscover the esoteric secrets of the Pau’i? Or will dark forces prevent him from uncovering his destiny? Join Meyu’s epic quest for self-discovery, through adventure and tribulation, through friendship and heartbreak, facing good and evil while growing up in his wondrous and complex world.

 

Nayuleska's thoughts

In truth this isn't a good read for me at the moment as it is extremely un-lighthearted, delves into obscene behaviour which is beyond cruel, is a little epic in nature so there are long descriptions that suit the genre. However, I started reading and what happens to Meyu is so traumatic that I couldn't not know what happened next. To say I was appalled by what happened to him was an understatement. I wanted to pluck him out of the book and save him.

I love Anna's compassion to Meyu - she is the reason he becomes a decent, if extremely naieve and not that competant boy. The imagination behind the all the species broached in the book is vast: I was fascinated by the different communication methods, how seemingly dumb creatures who don't speak are able to communicate with Meyu what they want and need. Meyu has to grow up fast, in the midst of the enemy who he doesn't have a clue about. 

The things the enemy does are extremely gross and freaky. The sad thing is some of what Meyu suffers and sees happening really happens in real life, that's what touched me so deeply. I won't be reading any more in the series - it's overwhelming for me at the moment, but I hope you check them out as is this a fantastic story, one for stronger stomachs than mine (Reading gross things when ill is not a good idea!)

Find out more on the dedicated website.

Suggested read

I have two. The first is Acorna by Anne McCaffrey (Science Fiction, 10/10) as Meyu's upbringing by Anna reminded me so much of Acorna's upbringing by Gill, Rafik and Calum (hopefully I've remembered their names correctly!) 

The second is Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott (Fantasy, 10/10) whose epic nature is like Kamori in style and diversity of the creatures