CORYDON AND THE ISLAND OF MONSTERS
by Tobias Druitt
Yearling
ISBN-10: 044042173X
ISBN-13: 9780440421733
Ages 8-12
304 pages

Corydon is a pharmakos, a scapegoat and an outcast from his ancient Greek village. After years of being on the outskirts of village society, the deformed boy (whose leg looks like a goat's) is chased out of town by an angry mob (including his own mother), threatening him and calling him mormoluke --- demon. For years, Corydon lives alone, tending the sheep and goats he steals from the villagers.

Then, one day, Corydon is captured by a band of marauders, who take him away as part of their sideshow of monsters and freaks. The Minotaur, the Hydra, even the pregnant Gorgon Medusa are all enslaved, put on display for the delight and horror of ordinary citizens. That is, until Corydon obtains a mysterious magical staff and uses it to free his fellow prisoners. Soon enough, the island where they have been entrapped becomes their own, where they are free to live in peace and form their own families, of sorts.

Soon enough, though, hero wannabe Perseus gets wind of the Island of Monsters. He's determined to make a name for himself, to finally get his father Zeus to remember his name in particular over the chief god's dozens of other sons. Using marketing strategies worthy of any Fortune 500 company, Perseus recruits a band of other B-List heroes to join him; he rejects Odysseus ("Full of cunning…Too fond of his wife and family") and Achilles ("Get his mother to stop spoiling him"). Backed with the powers of the Olympian gods, the heroes set off to earn their fame and fortune.

Meanwhile, Corydon, Medusa and two other Gorgons, aware that an army is on the move, work to awaken the gods of the earth. These less renowned gods, who make their home in the earth or below it, include figures like Hades and Corydon's own father, whose identity he discovers early in the story. Corydon's voyage to the underworld, accompanied by the fiercely loyal Minotaur, is one of the most emotionally powerful elements of the story.

Equally powerful is the depiction of Medusa, her tragic history and her dedication to her son, culminating in her ultimate sacrifice. Betrayed by his own mother, still longing for a perfect maternal love that doesn't exist, Corydon must learn to recognize true motherly love --- flawed but powerful --- in this most unlikely creature.

Given the nature of its author, it's probably not surprising that CORYDON & THE ISLAND OF MONSTERS includes mother-child love as one of its major themes. Tobias Druitt is the pen name of a writing duo: a mother, who is on the faculty of Oxford University, and her young son, who is only nine. In addition to being emotionally powerful, the novel is firmly grounded in both ancient Greek mythology and in other works of classic literature --- allusions to poems and plays both ancient and modern will reward careful readers. A playful attitude combined with the elevated language and epic struggles of high fantasy will attract many readers, who will be hungry for subsequent adventures in this projected trilogy.

   --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

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