bookheaven | The Night Marchers and Other Oceanian Stories

The Night Marchers and Other Oceanian Stories by Kel McDonald

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was really excited to see this one because you don't often see Oceanian tales in America unfortunately. Sadly this is one of the weak points as the stories are written as if the reader will be familiar with the folk lore and don't quite carry through if you're not. That said I did enjoy it.

As with all anthologies there is a hit and miss to the stories. For me the two stand outs (both from the Philippines) are The Ibalon Epic: a Retelling of the Baltog and Let's Learn Baybayin. The former has outstanding art and a sympathetic epic hero who wants to retire from the killing and be a farmer. The latter has a war theme too looking at it from an animal's pov (a turtles and lizards) but what makes it interesting is that it is written in Baybayin an old Tagalog script, trying to rescue it which I think is neat.

Hawaiian folklore is the next prevalent one depicted with one or two from Fugi and Maori but over all most are from Hawai'i and the Philippines. I'm glad I read this but also glad it's a library book because it's not one I see myself going back to time and again.

View all my reviews