- Wonderful and engaging, Birdgenaw's anthropomorphic story is rife with adult and child themes alike, delicately presented.
Antuna’s Story (The Antunite Chronicles Book 1)
Antuna’s Story tells the tale of a group of prehistoric insects that get inexplicably transported through a violent portal into a habitable world billions of “light-hexs” away from Earth. There, they are confused, and quickly try to organize themselves to maximize survival. Thankfully, many of these insects work together despite being of different types (ants, termites, spiders), but as time goes on and their colonies begin to get more established, friction begins to arise as those in power try to create insular groups within this new world, sparking conflict.
Birdgenaw has done a fantastic job of juxtaposing an intricate, well written novella about some serious subjects, such as prejudice and idealism, against fun and lighthearted dialogues between equally lovable characters. As one reads it, littered among big words are very silly, childlike ones, such as the names of many of the characters, and even the new planet itself, coined ‘Poo-ponic’. This serves to keep it light, and given some of the dark undertones to the story, it is a welcomed reprieve.
Written in a classic manner, with descriptions and world building just intricate enough to magnetize the reader, but not so much that the story gets lost in between, Antuna’s Story is both entertaining and emotional.
Mistigoose was both a tragic figure and an inspiration for this series. Her tragedy was that she drowned herself while distraught over the loss of her first son William, whom her British husband Robert had taken permanently to England. Against her will, the author's fifth great-grandfather wanted to ensure their son would be eligible to receive a handsome inheritance promised to his heir. Ironically, as British law prohibited Metis from owning property, William never received his rightful inheritance, so his translocation and mother\'s death were both in vain.
The translation of Mistigoose, an Oji-Cree word, inspired parts of the story told in The Antunite Chronicles. In English, Mistigoose means little branch or twig. The title character of Antuna's Story, whose own mother drowned, used a twig in a selfless effort to save her newfound friend Dinomite. The resolution of the second book in the series, The Rise and Fall of Antocracy, also depended on the insectoids' realization that they needed tiny insects to break down little branches to generate the new soil required to rehabilitate their spent lands.
