Triskellion -- Will Peterson

Huh.  Well, first, I'll tell you what Triskellion is not about.  This:

Upon arriving in the English village and realizing that a mysterious force has taken over the entire community, twins Rachel and Adam fear for the condition of their grandmother and so begin to look into the mystery of the bees--unearthing a dark secret.

"Mysterious force taken over the entire community"?  Nope.  "Fear for the condition of their grandmother"?  Nope.  "The mystery of the bees"?  Nope.  I don't know where Baker & Taylor got that description.  It certainly wasn't from reading the book.  I love the CATS Booking Ahead announcements, but now I know to take 'em with a grain of salt.  Sheesh.

Okay, the book is actually about this:

Due to their parents' estrangement, 14-year-old American twins Rachel and Adam Newman are sent to their mother's childhood home, Triskellion, to spend the summer with their grandmother.  They arrive at an empty train station and make their way into town -- which they find deserted.  Kind of:

A cloud had begun to slide rapidly across the sun, and the line of shadow moved behind them as they walked, chasing them along the pavement and catching up with them as they reached the post office a hundred yards further up the street.  Inside, it was dimly lit, but at least there was a sign on the door reading OPEN.

"We can probably get some candy in here," Rachel said.

Adam almost barged his sister out of the way.  "I'll take everything they've got," he said.  Laughing, they lunged for the door together, only to see a pale hand emerge from the gloom inside and flip the sign over: CLOSED.

Shortly thereafter, they are accosted by some young thugs and Adam is punched in the face. 

A few chapters later, while exploring the local forest, they witness the same young thugs get tied to a tree and get a serious beating by a group of men who are wearing rags, furs and in some cases, antler headdresses.  When the Green Men pull out a chainsaw, Adam and Rachel make a break for it.

Clearly, Triskellion is not your average sleepy English village.  In addition to the strange scene in the woods, they notice the triskellion symbol everywhere, and have a run-in with an extremely unfriendly vicar.  Also, there seems to be a feral boy about town as well as a decades old secret, a centuries old mystery and a prophecy. 

I was so looking forward to this book.  It just sounded SO COOL. 

I was, for the most part, disappointed.  There are some spoilers below.

In brief, my issues are: a lot of the dialogue didn't ring true, I never saw the main characters as people, the ending completely fell apart and the whole thing felt like the author was making it up as he went along.  Also, it reads like someone was hoping for a a movie deal.  (I'm not saying it wouldn't make an entertaining, creepy movie -- but it would be nice for a book to read like, you know, a book that feels like the author wanted to tell a decent story rather than create some sort of licensing bonanza commodity thingie.) 

As for the making-it-up-as-he-went-along feeling, the bit that really got to me was (spoilers ahead) this:  So, Rachel has visions.  Okay.  She has visions.  We find that out around page forty.  Then, fifty pages later, we learn that not only does Adam have visions too, but that they often share them, and that this has gone on "since they could remember".  Wouldn't that have been worth mentioning back when she had her earlier vision?  And THEN, twenty pages later, we find out that not only do they have regularly occurring shared visions, but that they are semi-telepathic.  So, yes.  That didn't work for me.

Oh, and this? 

He had falling writhing to the floor as every exposed inch of his flesh--his face, his eyelids, his lips, his ears and his hands--was covered with a throbbing layer of bees, stinging him repeatedly.

Honeybees can't sting repeatedly.  They have barbed stingers, so they sting once and die.  It's certainly possible that the author meant that as they stung him, they died, dropped off and other bees moved in, but it sure doesn't read like that.  It's also possible, I guess, that these are special magical repeat-stinging Triskellion honeybees, but, unlike Adam and Rachel Newman, I'm not a mind-reader.

I'm not going to go into the ending, as I really am trying to avoid big spoilers.  I really felt that it didn't jive with the atmosphere of the rest of the book.  Not only that, but I didn't find it remotely satisfying.

This one is completely my own issue, but I'll tell you about it anyway.  I was put off by a few moments near the beginning that reminded me of Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising sequence -- the big one being less than ten pages in, when the Newman twins are on the train.  They share their compartment with an older lady who is knitting, and "her needles clicked on in time to the clatter of the train".  While I doubt that it is actually a reference to the "intothedarkintothedark" bit in Silver on the Tree, it's certainly the first thing I thought of -- and that just didn't work for me.  If I'd liked the book, I probably would have felt differently, but as it was, I found it distracting. 

The book was not a complete and total wash -- there were some effectively creepy moments, and again, I loved the basic premise.  Overall, though, I'd give it a pass. 

It should definitely be noted that all of this is based on reading a reviewer's copy, so things may have changed.

Comments

[Brian F.]

Well, poop.

I picked this up on a whim a month ago because it was a super cheap "Borders exclusive" edition. I thought it also sounded cool, kind of John Christopher-ish. Guess it gets relegated to the bottom of the pile. (Actually, that's already where it was but I'm not sure anything will prompt me to change that now.)

[Leila]

Well, hey -- maybe it's just me. But that scene with the honeybees really did tick me off. Let me know what you think when you finally do get around to it...

[Colleen]

You're not the only one to feel this way - from my tepid review a couple of months ago:

"Peterson just seems to ask a bit too often that his readers take certain aspects of the plot on trust. The twins hardly mention their father at all (it would have made more sense for him to be dead for all the attention he receives), they have odd dreams which conveniently reveal historical information, bees help them for no reason, telepathy comes in handy more than once and when their grandmother goes bat crazy they seem to expect it. Also at the end, the twins act as if everything is explained but really, it’s not. You just have to accept that it is and I found that a bit frustrating. I think Triskellion is okay to recommend to readers who enjoy a breezy adventure, especially with an air of menace. I just don’t think the book is as good as it could have been and that makes it a disappointment."

The whole thing should have been way better than it was.

[kidlitjunkie]

Too bad. I am itching, positively, itching, I tell you, for a good book about bees. I am fascinated by bees.

[Anya]

Hang on guys, have you read Triskellon 2 - The Burning, its AMAZING! I challenge you not to enjoy it and be amazed at the twists it takes