Walkabout
by Gary Taaffe
Series: Urban Hunters #3
Published: Feb 7, 2012
Genres: Fiction, Middle Grade
Format: eBook (170 pages)
Source: For Review
Suffering similar tragedies a world apart and forced to grow up before their time, Billy and Amber must find a new future, one beyond anything either of them could ever have imagined. Life was normal for Billy, living hidden in the bush with the last of his kind. Until the spirit of his mother told him in a dream to go Walkabout where the whitefellas live. Find some girls or watch his clan of men die out, ending the Dreamtime forever.
Spoiler free even if you haven’t read the first book in this series.
In Walkabout, Billy goes into the “whitefella” culture for the first time and his culture shock is charming, honest and amusing. I loved the Australian lingo throughout the book. Some of the words I’d never heard before, but it wasn’t too difficult to figure out, like when he slides his “sunnies” (I’d call them sunglasses) to the top of his head. It helped me really get a feel for the culture. The story starts off a bit slow, but picks up with some more great gross-out hunting scenes that I loved from the first book but this time there are cute puppies. The humor had me laughing out loud in places, but mostly I felt myself smiling a lot at how innocent Billy is despite being able to hunt and live off of the land on his own at such a young age. Billy is a juxtaposition of seasoned warrior and innocent child that makes him incredibly easy to like. It was such a fun and entertaining adventure story.
Content Rating: Medium, for a few swear words and some hunting scenes that are a little graphic.
About Gary Taaffe
Gary Taaffe lives in a small coastal town in NSW, Australia. There's open ocean on one side, a massive saltwater lake on the other and enough virgin bushland in the surrounding areas to lose yourself for a week. When he's not writing, Gary's hunting deer for the freezer or putting around the lake fishing for flathead.
He's a Toolmaker by trade, a successful inventor and now, a writer. Urban Hunters is the culmination of his inventiveness, his enthusiasm for the outdoors and his fun-filled sense of humour.
My name is Jessica. I love to read Young Adult and classic literature. I’ve been a book blogger for six years and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I’m a very curious reader. Writing about all the questions and thoughts I had while reading a book is the best hobby ever.
Thanks for another great review, Jessica. I
love playing with Billy’s incredible capabilities against his youthful
naivety. It’s been fun putting him in the city and seeing his reactions to
things beyond his imagination. The next book, #4(I’m struggling to find an
appropriate title), has been even more fun to write by adding Amber, considering
he’s never even seen a girl before, let alone knowing how to react to her emotionally.
I’m working on the ending now so it won’t be too far off. Lots more fun-filled adventure…