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The First Halfbreed by VN Keeng: book review




The First Halfbreed (2016) is a young adult magic and fantasy novel, by a Kenyan author, set in the fictional country of Kari. In Kari there are four conflicting tribes who do not intermarry: the Dekechi (short, forest people with cat-like eyes who live in trees), the Nemas (strong, tall people who live in homes), the Liinos (a male tribe), and the Bredars (amphibious people with tails, fins, webbed appendages, and lime green skin – and with skills in medicine).

The novel begins with a 200-year-old legend about a witch, Lasedi, with a powerful magic staff. When Lasedi dies, the staff can select a new witch to be the most powerful in the land. But it does not find a suitable candidate and lies dormant for 200 years.

The novel introduces Rana, a 20-year-old man, leader of Nemaland, who meets Doli, a Dekechi. They have a baby girl, and under tragic circumstances, she is left with a woman, Tale, a Bredar. But Tale abandons her. She is found, and adopted by Dani and his wife Teres, who have a five-year-old son, Shem. The family are Dekechi and live on Bukasi Island. The baby girl is the first halfbreed on the island, and looks very different from everyone else. She is called Moselle.

Halfway into the novel, Moselle is 17 years old and lonely. She meets a Liino boy, Kelan. But Dekechi children start disappearing – some are found dead. When Moselle’s family disappears, she seeks to find them. Her search takes her to Nemaland, where she begins to learn about her past, and her real identity.

This novel is a blend of ‘Harry Potter’ meets ‘Avatar’ in the  land of ‘The Lion King.’ The novel focuses on Moselle and readers begin to understand her character well, and although some themes are threaded throughout the novel, others are difficult to follow. The style is weakly constructed in a ‘this-happened-then-that-happened-and-one-day-then-the-next-day’ chain of grammatically poor sentences, with disjointed dialogue, which makes it a disappointing read. If readers – particularly lovers of fantasy novels – can overcome the flaws, there is a magical story buried beneath.



Note: I received a free copy of the author’s debut novel to review.


Find out more about V.N. Keeng and her work on her official website, http://www.vnkeeng.com/ and on Facebook, https://web.facebook.com/vinkeeng
https://www.amazon.com/First-Halfbreed-VN-Keeng- ebook/dp/B01FG1W76W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1462986803&sr=1- 1&keywords=first+halfbreed


MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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