Category: Fantasy Publisher: i Universe
ISBN-10: 1450228909
Type: Fiction
Pages: 312
Copyright: May 25, 2010
ISBN-13: 9781450228909
The Marshlanders is a compelling work of environmental fiction about a green world threatened by a world of greed. It tells a gripping story about the conflict between self-sustaining communities and their enemies, who are determined to drain their wetlands for agricultural development
In Annis Pratt's The Marshlanders, which is the first novel in The Marshlanders Trilogy, Clare escapes from the shaming of her mother during a persecution of healers, and is adopted by a family of Marshlanders.
The people of her new community are joyously sensual, seek harmony with their watery landscape, and are creatively practical, always looking for new ideas about farming, irrigation, navigating, foraging, and weaving. Their enemies are sexually violent and seek to dominate nature. They pursue technology out of greed and govern by male domination and military force.
Clare's subsequent adventures and apprenticeship as a weaver make this a compelling read about how our green world is threatened to its core by a world of greed.
Excerpt
Dusk was full upon them, and Clare's shoulders ached, but she wasn't going to say so. If William was idiot enough to keep going after dark, she wasn't going to tell him! They came to a stretch of river filled with lots of sodden tree trunks that were barely visible in the dusk. He didn't have any warning that a thick old branch lay submerged across the river. The boat was caught by the full force of the current. They tipped and lurched sideways and weren't quick enough balancing their weight. The longboat capsized and pitched them into the river.
Clare opened her mouth to shout at William, but she swallowed water and was propelled downward as if pulled by enormously strong hands. She tried to hold her breath. Her tunic tore as a branch dug into her, but she couldn't catch hold. The current seemed much more powerful underwater, pushing and pulling her down until her lungs almost burst with her attempt not to breathe or swallow. She tried to think of a prayer, but she was too frightened of drowning.
She felt a blow against her shoulders. When she tried to move her arms to swim, she realized she was wedged in a narrow tunnel. She had run out of breath! She couldn't help opening her mouth. She didn't swallow water; she breathed air, though the current sucked her legs and her body backward. Frantically kicking, she thrashed her shoulders and inched forward. She rested briefly, gasping fetid air, then kicked and thrashed again. Maybe she was dead already and trying to escape from her coffin? But her body would have none of that, forcing itself inch by inch into the darkness until a muddy, fibrous platform supported her chin.
She couldn't see anything, but she could breathe, and her lower body had come free. She hauled herself out of the water and crouched on all fours. When she tried to stand, her head bumped a low ceiling made of the same fibrous material as the platform. She was cold down to her very bones. She'd escaped drowning, but she could freeze to death in this pitch black hollow.
She heard a very loud clicking and clacking nearby. The chattering came from something else than her own teeth. She wasn't alone! She went still all over. She had been trained for Marshland emergencies and knew she had to think hard - right now- to save herself. Her soggy, tattered uniform lay heavily on her back, which stung with scratches, so she wasn't dead. But she would be if it took her much longer to figure a way out. She sensed movement. Something dragged itself across the floor toward her. Before she could get into a defensive posture, she was pinned between two furry creatures rubbing at her from both sides. They smelled musty with an odor she remembered from riverbanks when beavers were courting. Beaver! With their enormous teeth, they could easily kill hr, but they had stopped her from shivering by settling on each side in a comforting manner.
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