Fireboy

Fireboy
by Edward Willett
Published by Shadowpaw Press
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$22.99 ISBN 9781998273423

There are several things I can count on each time I open a book for young readers by Regina author Edward Willett: the story will be technically well-written; the characters credible and clever; and whatever weird, fantastical situations the young cast finds themselves in, there’s bound to be laughs along the way. In short, I know I’ll be impressed.

Fireboy is the Aurora Award-winning author and publisher’s latest title, and with this blaze-paced novel it’s clear that Willett’s lost none of his … fire. The story’s told by thirteen-year-old Samantha “Sam” MacReady, who missed out on her Grade 7 overnight field trip (“a camping-trip-and-astronomy-adventure”) in May and thus was spared when her fellow “Limberpine,” Alberta classmates were involved in a tragic school bus accident. The bus was driven by Grade 7 science teacher Dr. Ballard, and he and a single student—loner Meg, from the wrong side of the tracks—were the sole survivors. The remaining nineteen students mysteriously vanished, and no one can say for sure what even caused the bus to flip on its side.

After the news crews left the small town folks alone and “The rest of the world moved on,” motherless Sam “dealt with [the tragedy] by moping and throwing things and binge-watching anime.” She especially mourns the loss of her best friend, Lorenzo. Sam’s dad takes her camping to try to cheer her, but the poor weather does little to improve her mood. She says, “̒He thought we would bond through shared misery. I don’t know if we bonded, but we definitely mildewed.’”

Later that night Sam’s woken by a voice calling her name. She leaves her tent to find that the previously extinguished campfire is now wildly ablaze, her name being called from within it, and she sees Lorenzo’s face in the fire, but “It looked like a mask made of glass and filled with flames.” Then he screamed.

The following night, Lorenzo appears to Sam again, aflame “in the trees behind [Sam’s] barn.” The boy’s become a walking, talking campfire, and he tells Sam that he doesn’t know what happened the day of the accident, but he woke up “locked in a room.” He doesn’t know where his actual body is, but he knows the other kids are detained, as well. There’s a powerful masked man and his wife, in lab coats, and a vague awareness of being controlled by the man via a strange pressure, but Lorenzo’s quickly learned how to return to his human body from his “flamesicle” state, if only briefly.

Sam has her work cut out for her. How will she rescue Lorenzo and their classmates? Does Dr. Ballard or the vice principal have anything to do with the crash and abduction? And what in the world do the four classical elements (Earth, Wind, Fire and Water) and Paracelsus, “’the prince of alchemists,’” have to do with all of this?

Sam’s life’s become “a straight-to-video horror movie,” and it’s a treat to read Fireboy and find out why.

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM THE SASKATCHEWAN PUBLISHERS GROUP WWW.SKBOOKS.COM