“The way that it (New Zealand: A Novel) explains how cannibalism was necessitated through overpopulation, and slowly grew to be a part of the culture is particularly fascinating.” That’s according to one prominent book critic in Amazon-owned Goodreads.com – the world’s largest social cataloguing site for book lovers.
As the author of this new release historical novel, it’s very clear to me this particular book critic totally gets it. Here’s his review in full:
Great book. Morcan expertly weaves historical facts with well-constructed narratives to create a picture of what the early history of New Zealand may have looked like. This novel is an example of how historical fiction can sometimes reveal more than something with perfect historical accuracy. Especially when there is little evidence beyond oral history of what actually happened. The way that it explains how cannibalism was necessitated through overpopulation, and slowly grew to be a part of the culture is particularly fascinating.
A significant symbol in the novel is the dog. At the beginning, the Hawaikans leave Hawaiiki to get away from the dogfaces. As the years pass in the new land of Aotearoa, they fall into the practices of the Dogfaces, raiding other tribes’ pa, taking their women and children as slaves, rape and cannibalism. This is shown as the Māori now wear dogskin for clothing. They have become the very thing that their ancestors sought to get away from.
A very fascinating read that delves into a time in our history as a nation that is very rarely talked about in detail. The novel shows the importance of our nation’s history, and provides a document for a time in our history that is very undocumented, ensuring that the details of it don’t become even more lost to the ages.
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Footnote: The “Dogfaces” this critic mentions refers to the name given to enemies of Maoris’ early ancestors – Islanders from the mythical South Pacific island nation of Hawaiki – in reference to their penchant for wearing the pelts and sometimes the heads of the fierce hunting dogs they bred. They feature in the novel’s Prologue, which is set in 1299 AD.
This and other Goodreads reviews of New Zealand: A Novel can be viewed at:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/221413728-new-zealand
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Morcan Books & Films 