Harsu and the Werestoat by Barbara Else

Harsu and the Werestoat Reviews

• 
  Kathleen Dixon

  The blurb says that 'something is not right with Harsu's mother' and 'she has started kidnapping children', etc., but there's never been things all right with Harsu's mother. In fact, she used to kidnap babies until her elderly relatives put a stop to that. Harsu's mother wants everybody to see that she is the perfect mother, and in her pathological need to achieve that she drags Harsu around time and place to find the perfect child to display her best.
  
  Well, you and I know that there is no perfect child and we'd be fools to even hope for it. And a perfect mother?! Some of us try, but I'm sure the vast majority of us fall short. Harsu's mother is never going to get within a mile of it!
  
  This is a fun book for 8 to 12 year-old with some historical scenes, lots of magic, and a great character in Harsu who is trying desperately to stop his mother from ruining too many lives.
• 
  SBC

  Not at all what I expected. The story starts in the ancient world and then characters travel through successive time periods (Vikings, Puritans, and modern day New Zealand). It was a weird combination of time periods and a weird story.
  
  Harsu is the only son of Daama, who is one of the many (many!) grandchildren of the many (many!) children of the wind god. We later learn this early setting for the story is Ur (a major Sumerian city-state located in Mesopotamia, founded circa 3800 BCE). Harsu's mother is ridiculous - immature, petty, greedy, and vain. Because Harsu's face is scarred by fever, she keeps kidnapping children because she must have the perfect child to show she is the perfect mother. After all her servants abandon her, she takes Harsu and a kidnapped child through the Gate of Time and Place, trying to find the perfect child in different times and places. Eventually, Daama, Harsu, and a bunch of kidnapped children end up in modern day New Zealand.
  
  Harsu does his best to protect and help the children, while trying to please his mother. As time passes, he comes to realise there is no pleasing his mother and no helping her become better than she is, either. The essential nastiness of her nature appears to be symbolised by her becoming a werestoat when she is emotional. To save the children, and himself, Harsu must remember that he is also a descendant of the wind god.
• 
  Pauline

  3.5 stars
  
  Barbara Else is a very accomplished New Zealand writer whose works are well known for their extensive world building and humour. Harsu and the Werestoat is an original part fairy tale, part adventure and time-travel novel. Harsu is a strong character with a defined moral compass. It’s not easy to live with a mother who is the daughter of the Wind God who is determined to get revenge on Harsu’s warrior-physician human father, and who also turns into a stoat demon andwants to kidnap little children. A journey through the gate of time and place brings them to modern New Zealand where Harsu must learn to harness his power and use his strengths for good, while keeping his mother happy and also trying to thwart her plans. Although this story is resolved the ending clearly sets Harsu up for more adventures on his quest.
  
  Suitable 9+ time-travel, magic, fantasy, demons, kidnapping of children
• 
  Great Reads

  Firstly, at a reading level while this would be accessible to advanced readers of 8-9+ I feel the themes presented are definitely leaning towards older readers and would place this as a great transition from traditional children's fiction towards YA - and feel that many points would resonate with the YA audience far better.
  
  A beautiful tale in a fantasy world that is fascinatingly built very swiftly and as we take turns with the characters new factors appear that we must get on board with swiftly. Characterisation is key to me in getting gripped in a book and I was sold within the first few pages and as the plot developed into some very unexpected territory I was all the more keen. While this is very true of the leads a few side characters are far more functional but in a way that lends itself well to the later storytelling approach. Tying together the voices of traditional myth and something akin to Diana Wynne Jones' magic I would recommend this very highly for younger fans of fantasy escapism, but also pose as a challenge to those readers who are gripped more by social realism for the intrigue that will come from many of the relationships.
• 
  Cassandra

  Weird. Mostly in a good way, but I think this'd be better as a short story. It also didn't really go anywhere?
  
  I think 7 or 8 y/o me might have liked it better.