Sky Dancer by Witi Ihimaera
(From the intro: "Witi Ihimaera is descended from Te Whānau A Kai, Te Aitanga A Mahaki, Rongowhakaata and Ngati Porou and has close affiliations with other Maori tribes.")
From my half-memories of reading this the first time, I thought of it as science fiction because of the time travel. But reading it now a second time, it really is much more fantasy. While some elements of the story I recognise as Maori mythology, others (like the Book of Birds and avian society) are pure invention, and other allusions could be either for all I know, or merge the two.
The prose is very colloquial and very New Zealand. It's broader than I'm used to and the humour isn't quite to my taste, so it felt a bit clunky to read. I also had problems with the relationship between the two main characters: although Skylark gets to call Arnie chauvinistic, she too readily succumbs to the heron's advice that she needs to "learn how to lose" - in other words don't be too clever, if you want to keep a guy you gotta flatter him.
But all in all, it's a quick and very fun read.
From my half-memories of reading this the first time, I thought of it as science fiction because of the time travel. But reading it now a second time, it really is much more fantasy. While some elements of the story I recognise as Maori mythology, others (like the Book of Birds and avian society) are pure invention, and other allusions could be either for all I know, or merge the two.
The prose is very colloquial and very New Zealand. It's broader than I'm used to and the humour isn't quite to my taste, so it felt a bit clunky to read. I also had problems with the relationship between the two main characters: although Skylark gets to call Arnie chauvinistic, she too readily succumbs to the heron's advice that she needs to "learn how to lose" - in other words don't be too clever, if you want to keep a guy you gotta flatter him.
But all in all, it's a quick and very fun read.