My first impression of Vancouver playwright Dennis Foon’s Freewalker, a sequel to The Dirt Eaters, was that it’s derivative of Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials series. Foon’s mystical “dirt” recalls Pullman’s “dust.” The animal forms that Foon’s characters assume in the Dreamfield are reminiscent of Pullman’s “daemons.” Foon, like Pullman, creates a religious hierarchy with sinister designs on children. Pullman’s satire of the Catholic church, which I think is inappropriate for impressionable young readers, dominates Foon’s book too. Yet these reservations could not stop me from becoming engrossed in the story.

The quest, with the requisite series of interesting landscapes, avoids the Tolkienesque sense of repetition. This freshness is achieved mostly through Foon’s technique of alternating between two narratives: that of Roan, guardian of 14 children who are destined to save the world but are trapped in the Dreamfield (a kind of shared unconsciousness), and of Our Stowe, his younger sister, who has been manufactured into a deity for the gullible public by the evil ruling archbishops. Opposing the archbishops’ monopoly over Dirt, an addictive powder that allows for easy access to the Dreamfield, are four rebel groups. The “chosen,” Roan and Stowe, must determine which group should be their allies in their upcoming war.

For the most part, Foon avoids two pitfalls that hobble many fantasy writers: humourlessness and “medieval-speak.” Roan’s sidekick, Lumpy, provides a contemporary, wry commentary on his friend’s exploits. While some characters, particularly the elfin Mabatan, lapse into quaint-sounding riddles, most of the characters speak real English. I look forward to hearing them again in the final installment.