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The Third Eye

by Mahtab Narsimhan

Mahtab Narsimhan brings imagery from her native India to the story of Tara, an Indian girl who battles an evil monster/magician in order to retrieve her family and save her village. Tara’s mother and beloved grandfather have disappeared; now, her father is distant and subdued, and Tara and her little brother Suraj are victims of their stepmother Kali’s cruelty. When she overhears Kali plotting murder with an evil magician posing as a healer, Tara heads into the forest to find her mother and grandfather. With the help of Lord Ganesh and Lord Yama, she evades the magician and his living-dead minions, navigates the dangerous underground route to the Water of Life, finds her family, brings a new friend back from the dead, and saves her village.

But Narsimhan is not quite able to bring her characters to life: sentences such as “energy coursed through Tara’s supple frame,” among others, are stilted and distant. Indeed, awkward “tell, don’t show” prose permeates the story, which also suffers from B-movie monsters, some too-obvious plot devices, and a tendency toward didacticism. Moral lessons lie openly on the story’s surface. “Focus on the goal and block out everything else that stands in your way. Especially fear, panic and self-doubt,” advises Lord Ganesh’s helper, sounding like a sports coach. Lord Yama commends Tara in the manner of an approving parent, saying, “You remembered all my instructions and followed them.” In the end, the story comes across as a well-meaning lecture instead of a dynamic adventure.

 

Reviewer: Q&Q Staff

Publisher: Dundurn Press

DETAILS

Price: $12.99

Page Count: 240 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 978-1-55002-750-1

Released: Nov.

Issue Date: 2008-1

Categories: Children and YA Fiction

Age Range: 9-12