Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt

March 5, 2021

Gr 5 Up-Siblings Ottilie and Gulliver "Gully" Colter have raised themselves in the Swamp Hollows. Their mother has been wasting away for many years, leaving them responsible for scraping out an existence in what is considered the slums of the hollows, Brakkersamp. When Ottilie realizes one morning that Gully has gone missing, she knows she will have to find him-even if it means she has to leave the safety of their hollow. Thanks to an odd greyish, pinkish furry creature that visits her, Ottilie discovers her beloved brother has been kidnapped by the swamp pickers. No one knows what happens to boys taken by the pickers. Ottilie bravely disguises herself as a young boy and joins a crew of the kidnapped boys. The captured youth are taken to a faraway land called the Narroway and they realize they have been kidnapped for a very special job: They are being trained to become elite hunters of the deadly dredretches, horrid creatures that come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Each one has unique abilities to kill humans, and a deadly aura that crushes human spirit. The characters in this novel are fully developed and their relationships ring true. The action is well paced. It is exciting to see Ottilie develop as a warrior and readers will be genuinely frustrated when her identity is outed. The friendships, loyalties, and bravery of many of the characters make this a truly heartening tale. Ottilie is described as pale and Gully as bronze. Most of the other characters are cued as white. VERDICT A dynamic, action-packed fantasy that forces a young girl to face her fears when attempting to rescue her brother.-Julie Shatterly, W. A. Bess Elem. Sch., Gastonia, NC

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2021
In this Australian trilogy opener, a girl infiltrates an all-male monster hunting organization to save her abducted brother. Cautious Ottilie has always followed her brother, Gully, who--though almost two years her junior--is the more confident and daring of the two. They live with their neglectful mother in abject poverty on the fringes of civilization in the Swamp Hollows. When Gully fails to come home one night, Ottilie learns of boys going missing and sets off to save her brother. To follow him, she must disguise herself as a boy and sneak into the midst of another group of abductees. After Ottilie, masquerading as Ott, arrives at the Narroway--a place none of them have ever heard of--she's reunited with Gully and told that the boys have been specially selected to serve in the Narroway Hunt to protect their kingdom's border from dangerous, monstrous dredretches. Only Gully and a female sculkie friend (while boys are huntsmen, girls can only be servants) know of Ottilie's secret as she plots an escape while also falling deeper into Narroway culture, seeing horrors and coming to embrace the mission's importance. Exquisite worldbuilding keeps a strong sense of discovery and balances the appeal of the huntsman's life with the deeply unfair society and hints of conspiracies afoot. Amid thrilling action, plot threads set up the next installment. Ottilie is pale; Gully has bronze skin; most other characters default to White. A must-read for fans of the genre. (Fantasy. 10-14)

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March 1, 2021
Grades 4-6 Australian author Williams ventures into Tamora Pierce territory with this trilogy opener, a tale of a doughty lass tackling both rabid gender prejudice and murderous monsters. Having disguised herself and sneaked into an all-boys training camp in hopes of rescuing her kidnapped little brother, Gully, Ottilie--"Ott"--comes to realize that she doesn't want to leave. The monsters she trains to fight on a giant flying cat under the tutelage of arrogant older teen Leo are terrifically scary creatures, evocatively called "dredretch," that come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, the wells of courage and ingenuity Ott can draw on to compensate for her general ineptitude with weapons fail to keep her from being unmasked and demoted. More unfortunately still, for the tale's feminist underpinnings, she regains her status as apprentice hunter only after Leo reluctantly intervenes. Still, by the end, Ott wins respect from more than just her mentor, and, along with plenty of monster-killing action, Williams tucks in tantalizing hints of hidden agendas and broader conflicts to spark interest in future episodes.

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May 4, 2018
The Colter siblings have learned to look after each other in the dangerous Brakkerswamp, so when Ottilie’s brother Gully is kidnapped under mysterious circumstances, it falls to her to save him. Ottilie discovers her brother has been scouted by the Narroway Hunters: a secretive, male-only group tasked with keeping the land safe from monstrous creatures called dredetches. Naturally, the only way for Ottilie to keep an eye on Gully is to infiltrate their ranks, so she cuts her hair, calls herself Ott and learns the ways of the hunter, while also trying to keep her true identity a secret. Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt is the first middle-grade novel to win Hardie Grant Egmont’s Ampersand Prize, and it seems destined to be one of those award-winners that also captures the hearts of its audience. It takes the familiar path of the ‘apprenticeship plot’ often found in fantasy-adventure, but it also explores deeper questions about fairness, gender and friendship, making for a highly enjoyable read. The world-building is original and pared back enough so that it never distracts from the story. This is a great book to put into the hands of ‘Ranger’s Apprentice’ or ‘Song of the Lioness’ fans aged nine to 12, regardless of gender. Holly Harper is an author and bookseller at Readings Kids