As a long time fan of his Discworld series, I thought I’d give one of his non-Discworld books a try. The first couple of pages of this book were interesting, so I bought this on impulse in the bookshop. It was only *after* I finished reading it that I discovered the book was intended for teen readers, and I still liked this book.

The book is set on a tropical island after a tsunami wipes out the local villages. The sole survivor is Mau, a teen boy who starts to rebuild his devastated village by himself. Gradually other survivors from different cultures arrive, all looking for refuge and together they rebuild the physical village. In the process, they learn to question the social norms of their elders, and merge their various cultural backgrounds to create a new blended society of their very own. All good food for thought. And being Terry Pratchett, it was all done in a way that would give teens and grownups food for thought about life in the “real” world, while still being entertaining!