ACHUKA Book of the Day 12 Sep 2022
This autumn, on the island of Summertide, Utterly Dark’s special connection to the sea is tested more than ever before.
Accompanying her uncle as he explores mysterious Summertide, Utterly is witness to strange happenings in the woods. Deep, old magic abounds, and threatens to steal those she loves most. Utterly must face truths about what lies beneath the land, and in her own past, if she is to save anyone. And she must make a sacrifice to the sea . . .
When I wrote Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep, I thought it would be a one off, like Mortal Engines and Railhead. But, as with Mortal Engines and Railhead, I had to create a whole world for Utterly to have her adventures in, and I found I didn’t want to abandon it when the book was finished. Wildsea, the island where Utterly lives, is part of a whole archipelago, the Autumn Isles, and it seemed a good idea to send her off to visit one of the other islands. The new one is called Summertide, and where Wildsea is a granitic Cornwall/Dartmoor sort of island, Summertide is all chalk downland and much more Wiltshire/Sussex-y. It’s also big enough that the part where Utterly is staying is out of sight of the sea, and the magic she’ll encounter is land magic rather than sea magic.
PHILIP REEVE (from his website)
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