MINES OF THE MINOTAUR

Golding’s series about epic environmental danger continues its steady, gentle tone. Connie, Col and some relatives and friends are members of a secret Society, charged with protecting pegasi, frost wolves, water sprites and other creatures assumed to be imaginary. Each human is companion to one type of creature, except Connie, who’s a Universal. She’s vastly powerful, but her training’s been vague and mentorless. When she inadvertently conjures dangerous weather, the Society panics. A sour trustee expels Connie, while loyal friends cautiously venture inside her mind, seeking the hidden darkness that causes her to raise storms. It’s the mark of evil Kullervo, who left a contact point inside her in the past. Kullervo is evil’s embodiment, and he’s also nature’s vengeance for human pollution. Golding’s physical scope stays safely within a small coastal region and shoreline, but the battle affects all of earth’s humans and wildlife. Global warming and psychoanalytic symbolism move to the forefront; some readers may wish for a less victimized heroine, but earnest narration and an ocean battle carry the day. (Fantasy. 9-14)