Review: Brave Water by Sarah Robsdottir

I have another book to review for you, readers! Today’s novel is Brave Water, a story written by Sarah Robsdottir and published by Voyages Comics and Publishing. You may remember that I am one of their affiliates, so if you purchase anything through the link marked with an asterisk, I will receive a commission from them for directing you to their site.

Not too long ago I made Voyage Comics’ blog roll and you may remember the many posts from the Voyage Comics’ blog which I have linked here on this site. As you can see, the publisher is growing. One way in which I help is by reviewing their publications such as Brave Water, Mrs. Robsdottir’s debut YA novel. Here is the blurb for the book:

Girls are disappearing on their way to the spring…

Will fear stop Talitha, the sole water gatherer for her hut, from searching for her friend—even if it means scaling the walls of the mine owners’ compound, where locals are shot on sight?

And will terror block Moses’ path—or can this teenage hunter battle an underground human trafficking ring with ties to the cities on the other side of Great Mountain?

Join Talitha and Moses on their journey, one marked with violent drug lords, crippling jealousy, blinding anger, but also…tremendous beauty. And, the flutters of first love.

Meet other villagers and colorful characters along the way, all of whom are grappling with dire loss after a recent mine explosion. Become acquainted with multiple generations of a missionary family who sacrificed all, moving out to the African bush to fulfill a driving passion—one that most would call a crazy dream. Listen, as ageless questions are carried in on the hot winds of the Great Red Valley: Do you know what it means to truly be brave? And, what if you had to risk your life for a simple cup of water?

Dive into Brave Water and decide!

I think that Brave Water* has several things in common with Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, but with less intensity and a heroine who is far less broken. The novel is largely written in first person point-of-view, though when other characters take over the story it becomes third person POV. The prose is in the present tense and very direct, much like The Hunger Games, but the flow is different. Brave Water rushes into situations where Collins would enter slowly, and the tale pools or eddies in areas most other writers would rather it ran than lingered.

This does not mean the book is slow paced, however. Talitha Betenge wakes early every morning to go to the spring so she can collect water for her family and “the Others” who share the same hut with them. “The Others” are members of the village who do not have their own home and have no one to support them. In essence, “the Others” are widows and orphans.

Talitha, her mother, younger brother Peter, and their father used to live in their own home in the Red Valley. Their tribe – the Kilokie – do not like the Betenge’s Christian faith, and so for some time they have not practiced it in the open. Not even six months ago when Salim, Talitha’s father, was killed in the emerald mines in an apparent accident.

Her mother, Flora, was three months pregnant at the time of the mine collapse. Now nine months pregnant and approaching her due date, she accompanies her daughter to the spring and prays the Eastern Rite version of the rosary aloud. This makes Talitha nervous; what will the village chief and the elders do if they hear her? In other villages those who proselytize the Christian faith risk being killed. They have already lost their father. They cannot afford to lose their mother as well!

In a manner of speaking, Talitha has become a mother to a little girl named Nala. Nala’s birth mother, Shani, also lost her husband in the mine collapse. She went to the spring with her daughter one morning but, when the other women arrived, Nala was alone.

This is the reason why, despite being very pregnant, Flora refuses to let Talitha collect water from the spring alone. Shani was the second Kilokie girl to be stolen by human traffickers in the area and she does not want to lose her daughter to them, too. Her son Peter currently has an injured leg and so must stay in the village, meaning he is safer – at least for now – than Talitha.

Passing a swamp on their way to the spring brings Talitha’s hunts for frogs with her father to mind. The swamp is a dangerous place, the lair of crocodiles, and she has not gone back since her father’s death. Nor has she wept in months, not since she found her brother crying, screaming, and banging on the walls with his fists. He had a reed between his teeth to dampen his cries as he expressed his own grief. Younger than Talitha by at least two years, Peter was trying to be the man of his broken family and finally cracked.

But Talitha wants desperately to be able to cry again. Something inside of her is wrong, broken by grief, and she wants it fixed. Nothing she has tried so far has worked, however.

On their way to the spring, Talitha and her mother meet a boy named Moses. A boy whose body has grown faster than his years, Moses and Talitha are the same age but otherwise very different. Moses has never known his father and only been raised by his mother, his grandfather, and assorted uncles. When he came to the Red Valley, he had no idea how to swim. Talitha taught him.

More to the point, Talitha likes Moses. A lot. She has no certain idea if he likes her back, though, and that makes this meeting somewhat awkward for the two of them. His question when he arrives, tears on his cheeks and the smell and soot of the emerald mines on him, only makes her sure that he does not reciprocate her feelings: “Will Desta be at the spring today?”

Desta is Talitha’s cousin on her father’s side. A very pretty girl with a good voice, Desta is the same age as Talitha and Moses. Despite this, all the young men and boys have noticed that her cousin is starting to bloom into a woman and have begun to give Desta far more attention because of that. Talitha herself is not – in her estimation – a pretty girl. She definitely lags behind her cousin in the beauty department, and on top of everything else that she has gone through these past six months, she has been feeling intensely jealous of her cousin.

Upset by Moses’ apparent interest in the other girl, Talitha makes it to the spring with her mother after telling Moses she thinks Desta will be there and he runs off. No sooner, however, have the three women reached the spring than Talitha’s mother goes into labor. She heads back to the village in the hopes of arriving in time to give birth safely while the girls bring the (first) load of water needed by everyone to drink AND to at least start to clean up mother and baby.

But in the process of returning home, Talitha’s jealousy and anger get the better of her. She starts to outpace Desta, who asks her to slow down, resorting to Moses’ nickname for Talitha to encourage her to moderate her pace. Irate, Talitha snaps at the cousin who has been as close as a sister to her for years, telling her to “Shut up!”

Not long afterward, a black jeep with black clad men arrives on the scene. They grab both girls and Talitha fights, only to be knocked out. When she wakes some minutes later, the water they were carrying is spilled everywhere…and Desta is gone.

Brave Water continues in leaps and bounds from here, flashing back to better and happier days while telling the present story at a rapid pace. The novel is broken into three parts called Morning, Noon, and Night. It is action-packed and keeps a reader on the edge of his seat, wondering what will happen next.

The book does not go into detail about childbirth but it does not skim over or sugarcoat it, either. Flora’s efforts to give birth are difficult and nearly prove fatal, but in an age where teens are expected to read novels with graphic sex in them, this is more than a little mild. So are the mentions of prostitution, forced labor, forced marriage, and murder. As YA novels go, Brave Water is solidly on the moderate side while at the same time it avoids softening the facts for readers within the targeted age range.

It also bears mentioning that Talitha is not in the thick of the rescue action for most of the novel. At least, her efforts to save people do not go the expected route. Water is a very precious resource in Africa and other parts of the world, so Talitha cannot serve and save her tribe by hunting bad guys or animals all over the place. Her duty is clear: take water from the spring back to the village so no one dies of dehydration or gets sick from the germs in the slow-moving river.

As Brave Water shows, that job is not a cakewalk. In fact, by the end, one must realize just how important Talitha’s job, is even though it is a “non-combat” role. Life needs water to survive, and with no water, death can only follow.

Talitha’s faith is lightly touched upon in the first two-thirds of the novel, a fitting thing since she is focused primarily on how hard life is and how much suffering she and those she loves have endured. While her faith becomes more important as the story concludes, it does so in a way that is very soft and quiet. Think of Elijah listening for the Lord and not hearing him in a great fire or an earthquake but in a tiny, soft whispering sound and you will have the general idea. Talitha’s faith – and her Lord – come to her softly, gently, and without being at all obvious. For if He came in thunder and power to a hurt little girl who had lost the ability to weep, perhaps He would do more harm to her than good.

Brave Water is a good read, one I am glad to have finally cracked the pages on. Oh, and before I forget (again), Mrs. Robsdottir has asked that 25% of the proceeds from the book’s sales be donated to charities to help drill wells in Africa. Not only will you be supporting Mrs. Robsdottir and Voyage Comics (and me!) by purchasing this book – you will be helping girls like Talitha by donating to a charity that will dig wells in African villages, so they will not have to walk so far with large water containers perched atop their heads just for a morning cup of water.

Don’t wait. Pick up Brave Water at your earliest convenience today!

*The above is a Voyage Comics and Publishing affiliate link. When you purchase something through it, this author receives a commission from Voyage Comics at no extra charge to you, the buyer.

If you liked this article, friend Caroline Furlong on Facebook or follow her here at www.carolinefurlong.wordpress.com. Her stories have been published in Cirsova’s Summer Special and Unbound III: Goodbye, Earth. She has also had stories published in the Planetary Anthology Series. Another story was released in Cirsova Magazine’s Summer Issue in 2020, and she had a story published in Storyhack Magazine’s 7th Issue, Cirsova Magazine’s 2021 Summer Issue, and another may be read over at Ember Journal. Vol. 1* and Vol. 2* of her series – The Guardian Cycle – is available in paperback and ebook as well. Order them today!

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