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When David Attenborough was just starting on his career at the BBC, he presented an unusual request to the broadcaster: to go on expeditions for the London Zoo to collect animals and film themselves there, wandering about and catching animals. This book is a collection of three of those Zoo Quests: to Guyana, Komodo Island and Paraguay. Written by him and updated with a new introduction, the book serves as an excellent travelogue and a snapshot of the countries at those time.

In each country he visits as part of the Zoo Quest, he had a particular set of animals he wishes to collect; but he also collects other animals as part of the quests. Along the way, he meets a colourful host of characters who either help or hinder his quest. Attenborough also describes the country as he travels, giving the reader a feel of how the various countries were in those days before cheap air flights and instant communication have made travelling so much easier.

Of course, as Attenborough notes in the introduction, Zoo Quest would never have been done now; collecting animals is now frowned upon and the London Zoo now acts as more of a way to preserve wild animals that may be close to extinction.

For those who enjoy watching and reading about David Attenborough, this is a good book to read. It fills in a lot of the details about the Zoo Quests left out in his biography and other books, and documentaries, about that period of time. The book also comes with a small selection of black-and-white and colour prints showing the various people and environments he encountered in those three Zoo Quests.

An above average issue, with a ghostly theme running through it, with various ghosts in various forms featured in some of the stories. Kate Wilhelm's ghost story is the strongest, with a test of wills between ghosts and the living. Marc Laidlaw's story is another good one, while the tale by J. R. Dawson features a metaphorical ghost from the future, or perhaps the past, depending on your time point of view.

• "Attachments" by Kate Wilhelm: an interesting story about ghosts who are cursed to be attached to an abandoned castle for all eternity. But two of the ghosts manage to attach themselves to a girl who wanders into the castle, setting off a chain of events involving apparent violent revenge by one of the ghosts against the girl he loves, and a hunt for gold by the other ghost to help free all the other ghosts trapped by the castle. But then the girl comes up with an alternative suggestion to free the ghosts which, perhaps also helps free herself from her own internal ghost of a relationship.

• "Carbo" by Nick Wolven: another story with ghost-like attributes. Here, an AI powered car nicknamed 'Carbo' has picked up the habit of constantly showing porn, taking inappropriate shots of women and taking sex-related routes for its driver. But how much of its behaviour is really due to the driver's own porn habit, and how much to illegally installed 'software enhancements' and malware is left as an exercise to the reader. Getting rid of the behaviour would take a very involved conversation with the driver's mother and intensive car hacking.

• "Big Girl" by Meg Elison: a fantasy tale about a girl who is suddenly very big and the problems it causes to both the nearby city and to herself personally, as told via voyeuristic social media posts about her nakedness. It gets too much, and she leaves, only to return when she starts to shrink again. But her problems aren't over.

• "Stillborne" by Marc Laidlaw: another interesting tale of Gorlen Vizenfirthe and the gargoyle Spar. In this story, partially told in flashback, we discover the circumstances by which Gorlen's and Spar's hands have been magically switched, and their ongoing quest to find the sorcerer who did it, so they can switch them back. The main story involves a journey towards the 'philosopher moths' which can grant mental insight or physical healing to those who imbue a certain liquid, perhaps aiding them in the quest. Caught up in it is the girl which was involved with Gorlen at the time of the hand switching and whom they encounter again during the journey. But when the depleted moths finally fly, the results may not be what the people making the journey expect and may lead the trio to reconsider their future path.

• "By the Red Giant's Light" by Larry Niven: a short piece of the far future when the sun is turning into a red giant and gradually swallowing the inner planets. Set on Pluto, it sees an inhabitant struggling to divert an incoming object (a comet) from Pluto: if only it can convince a robot with the right equipment to help.

• "Marley and Marley" by J. R. Dawson: an interesting tale of a time loop when an older self is sent back in time to take care of her younger self. The youngster resents her older self, especially when she (the older one) refuses to divulge what happens in the future. Question is, should she (the younger one) try to alter her future, and can the future be altered?

• "Water God's Dog" by R. S. Benedict: in a land that worships a god that provides water, an old priest is consumed by the god's desire for a certain young boy. After locating the boy, they proceed into the heart of the mountain where the god lives and see his water based gifts. But when the god's desire is satiated, what is the priest to do?

• "Racing the Rings of Saturn" by Ingrid Garcia: a fascinating story about a race around the rings of Saturn, tied in with politics as rebellious settlements around Saturn (and Jupiter) vie with authoritarian regimes for control and freedom.

• "Whatever Comes After Calcutta" by David Erik Nelson: (Calcutta here refers to Calcutta, Ohio) A man is nearly killed when he stumbles into an affair his wife was having. Chasing after her and her lover, he runs into an apparent lynching of a witch and rescues the woman. But all is not as it seems as the woman starts to have an influence on him as he continues the hunt for his wife.

A below average issue of Interzone, containing eerie tales not quite to my taste. The ones that I found most interesting are by Laura Mauro and the 2017 James White Award Winner story by Stewart Horn.

• "Looking for Laika" by Laura Mauro: a story about a kid living near a beach with his grandparents and younger sister who has a paranoid fear of nuclear war. He fights the fear by keeping to a routine while keeping his sister occupied with a story of the Soviet space dog, Laika, exploring the universe to find a new place to live. Things come to a head when his sister finds a strange dog tag and a tragic event occurs in London.

• "After the Titans" by Rachael Cupp: in a strange time when titan roam the earth, a girl makes an agreement with a titan to heal her injured brother. But it may force her to sacrifice the object of her desires.

• "Fully Automated Nostalgia Capitalism" by Dan Grace: in a future where nostalgia for things past is regulated, a couple tries to escape their regulated lives.

• "The Big So-So" by Erica L. Satifka: in a future, humanity has been divided into those who pass a 'test' via a pleasurable chemical and are accepted by aliens into 'Paradise' and those who do not. Naturally, civilization has broken down as people not accepted give up hope. But two people want to change things: one by stealing the chemical, and the other by raising civilization again. Only time will tell who succeeds.

• "The Garden of Eating" by R. Boyczuk: a tale of a boy in a brutal post-war like future, looking for food. He is warned by a mysterious guide who intones UN-like 'resolutions' against working with a woman who apparently represents America.

• "The Morrigan" by Stewart Horn: a tale of gang violence as told by one of the gang members in a town when a mysterious girl appears who offers weapons of violence and slowly begins to incite the gang members to take up arms against other gangs. When he survives the violence that ensues, he sets off to hunt down the girl; but is it to bring her to justice or to join her?

A better than average issue with some fascinating tales by Lisa Mason, Matthew Hughes and J. D. Moyer. Gardner Dozois's story was disappointing because I expected more from the noted former editor of Asimov's Science Fiction. And Dale Bailey's tale of the Victorian Era with a horrifying ritual added was a fascinating read.

• "Widdam" by Vandana Singh: a story of a future where climate change is making parts of the planet hard to live. AI powered 'beasts' roam about digging for resources; if they aren't going rogue. The story, which feels like a fragment of a larger one, revolves around a journalist digging into the background of the creator of the AI beasts.

• "Aurelia" by Lisa Mason: a tale of a lawyer who becomes attracted to his client who asks him to settle some real-estate matters for her; so attracted that he then marries her. Later on, her strange behaviour begins to bother him; behaviour like not eating for days, then gorging herself, or preventing him from seeing her in her mouldy art room on certain days. And it may be tied to strange murders occurring with the victim's blood totally drained. Yes, it sounds like another one of 'those tales' but this one has an interesting and fascinating difference.

• "Neanderthals" by Gardner Dozois: a short piece about two warring groups over time control, which has caused Neanderthals to pop up in our timeline and one person who wants to get rid of them again. A rather 'run-of-the-mill' story coming from a noted writer of Dozois's calibre.

• "Jewel of the Heart" by Matthew Hughes: next in a series of stories on the assistant to a sorcerer. After he collected a powerful helm for the sorcerer (in a previous tale), he is called upon by the helm, who is an intelligent being, for a task: to find a missing part of the helm which hidden away after his creation. The task would require the assistant to call upon all his instincts and wits as he untangles the story he lands in, complete with a giant, murdering beings and a search for a lock and key that all revolves around the number three. Those who are used to playing computer games might recognize a use of that number in relation to computer games.

• "A List of Forty-Nine Lies" by Steven Fisher: a short flash fiction in which a saboteur attempts to start a revolution; but only if he can continue to lie to avoid detection.

• "An Equation of State" by Robert Reed: alien entities enter the Solar System and prepares for a battle with unstated alien enemies. But when the enemy doesn't appear, an alien diplomat gets permission to explore the Earth to see what humans are capable of. What the diplomat sees during its exploration, and does on Earth, would have an effect on the development of humanity and on the fate of the alien entities when they eventually descent on Earth to retrieve him.

• "Galatea in Utopia" by Nick Wolven: in a future where body shapes and outward sexual appearance can be changed at will, one 'guy' (XY chromosomes) takes on the appearance of a sexually attractive girl and at a bar bumps into the unexpected: a man who, due to his genetic makeup and allergies, is unable to change his appearance. Sparks fly and they become sexual partners. But then things go sour and unusual when he learns that the unchanging partner has been involved into relationships with other people and not in a good way.

• "Plumage from Pegasus: Toy Sorry" by Paul Di Filippo: a fun, short piece about a future when tiny narrators, recreated from the image and personalities of the authors, are created to give life to new multimedia books. But what happens when the narrators are inevitably stored away and forgotten by their readers?

• "The Equationist" by J. D. Moyer: a fascinating piece on the life of a man who, from young, sees the lives of the people around his as a series of curves and equations. As he grows up and progresses mathematically, he begins to see more mathematical patterns and attempts to change the lives of the people around him by 'changing' their equations. But in the end, it is only by changing his own equation of life will he find happiness.

• "A Feather in Her Cap" by Mary Robinette Kowal: a short, interesting story that a lady who makes hats who moonlight as an assassin in secret. But after her latest kill, she is denied payment by the person who hired her and who also hints that he knows her identity. She plots to get her payment and revenge with the help of a master thief. But the interesting part of the story will turn out to be her motive for being a killer-for-hire.

• "The Donner Party" by Dale Bailey: a deliciously horrifying (pun intended) tale set in Victorian times that involves a yearly ritual dinner of human meat. One up-and-rising lady is invited to dinner and gets accepted into 'higher' society. Then, she makes a terrible social mistake and is made an outcast. When after some struggles she is re-accepted with some backroom negotiations, the price of re-acceptance becomes known, making the reader think about just what people are willing to do for social acceptance.

An above average issue, with interesting stories by Charlotte Ashley, Ted Rabinowitz and G.V. Anderson.

• "The Satyr of Brandenburg" by Charlotte Ashley: an interesting tale set in historical France with supernatural elements. A competition of duels is called, but one of the participants is an unusual Satyr who would appear to have no sword skills but has the skill to seduce people into doing his bidding. This would be used to terrible effect on the other competitors until only one is left to resist his charms.

• "Deep Sea Fish" by Chi Hui, translated by Brian Bies: set on Titan, a moon of Saturn, this tells the story of a rush to record ancient alien artefacts found there before they literally melt away via efforts to terraform the cold moon to make it more comfortable for humans to live (by heating things up). As so often happen in such stories, disaster strikes the environmental modification effort and mankind has to learn to live with the consequences.

• "The Next to the Last of the Mohegans" by Joseph Bruchac: a short story about dealings with the Little People as seen by Native Americans: one who tries to get the better of them and ends up in a strange position, the other being his friend who has to get him out of the twisted position.

• "Likho" by Andy Stewart: a girl investigates the history of a strange phenomenon reported in Pripyat during the Chernobyl disaster. In the course of the investigations, she stumbles into people keen to investigate the secrets of a room: a room to which she may be connected to in her own mysterious past.

• "The Beast from Below" by William Ledbetter: a short, fun 'animals mutated into monsters by radiation' story featuring a down-to-earth Sheriff and a lady mayor of the town keen to commercialize the monsters.

• "Hideous Flowerpots" by Susan Palwick: a light fantasy about an art gallery owner whose dark secret is revealed by a new acquaintance: she fears to do art. But her acquaintance offers to help her overcome her fear with the help of a strange set of equipment, and ends with the offer of a flowerpot.

• "A Swim and a Crawl" by Marc Laidlaw: a story of a man who goes for an apparently suicidal swim before crawling up a cliff wall, only to become one with nature in an unexpected way.

• "Plumage From Pegasus: The Varley Corps Wants You" by Paul Di Filippo: a dead author wakes up, apparently snatched from the past at the point of death by people from the future who have bred talent out of the human race in an attempt to make people conform to a peaceful idea and now need him to re-introduce artistic talent back. That he does, but only with the help of other artists from the past (and our present) and by changing the future civilization.

• "A Dog of Wu" by Ted Rabinowitz: an assassin trained to follow the orders of his master is given the task of finding out who is broadcasting recordings of rocket flights: for that way would lead to disorder in the human civilizations that rose out of the chaos before the current order. But what he discovers would lead him to re-examine his life and to consider whether obedience to his master is the only way.

• "The Harmonic Resonance of Ejiro Anaborhi" by Wole Talabi: an African girl who loves SF tales stumbles on to a device that allows her to expand her mind. She and the device would get caught up in a confrontation between her father and local authorities that would end up changing the world.

• "Down Where Sound Comes Blunt" by G.V. Anderson: a daughter searches for her father, who has gone missing during his research on mermaid-like species found in the oceans. When she traces him and gets involved with the local matron of a mermaid group, she would get her answer; but in an unexpectedly horrifying way.

A fascinating autobiography by Goodall about, yes, her life with the chimpanzees. It is elegantly told, using a vocabulary and simple writing style that should be suitable even for children to read. For, as the conclusion of the book shows, it is up to the youth of the world to protect the environment and to heal as much of it as they can.

The book can be divided into three main parts. The first part is the story of Goodall as she grows up, fascinated by nature and already performing the kind of observations that would make her famous later in life: diligently watching the hens in the hen house lay eggs. She is eager to continue her observations of nature as she grows up, but is held back by the needs of society to become a 'respectable girl' of that era.

But that was to change when, after saving up enough money to make a trip to Africa to see the animals, she encounters one person that was to change everything: Louis Leakey. He would put Goodall in charge of observing chimpanzees at Gombe, from which she would make her famous observations that would change what we think of chimpanzees.

The second part of the book details her various observations and interactions with the chimpanzees at Gombe. She details the initial frustrations she had gaining their trust, including one episode where she was surrounded by them and under possible attack. Then she gets a breakthrough and from then on, she was able to make her observations of them, including the famous one detailing their use of sticks and leaves as tools to get termites from mounds. She covers the movements of the chimpanzee troop at Gombe, providing details by naming several individual male and females and telling us about the dynamics of chimpanzee troop behaviour.

The third part is Goodall's view of the world, on the destruction of nature and on animals being held captive by humans or being used in experiments. She details some of the efforts she and others have made to improve animal welfare, to protect wildlife areas and to educate people (especially the youth) on how to take care of the environment. In that, she urges everyone to take part.

A fantastic book, containing a list of illusions that will have you wondering just what your brain is up when you look at the environment, observe A, only to learn that what you see wasn't A at all.

The illusions are divided into various categories, each illustrated with several illusions with possible explanations on what the illusion might be doing to mystify your brain. Not all the illusions are explainable; this field is very much still a work in progress.

Some illusions can be seen as static ones, requiring you to only look at them. Others require you to move your eyes or the book to see it, and others depend on you staring for some time before the illusion becomes apparent. Most illusions will be apparent to a majority of readers, while some may not work due to subtle differences in how the brains of some readers work.

Another class of illusions are described in the book but not presented are moving illusions which don't work as static images in the book. For those, you have to go to the Best Illusion of the Year Contest website [ illusionoftheyear.com/ ] to see them.

An excellent book to read to discover how the brain can be fooled into seeing something that should not be there. It is also an interesting examination of how evolution has shaped our visual system and how illusions can help reveal just how the brain works to interpret how it sees the world.

A better than average issue of F&SF, with one rather gruesome horror story by Max Firehammer. Other interesting stories are by Maricar Macario, Christopher Mark Rose and a moving story by Douglas Smith about the sacrifices to be made for saving the universe.

• "Shining Shores" by Max Firehammer: a fascinating horror story featuring the 'Orcadian folktale of the Nuckalavee'. It starts with a woman search for her writer friend who has gone missing in a seaside town. Things would go downhill, and horrifying, from there when it involves a water god who enjoys toying with primates.

• "Bayanihan" by Maricar Macario: in a future where more of the Earth has been covered with water and aliens exists, one Filipino whose family migrated to Mars makes a journey home to Earth. But she finds that much has altered since she left, except for one old robotic nanny who reminds her of where home is.

• "Sort Code" by Chris Barnham: two people keep meeting as they are apparently 'bumped' though different time settings. Mixed into it is a story of a fatal accident both were involved in and musings over just why they keep seeing each other in different time scenarios.

• "What We Found In The Forest" by Phoebe Wood: two girls enter a forest in search of their adult selves, only to find each other instead.

• "Three Sisters Syzygy" by Christopher Mark Rose: an unusual story that starts off with an astronaut shifted to another universe where she now on a mission with her sisters to visit the moons of Earth. Other mysteries occur when they visit the moons, leading to a meeting with alien technology that would change all their lives and leave them with memories of the encounter.

• "Mixtapes From Neptune" by Karter Mycroft: on songs played while one explorer, who helps make an important discovery on an outer solar system moon.

• "To Pluck A Twisted String" by Anne Leonard: a mother's son returns from a magical city, angry and disappointed, and is later taken away to be imprisoned without a cause given. The mother's determination to learn what crime he had cause would lead her to a discovery about the power of her son's broken guitar.

• "My Embroidery Stitches Are Me" by A Humphrey Lanham: an uncomfortable story of a person who has embroidery stitched into the skin by her loved ones.

• "Upstairs" by Tessa Yang: a family shifts home 'upstairs' into a tower with better living space, leaving their old, poorer lower level home behind. But the past has a way of catching up, when an old acquittance presses her to get new customers for their illicit goods. The backlash would sever her relationships, perhaps for the better.

• "Teatro Anatomico" by Getty Hesse: on the night of a carnival, a public anatomy lesson turns strange when the corpse is still animated, and the person who did the cutting makes an unusual request to the corpse in return for giving it a 'life'.

• "Night Haul" by Andrew Crowley: a truck driver hauling an unknown cargo drives through the encroaching night. Then, a radio conversation with a fellow trucker makes him realize the cargo he's carrying may be the cause of the enveloping darkness, and now he may have the dreadful task of getting rid of it.

• "On The Matter Of Homo Sapiens" by Kel Coleman: two robots in the future on a treasure hunt debate the pros and cons of bringing back one particular harmful organism that once ruled the earth.

• "Sugar Steak" by Jenny Kiefer: a meal in an unusual restaurant leads one person to develop a deadly kind of dental problem.

• "Growths" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman: a mother brings her small daughter to meet her father, who turns out to be other than human, as evidenced by the daughter's extra arms. The meeting would be on deciding what to do with the extra arms and the wishes of the daughter.

• "If I Should Fall Behind" by Douglas Smith: an interesting and moving story of a boy and girl running away from Chasers who want to kill them. The boy has the ability to see what may happen in the future and uses it to avoid them, again. But this time, the universe has a 'glitch'. Eventually, one Chaser meets him for a private chat, in which is revealed the reason for the glitch and the price to be paid to fix it. In the end, he pays it but, with a change in the plan.

A fantastic book about insects (and related invertebrates), in particular the ones found in Costa Rica. The book includes incredible photography by the author showcasing the insects, a few of which the family had the opportunity to see during our trip to Costa Rica in Nov 2018.

The book starts by looking at what is an insect (and what isn't, like spiders, millipedes and centipedes). It then goes through the various families of insects and their defining characteristics. You will get a good overview of them and learn the differences between them.

The book then looks at the few insects that are dangerous to humans. These include the venomous biters, those with stingers and those that are parasites. The author stresses at the beginning that the majority of insects are harmless, so as long as proper care and preparations are taken, observing these insects in the wild is not dangerous.

The book then looks at the various ways insects defend themselves against predators or fight for mating rights. From the enormous horns of rhinocheros beetles to the pincers and spikes displayed by other insects, they are listed here in the book.

Disguise is another way to avoid predation or to disguise yourself while looking for prey. Among them include the fantastic leaf mantids and katydids, which really look like leaves, down to having parts that look like holes or bitten off parts of leaves. Walking sticks are also the masters of disguise, from those looking like plain sticks to fantastic decorated ones for hiding among moss covered tree trunks.

The book also covers colour as used as an indication that the insect is poisonous or is distasteful. The wonderful world of insect mimicry is also covered, showing the variety of ways some insects disguise themselves to look like distasteful or poisonous insects and how various distasteful insects have 'converged' on to a few basic colour indicators (so predators don't have to struggle to figure which are not good to eat).

Sound is also used to attract mates or fight rivals. Among the usual suspects like cicadas, katydids, crickets, the author features the fascinating Hamadryas butterflies, whose males create cracking sounds, possibly to attract females or assert their territory.

Social insects like termites, ants and wasps are featured in the book. Also fascinating is a part on the relationships some insects have with plants, which provide places to live to the insects in return for protection from other herbivores.

The final chapter takes a particular look at butterflies and moths, usually one of the most spectacular and well known of the insect families. Those that can be found in Costa Rica include the amazing looking glasswing butterflies (with nearly transparent wings) and the morphos (with iridescent blue wings).

The book is illustrated throughout with fantastic photos of the various insects taken by the author. If you are looking for a book that looks at insects in general and the ones in Costa Rica in particular, this book is to be recommended. It can also act as an informal field guide to the more spectacular insects to be found in Costa Rica.

Having thwarted Professor One-Zero's plans in the previous book, the coding trio are shocked to discover that Professor One-Zero has now taken over the school, and has now introduced a chemistry class to manufacture the chemicals that the Professor will use to take over the world.

The trio is forced to use the last resort left to them: a letter that guides them to the ultimate turtle that could help them defeat the Professor. But before they can do that, they need to learn the use of repeats that will simplify code they produce that requires many repetitive steps.

In the meantime, Professor One-Zero forbids the trio from seeing each other in public. So, they have to meet in secret and discover a secret location. But the location is guarded, and they have to use their new coding skills to overcome the guards. Can they do so? Find out in the next book of the series.

A better than average issue with an interesting mathematical based story by Arula Ratnakar and a loving story of a different kind of robotic servant by RJ Taylor.

• "Stones" by Nnedi Okorafor: a story about an alien made out of stones who makes contact with humans and comes to regret it. Unfortunately, the abilities of the alien to span time and space and sense humans are rather too fantastic to allow me to enjoy the story.

• "The Queen of Calligraphic Susurrations" by D.A. Xiaolin Spires: a writer working with bees is desperate to write an award-winning story and uses an AI that virtually takes over her body to write one. The after effects would be dramatic.

• "A Guide to Matchmaking on Station 9" by Nika Murphy: a matchmaker on a space station has to go out of her comfort zone to find a match for her customer, so that she can return home on the proceeds.

• "Axiom of Dreams" by Arula Ratnakar: a remarkable and fantastic story of a graduate student who installs an AI chip in her brain in an attempt to harness her dreams for ideas for her mathematical paper. In parallel, the inhabitant of a strangely mathematical world wants to know why she has not been marked out for 'mathematical selection' like the other inhabitants. Both stories would merge when both get to meet. But the meeting would cause a crisis when it turns out that the dreams of one person are a nightmare for the other, and resolving it would require sacrifices.

• "The People from the Dead Whale" by Djuna, translated by Jihyun Park and Gord Sellar: on a world where people live on 'whales', one group has to abandon its whale when it dies due to an unknown disease. The attempt to find a new home would lead to a discovery from their past.

• "The Five Remembrances, According to STE-319" by R. L. Meza: a fighting machine is left to rot by the military after a battle. As it slowly decays and rusts, an event would occur that would require an act of free will from the machine. The results would lead to a kind of peace for the land.

• "Upgrade Day" by RJ Taylor: an uploaded person in a robot body acts as a servant for a family. But without periodic upgrades and repairs, which are becoming more expensive, the robot will start to malfunction. Then the family makes a suggestion that would allow this, a suggestion that the robotic person has to decide upon.

A fascinating start to a series of fantasy stories set in an Africa that never was, but could be. Abeni is a young girl soon to come of age whose village is her whole world. But the harvest celebrations that year would be interrupted by the arrival of the village's witch, who has warned them that evil is coming. But her warnings were ignored: evil has come and captures the village's inhabitants, with only Abeni and the witch escaping.

Living with the witch, Abeni learns to live a new life, but yearns to learn the witch's magic and fighting skills, so that she can go to free her village folk. But an attack interrupts her training, and now she and the witch (in a new, reduced body) must make a journey to the witch's sister for help.

Along the way, Abeni would gather a group of spirits, and adventure through danger and strange lands. And at the sister's place, they would discover that evil has already arrived. But that would not prepare them for the discovery about the true nature of the monsters they find.

After an initial lengthy 'growing up' phase, the story begins to become interesting as Abeni meets and interacts with various forest sprits, both helpful and dangerous. She also grows up fast and learns the meaning of friendship and of not hiding secrets from your friends if you plan to go into danger together. But perhaps the biggest message is in how we should treat fellow humans. For must of the evil that Abeni encounters in the story did not start out evil, but became so through mistreatment.

At the end, Abeni achieves some objectives, but her quest to free her village folk from the evil is not over.