By Jessie Tu
FICTION
Liar’s Test
Ambelin Kwaymullina, Text, $24.99
In her previous YA novels, Ambelin Kwaymullina has explored themes of grief, colonial history, violence, and filial love through the lens of a young First Nations heroine. In her latest, the first instalment of the Silverleaf Chronicles, Liar’s Test builds on her acute observation of the lasting legacy of matriarchal connections.
It blends fantasy, sci-fi, thriller and First Nations folklore to bring readers into a world of corruption and deceit, using the framework of treacherous gamified challenges popularised by books such as Veronica Roth’s Divergent, James Dashner’s The Maze Runner and of course, Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games.
Earnestly told through the eyes of 15-year-old orphaned Bell Silverleaf, the book is a fine example of contemporary Indigenous futurism and the ways it can reflect the horrors of Australia’s colonial past.
Bell resurfaces as “the girl no one had seen in years” to take on The Queen’s Test, a series of senseless and cruel challenges designed to destroy its participants, and ultimately crown the winner as the ruler of the land. But the land no longer belongs to Bell’s ancestors — the Treesingers, a peaceful population of people, sneered at for being “nature worshippers”.
Years ago, they were violently overtaken by the Risens, who have developed the land into a city-kingdom called Radiance – built out of “brightstone” (you can imagine something shiny and hard) and ruled by the high priest Alasdar – the man responsible for kidnapping Bell when she was 11 and imprisoning her since.
Unbeknownst to him, Bell is a Treesinger with a special power – she is from a family of memory-walkers, people with the power to revisit moments in their past and experience them as if they were happening presently. It’s an enigmatic force and one that Bell must keep a secret if she is to have any hope of surviving.
She is one of seven girls selected to participate in the Test, which has its own sacred texts foreshadowing the outcomes: “Seven will come / Two will die / Two will Sleep / Two will Serve / One will rule.”
The Tests see participants fight monster tentacles that explode up from the ground and giant worms that pull them into holes. They involve challenges of faith, where participants must fool a spiritual entity into thinking they believe in them – “You have to sound more confident” Bell urges an allied participant as they get down on their knees and pray. “Show you really mean it.” They have to get better at lying, in other words – deceit as the only strategy towards survival.
The Tests are made up by “sisters”, “priests” and the “guilds” – bureaucrats in this oppressive social order. Kwaymullina’s world-building is seamless, evocative and immersive; the reader can really see the plants growing out of Bell’s hair, whispering sage words of advice. In Bell’s world, nature is both salvation and saviour – the trees and plants talk to her in “green language”. Guided by her ancestors who communicate to her through flora, Bell must learn to rely on her new friend Tasmin, a fellow Treesinger, to preserve their original lands, Falling Leaves.
The story feels both dream-like and frantic. There are moments where clues emerge in Bell’s dreams and as the reader, you feel as though you’re in an escape room with the heroine, trying to solve puzzles alongside her. Songs and murmurs appear like murky figures in fog.
The novel pays homage to the strength one derives from ancestral lineage. In Bell, we witness a strongly developed character, moving closer to her essence: “I wasn’t made out of the people who tried to bring me down,” she realises at some point. “I was made out of the ones who had lifted me up.”
The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from books editor Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday.