Book Review

Ingo
Helen Dunmore
Fantasy

Thirteen year old Sapphire Trewhella lives a very interesting life in Cornwall, England. Sapphire and her brother Connor love to swim and explore down by the cove by their cottage where they live. Sapphire’s Father Matthew and Mother Jennie have many fights about Matthew going out to sea. He loves the sea just like his children, but there is something about it that Jennie does not like. After a heated argument, Matthew heads off to sea. In the morning he had not returned. Jennie becomes very worried when he does not come back and assumes he has died. They did not find his body or boat. Sapphire and Connor still believe that their father is out there, but one day Connor and Sapphire discover an underwater land called Ingo.
The two main characters in the novel are Sapphire and Connor. Sapphire and Connor are described to have a very good relationship. They both take care of each other and lookout for each other. Sapphire and Connor are realistic characters since they behave the same way as regular brother and sisters do. Connor is described to be calm and sensible and Sapphire is a little less mature. In the novel, there are two more main characters. They are Elvira and Faro. Elvira and Faro are brother and sister as well but the only difference is that they are Mer who live in Ingo. Elvira and Faro are less realistic than Connor and Sapphire since they are Mer. Elvira and Faro is described to have a human like upper body, but their legs are like a fish’s tail. Although they are still human like, the way they are described and act is less realistic. In Ingo, I do like the characters because the conflicts they face are very interesting and I think they handle them well. They are also interesting because they all can travel to Ingo. The importance of Elvira and Faro is key in the story because without them Connor and Sapphire will not be able to travel to Ingo.
In the novel, the main conflict is due to family life and relationships. Matthew and Jennie had many arguments mainly about the sea. After a major fight Matthew does out to sea and does not return. This causes Jennie to assume he has died. Sapphire and Connor still believe he is alive which causes a major conflict. Another big conflict is Ingo. Ingo calls Sapphire and Connor to come back and it is very hard to resist. It mainly affects Sapphire the most. It is a huge temptation to go, but Sapphire and Connor have to resist so they do not go missing for days. This causes a big conflict between them and Ingo.

I really enjoyed the book Ingo. If you like fantasy novels you would like Ingo. Since I like reading fantasy that is probably why I liked it so much. Also the story line was very good and in each chapter there was a suspension of not knowing what was going to happen next. This made me want to keep on reading.