Book Review: Weathernose by Maram Taibah

Title: Weathernose

Author: Maram Taibah

Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy

Number of Pages: 122

Rating: B+

Recommended?: Yes

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When I was reading this, I wasn’t sure if it had been written with kids or adults in mind. I think this book can be enjoyed by readers of any age, I didn’t feel it was ‘childish’ but it also has a whimsical feel and a complete lack of objectionable content. Weathernose is about the rivalry between a bitter adult man and a child genius who seeks to usurp him. Misanthropic weather expert Tart Morning lives on an isolated island and lives a predictable life that consists mostly of bringing the weather-related news to the outside world.

He lives in an off-kilter fantasy world that’s subtle, definitely not ‘high fantasy’ by any means but with shades of the fantastic. One day, he ends up losing his job and finds out that an twelve-year-old up-and-comer named Cypress has allegedly invented something that renders his process obsolete. Tart engages some highly dubious activities in hopes of sabotaging Cypress and keeping his job, but he ends up realizing the two have more in common than he initially thought.

I enjoyed Weathernose‘s gently offbeat sense of humor and the two main characters, who were both flawed but ultimately endearing. I wish there had been more description to the characters and the settings and the world-building could have been stronger. I never got any sense of what the characters looked like, for example, and for a fantasy the story didn’t have a very strong sense of place. This book was a really quick read (I read in in just one sitting) and I’m looking forward to reading more by this author.