Echo McCool - S O'Neill Review

Many authors have attempted to do what Mr Driscoll does with Echo McCool, but few have succeeded. It's a very traditional story but at the same time new. It feels like a timeless classic has been updated to appeal to kids today. I was watching Sherlock Holmes on BBC One the other day and it put me in mind of how the makers of that show have updated an old idea to make it appeal to viewers today. Mr Driscoll has done the same here with children's fiction.


The stars, Jason and Echo, complement each other very well. Mr Driscoll does not give in to temptation and just have Jason 'do a Pygmalion' on Echo - instead he has them learn from and help each other. Yes, Jason is resourceful and has modern knowledge, but Echo is uniquely skilled, sharp not to mention self-sufficient. "I know not ring the police" she says, but I think she is not just saying she does not know who the police are - I think she is intelligent enough to work that one out for herself - instead she is saying "I would not ever use the police." Echo's strength is reflected in other ways too: e.g. Jason derides Echo's medieval language and tries to teach her how people speak today ("All this perchance and thou art stuff - no one speaks like that any more. It's better to say perhaps and you are.") Echo then explains to him how "thee" differs from "you" and how modern language is actually a dumbed down version of what she speaks - it's less specific. I found this a joy to read as when I have read books like this before, the authors have tended to make the person from the past seem stupid when in fact they are just not educated about modern things. In many ways though they are cleverer.


I also like how Mr Driscoll combines Lord of the Rings-style mythology with modern day action. Going from a dryad netherworld to a couple of working class blokes cutting down a tree really underlines the differences between the main characters' worlds, and he makes each character seem believable.


The story ends on a high note and the promise of more adventures to come, and I am looking forward to reading more about Echo and Jason and their journey together. 

Echo McCool - M J Review

As the father of a young baby girl, I've spent the past few months' bedtimes trapped in the pages of picture books plucked from either my own childhood or the current children's charts, dutifully trawling through thinly-veiled allegories and sledgehammer-subtle moralising. However, having recently met the author of this book, who really enthused me about his work, I decided to shelve the likes of "Dinosaur Sleepover" and "Nicky's Noisy Night" for the time being and instead offer my daughter a serialised glimpse of what she's likely be reading in a decade or so's time.

Aimed at what booksellers now label "young adult readers", this novel strives to build a bridge between classic children's literature and the vibrant, much more fantastic adventures that generally see print or go before the movie cameras today. Driscoll's story takes `Famous Five' sensibilities and injects them into a fast-paced, magic-wielding, karate-kicking tale that plays out before the mind's eye in definition far sharper than 1080p. There's still an adventure around every corner, but if they involve Echo then they're far more likely to sate the appetite of most twenty-first century teens than anything in Blyton's arguably outmoded repertoire.

What I think really sets "Echo McCool: Outlaw through Time" apart from its peers though is the quality of Driscoll's world-building. Though some of his finesse might be lost on the youngest of the book's readers, the author is clearly well-versed in medieval philosophies, and that familiarity really bleeds through in his eloquent prose. It's almost a shame that we couldn't have spent longer in Echo's native time, so evident is the author's ardour, but ultimately the book's humour - and, indeed, drama - is borne of Echo being a girl out of time.

Reading a book like this really highlights just how fickle the world of publishing is, and how fine the line is between a Harry Potter or a Lara Croft and an Echo McCool. Will queues of youngsters be camping out in front of stores awaiting the release of "Echo McCool VII", or playing to death the latest Echo McCool video game? I really couldn't say, but based solely on the appeal of this first instalment in the series, the potential is certainly there. Long may the legend continue. 
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