Reviews: Little Doomsdays

Review nā Hannah Kerr

Little Doomsdays, written by Nic Low (Ngāi Tahu) with illustrations by Phil Dadson, is the fifth in the ground-breaking Kōrero series where writer and visual artist work together to create a stunning piece of literature.

Little Doomsdays pulls the reader into a world where real life and fiction live so closely together it’s almost impossible to tell them apart. Nic Low has cleverly woven tales of sacred texts from antiquity, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, with modern-day knowledge of climate change and technology. The story is set as the reader uncovers “the Ark of Arks” at Ōraka, placing Kāi Tahu as a holder of immense knowledge.

The narrator speaks directly to the reader, pulling them into the story, as if the tale could not be completed without them. “You will be told to visit the great wharenui at Ōraka and to find the stainless-steel waka huia. You are to take out the screens and power them up. As you have just done. You have found the Ark of Arks. You are reading it now. We have found you at last.”

While the theme of magic realism seeps from the pages, I found the underlying message was a call to action to fight for our whenua, our climate and our mokopuna to preserve the knowledge of our ancestors, their ancestors and the knowledge we continue to gain each day. Passing down traditional knowledge rather than passing on our old iPhone.

“Time is running out” is mentioned multiple times in various forms. The narrator then says: “There are no heirlooms in the age of tech. It is said that we found ways to pass on clean rivers, but so far this is a lie.”

This lets us know that what we are currently doing is not good enough.

The narrator could be seen as somewhat unreliable, especially given the use of language such as “It is said …” to pass on information to the reader, but they are simply acting as a guide for the reader to discover the meaning of the tale on their own, rather than handing it to us on a silver platter.

This sort of writing reminds me of intricate, speculative fiction novels, where everything isn’t as it seems. The narrator speaks to you at varied points throughout the story, intertwining tales of ancient texts, information about modern-day arks and tales of our tīpuna, merging the world’s stories together as one.

Little Doomsdays is a stunning book. It has filled a void in the writing world by placing real Kāi Tahu knowledge alongside the land of magic realism. Lovers of speculative fiction will particularly enjoy it, but all will be left curious whether the tales about tīpuna hiding tools and knowledge, for those who know where to look, in the rugged whenua of Ōtākou and Murihiku, are true.

Hannah Kerr (Ngāti Wheke, Te Rūnanga o Moeraki, Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki,) is a Writer based in Ōtepoti (Dunedin).

Opinions expressed in REVIEWS are those of the writers and are not necessarily endorsed by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu.