Chasing the Valley

Australian author Skye Melki-Wegner published the first part of her Chasing the Valley young adult trilogy in 2013. Also titled Chasing the Valley, the book is a mixture of the dystopian, fantasy, and steampunk genres. It features a teenage girl’s fight for survival in a world controlled by a cruel, tyrannical king. Written in first person, the novel presents a group of teen rebels who use their nascent magical powers to outsmart the king’s forces in a bid to reach a fabled place where the king’s power has no reach, and from where they might be able to muster enough strength to overthrow his corrupt government once and for all.

The novel is set in the kingdom of Taladia, which exists in a state of permanent and total war. In order to subdue his subjects, King Morrigan periodically unleashes alchemical bombs, which not only kill those in the impact area, but also have strange and otherworldly effects, like transforming the ground to quicksand, beautiful flowers, and the like. The only way to deflect these bombs is to use magnets strong enough to render them powerless.

The world’s other technology is steampunk-like machinery; there are trains crisscrossing the continent, and the most feared of Morrigan’s royal troops pilot biplanes. At the same time, the world has heavy doses of classic fantasy magic. The beasts of burden are foxaries, enormous trained foxes used for riding, and there are objects called charms that are imbued with magic.



The most important aspects of the novel’s magical system are proclivities—the magical affinities developed by each of Taladia’s residents during puberty. Proclivities are finalized on each teen’s eighteenth birthday, which is when a marker of this proclivity—a tattoo on the base of the neck—appears as a symbol of whatever the special power is. The magic can be based on almost anything: fire, beasts, birds, rocks, darkness, shadow, water, and so on. Until a person is eighteen, it is taboo to reveal this part of the body to anyone.

Our protagonist is sixteen-year-old Danika Glynn, who has been living as a scruffer (an orphaned street urchin) for the last seven years after her parents and sister were killed by one of King Morrigan’s alchemy bombs. She does odd jobs around the town of Rourton and has a hardscrabble, survival-based existence. She has so far only had hints of her proclivity; she knows that every now and again, she can cast an illusion that hides her for a few seconds. But her life could become easier when she turns eighteen, because then, like every other citizen of Taladia, she will have to join the king’s army for a mandatory period of service.

Danika chafes against the idea—after all, this is the king who killed her family. When she finds out that a new round of alchemical bombs is to be launched at Rourton, Danika flees into the city’s sewers. There she finds a group of teen refugees who aren’t just hiding out temporarily; they’ve hatched a daring plan to escape Rourton altogether by going over the city wall. Failure to escape would mean death—but success could mean freedom. Danika asks to join up with the group, which at first rejects her. But when she ends up selflessly helping them anyway by shooting a distracting flare at city guards while the group scrabbles over the wall, the refugees decide to make her one of them.



Unfortunately, the flare accidentally downs one of palace biplanes. Danika Glynn is no longer an unknown scruffer, but instead the most wanted fugitive in Taladia, pursued by the king’s cruel hunters led by Sharr Morrigan, the king’s implacable daughter. As the refugees evade danger, they try to make their way to the Magnetic Valley, a mythical, beautiful place where King Morrigan’s weapons are useless. There are stories of other groups of escapees trying to find the valley only to get caught midway. Only one group of people has ever been said to have reached this place: a five-person crew with five different proclivities. Danika’s group was hoping to recreate this success. Before she joined them, they were also five: the brave leader Radnor; snobby, rich twins Clementine and Maisy Pembroke, whose cruelty hides a worthwhile reason for escaping; smuggler and guide Hackel; and charming pickpocket Teddy Nort.

One night, as they hide in a forest, Danika hears an odd noise. Investigating, she finds another escapee: the mysterious but attractive Lukas, whose proclivity is Bird. Immediately distrusting this young man, Danika assumes that he is a traitor—a royal pilot who will betray the group. When Lukas is revealed to not only be a royal, but actually King Morrigan’s son and heir, he ends up splitting off from the group in the town of Gunning. Danika thinks her suspicions are confirmed.

The wild and lawless territory is dangerous—but the king’s hunters prove to be even more so when they fatally wound Radnor in an attack and capture Danika. She manages to escape by figuring out the true nature of her proclivity: she is a shadow magic user whose neck and shoulder marking indicates Darkness. This means that she can not only create hiding illusions, but also melt into darkness and become part shadow herself, which allows her to pass through solid objects. Melting through the walls of the palace, she rejoins the group. With the group now leaderless in the wake of Radnor’s death, Danika steps up to take charge, using her proclivity to protect them.



Lukas eventually rejoins the group. After he saves their lives several times, he and Danika reconsider their feelings for each other and kiss.