Forever Lost at Sea: Ryujin Rising is a novel about three unlikely shipmates chasing a sea dragon across the Northwest Passage. Is it a good yarn? Yes, I think it is very good. 

But I have a question for authors Anghus Houvouras and Sara Hutchins: Who is the hero of your story? I’m curious. Is it Charles Wickham, a small town reporter looking for a big front-page byline? Is it Hideo, the Japanese monster hunter who kinda looks like a monster himself? Or maybe it’s Bess Riley, the young proto-feminist sailor? 

According to mythologist Joseph Campbell, a hero in literature is a character who experiences a challenging adventure that ends with a victorious homecoming. Heroes usually act at the behest of fate and divine forces, but ultimately their journey is all about self-discovery and self-development. Using this simple definition, I’d argue that all three mariners are the heroes of the story.

Wickham, for one, is introduced as a wealthy English dandy who has no experience IRL. For most of the novel, he is simply an ineffectual naif. Little did he know that his journey across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago would give him hero status. 

And Bess Riley is a young woman raised along the California coast. At the beginning of the story, she’s just a local fisherwoman with no prospects for the future. Joining the hunt for Eisendrachen the Destroyer gives her options. She dreams of getting her own ship and being the first female whaling captain. (Note: whale hunting was legal in the U.S. at the time of this novel.)

As a character with a unique origin story and a well-defined quest, Hideo is the presumptive and natural hero. Unlike Charles and Bess, he clearly understands his destiny. Hideo is a hunter who must kill the ryujin—he doesn’t have a choice, he is the chosen warrior.  

The creature itself is the size of multiple whales with teeth like daggers (or maybe arrows). “It looked like a dragon, or some other monster straight out of the pages of a book of myths and fables.” 

As fearsome as it is, however, the sea monster’s behavior is a bit puzzling. Even though it kills with abandon and without mercy, it allows the heroes three to escape its clutches multiple times. 

Hideo thinks he knows why. Like himself, the creature adheres to an ineffable universal hunter’s code. “We are the same,” he explains. “Hunters locked in combat, both existing only to vanquish the other.”

[ Forever Lost at Sea: Ryujin Rising / By Anghus Houvouras & Sarah Hutchins / First Printing: July 2023 / ISBN: 9781922861771 ]