Rapid reads

Richard Wagamese

Lucas Smoke, a young Ojibway carver, is still learning what it means to honor his grandfather’s teachings as he crafts spirit masks that carry more than beauty. When a mysterious stranger commissions a new work, Lucas’s gift draws him into a tense, supernatural current where art can stir forces that refuse to be ignored. As the mask’s power escalates, he’s forced to face a dangerous sorcerer and to reckon with the responsibilities that come with creating—especially when tradition is living, not static. Wagamese’s lyrical, Indigenous-rooted storytelling blends cultural inheritance with suspenseful young-adult momentum, exploring respect, intention, and the moral cost of gifts that can’t be undone.