The giant Newton walks out of the fire sea one day and Jat, the first human he's ever seen, is terrified. Jat usually braves the tides of liquid fire to gather coal to sell so he and his mother can survive.
But Newton decides he's not going to eat Jat, who smells kinda like a giant, especially when Jat leads him to a herd of juicy cows he downs in a few bites. They quickly become friends, and Jat helps Newton settle into the village. Newton makes an enemy when he eats those cows, namely the cow-rustler who stole them, and it comes back to haunt him tragically later.
Newton hasn't told Jat about the pain inside that's eating him up. It was caused by the Maker's Voice, or a lightning strike. Newton violated the laws of giants, by reading books and fashioning a telescope to observe the skies, where the Maker is supposed to live. In punishment, his fellow giants made him rise a sort of lightning rod that would have destroyed him, if not for an old friend -- a smaller giant, not-so-smart, coming to his rescue.
Newton's running from his fellow giants and their cousins, the Punchers, even bigger, meaner creatures sent after Newton to bring him back to the land of giants to be destroyed, turned to rock and shattered, by the Maker's Voice.
Newton does his best to try and save the village from the giantess and Punchers who find him, but in the end, he and Jat are forced to run far, far away. They come to a strange land where Newton reunites with an old friend and -- yeah, this was the payoff for us -- dragons! (Wink, wink!)
This is a great summer read!
