Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Old Magic: The Wizard Cadellin is a Guardian of the High Magic and speaks, in a somewhat sniffy and condescending way, about the wild untamed Old Magic being a thing for women and witches, and that it's a damn good thing this was tamed and shut off from the world. He is not best pleased that Susan gave it a doorway to return when she lit wendfire on Gomrath Eve. The Moon of Gomrath is not only powerful but full of wild, whirling adventure...the reader is drawn right into the midst of it all’. Guardian
That said, The Moon of Gomrath's evocation of a matriarchal Wild Magic pre-dating the masculine wizardly magic of Cadellin and co prefigures multiple examples of children's fiction, from the weird hierarchy of High, Dark, Light and Wild Magics in Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence to Terry Pratchett's treatment of witchcraft in the Tiffany Aching books. The book has received high praise from numerous other fantasy writers. [26] Young adult fantasy writer Garth Nix indicated its impact on his own writing, saying "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is one of the most important books in children’s fantasy. It has been an enormous inspiration to me and countless other writers, and is as enjoyable and fascinating now as it was when I first read it, wide-eyed and mesmerised at the age of ten."James Henry Hodgkins – A local businessman who happens to be a member of the morthbrood, whom they narrowly elude in Radnor Wood. Selina Place – A local woman, who is revealed to be a shape-shifting witch, indeed the leader of the morthbrood, a secret network of people involved in dark magic. Also known as The Morrigan, the ancient name of an Irish battle and death goddess, she is in league with powerful forces of darkness. Durathror – Prince of the Huldrafolk, and Fenodyree's cousin, whose pride lies in his strength in battle.
Coming to an end of a book can be a dark time for Garner, but he is upbeat today, even though he is almost sure that Boneland will be his last work. "I can't imagine, being realistic, that at the age of 77, and taking about a decade to write a book even when I've got an idea – which I haven't got at the moment – that it wouldn't be foolish to engage in it," he says. "I don't think I've got the time or the energy to undergo things like Strandloper, Thursbitch and Boneland."
If The Weirdstone (Garner's first novel) leans a little 3-, this leans 3.5 or maybe a little more. Weirdstone has a lot of unfortunate-nesses like a goblin named Slinkveal, the general batch of bad guys called the morthbrood, and of course the main villain, Grimnir. The best decision in Weirdstone is to make the tunnel scary because spelunking is terrifying, not because of lurking fell beasts. Gomrath gets more complicated, the kids, especially Susan, develop as characters, and so does the mythology. I was interested to learn, upon Googling, that the wizard story is real. That is, Alderley is an actual place, it has an ancient legend of a wizard stopping a farmer from Mobberley (seriously, where do the English get these names), buying his horse, showing him the sleeping riders, etc. Garner grew up on the Edge, and so I can see him having played with his friends or maybe alone, making up some of these stories. Butler, Charles (2001). "Alan Garner's Red Shift and the Shifting Ballad of "Tam Lin" ". Children's Literature Association Quarterly. 26 (2): 74–83. doi: 10.1353/chq.0.1604. S2CID 144862859. A six-part radio adaptation by Nan MacDonald was broadcast on the BBC Home Service in 1963. [27] The cast included John Thornley as Colin, Margaret Dew as Susan, Alison Bayley as Selina Place, Geoffrey Banks as Cadellin the Wizard, Brian Trueman as Fenodyree, John Blain as Police Sergeant, Ronald Harvi as Durathror, and George Hagan as Narrator. A. I don't plan. Images appear, unbidden, which suggest areas of research. The research develops its own pattern, and when there's no more research to be done I "soak and wait", as Arthur Koestler expressed it. Then, subjectively, the story starts of its own accord, and I write as it unfolds. But it's probably complete in my unconscious, as a result of the soaking and the waiting, before I can be aware of what's happening. This could explain why I get the last sentence or paragraph of the book before I know what the story is. The history of creativity is littered with examples of the artist, or scientist, or mathematician "seeing" the answer and then having to spend years in discovering the question.
Butler, Charles (2006). Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children's Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper. Lanham MD: Scarecrow. ISBN 978-0-8108-5242-6. Susan – A young girl who inadvertently becomes the guardian of the "weirdstone"; for this reason she is sometimes referred to by the other characters as "Stonemaiden". A. In principle, I have no objection. But whereas an e-book is simply the text and nothing more, to hold a physical book, the product of many skills, is a complex experience, involving touch and smell and memory. I value the fact that there are books in my library that have passed through other hands, been read by other eyes, spanning more than 400 years; and they still work. I can't imagine a reader being able to form a personal relationship with an e-book.
Colin and Susan are once again the stars of the book, but at the start they are quite frustrated. Having been part of the defeat of Grimnir and the Morrigan in the first book, they have been cut off from the world of magic. However this state of affairs does not last long. Cadellin Silverbrow – The ancient wizard who was long ago entrusted with the guardianship of the weirdstone and the sleeping knights of Fundindelve. However "Moon" is not quite as strong a book as it's predecessor - but given the strength of "Weirdstone" that would be a struggle. Taken on it's own merits, however, it is a very strong book. A. I never "target". I write the story as it comes, for its own sake, no other. Who reads it is beyond my control.
In conclusion, this is a very strange book. There are an incredible number of really good things in it, but there is too much unnecessary detail for very young children and a conclusion that will not satisfy most adult readers. Therefore it falls into a category where it does not really satisfy any target audience, which is a shame because I love Alan Garner’s work. The final negative comment, from a purely personal point of view, is that one of the main characters in the first book is completely omitted from the sequel for no apparent reason. I clearly remember my disappointment as a child about this – I didn’t understand why he wasn’t included and it spoilt the story that one of my favourites was gone with no explanation offered. In 1970 The Weirdstone of Brisingamen was given the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education. [23] The author [ edit ] Alan Garner to conclude Weirdstone of Brisingamen trilogy". Alison Flood. The Guardian 15 March 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2012. The Owl Service (1967) won both the Carnegie Medal [48] and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, [49] For the 70th anniversary of the Carnegie in 2007 it was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. [50]
Follow us
Hans Christian Andersen Awards". International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). Retrieved 29 July 2013. Garner twinkles ferociously as he recites the lines. But he forced himself to find a more suitable ending, finished The Moon of Gomrath by the age of 27, and vowed – despite entreaties from a publisher – not to cash in on his now-established name and turn the hugely popular novels into a series.
Related:
Great Deal 
New Comment