The Wierdstone of Brisingamen
Jan. 19th, 2011 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatI've only read one Alan Garner book, The Owl Service, which I suspect I was a little too young to properly appreciate. However our habit of walking at Alderley Edge and the presence of The Wierdstone of Brisingamen on our bookshelves prompted me to give him another chance. I wish I'd read Wierdstone when I was younger.
I really enjoyed the book. It has that combination of the real world and the mysterious which I love in children's literature and which I've always found missing in the Harry Potter books*. However, at the tender age of forty something, I did sometimes get distracted by concerns over hypothermia (there is a lot of swimming through flooded mine workings). If I'm being churlish I also found the rendering of Gowther's speech in phonetic Cheshire more off-putting than atmospheric.
I think the story shares much with The Fellowship of the Ring in terms of atmosphere. There is a sense of small people ranged against forces that far outstrip them in power, and victory is achieved by said small people doing what they must, which often involves sneaking and hiding rather than shows of strength or power. There are unexpected protectors along the way, a lost and fading elvish civilisation, themes of nature opposed to industrialisation and even a failed rendezvous with a wizard on top of a hill. I've always liked Fellowship the most of the three books in Lord of the Rings (the later volumes become fairly bogged down in descriptions of battles in places, as well as the infamous trek into Mordor, and loose the sense of wonder somewhat) and I liked Wierdstone almost as much.
I don't suppose this is really news to anyone on my flist. But The Wierdstone of Brisingamen is an excellent book and highly recommended to anyone who enjoys fantastical children's literature and/or Lord of the Rings.
*Obviously this isn't J.K.Rowlings' fault but I've always found her universe a little bit, well, mundane and certainly a little bit too mechanistic for my tastes. I like magic to be strange and wonderous when it crops up, not some kind of alternative branch of physics.
This entry was originally posted at http://purplecat.dreamwidth.org/31694.html.
I really enjoyed the book. It has that combination of the real world and the mysterious which I love in children's literature and which I've always found missing in the Harry Potter books*. However, at the tender age of forty something, I did sometimes get distracted by concerns over hypothermia (there is a lot of swimming through flooded mine workings). If I'm being churlish I also found the rendering of Gowther's speech in phonetic Cheshire more off-putting than atmospheric.
I think the story shares much with The Fellowship of the Ring in terms of atmosphere. There is a sense of small people ranged against forces that far outstrip them in power, and victory is achieved by said small people doing what they must, which often involves sneaking and hiding rather than shows of strength or power. There are unexpected protectors along the way, a lost and fading elvish civilisation, themes of nature opposed to industrialisation and even a failed rendezvous with a wizard on top of a hill. I've always liked Fellowship the most of the three books in Lord of the Rings (the later volumes become fairly bogged down in descriptions of battles in places, as well as the infamous trek into Mordor, and loose the sense of wonder somewhat) and I liked Wierdstone almost as much.
I don't suppose this is really news to anyone on my flist. But The Wierdstone of Brisingamen is an excellent book and highly recommended to anyone who enjoys fantastical children's literature and/or Lord of the Rings.
*Obviously this isn't J.K.Rowlings' fault but I've always found her universe a little bit, well, mundane and certainly a little bit too mechanistic for my tastes. I like magic to be strange and wonderous when it crops up, not some kind of alternative branch of physics.
This entry was originally posted at http://purplecat.dreamwidth.org/31694.html.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-19 05:49 pm (UTC)Please read The Moon of Gomrath - the Celtic feel is even stronger and the language is exquisite. One sequence is even better than Tolkien for reading aloud - the lighting of the wendfire and what follows - and the book is deeper and darker and... well, I think it is even better than Weirdstone. In fact, it is my favourite of Garner's children's fantasies - I found Elidor rather mundane.
It also has the bestest last line ever.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-19 06:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-19 06:35 pm (UTC)"Gold glinted at his ear, and his eyes were like burning ice."
I can quote chunks of The Moon of Gomrath without thinking about it.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-19 06:44 pm (UTC)*swoons*
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-19 06:45 pm (UTC)Yes, when I was 12. Um... yes, that's it. Only then. :-)
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Date: 2011-01-19 06:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-19 06:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-19 07:21 pm (UTC)One of my favourite bits is where he slumps down on the table in Fundindelve and falls asleep with his head on his arms, exhausted. It might have been the start of my well known hurt fetish. In my defence, I was about 9 at the time. But it still hits the spot every time.
I was chuffed to bits when Garner signed my copy of Weirdstone at the 50th Anniversary celebrations in Oct last year.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-20 10:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-20 11:39 am (UTC)I can't remember how old I was though: possibly I was a bit young for them : the enthusiasm here is making me think maybe I should give them another go...
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Date: 2011-01-19 06:19 pm (UTC)Speaking as a caver (and someone who has caved in the Alderley Edge Mines), the passage of West Mine and even the Erldelving, flooded sections and sump diving nonetheless is feasible without hypothermia, even in ordinary clothes, as the group kept moving, and the strenuous sections would have warmed them up again. I wouldn't *like* to do that trip dressed like that, but it is survivable without hypothermia.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-20 10:18 am (UTC)Gomrath does not appear to be in the house. It's obviously going to have to go on the Wish List.
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