Reviews by Crooty

This is the fourth book in the Guardian Cycle pentalogy (after The Dark Moon, The Jasper Forest and The Crystal Desert, and before Alyssa's Ring).

Another three and a half years have passed since the events of The Crystal Desert, our hero is now twenty-one. Still drawn by his instincts, Terrel is on the Skua, a ship heading for the ice covered island of Myvatan, where he believes resides another Elemental. And when he recognizes a vision from his dreams, the rock carved in the shape of a large whale described in the Tindaya Code, he has to convince the captain of the ship to let him disembark.

Emerging from Savik's Whale's blowhole, Terrel soon finds himself caught up in a war that's been going on for centuries between the Black, Red, White and Gold quarters. Taken to Saudark by the Black who suspect he's a spy, Terrel later discovers a society where water is the vector of magic. Indeed, whereas men fight with swords and spears, the Magians, all women, use the potency of water to create powerful weapons in the form of weather spells. It won't be long until Jax, taking over Terrel's body one day, impresses Tofana with his weathermage skills. The chief Wizard will then devise Fire Starters, a weapon capable of destroying their enemies utterly in the blink of an eye. If Terrel doesn't do anything about it, it will be an appalling massacre, and a threat for the whole world of Nydus.

The book goes on to describe the terrible war of magic in which Terrel reluctantly takes part, trying to make his way to the Elemental at the same time, and making new, invaluable friends on the road. Among them are Tegan and Yarek, two young people who, like him, are eager to bring peace back on Myvatan.

Whereas our hero's overall goal is still the same, this volume is a tad different from the previous ones in the sense that Terrel's search for the Elemental takes a slightly less ponderous place in the story, leaving space for a little more action. The new characters introduced here are again very likable and their society quite interesting. However, not much is said about the further deciphering of the Tindaya Code and the solving of the Dark Moon and Sleepers' mysteries, as Alyssa and the ghosts intervene less often. And I have to admit I kind of missed them, and had the felling that the pace had somehow decelerated. Let's hope this is only the quiet before the storm, as I'm looking forward to reading how things resolve in the climatic conclusion I'm expecting in Alyssa's Ring, the last volume.

This is the third book in The Guardian Cycle pentalogy (after The Dark Moon and The Jasper Forest, and before The Red Glacier and Alyssa's Ring).

Over three years have passed since Terrel left the madhouse of Havenmoon. After preventing another disaster by bargaining with the elemental in Talazoria, he's crossed another ocean, to find himself in the desert of Misrah. Terrel is now travelling with the Toma, a nomadic tribe, earning his rightful place thanks to his healing skills. Among them are two refugees who will become his friends: Mlicki, a disfigured boy who seems to have some hidden powers, and his little sister Kalkara, who hasn't uttered a single word since the death of their parents in the raid of their village. Feeling somehow very close to the girl, Terrel searches for a way to break this protective barrier and uncover her mysteries.

Terrel feels he has to find another elemental in this land, but he has no idea where, until he hears of a plague spreading all over Nydus, which makes its victims afraid of water until they die of thirst. Knowing of the Ancient's sheer terror of the liquid, his doubts are now confirmed, all the more when he learns that the huge Kullana river has run dry since a tremendous earthquake caused the land to fissure in two. To save the world from yet another catastrophe, it soon becomes clear that Terrel has to take part in the Race of Truth, a long treck through the desert where no drinking is permitted during daylight. And not only has he to join Zahir, the Toma's champion's team, but they'll have to win this race in order to be granted access to the Mountain of Makranash, where the Ancient elemental supposedly resides.

Meanwhile, the Seers, as well as Muzeni and Shahan's ghosts, are still trying to decipher the prophecy in the Tindaya Code, whereas Jax is still behaving as if he were the Guardian and invading Terrel's dreams at each opportunity, torturing him and wreaking havoc with his weather-mage powers. As for Alyssa and Elam, as well as some of the sleepers encountered along the way, their spirits are coming to Terrel's help whenever they can.

Again, I loved reading about Terrel's adventures, learning the ways of the nomads in their search for precious water in the harsh and barren desert of Misrah. The overall plot is again pretty similar to that of the previous volumes, but who cares, when the characters are so endearing and interesting? As long as the pages keep turning, I don't...

This is the second book in The Guardian Cycle (after The Dark Moon, and before The Crystal Desert, The Red Glacier, and Alyssa's Ring).

After saving the Floating Islands from utter destruction by bargaining with the elemental in the mines of Betancuria and letting the Enchanter take all the credit, Terrel is sent into exile, cast off on the ocean on a makeshift raft, with no idea where he is going. Probably to Macul, a land said to be inhabited by barbarians. Moreover, his link with Alyssa has been broken since he's been over water. After weeks adrift, at the mercy of the waves, his frail embarcation is finally driven ashore in a lagoon. The boy is about to die from dehydration when he's rescued by two young men, Aylen and Olandis, who take him up the river to their village.

In Fenduca, Terrel is taken in by Aylen and Olandis's father Kerin and step-mother Ysatel, and slowly recovering from his ordeal. Alas, he doesn't speak these people's language, and he can feel the whole village is suspicious of him. Could he really come from the Cursed Islands? Could he be an enchanter, a Sharakan? After some difficult times, Terrel is finally accepted when the villagers discover he has the power to heal animals, a power even Terrel was unaware of. And little by little, he'll learn their language and history: Fenduca is situated at the foot of a great black mountain, on the top of which lives the tyrant king Ekuban, in the jeweled city of Talazoria. And since the valley is the source of some riches coveted by Ekuban, the latter and his soldiers are constantly harassing the villagers.

Terrel has been searching for a way to go back to his home island of Vadanis when he has a dream in which he learns that there might be another elemental in the city of Talazoria, and that a terrible earthquake is threatening the world again if he doesn't stop the king from angering the "demon". Indeed, Ekuban has been holding the elemental prisoner in an old dungeon surrounded by a moat, and entertaining his nobles by sending beggars and cripples to fight it, to their death. Terrel will have to leave his new found friends soon.

The rest of the book describes our hero's journey to Talazoria, stopping on the way, against his will, in a mysterious valley enshrouded by clouds and where the sun never shines, to help lift a curse that has been preventing the women to have children for the last four years.

I liked The Jasper Forest a lot. It's not that this volume is extremely original, the layout being approximately the same of that of The Dark Moon, nor that the overall plot is passionating, it's just that the characters are so extremely likeable, and the story so well-written, that Terrel's day to day life becomes a real pleasure to read!

This is the first book in The Guardian Cycle pentalogy (before The Jasper Forest, The Crystal Desert, The Red Glacier and Alyssa's Ring).

In Makhaya, on the Floating Islands, Empress Adina is about to give birth to her first heir. As prophecied in the Tindaya Code, a child born under a special lunar conjuction, the alignment of the Red, White, Amber and Dark Moons, is to become the Guardian, the hero that will save the world from a terrible disaster supposed to happen on the next alignment, seventy-five years later. But children born under this conjunction are usually crippled, and when the infant is finally extracted from his mother's womb, what a relief it is to see that he is in perfect health. However the Empress's joy doesn't last long, as she realizes her labour is not over yet, and gives birth to a second, badly misshapen child with strange glittering eyes. Believing this twin is an ill omen, and the incarnation of evil, she orders him to be taken away, his existence kept secret forever.

Fourteen years later, the crippled boy Terrel is living in a madhouse in Havenmoon with his friends Alyssa, a girl who can see into other people's dreams, and Elam, a young boy who's been arrested for stealing potatoes when the moon conjunction was not right for harvesting. Indeed, the whole Floating Island society is dictated by the Seers, astrologers who set up rules and taboos, according to the positions, waxings and wanings of the four moons. Their task is also to calculate the timing of the numerous earthquakes caused by the moons.

One day though, a strange, unexplained earth tremor occurs, opening a breach in the wall of Havenmoon's abandoned necropolis. Terrel and his friends go and explore the forbidden cemetary, where they find an old observatory and a library. Soon after this event, Terrel recieves his first visit in fourteen years. It is Shahan, a Seer of Makhaya, who tells him about the Prophecy of the Guardian, in which he believes Terrel might have a role to play. The boy also learns that due to the last earthquake, the Dark Moon has apparently left its orbit and that as a result, the next alignment should occur sooner than expected.

As another consequence, soldiers are now arresting everyone who's breaking a taboo under the new conjunction, as well as everyone who would have if the moons hadn't moved, and soon Havenmoon is crammed with prisoners. One day, soldiers try to rape Alyssa, but she defends herself with strange invisible forces. Believing she's a witch, they lock her up in a dungeon cell. When the old necropolis is about to be filled with prisoners, Terrel wants to save the books he found there. He and Elam manage to get out of the madhouse after cerfew, and on their way back, Terrel wants to check on his friend Alyssa. But Elam is caught, and Terrel has no choice but to escape if he wants to survive. In a dream that night, Terrel promises Alyssa that he'll come back to save her.

Looking for food and shelter in the countryside is not easy, the more so as Terrel often scares people off with his crippled right arm and leg and strange eyes. But realizing that he can feel earthquakes before they actually happen, he uses this strange ability to help a farmer save his herd. Finally accepted as farm hand, he then works another miracle and helps a cow and her calf in a difficult delivery. However, people start to become suspicious. Could he be the Enchanter from the legends? And when one night, Terrel is caught talking to an owl, he knows he can no longer stay on the farm.

The owl's mind was in fact controlled by Alyssa. Having the intuition that Terrel has a great part to play for the future of the Floating Islands, and having heard of rumours of a monster killing miners in Betancuria, she urges him to go there.

As you can guess by the length of this introduction, many unexpected twists and turns happen in The Dark Moon. In this first volume, we follow Terrel as he makes his way to the mines, meeting a pedlar who teaches him how to disguise his eyes using the "glamour", then travelling with a troupe of actors, all the while accompanied by Alyssa in the form of various animals, learning about what he's supposed to do once he gets there. And meanwhile in Makhaya, the Seers are calculating the new positions of the moons, as Prince Jax and his mother Adina's thirst for power is growing.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was expecting more straightforward Sword & Sorcery fantasy, but it's actually pretty well written and full of interesting and likeable characters. The story hooks you right from the first page on, and until the last one. I noticed I have a tendency to love Orphan Boy & Prophecy plots, and once again, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

In the Peninsula of the Palm, a land clasped between two tyrannic invaders, the sorcerers Brandin of Ygrath and Alberico of Barbadior, a small group of people struggle for the freedom of their land. And for that of its forgotten name, Tigana, which has been under a spell for over twenty years, since the day Prince Valentin of Tigana slew Brandin's son in battle.

Devin is a 19-year-old singer in Menico's travelling troupe. After performing at Sandre, the Duke of Astibar's funeral, he discreetely follows his companion the beautiful Catriana across the rooms of the palace. Hiding in a closet, they are about to witness a secret meeting: Sandre's son is preparing a coup to overthrow Brandin. Devin's curiosity will soon have him caught up in these events.

Dianora is a young woman from Tigana. Taken as "tribute" to Brandin's harem in his colony on the island of Chiara, she becomes his favourite mistress so she can assassinate him and save her land from the enless vengeful slaughter. Instead, she'll slowly fall in love with the man.

Having read Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry and not liked it much, I would never have read Tigana but for the unanimous praise I came across. And how wrong I would have been, what great reading pleasure I would have missed! For Tigana is a superbly written epic novel, with complex, not-one-dimensional, and finally extremely human characters. I would only reproach the few explicit sex scenes, which I found rather unpoetic. But without hesitation I'll now join my voice to the praise.

In this third and final volume of the Fionavar Tapestry (started with The Summer Tree and The Wandering Fire), the various armies are slowly marching northwards to meet and confront Rakoth Maugrim the Unraveller, encountering numerous enemies sent to slow them down.

And Darien the andain, son of Jennifer and Rakoth, is therefore torn by the terrible choice he has to make between Light and Dark. Desperately searching for someone to love and understand him but feared by all because of who he is, abandoned by Finn his foster brother, ignored and rejected by his mother and her friends who don't want to interfere in his choice, he's flying in the shape of an owl to Starkadh, to bring the sacred blade Lökdal to his father, in hope of his welcome.

In the mountains, Matt Sören, resurrected by Lancelot's powers but no longer Loren Silvercloak the mage's source, goes back to Calor Diman where he belongs, to reclaim his throne as King of the Dwarfs from the hands of Kaen the traitor. He'll have to challenge him according to the rules of the Dwarfmoot.

I found this last volume much more entertaining than the previous one, even though I think Kay tried to include too many fantasy themes in one series and ended up with a messy plot that made it hard to believe. I was also a bit disappointed by how fast the story was resolved. Finally, not knowing Arthur's legend, I'm also sure I missed a lot of interesting references, but then I've only got myself to blame...

The Wandering Fire is the second volume in The Fionavar Tapestry (starting with The Summer Tree and ending with The Darkest Road).

In Fionavar, Maidaladan, Midsummer's Eve, is approching but an unnatural winter is spreading all over the land. The Kings and Mages are gathering to try to understand the reason of this mysterious cold, and the armies of Brennin, Daniloth and Cathal are preparing for an oncoming war. Back in our world, Kim, now a Seer, summons Uther Pendragon in Stonehenge to help her wake his son Arthur in Glastonbury Tor, and crosses with the latter to Fionavar, for he is the legendary Warior who'll help them fight against Rakoth the Unraveller.

Meanwhile, Jennifer secretly gives birth to Darien, the fruit of Rakoth's rape, and puts him in the hands of Vae, Finn's mother, to hide and foster him. On the plains, the Dalrei try, not without great difficulty, to protect the last herds of eltors from the attacks of the monstrous wolves of Galadan, the Wolflord.

I was looking forward to reading this book, I really was. Having gone through the rather tedious introduction of The Summer Tree, I thought this one would start right on with more suspense and fast paced action (although I also enjoy highly desciptive books, such as Tad William's Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series, which I highly recommend, by the way). But it doesn't.

Indeed, I found Kay's style awkward and irregular, and the plot messy and somewhat grotesque at times. It's like he was afraid of revealing too much and enrobed his story in numerous unnecessary and confusing elements that did nothing but slow my reading down. Maybe, had I known the story of Arthur, I would have liked it more.

However, the book also has some good bits, even though I had to wait half the book before the story became interesting, and in the end I can say I enjoyed it. Let's just hope The Darkest Road becomes gripping quicker.

The Summer Tree is the first book in The Fionavar Tapestry series (continuing with The Wandering Fire and The Darkest Road).

At Loren Silvercloak the mage's bidding, Kevin, Kim, Jennifer, Paul and Dave, five University students from Toronto, 'cross' into the Kingdom of Fionavar, the First of all Worlds, to help him in an oncoming war against Rakoth the Unraveller, and thus fulfil their destinies.

Like the five heroes, the reader is teleported into a land of magic and fantasy which the author only describes little by little. Although certainly used as a stylistic device, this sometimes makes it hard to understand the ins and outs of certain characters' actions. In the same vein, I also found the few sex scenes somewhat a bit out of place and unpoetic. Anyway, looking back upon it, I realize these were just details.

And indeed, as you turn the pages and learn more about the people and history of Fionavar and about the role the heroes have to play in it, the book really turns out to be enthralling and hard to put down. I particularly enjoyed the third part, where Dave is taken in by a tribe of hunters called the Dalrei, and learns about their customs and rites, to finally risk his own life for them.

Although at first I was a bit sceptical about the mixing of today's world with fantasy, in the end I really liked this book a lot and I'm looking forward to reading the next two. So don't let the first 150 pages or so get you down and read on, it's definitely worth it!

After a long winter of hibernation, spring is back and Moomintroll and his friends Sniff and Snufkin can finally get out and play in the woods and fields of Moominvalley. That's when they find the Hobgoblin's hat and bring it back home as a present for Moominpappa. Unfortunately, the hat's too big so they decide to use it as a waste paper basket. But overnight, the eggshell they've just thrown away mysteriously turns into five small white clouds...

Finn Family Moomintroll is a collection of several of the Moomin funny and silly little adventures following the discovery of the hat. Indeed, the sometimes absurd situations reminded me of Dr. Seuss's Cat in the Hat. Lavishly illustrated with wonderful black and white ink drawings by the author, it is also a perfect book to read aloud to your children!

Other titles in the series are: Comet in Moominland, Moominsummer Madness, Moominland Midwinter, Moominpappa at Sea, Moominpappa's Memoirs, and Tales from Moominvalley.

In rural America of the early nineteenth Century, by the Hudson River, lies the small village of Sleepy Hollow. The only recently arrived scholl teacher, the tall and lean Ichabod Crane, likes to spend his evenings by the fire with the old Dutch wives, listening to local horror stories of ghouls and goblins and haunted houses, among which that of the headless horseman, until one night after leaving the ball, he is chased by the legendary Galloping Hessian.

I read this story because I love the film, and was surprised to see how few pages, less than ten out of fifty, were actually devoted to the mystery of the headless horseman itself. Although very well written, with descriptions that are stunningly real, the book left me hungry for more.


Rip Van Winkle: A fairy tale.

Set in the time of the Declaration of Independance of the United States, Rip van Winkle is the story of a man who, upon walking in the mountains with his dog, stumbles upon a strange man with a keg of liquor, and a small company of odd-looking folk playing a bowling game. When he wakes up the next morning, everything he used to know has changed...