Tagged: fantasy
The Seven Songs of Merlin by T. A. Barron
(Cover picture courtesy of T. A. Barron’s website.)
Young Merlin has freed Fincayra—the enchanted isle between earth and sky—from the terrible blight, taking the first steps on a path to discover the power within him. But the mystical land is still in danger and his true trials are just beginning…
To save his ailing mother, Merlin must master the Seven Songs of Wisdom passed down from his grandfather, a legendary wizard. Only then can he journey to the spiritual Otherworld to obtain the elixir he needs. But the quest involves a task Merlin must perform—defeating a vile ogre whose merest gaze means death. And even more difficult for the young wizard, he must discover the secret of seeing not with his eyes but with his heart…
After saving Fincayra in the first book, you would think poor Merlin would get a break and be able to safely bring his mother, Branwen (whose real name is Elen), back to him. Alas, the evil Rhita Gawr had other plans for the boy. When an illness strikes his mother down, Merlin must master the Seven Songs of Wisdom to save her. Did I mention that this requires him to travel all over Fincayra? And in only one month?
The Seven Songs of Merlin is a wonderful fantasy book by T. A. Barron, who has put quite a bit of effort into developing the magical world of Fincayra. He takes Celtic mythology and blends it with more familiar fantasy elements to create this wonderfully written, thought-provoking novel. It is T. A. Barron who first introduced me to the concept of hubris, the ancient word for too much pride. Alas, hubris is something that I suffer from, which makes me sympathize with Merlin even more. But regardless of whether you have hubris or not, I guarantee that you will find Merlin a very sympathetic character.
In addition to wonderful characterization and exemplary world building, the plot moves along very nicely. By nature of the time limit imposed upon Merlin, this is sort of a no-brainer and Barron brings a sense of immediacy to his writing throughout the entire novel. If you’re not already a T. A. Barron fan, you will be by the time you finish this novel.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
(Cover picture courtesy of Open Library.)
Firedrake, Ben, and their furry friend, Sorrel, are in search of the mythical places where dragons can live in peace forever. Together they embark on a journey that takes them to magical lands where they meet marvelous creatures—and ruthless villains. Along the way, they will discover allies in odd places, courage they didn’t know they had, and a hidden destiny that changes everything.
Dragons, brownies and homunculi, oh my! Cornelia Funke includes both traditional and non-traditional fantasy creatures in this exciting, thought-provoking novel. Funke is a well-known author of children’s and teen’s fantasy, but Dragon Rider has been overshadowed by her more popular Inkheart trilogy. In my opinion, Dragon Rider is just as good as Inkheart and it deserves equal recognition.
It is full of clichés, especially since the whole premise of the book is that a trio of unlikely friends (a dragon, a brownie and a human) embarks on a long and dangerous journey to find a mythical place where dragons can live in peace forever. What saves Dragon Rider from being too clichéd is Cornelia Funke’s spectacular writing style and the fact that she puts spins on many of the clichés she uses. Besides, this is a children’s and young teen’s book; most of her readers do not care about clichés.
Since friendship is the main theme of the novel, the focus is more on the characters than the plot. Funke’s characters are very well developed and meet all of the requirements to be memorable, yet she does not neglect the plot to focus on her characters. Therefore, Dragon Rider ends up being the best of both worlds: a fast-paced, character-driven novel.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
(Cover picture courtesy of Fairfieldbooks on Kids.)
It began with Eragon…
It ends with Inheritance.
Not so very long ago, Eragon—Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider—was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now, the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders.
Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chance.
The Rider and his dragon have come farther than anyone dared to imagine. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaësia? And if so, at what cost?
This is the spellbinding conclusion to Christopher Paolini’s worldwide bestselling Inheritance cycle.
After three long years of eager anticipation, I finally got my hands on the last book of the Inheritance Cycle. Boy, was I disappointed. I don’t even know where to start, but I think I should start with the worst part of it: the characters.
The characters in this novel have gone way into left field, especially minor characters like King Orrin and Angela. Orrin, who was always supportive of the Varden suddenly becomes a mean, irrational and selfish drunk. I understand that the pressures of war may have made him snap, but Christopher Paolini never showed this huge transition from eccentric to drunk. We see more of Angela and she goes from somewhat dangerous and mysterious to a really mysterious, incredibly dangerous…thing. We never find out what she really is, which makes me think Paolini is going to write a fifth book. In addition to minor characters changing, the main characters become caricatures of their former selves. Roran becomes a city-destroying killing machine that’s completely unrealistic (even for fantasy), Arya does a total 180 near the end of the novel and Eragon becomes a super-powerful magician and warrior to the point of ridiculousness.
This book is over 800 pages long, yet it probably could have been condensed to 500 pages. Christopher Paolini’s descriptions become excruciatingly long, but suddenly trail off with about 100 pages left. The last hundred pages are so poorly written I think that after 13 years of writing the same series, he just wanted to get it over with. Unfortunately, the result is a lot of disappointed fans.
I give this book 0.5/5 stars.
Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
(Cover picture courtesy of Walmart.)
Ever since the extraordinary events of Inkspell, when the enchanted book Inkheart drew Meggie and her father, Mo, into its chapters, life in the Inkworld has been more tragic than magical.
The fire-eater Dustfinger is dead, having sacrificed his life for his apprentice Farid’s, and now, under the rule of the evil Adderhead, the fairy-tale land is in bloody chaos, its characters far beyond the control of Fenoglio, their author. Even Elinor, left behind in the real world, believes her family to be lost—lost between the covers of a book.
Facing the threat of eternal winter, Mo inks a dangerous deal with Death itself. There yet remains a faint hope of changing the cursed story—if only he can fill its pages fast enough.
After being entranced first by Inkheart, then Inkspell, I couldn’t wait to read the last book. But I was sadly disappointed. This may have been my own fault for having too high expectations, but perhaps not. It was an okay book, but I felt that a lot of what happened in Inkdeath came way out of left field.
Unlike in the other books, Meggie takes a back seat and the story really revolves around her father, Mo. This is not necessarily a bad thing because he is an excellent character, but it is sort of disappointing, especially to younger female readers who read the story because they felt a connection to Meggie. One of the things that came way out of left field is Meggie’s new love interest, Doria, who is a member of the robber’s camp. He never showed up until the last book and it was like Meggie completely forget Farid, her first love interest.
Despite the ‘Huh?’ factor, Inkdeath is not a bad book. The ending is actually satisfying and the plot zipped right along. The characters develop at a natural pace and Cornelia Funke brings the Inkworld to life with her spellbinding writing. In terms of pure writing talent, Cornelia Funke has no equal in the YA genre.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
(Cover picture courtesy of Tower Books.)
A year has passed, but not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of Inkheart, the book whose characters came to life. For the fire-eater Dustfinger, the need to return to the tale has become more desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller to read him back, he abandons his apprentice Farid and plunges into the pages. Before long, Farid and Meggie are caught inside the book, too. But the story is much changed—and threatening to end tragically.
This may just be me, but I liked Inkspell more than I liked Inkheart. Meggie and Farid journey to the Inkworld, where the villain of the last novel, Capricorn, was originally from. The romance between the two develops at a natural pace as they try to navigate the quasi-Medieval world that has hidden dangers lurking around every corner. The plot is fairly fast-paced and Cornelia Funke’s character development is second only to her wonderful world-building.
Unlike a lot of fantasy writers, Cornelia Funke does not use creatures exclusively from Norse mythology. Fire elves, White women and brownies populate the Inkworld and enchant readers who are used to the normal fantasy clichés. Of course there are taverns, castles and farms (but what fantasy universe doesn’t have these?), but they do not seem out of place with the rest of the world because it is very well developed.
Cornelia Funke is really an excellent writer and Anthea Bell, who translated it from the original German, certainly deserves a lot of credit. Translating a book and still keeping the author’s original subtleties is incredibly hard to do. Most translations make the English version a choppy, poorly written book, yet the writing is still very consistent throughout the novel.
I give this book 5/5 stars.