The Moon of Gomrath

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Another Excellent book from a master - Rated
Excellent, extremely well written, for young and old a like, what else can I say.

Great book, not for 4-8 year olds - Rated
Amazon claims that this CD is for 4-8 year olds. It is not. The Moon of Gomrath, and its predecessor The Wierdstone of Brisinghamen, are probably best suited to 10-14 year olds. I first read them 30 years ago and the darkness of them still lurks in the corners of my memory. They are powerful, well-crafted books that hang in the mind but they are definitely not for 4 year olds even if they don't have to read it themselves.

The Suns and Moons of Gomrath - Rated
'The Moon of Gomrath' is the wild magical sequel to 'The Weirdstone of Brisingamen', set in Alderley Edge in Cheshire of the present day but harking back to the days of Middlearth. Both these stories have a very Tolkienish way about them, it is an interesting exercise to compare and contrast the characters as they are introduced. It is a pity that Garner's books, faring less well than 'The Hobbit', dropped off the literary radar in the 1980's, but with the benefit of Potter power they are now back in style with new artwork on the cover.

Garner's special art is to take a basic swords-and-sorcery story and elevate it into a poetry-and-powers myth with gritty heroes and terrifying villains who hard to defeat and not always easy to spot. This story of Colin and Susan's second adventure is aimed at a slightly older audience than the Weirdstone, has Susan in the lead role, and has more depth and menace along with some sly humour. The Morrigan is back, not yet at the height of her powers, but ready for revenge. The elves are suffering and dying from the pollution caused by Man: they must retreat to cleaner, remoter places. The battles in magic and swordplay are more deadly and more personal and more realistic. The havoc and hard pace of war are felt in the prose, which is breathless and a little wild itself. The wizard Cadellin takes more of a back seat in this adventure but he does explain why the coming of the 'Age of Reason' and industrialism was more of a coming of the age of Materialism and a retreat from Reason. Hence the great rift between our Man's world of material values, and the worlds of magic and the life of the spiritual values.

Now as every parent knows, children's books have the power of forming the child's mind. So with magical adventures being very much back in style now is a good time to get the various authors into some sort of order. So, without going back to the ancient Greeks, where does Alan Garner fit in? We can easily go back a century or so: F. Anstey (Vice Versa), George MacDonald (Princess and Curdie stories), and E. Nesbit (House of Arden, etc), Tolkien (Hobbit, Farmer Giles of Ham), C.S. Lewis (Narnia, the land of youth), Ursula K. LeGuin (Earthsea), and Alan Garner. And, as Rowling's ghost Peeves puts it, 'Wee Potty Potter', brings us up to date.

So there are two main routes to magic. Anstey, MacDonald, Nesbit, Garner, and Rowling write a story that exercises magic in this world, and the two things collide with exciting degrees of chaos and depth. The results are serious or hilarious, or both. Garner manages to interface the two worlds with superior art. But a higher priced ticket will take you to a whole new world. Tolkien, Lewis, and LeGuin create whole worlds of their own and people it with new peoples - a fully magical world. The magic is integrated, truly part of the fabric of that world, not just added to make it fizz. One you are in, you belong there for a while. You return and your own world is now a little more magical. The whole range of literary forms is now possible, even super-possible as we no longer rely on supposed 'realism' to make the effects. They go beyond just making a magical talisman or two (some brilliantly done, others less so), and seeing 'what happens'. They make new countries and skies, new kingdoms and peoples, new languages and rules. Ultimately they are the suns and the others are the moons.

Children's fantasy that adults will enjoy - Rated
I was sixteen when I first read this book, which turned out to be the sequel to another - the Weirdstone of Brisingamen - which I later read to see what I had missed.

This is the most haunting, lyrical and beautiful of children's novels. The subject matter is deeply influenced by Celtic mythology, but by introducing it into a modern setting the story gains a resonance and power that is often missing from the 'strange tale in a strange land' fantasy commonplace.

One of the best children's novels ever written.

Excellent - Rated
It is refreshing to remember that before television had assumed its current unassailable ascendancy, when children still had imaginations, there were great writers creating masterpieces of imagination. This is one of them. It and its older sibling, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, stand as outposts of true genius in a modern world filled with mediocrity. At 40 years old, it is as current as if it had been written yesterday.

Robert Powell doesn't do a bad job either!