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sadie26w's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.25
sammackulin's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
2.5
bollerud's review against another edition
2.0
Is there a German word for that feeling where you suspect you would have enjoyed a book, if only you discovered it when you were 12, not in your hoary old 30s? That's the feeling I got from this book. Wizards and spells and hidden worlds and the english countryside usually work like magic on me, but not this one. The children were pretty underdeveloped, the adventure passages felt interminable, and in the end I didn't care enough about the poor weirdstone to finish it. Alas.
walkingreaderreview's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
lost_luna's review against another edition
3.0
Somewhere around a 3.5 stars.
I really enjoyed the plot of this book, it was reminiscent of lord of the rings or the day the mountain moved by Rennie McOwan.
The main reasons I didn't rate it higher was due to the language used and the ending. I feel the book ended in the middle of the story rather than at the end and this bothered me. I'm aware that this is a series but still the story could have ended at a better point. Also, as the language was very west country/Welsh sounding it took me a lot longer to get into the story as I struggled with understanding half of it. Items in the book also have these west country style names so I was getting everything muddled (I think this says more about me than the book though).
All in all, it wasn't spectacular but an enjoyable read none the less and I may carry on with the series one day.
I really enjoyed the plot of this book, it was reminiscent of lord of the rings or the day the mountain moved by Rennie McOwan.
The main reasons I didn't rate it higher was due to the language used and the ending. I feel the book ended in the middle of the story rather than at the end and this bothered me. I'm aware that this is a series but still the story could have ended at a better point. Also, as the language was very west country/Welsh sounding it took me a lot longer to get into the story as I struggled with understanding half of it. Items in the book also have these west country style names so I was getting everything muddled (I think this says more about me than the book though).
All in all, it wasn't spectacular but an enjoyable read none the less and I may carry on with the series one day.
house_of_scatha's review against another edition
4.0
Still wonderful, and so much that I had forgotten since I had last read it, when I was about eleven or twelve. (And so much better now that I know that Alderley Edge is a real place - I really wasn't very good at geography when I was a boy!)
jamessmith82's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
edgeworth's review against another edition
2.0
Alan Garner is widely considered one of England’s most beloved children’s authors, so naturally I had to investigate what the fuss was about. The problem with beloved children’s authors is that a lot of people love them because they were raised on them, and if you come onto the scene decades later as an adult, you may fail to see what the appeal is, only to be met with wintry glares from everybody else, trying to enjoy their nostalgia binge.
That’s certainly how I feel about The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, Garner’s first novel, and the first part of a trilogy. Cardboard cut-outs Susan and Colin (I just finished the book and still had to check their names) are sent to live in rural Cheshire with friends of their parents, who have gone overseas on business. In the habit of rural London children throughout the annals of fantasy, they soon find themselves embroiled in a magical adventure involving wizards, dwarves, goblins and magic stones.
Obviously this is a children’s book, but I feel capable of judging children’s books based on their own merits (see – The Neverending Story and The Thief of Always), and I feel that The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is deeply flawed however you judge it. It starts off promisingly enough, with a well-realised rural setting and a sense of rustic mystery and adventure, but as soon as the monsters and warlocks get involved it goes off the rails. There are multiple antagonists with no particular characteristics to separate them from each other bar their weird names, and the children are assisted in their quest by a pair of interchangeable, stereotypical dwarves who speak in a grating “prithee” and “well met” and “mine eyes” fantasy argot, which reads as though Garner had just finished The Lord of the Rings. The problem with such hollow characters, of course, is that it’s impossible for the readers to care about the world you’ve created for them or the difficult circumstances you’ve put them in. I was bored by The Weirdstone of Brisingamen halfway through, and doubt I would have been any more interested if I were fifteen years younger.
Interestingly, however, Garner wrote the second book in the trilogy, The Moon of Gomrath, in 1963; but he then became bored with his creations and later disassociated himself from them, saying he had moved on and developed as an author, and had no intention of finishing the trilogy. But eventually he did write a third book after all, Boneland, published in 2012 – a staggering fifty-two years after the original. By all accounts, and as you’d expect, it’s a very different book. I find that fascinating, and despite not enjoying The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, I plan to push on with the trilogy purely out of curiosity to see what Boneland is like.
That’s certainly how I feel about The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, Garner’s first novel, and the first part of a trilogy. Cardboard cut-outs Susan and Colin (I just finished the book and still had to check their names) are sent to live in rural Cheshire with friends of their parents, who have gone overseas on business. In the habit of rural London children throughout the annals of fantasy, they soon find themselves embroiled in a magical adventure involving wizards, dwarves, goblins and magic stones.
Obviously this is a children’s book, but I feel capable of judging children’s books based on their own merits (see – The Neverending Story and The Thief of Always), and I feel that The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is deeply flawed however you judge it. It starts off promisingly enough, with a well-realised rural setting and a sense of rustic mystery and adventure, but as soon as the monsters and warlocks get involved it goes off the rails. There are multiple antagonists with no particular characteristics to separate them from each other bar their weird names, and the children are assisted in their quest by a pair of interchangeable, stereotypical dwarves who speak in a grating “prithee” and “well met” and “mine eyes” fantasy argot, which reads as though Garner had just finished The Lord of the Rings. The problem with such hollow characters, of course, is that it’s impossible for the readers to care about the world you’ve created for them or the difficult circumstances you’ve put them in. I was bored by The Weirdstone of Brisingamen halfway through, and doubt I would have been any more interested if I were fifteen years younger.
Interestingly, however, Garner wrote the second book in the trilogy, The Moon of Gomrath, in 1963; but he then became bored with his creations and later disassociated himself from them, saying he had moved on and developed as an author, and had no intention of finishing the trilogy. But eventually he did write a third book after all, Boneland, published in 2012 – a staggering fifty-two years after the original. By all accounts, and as you’d expect, it’s a very different book. I find that fascinating, and despite not enjoying The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, I plan to push on with the trilogy purely out of curiosity to see what Boneland is like.
readingrara's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Top notch fantasy for 1960's kids but too complicated for today's. Enjoyable.