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brewergnome's review against another edition
4.0
A classic from which followed a lot of things similarly structured. Well written and tight YA.
cat_brewsandreviews's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book so much. It was gifted to me by an uncle when I was a child and I fell in love with it. I lived near enough to the Edge to visit and that only made the whole thing more magical for my young self.
As I've aged, I can see that it's not the 5 stars I would have given it when I first read it, but, for children, I still think it is a brilliant and imaginative tale that is wonderful for encouraging the imagination.
As I've aged, I can see that it's not the 5 stars I would have given it when I first read it, but, for children, I still think it is a brilliant and imaginative tale that is wonderful for encouraging the imagination.
dreams_of_attolia's review against another edition
3.0
The landscape plays a very prominent role in the story, both as it relates to the magic system and as it influences the plot. The plot itself is fairly simple (get magic stone away from the evil creatures and into the hands of the good guys). I think what Garner does best is to take you along on the character's journey. There are detailed descriptions of crawling through underbrush and slogging along muddy creek banks. There was also a vividly described trek through narrow and twisting underground caves that made the claustrophobe in me positively squeamish. Definitely one to read more for the experience than the story.
hayesstw's review against another edition
5.0
I've just been re-reading some [a:Alan Garner|47991|Alan Garner|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1363273417p2/47991.jpg] books. This time I read them in reverse, starting with [b:The Owl Service|83829|The Owl Service|Alan Garner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328875903s/83829.jpg|80927], then [b:Elidor|292654|Elidor|Alan Garner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328875908s/292654.jpg|2987303] followed by [b:The Moon of Gomrath|694942|The Moon of Gomrath (Tales of Alderley, #2)|Alan Garner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1177344653s/694942.jpg|1219230] and now [b:The Weirdstone of Brisingamen|694997|The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (Tales of Alderley, #1)|Alan Garner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1177345171s/694997.jpg|279305]
I still rate them pretty highly as children's fantasy novels, but perhaps reading them in reverse order puts them in a different perspective. The first two, the "Alderley" tales, both ends in scenes of confused violence. In the case of [b:The Weirdstone of Brisngamen] it wasn't as good as I remembered it, because of that. And I became aware of more of the plot holes. I still give it five stars though.
It's about two children staying on a farm, and one of them, Susan, has a bracelet with a magic stone that holds the key to the reserve forces of good being held in a cave under a hill. The forces of evil want to get the stone to destroy the reserve force and increase their own power, to they conspire to steal it.
A common feature of quite a lot of children's fantasy novels is the underground tunnel sequence. Quite a lot of non-fantasy stories also have it. A good many of [a:Enid Blyton|10657|Enid Blyton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1298204474p2/10657.jpg]'s "Adventure" and "Secret" series feature underground tunnels and caves. They are present in [b:The Silver Chair|65641|The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia, #4)|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1336139237s/65641.jpg|1419727] by [a:C.S. Lewis|1069006|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1367519078p2/1069006.jpg] and in the novels of [a:J.R.R. Tolkien|656983|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1434625177p2/656983.jpg]. I am sure one could find many other examples. But [b:The Weirdstone of Brisingamen|694997|The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (Tales of Alderley, #1)|Alan Garner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1177345171s/694997.jpg|279305] has absolutely, incontrovertibly, the most terrifying, claustrophobic and horrific underground cavern sequence I have ever read.
Apart from that there's a lot of running and hiding and trying to keep the stone out of the hands of the bad guys and a deus ex machina or two. It's a good tale well told, and well worth reading, I think. But yes, the violence at the end is a bit much.
I still rate them pretty highly as children's fantasy novels, but perhaps reading them in reverse order puts them in a different perspective. The first two, the "Alderley" tales, both ends in scenes of confused violence. In the case of [b:The Weirdstone of Brisngamen] it wasn't as good as I remembered it, because of that. And I became aware of more of the plot holes. I still give it five stars though.
It's about two children staying on a farm, and one of them, Susan, has a bracelet with a magic stone that holds the key to the reserve forces of good being held in a cave under a hill. The forces of evil want to get the stone to destroy the reserve force and increase their own power, to they conspire to steal it.
A common feature of quite a lot of children's fantasy novels is the underground tunnel sequence. Quite a lot of non-fantasy stories also have it. A good many of [a:Enid Blyton|10657|Enid Blyton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1298204474p2/10657.jpg]'s "Adventure" and "Secret" series feature underground tunnels and caves. They are present in [b:The Silver Chair|65641|The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia, #4)|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1336139237s/65641.jpg|1419727] by [a:C.S. Lewis|1069006|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1367519078p2/1069006.jpg] and in the novels of [a:J.R.R. Tolkien|656983|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1434625177p2/656983.jpg]. I am sure one could find many other examples. But [b:The Weirdstone of Brisingamen|694997|The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (Tales of Alderley, #1)|Alan Garner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1177345171s/694997.jpg|279305] has absolutely, incontrovertibly, the most terrifying, claustrophobic and horrific underground cavern sequence I have ever read.
Apart from that there's a lot of running and hiding and trying to keep the stone out of the hands of the bad guys and a deus ex machina or two. It's a good tale well told, and well worth reading, I think. But yes, the violence at the end is a bit much.
kerrys_reading's review against another edition
2.0
The first part of the book was great I couldn't put it down but I found the second part to be dragged out, confusing and altogether boring. I almost didn't finish the book but thought I should continue, I'm still not 100% what happened in the book and I didn't understand the ending at all.
litdoes's review against another edition
3.0
I read “The Owl Service” as a child and it was one of those rare books that I reread with glee then and found something new to enjoy each time. So it was with some excitement when I stumbled across the 50th Anniversary edition of Garner’s children’s classic on kindle and immediately snapped it up, hoping to recapture the magic of my youth. Unfortunately this novel did not sparkle for me as “The Owl Service” did.
Given, the novel does have a strong sense of place and Garner displays deep knowledge of folklore and myths which sees magical creatures, wizards and witches woven seamlessly into the rural environs of an English village in Cheshire. The two children at the heart of the novel, Susan and Colin, are on a quest to restore the titular stone to its rightful place in the dwarf caves of Fundindelve, under the care of the wizard Cadellin, failing which great evil is prophesied to triumph over the good and the world would be in peril.
Well and good enough, except that for the most part of the book, the characters were in flight from svarts (some sort of goblin). There is a huge chunk where the children are stuck in the caves and they literally have to wiggle out of the impossibly claustrophobic confines of a never ending labyrinth, aided by a pair of noble dwarves Fenodyree and Durathror, their names (and characters) with strong mythological roots. While Garner must be praised for the very strong detail of their journey, it just went on and on. The latter part of the novel was more of the same but above ground, before the huge battle which was surprisingly uneventful, given the build up in their journey, though there was a startling revelation. There is a sequel and a third book that was only released in 2011, featuring an adult Colin many years after this book, but it may be some time before I would be tempted to pick up the story again. Perhaps I should revisit “The Owl Service” and see what it was that moved me that much more than this book.
Given, the novel does have a strong sense of place and Garner displays deep knowledge of folklore and myths which sees magical creatures, wizards and witches woven seamlessly into the rural environs of an English village in Cheshire. The two children at the heart of the novel, Susan and Colin, are on a quest to restore the titular stone to its rightful place in the dwarf caves of Fundindelve, under the care of the wizard Cadellin, failing which great evil is prophesied to triumph over the good and the world would be in peril.
Well and good enough, except that for the most part of the book, the characters were in flight from svarts (some sort of goblin). There is a huge chunk where the children are stuck in the caves and they literally have to wiggle out of the impossibly claustrophobic confines of a never ending labyrinth, aided by a pair of noble dwarves Fenodyree and Durathror, their names (and characters) with strong mythological roots. While Garner must be praised for the very strong detail of their journey, it just went on and on. The latter part of the novel was more of the same but above ground, before the huge battle which was surprisingly uneventful, given the build up in their journey, though there was a startling revelation. There is a sequel and a third book that was only released in 2011, featuring an adult Colin many years after this book, but it may be some time before I would be tempted to pick up the story again. Perhaps I should revisit “The Owl Service” and see what it was that moved me that much more than this book.
lollyb's review against another edition
4.0
Previously read when I was young. Still has the creepy feel which I think was helped by the audiobook narration and music between chapters. Actually felt claustrophobic during the caves sequence and it was a great relief when that part was over. It had an incredibly abrupt ending, I was expecting another chapter to wrap things up but no. It’s the kind of book that stays with you, mostly because of the feelings it evokes, but also because it leaves you with a slew of questions.
lijon's review against another edition
3.0
I heard Alan Garner was good, so I thought I would try this, and maybe encourage Leah to read it. It was...ok. It is high fantasy, but set in contemporary (60s) Britain, in which two children staying with an old nurse of their mother (again, 60s Britain) become involved with saving the world from evil. It's original, and interesting in that the author wrote descriptively of real places that he knew well, but...it just doesn't have the depth of, say, The Dark is Rising, to give one example. The characters of the children, in particular, are completely flat, with no personality to speak of. Still, it's not bad.
catriona_s's review against another edition
5.0
On a visit back home I was browsing my bookshelves full of my childhood books and found my old copies of Alan Garner books. Feeling nostalgic I've been re-reading them, starting off with the first one I read when I was younger; The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. This, along with The Hobbit, was probably the book that got me into fantasy when I was younger, my maths and english tutor lent me her copy and I was instantly a fan of the genre. I lapped this book up and re-reading it gave me such a joy. It is a reminder to me how important it is for children to have books that capture their imaginations in such a way, books provide so much for people of all ages but nothing matches reading something as a child at falling head over heels into other worlds and seeing infinite possibilities ahead of you.
It's not the most complicated and yes has flaws, as pointed out by other reviewers this is definitely a book that lends its self being aimed for children and being a nostalgia read for adults. Regardless I have a huge love for this book and owe it a lot in how it introduced me into the world of fantasy.
It's not the most complicated and yes has flaws, as pointed out by other reviewers this is definitely a book that lends its self being aimed for children and being a nostalgia read for adults. Regardless I have a huge love for this book and owe it a lot in how it introduced me into the world of fantasy.
katherinew's review against another edition
2.0
I found this book odd. I think it would have been better to have read it as a child, when I would have given it my full attention. Because I didn't give it my full attention and read it quite quickly, I forgot some of the minor characters and/or objects, which meant I didn't remember them if they reappeared or didn't remember why they were important. I would have loved an index. If I'd been reading an ebook, I probably would have searched for some of the things I'd forgotten when they turned up again. I found it a bit annoying that the maps gave spoilers about how the story would turn out (for example, a label saying "Fall of the [no spoiler here!]").
I definitely felt that it was part of a series - it ended rather abruptly.
It did feel very Tolkienish, except that the setting was contemporary (England in the 1960s, I think, judging from publication date?). I liked that Susan and Colin got equal time and were equally in charge of their own decisions and their part in the story. Not bad for a story written in the 60s! I also felt that [a:Alan Garner|47991|Alan Garner|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1363273417p2/47991.jpg] wrote about caves very well indeed. I got the impression that he is either a keen caver or someone who once went caving and found it too claustrophobic so never went again! I am not familiar with old English/Celtic mythology, but I suspect there were references that others might pick up on. I did recognize Ragnarok! There were quite a lot of mythical creatures/objects mentioned that were not explained (or maybe I missed them because I read too quickly).
All in all, I would like to read more of the series but I am not in a huge hurry, so they might just end up on my "to read" list for years.
I definitely felt that it was part of a series - it ended rather abruptly.
It did feel very Tolkienish, except that the setting was contemporary (England in the 1960s, I think, judging from publication date?). I liked that Susan and Colin got equal time and were equally in charge of their own decisions and their part in the story. Not bad for a story written in the 60s! I also felt that [a:Alan Garner|47991|Alan Garner|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1363273417p2/47991.jpg] wrote about caves very well indeed. I got the impression that he is either a keen caver or someone who once went caving and found it too claustrophobic so never went again! I am not familiar with old English/Celtic mythology, but I suspect there were references that others might pick up on. I did recognize Ragnarok! There were quite a lot of mythical creatures/objects mentioned that were not explained (or maybe I missed them because I read too quickly).
All in all, I would like to read more of the series but I am not in a huge hurry, so they might just end up on my "to read" list for years.