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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
THIS SERIES IS A FREAKING MASTERPIECE, TELL YOUR FRIENDS
What I love about Diana Wynne Jones's work in general is a) though she writes primarily for children, her writing style is sophisticated enough that I still truly enjoy delving into her prose and b) there's always some new facet of the story that I didn't get before. Her plots are usually quite intricate, and it's a lot of fun figuring out the puzzle for yourself. She drops allusions to previous books and characters with just the right amount of subtlety: you get it, but it requires enough thought that it feels pretty good when you do.
Also, I just adore Mitt.
Also, I just adore Mitt.
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2163201.html[return][return]I had not realised that this is actually the fourth and final novel in a sequence of which I had read only the third, and that more than thirty years ago, so I found myself struggling a bit with events which were carried over from the previous volume. But it is certainly enjuoyable on its own, and I suspect is a good climax to the whole sequence of novels - our heroine, Maewen, is snatched two hundred years back in time to find herself playing a key role in the closing phase of a dynastic struggle between (fairly small) kingdoms, one of a small group who appear to have come together accidentally but actually are part of a larger plan of manipulation by the gods. A lot of DWJ's trademark humanity in the face of awful challenges, and then an ending which brings the story back to Maewen's present day. I wished I had read the others in the series, and now perhaps I shall.
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder, Gaslighting, War
adventurous
mysterious
I enjoyed The Spellcoats so much I couldn't resist going straight on to The Crown of Dalemark. This felt more like typical Diana Wynne Jones, but definitely Diana Wynne Jones at the top of her game; it brings together the characters from the three previous books, and adds an element of time-travel fantasy which is unusual in being time-travel fantasy in a fantasy history, rather than in real history. There is more of DWJ's typical humour (I was particularly charmed by the ancient college with its own impenetrable slang and traditions, which I strongly suspect to have at least a partial model not a million miles away from where I work) and the characters are interesting, complex and generally likeable, even those who also exhibit serious flaws. I could barely put it down, although I was also sorry to come to the end, and saddened all over again to remember that Diana Wynne Jones is dead and that I'm running out of books of hers that I haven't read.
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It has been seven years since the death of Diana Wynne Jones, and I've been a fan of hers since childhood, but I had never read this series before.
The Dalemark Quartet, arguably the most effective series Jones ever wrote. Jones' genius didn't lend itself to sequels. When she created a world and characters she said all that she wanted to say in that first volume. That's why many sequels often had mostly new sets of characters, if not new worlds, and often, fell flat. Dalemark is a magical kingdom divided among feuding lords, with a sharp division between those in the North and those in the South. Ideology, prejudice, and history must be overcome and its fate rests in the hands of children, sometimes scattered over centuries.
This is where it all comes together. Our heroes, with some disappointing behavior from a certain young lady from 'Drowned Ammet' who I expected more of frankly, come together. Mitt and Moril strike sparks as protagonists must when colliding, but there is a fresh perspective in the form of Maewen. A girl of modern Dalemark, she has been transported into, for her, the distant past, and must help unite the disparate factions of Dalemark and trust her new friends, before an ancient evil arises and changes history.
'Crown' effectively ties together all of the loose ends of the series, blending Mitt and Moril's stories, the distant past and even the modern coda at the end of 'Spellcoats' into a whole greater then its parts. That very effectiveness takes away some of the thrill of the book, as a reader can see where much of the plot is headed, but is still a worthy ending to the series with a strong message of forgiveness entwined in its plots.
Dalemark Quartet
Previous: 'The Spellcoats'
The Dalemark Quartet, arguably the most effective series Jones ever wrote. Jones' genius didn't lend itself to sequels. When she created a world and characters she said all that she wanted to say in that first volume. That's why many sequels often had mostly new sets of characters, if not new worlds, and often, fell flat. Dalemark is a magical kingdom divided among feuding lords, with a sharp division between those in the North and those in the South. Ideology, prejudice, and history must be overcome and its fate rests in the hands of children, sometimes scattered over centuries.
This is where it all comes together. Our heroes, with some disappointing behavior from a certain young lady from 'Drowned Ammet' who I expected more of frankly, come together. Mitt and Moril strike sparks as protagonists must when colliding, but there is a fresh perspective in the form of Maewen. A girl of modern Dalemark, she has been transported into, for her, the distant past, and must help unite the disparate factions of Dalemark and trust her new friends, before an ancient evil arises and changes history.
'Crown' effectively ties together all of the loose ends of the series, blending Mitt and Moril's stories, the distant past and even the modern coda at the end of 'Spellcoats' into a whole greater then its parts. That very effectiveness takes away some of the thrill of the book, as a reader can see where much of the plot is headed, but is still a worthy ending to the series with a strong message of forgiveness entwined in its plots.
Dalemark Quartet
Previous: 'The Spellcoats'
Not my favorite out of all the books of the Dalemark Quartet, but still a really good story. This would be how I would rank the Dalemark Quartet books according to how much I liked them:
1. Drowned Ammett (Book 2)
2. Cart and Cwidder (Book 1)
3. The Crown of Dalemark (Book 4)
4. The Spellcoats (Book 3)
In my review of the Spellcoats, I had mentioned that you probably didn't need to read it to go on to the next book. But I admit that reading Spellcoats somehow helped me with The Crown of Dalemark. The index at the end of this book is helpful and I wish I knew about it before I actually finished the entire book.
A good read but Drowned Ammett is still my favorite!!!
1. Drowned Ammett (Book 2)
2. Cart and Cwidder (Book 1)
3. The Crown of Dalemark (Book 4)
4. The Spellcoats (Book 3)
In my review of the Spellcoats, I had mentioned that you probably didn't need to read it to go on to the next book. But I admit that reading Spellcoats somehow helped me with The Crown of Dalemark. The index at the end of this book is helpful and I wish I knew about it before I actually finished the entire book.
A good read but Drowned Ammett is still my favorite!!!
Hildy can go jump in a load of manure, but it was good seeing everyone else again. Mostly. I am harboring some disappoinment over the choices of one or two other characters, but people are rarely always reasonable. Sometimes they're great idiots.
This is a long ‘un, folks.
Let me begin this with a confession: I am rating this book more by nostalgia than truth. It’s a horrible choice, I know. It inflates the rating and gives first-time readers a false impression. But, frankly my dears, I don’t give a damn.
I read the Dalemark Quartet when I was in my early teens, and I ADORED them with every fiber of my sheltered, book-obsessed being. I re-read them three or four times in that year alone. But oh, how the mighty have fallen! Why, OH WHY did I feel I needed to re-read these a decade later? Why couldn’t I just be happy with my vague but joyful recollections? Maybe it’s because my memory is like a sieve, and all I could remember was that I liked them. Or maybe because re-reading books is, for me, like cuddling a blankie and sucking my thumb. A little of column a, a little of column b, perhaps.
To the point, this last volume is problematic, in many ways that can all pretty much be summed up in a simple statement: Diana Wynne Jones, for all her talent, just didn’t know how to end what she had started. After discussing her work with some friends who have read her as well, I’ve come to the realization that Jones’ endings are nearly always weak in comparison to her other abilities. Dalemark is a beautifully constructed world, with a realistic political and historical structure supporting it, and the stories are populated with believable characters that grow and change before our eyes. But the execution of the plot, particularly in important, revelatory moments and conclusions, is lacking.
The overall series is constructed, as the name implies, in four parts. Rather than building a straightforward, “part 1, part 2 etc.” story arc structure, Jones divided the books into “types.” What I mean is each volume has a particular function to play in the overall story beyond merely propelling it forward. Like any introductory installment, Cart and Cwidder is responsible for easing readers into an unfamiliar (but not too unfamiliar) world and allowing us to meet characters without being plunged headfirst into the deep end. We meet a starring character and his family, learn about the basic divisions of Dalemark, and see what kind of state the land and its people are in. We also get a brief glimpse into the belief structure of the culture, but only in snatches and never with any deep understanding. Moving on to Drowned Ammet, we meet more important characters, like Mitt, who I adore, and see a different portion of the world, but the character types are remarkably different than in the preceding volume and this is the installment that really opens up the mythological and political aspects of the story that will be important later on. And then Jones throws us a curveball. The third part of the tale, The Spellcoats, is a prequel, going way back into prehistoric times to both clarify what we have already learned, and set-up the larger struggle of the last volume. Some people have complained that this sudden reversal in the arc is disorienting. I disagree; I thought it was rather brilliant.
Now, after all this set-up, all the world building and intricate weaving of character and destiny, we arrive at the Crown of Dalemark to see how it will all end. When I was younger, I thought this book was a revelation. You see, I had never experienced a story told in quite this way before. Three tenuously connected volumes brought magically and completely together in a grand dénouement? It was like looking at the back of a tapestry through three books, only to turn it over and see pictures that suddenly made sense. It was like that back then, anyway. Now? There are still moments of brilliance and originality. This book is still worth reading, I mean it! But the weaknesses, the threadbare patches and dropped stitches (if we beat this tapestry comparison to death), are glaringly obvious to me in a way they couldn’t have been then.
Crown brings Moril from Cart & Cwidder, Mitt, Navin, Hildy and Ynen from Drowned Ammet, and even a few characters from The Spellcoats that I won’t spoil here, together with a new addition to the dramatis personae in the form of Noreth, a young girl who may be the key to uniting Dalemark after 200 years of division. Or she may be a raving lunatic with powerful friends, it’s hard to say. Regardless of who Noreth really is, the earls have held power too long to give it up to anyone, so Mitt is coerced into being a reluctant assassin and sent to travel with her on her journey to collect the fabled items that are to support her claim to the long-vacant throne of Dalemark. Of course, in true fantasy form, the objects are a ring, a cup and a crown. And then things get very odd indeed. The story thus far has had magic and myth aplenty, but Jones shakes things up even further by introducing time travel.
A visitor from the future joins the motley band on their search for the mythic objects that will give Noreth a chance at the throne. Now, this is where some of those problematic things I mentioned come into play. Time travel is always tricky; the magic system “explains” away all of the problems I may have had with the overall logistics of the process, but not the bizarre and poorly explained results. Take someone from the modern day, plop them 200 years in the past and no one blinks an eye? Ok, there are some mitigating circumstances, what with the traveler looking exactly like someone else and having a historian father with a treasure trove of knowledge in his head and a propensity for lecturing, but I’m still not completely buying it. Things are smoothed over too quickly by Jones, especially with the particular characters she has chosen to unite in this great quest.
There are some great bonding moments between the characters, as each learns to trust the other, and even the emergence of a love story. Honestly, the real power and appeal of the story lies in the characters; nearly every vital plot component in this volume was poorly handled, from the too-easy acquisition of the quest objects, to the rushed discovery of Noreth’s “true” identity, and especially the bizarrely sudden and anti-climactic ending. The basic premise is very good, so good that it deserved a lot more attention than it received from the author. However, that being said, I also chalk the “failures” of this volume up to several non-authorial issues: my age (I am not the target audience, and these were written long before it became acceptable for YA to bridge the kid-adult audience gap), the removal of my rose-tinted reading glasses, and the fact that these were written very early in Diana Wynne Jones’ career.
Still, I love it because I loved it. This series was a significant contributor to my love of reading all those years ago, and if that doesn’t deserve 5 stars, I don’t know what does.