A review by jvan
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner

4.0

Sad I missed this as a kid, because it's a really strong children's fantasy, full of kids doing great stuff on an adventure in ways that make sense for the kids to be doing. It's small scale in one sense (very local, very well-defined) and large scale in another (end of the world stakes) and balances both of those well. There are grim passages that are unpleasant to read through, and cheerful silliness; there's a broader hidden world only lightly touched on. It's pretty great. My one complaint is that the ending is very sudden, with no wrap up of events, but perhaps the other books take up the story immediately, more or less? I do not know that answer yet.