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A review by abcastro
The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander
2.0
I like how Joy-in-the-Dance (yes, it's a character's name) calls Lucian "Aiee-Ouch" because that's what he said when he met her since he was hurt but she uses it as if it's a pain every time she talks to him, I don't blame her though. While stuff happens in present time, the characters spend a lot of time telling stories to each other, which is a bit of a running theme but I don't really like it, it's meant to introduce ideas as far as the lore and I imagine it's accurate considering people in this age were probably bored but many of the stories are just wise old tales about completely separate characters. It wasn't easy to pay attention because I would lose track of the dialogue.
There's a character called "Fronto" who is of course a donkey, that concept drove me out of my wits because they talk about bears and snake women and such but then I realized, that this actually is Donkey! Donkey from Shrek. He talks about how he was a poet turned into a donkey then describes a man (not old woman in this instance) who tries to sell him because he can talk. Fronto refuses to talk when the man tells him to and everybody starts roasting the man for supposedly lying to them. It's the same backstory (few things changed here and there) but we've always wondered what fairytale Donkey was from since everyone else seemed to be "from" something, I do believe this is it.
As I said, the names kind of drove me out of my wits and it took some getting used to but once they actually set a journey up then you start to appreciate it a bit more, for me that chapter was 8 so before you drop it (which I almost did, I even bought a new book and was just using it until the new one arrived) you should give it a benefit of the doubt and read a bit more. I'm glad I finished it because I doubt I would've returned if I dropped it.
I can see the author's intentions, that's fine, it's the way he did it that bothers me. The events are all there but the way they're delivered is starch. I haven't read any of his books that released after the Beggar Queen other than this but they both have similar problems, except length isn't one of them. It makes me wonder if it was just his writing in that time period.
The message is kind of cool, it's like "This why we can't have nice things so often." but other than that, I'm a fan of Alexander, I think his characters are extraordinary and the Chronicles of Prydain are among my favorite books of all time, Westmark was pretty good as well, but the Arkadians doesn't quite live up to that unfortunately. I can say that it's different, and a spin on fairytales in general but just not as impressive to me. I'll give it a 2.5 and I really do wish it was more.
There's a character called "Fronto" who is of course a donkey, that concept drove me out of my wits because they talk about bears and snake women and such but then I realized, that this actually is Donkey! Donkey from Shrek. He talks about how he was a poet turned into a donkey then describes a man (not old woman in this instance) who tries to sell him because he can talk. Fronto refuses to talk when the man tells him to and everybody starts roasting the man for supposedly lying to them. It's the same backstory (few things changed here and there) but we've always wondered what fairytale Donkey was from since everyone else seemed to be "from" something, I do believe this is it.
As I said, the names kind of drove me out of my wits and it took some getting used to but once they actually set a journey up then you start to appreciate it a bit more, for me that chapter was 8 so before you drop it (which I almost did, I even bought a new book and was just using it until the new one arrived) you should give it a benefit of the doubt and read a bit more. I'm glad I finished it because I doubt I would've returned if I dropped it.
I can see the author's intentions, that's fine, it's the way he did it that bothers me. The events are all there but the way they're delivered is starch. I haven't read any of his books that released after the Beggar Queen other than this but they both have similar problems, except length isn't one of them. It makes me wonder if it was just his writing in that time period.
The message is kind of cool, it's like "This why we can't have nice things so often." but other than that, I'm a fan of Alexander, I think his characters are extraordinary and the Chronicles of Prydain are among my favorite books of all time, Westmark was pretty good as well, but the Arkadians doesn't quite live up to that unfortunately. I can say that it's different, and a spin on fairytales in general but just not as impressive to me. I'll give it a 2.5 and I really do wish it was more.