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A review by shawnmcburnie
The Dubious Hills by Pamela Dean
5.0
I see this as, first and foremost, a book about unintended consequences of efforts at solving major problems - in this case, war.
What if your knowledge was constrained in such a way as to make you dependent, beyond your control, upon other members of your community, and they upon you? How would that change the way you lived, the way you thought?
Pamela Dean explores this through a deeply enchanted rural community adjoining her 'Hidden Land.' Prior fans will find her particular strengths on display, and will gain some context from prior worldbuilding, but the book stands well on its own.
I appreciated the implicit recognition in this book of children as their own individuals, with their own pastimes and priorities. In my experience that is a rare gift in fiction where the protagonist is not also a child. I also - as usual in Pamela Dean's writing - greatly enjoyed her technique of adding an additional resonance, or shock of recognition, to the spellcraft in the story. Spells and charms are made of quotes from old ballads, Shakespeare, and occasionally fairy tales. The concept of magic as a thing one intrinsically recognizes has a substantial appeal for me, and Dean's method is the best I've seen for consistently evoking this.
The ending is satisfying, in that it resolves the major tensions of the story without untidy loose ends, but it leaves a number of open questions to consider, both within the context of the story and in the world at large.
What if your knowledge was constrained in such a way as to make you dependent, beyond your control, upon other members of your community, and they upon you? How would that change the way you lived, the way you thought?
Pamela Dean explores this through a deeply enchanted rural community adjoining her 'Hidden Land.' Prior fans will find her particular strengths on display, and will gain some context from prior worldbuilding, but the book stands well on its own.
I appreciated the implicit recognition in this book of children as their own individuals, with their own pastimes and priorities. In my experience that is a rare gift in fiction where the protagonist is not also a child. I also - as usual in Pamela Dean's writing - greatly enjoyed her technique of adding an additional resonance, or shock of recognition, to the spellcraft in the story. Spells and charms are made of quotes from old ballads, Shakespeare, and occasionally fairy tales. The concept of magic as a thing one intrinsically recognizes has a substantial appeal for me, and Dean's method is the best I've seen for consistently evoking this.
The ending is satisfying, in that it resolves the major tensions of the story without untidy loose ends, but it leaves a number of open questions to consider, both within the context of the story and in the world at large.