Cart and Cwidder (1975)

I've heard vague things about the Dalemark Quartet for a long time (...as with so many things I read, I suppose), and today seemed the perfect time to start, while I was procrastinating from my dissertation. It doesn't feel quite like any other Diana Wynne Jones book I can think of: there's something rather serious about it, ultimately, where often her books seem to be rather frivolous. Perhaps it's the oppressive setting of the South, where there are few basic freedoms, perhaps it's the fact that the magic -- when it comes -- is a little bit awful. Or at least, that's how I have to feel about half an army being buried under the hills which've been made to walk over them, in vengeance for the death of a horse. But there; I'm a pacifist by nature.

It's an interesting world, really, and something about it feels more three dimensional than some of Diana Wynne Jones' others. At the same time, it's surprising to see a work of hers with so many trappings of conventional fantasy -- though it does remain uniquely her own work as well. It's just closer to what you'd expect from the fantasy genre at large than from Diana Wynne Jones. ( )

Cart and Cwidder starts off with Clennan the Singer and his family as they travel in their cart through the South Dales on their way to the North. The South Dales are under the rigid and heavy hands of their respective earls while the North is freer. The story focuses on Moril, Clennan’s younger son. As the story progresses he has to come to terms with what his parents didn’t tell him, as well as his own unexpected talents.

It’s a lovely story, nuanced and balanced. It’s a story about growing up and beginning to see your parents as people rather than Your Parents, with all the different things that implies. Moril is a likable and sympathetic character and if he’s a little slow to realize a few things, that’s all right. Diana Wynne Jones tends to get siblings right in her books and the interactions between Brid, Moril, and Dagner seemed spot on to me. ( )

Cart and Cwidder starts off with Clennan the Singer and his family as they travel in their cart through the South Dales on their way to the North. The South Dales are under the rigid and heavy hands of their respective earls while the North is freer. The story focuses on Moril, Clennan’s younger son. As the story progresses he has to come to terms with what his parents didn’t tell him, as well as his own unexpected talents.

It’s a lovely story, nuanced and balanced. It’s a story about growing up and beginning to see your parents as people rather than Your Parents, with all the different things that implies. Moril is a likable and sympathetic character and if he’s a little slow to realize a few things, that’s all right. Diana Wynne Jones tends to get siblings right in her books and the interactions between Brid, Moril, and Dagner seemed spot on to me. ( )

Man, was this ever dark and tense. I really liked it, though, and expect to enjoy the rest of the series! I enjoyed reading a DWJ novel with a slightly different worldbuilding style than her usual - vaguely like the Ingary books, but not quite.

I liked how the storytelling and musical aesthetic was very Celtic, specifically Welsh (the "branches" of the Adon's tale was a fun allusion to the branches of the Mabinogi.) ( )

Cart and Cwidder is a quick read and one of Diana's earliest works, and at the start I found it to be pretty bland light fantasy with a few problems. By midway, however, some intrigue came in and the story picked up the pace and became a lot more interesting. Still, the dull parts bogged this down a bit for me as an overall impression. I intend to read more in this series as they are rumored to be better and I certainly liked the world of Dalemark that the four part series is set in. ( )