Alison Croggon

The Books of Pellinor are a high fantasy series that is a more accessible version of Tolkein's Lord of the Rings with the same richness of imagery and world building but with straightforward names and a less complicated history. That said it could also be that The Books of Pellinor are less intimidating because they're not as famous or as widely read as Tolkein.

The Books of Pellinor are set in the land of Edil-Amarandh - a land which has been on the precipe of danger for years - ever since show more Sharma, the Nameless One stole the Treesong from the Elementals (Elidhu) and broke the song. Cadvan of Lirigon is working against the dark but there's only so much he can do - until while on a mission he runs into Maerad - a slave girl who can see through his invisibility. Soon they're travelling together and finding that all is not right in the land. Then Maerad leads Cadvan to a boy named Hem and nothing is the same. Maerad and Hem have an instant connection and it's not long before Cadvan realises nothing happens without a reason and that only by working together can the light prevail.

Like the second book in the series, the third book picks up after the group flees Norloch but this time focusing on Hem and Saliman and their journey to Turbansk in the south. This novel runs concurrently to The Riddle. I had great expectations for this book because the first two of the series were absolutely brilliant. And it delivered.

This book may actually be my favourite of the series. I like Maerad but Hem is my favourite character and an entire book about him is perfection. I liked how he came to find his passion for healing and his talent for spying. And I adored the relationship between him and Saliman - I loved that he found he could love and trust and rely on Saliman to look after him and protect him and just be there for him. And IRC!!! I loved Irc the Crow and his thieving ways.

Only Irc seemed untouched by the rising despair that pervaded Turbansk. He told Hem, with a hoarse chuckle, that it was a good time for him: he was building an impressive collection of shiny spoons, buttons, and other treasures filched from the palace, which he had hidden somewhere under the eaves of the roof.

Croggon, Alison. The Crow: The Third Book of Pellinor (Pellinor Series 3) (p. 147). Candlewick Press. Kindle Edition. And I adored how Hem outwitted him.

Irc could count, but only up to five (a useful disability for Hem, who regularly emptied Irc’s treasure troves — as long as he left five objects, the crow didn’t notice anything was missing).

Croggon, Alison. The Crow: The Third Book of Pellinor (Pellinor Series 3) (p. 177). Candlewick Press. Kindle Edition.

Zelinka was fiery and I loved the friendship between her and Hem. And my heart broke for Hem when he found out she died. Poor Hem. It was a brutal blow. And it sucked - he loved her - he was going to marry her. Especially since he went all that way and she was dead before he even entered the compound. I was heartbroken by it. I really liked Zelika and I would've liked to see them make a go of it afterwards. I'm glad Saliman was there for Hem when he found out. Hared was a total badass and I would've loved to see the meeting between him and Hem after he'd disobeyed all his orders but returned with all the intel. I've got the feeling it would've been impressive.

531 pages and it felt way too short. It was fantastic and I adored every minute. 5 stars. show less

The Books of Pellinor are a high fantasy series that is a more accessible version of Tolkein's Lord of the Rings with the same richness of imagery and world building but with straightforward names and a less complicated history. That said it could also be that The Books of Pellinor are less intimidating because they're not as famous or as widely read as Tolkein.

The Books of Pellinor are set in the land of Edil-Amarandh - a land which has been on the precipe of danger for years - ever since show more Sharma, the Nameless One stole the Treesong from the Elementals (Elidhu) and broke the song. Cadvan of Lirigon is working against the dark but there's only so much he can do - until while on a mission he runs into Maerad - a slave girl who can see through his invisibility. Soon they're travelling together and finding that all is not right in the land. Then Maerad leads Cadvan to a boy named Hem and nothing is the same. Maerad and Hem have an instant connection and it's not long before Cadvan realises nothing happens without a reason and that only by working together can the light prevail.

Maerad was terrific. I loved her zest for life and learning and her desire to improve her circumstances - for all she could occasionally be childish and pessimistic. Cadvan was a bit more of an enigma - he was all over the place. Like Maerad, I found myself loving and hating him depending on how vague he was and then how kind he could be. I did like how periods were normalised in this. Nowadays it's not so much an issue but when it was first published it was still more of a topic to be embarrassed about, for all it was still discussed.

The fantasy elements are terrific and will feel familiar and comfortable for fantasy lovers. There's not anything particularly new (when is there?) but it's done well. The quest unfolds satisfactorily with a good balance of action and lore and character development. I enjoyed the inclusion of the Bard verses throughout the text and at the start of each segment. My favourite was the Canticles of Pel of Norloch. The world building is well developed and fascinating but thankfully not quite as overwhelming as Lord of the Rings. The appendices streamline knowledge that appears throughout the text rather than just adding a billion more backstories and histories. Well, and add some cheeky humour. I enjoyed the idea of matter and energy as music. A science that depended on laboratory experimentation, for example, simply didn’t exist, although it is known that the Schools of the Suderain included extremely advanced mathematicians and that the Bards of Baladh formulated and used physical laws in their astronomical observations. They were aware of atoms and subatomic particles, and theorized matter and energy as musical vibratory forces, anticipating quantum physics and string theory, and the Bard Thorkon of Turbansk proposed something that looks very like the theory of relativity.

Croggon, Alison. The Naming: The First Book of Pellinor (Pellinor Series 1) (pp. 487-488). Candlewick Press. Kindle Edition.

Although there is some romance in later books, the relationship between Cadvan and Maerad is one of friendship and respect and only has a few fleeting hints of anything like love in this first book. Maerad has had a hard life and Cadvan is understanding and steadfast in his support as she learns to adjust to freedom. For all he could be harsh he was also kind.

The side characters were interesting and I liked Silvia and Nelac and I'm pretty fond of Saliman - but my favourite character was Hem. Hem was hilarious. I can't wait to see more of him.

This won't be for everyone, The Naming alone, is almost 500 pages - but for those that like strong fantasy books with a quest and chosen ones and epic lore - this is for you. 5 stars. show less

Great fantasy story set in a parallel world to that of Victorian England, where PIp finds an ancient casket and in it a horrendous object - the dried heart of a child. When he and his sister open the box, they set in motion a chain of events that brings together a lot of weird and wonderful characters in the quest to protect the heart and what it stands for, and the power it holds over the world.
Loved the way that the book explores the notion of loneliness and friendship as well as the usual show more quest elements we see in other fantasy novels. Young and older readers will enjoy the complex levels in this excellent fantasy novel with a touch of Gothic horror. show less

This is a tricky one. I cannot say I enjoyed reading it; as a fantasy retelling of [b:Wuthering Heights|6185|Wuthering Heights|Emily Brontë|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388212715s/6185.jpg|1565818], it's rife with the bleak melodramatic tragedy of the original, with lashings of "this is the North; we do what we want", and a distanced formality in the storytelling that's easier to read than the original, but still not facile or sparkling. On the other hand, the world is fabulous, the show more Vendetta enthralling (though, apparently and sadly, kind of pointless to the actual story) and the addition of witchery really puts the sexual politics of the plot into starker relief. There are so many of those elements that I loved, it was just sometimes a chore to pick them out of the grey windswept scenery.

In the end, I am left with some of the same feeling that Wuthering Heights inspired: oh God, these people all deserve each other and I cannot be bothered with their strangely stoic hysteria. But it's ameliorated somewhat by the Big Question of this book, wound through its bones and tied into endless iterations of self-perpetuated circumstance, which is: why do these people let themselves live like this?

And in that aspect, it's a profoundly thought-provoking book that will stay with me for a while. show less