Joy Chant

Three children, two boys and their young sister, are transported to a fantasy land, each to play their part in the fight against an evil invader. The elder boy is 'chosen' and goes native, becoming a plains warrior and forgetting his old life for a time, but it all turns out to be a grand plan by spiritual powers. Reminiscent of Narnia, especially The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in some respects, but with a more mature and philosophical aspect with regard to the personal journey of the oldest boy, who comes to question whether killing is right and has to face the reality of sacrifice.

There is some violence and a token questioning of the subservient role of women, though this is 'answered' by the fact that the plains women drive the wagons and so are 'helpless' though I don't see why this would prevent them from at least fighting in self defence. Even among the town and city dwellers, where women of the hereditary star magic wielders appear to enjoy more equality, there is the idea that women must marry for fulfilment, even though the Princess In'serinna loses her powers by marrying an outsider, and condemns her linked star to blowing up!

The best aspects are the vivid description of a battle between eagles representing the good and bad powers, and the touching end section where the oldest boy, Oliver, has to face his true position, but quite a bit of the story is fairly humdrum. There are a lot of different cultures with difficult to pronounce or too similar names and it is easy to lose track. This is first in a trilogy, and was not interesting enough for me to want to track down the other volumes which are probably long out of print.… (more)