The Spellcoats

I didn't recall a great deal about this book as this was a re-read after a long interval. It concerns a family of children, who have always been a bit "different" from the others in their village. Their mother died some years before (or at least that is what they believe) and their father plays only a minor role in the story since he and the eldest son, Gull, are drafted into the King's army to fight a war against invaders called the Heathern. Unfortunately, only Gull returns, suffering from what we would call PTSD. Meanwhile, the resemblance of the fair-haired children to the invaders has now become known, and the villagers are whipped up against them by the unpleasant headman. This necessitates a hasty departure downriver in their show more boat, at a time when the river is undergoing a flood, and as the story develops it becomes clear that the flood is an attack by a malevolent wizard who is part of the Heathern forces, but has his own agenda.

The story is a first person narrative told by the younger daughter, Tanaqui, who is actually weaving it into a coat. The part played by weaving as a form of magic and the mythical beings known as the Undying, who have taken the form of three household gods or idols that the children carry into exile with them, is quite fascinating. The main characters are all delineated, although the elder daughter Robin is rather a feeble person, and Tanaqui is quite often annoyed with her especially when Robin is ill. Gull has a quite minor part to play, other than his role in drawing them further towards the sea where the wizard awaits, but Hern and Mallard (known as Duck) are quite interesting characters and the family dynamic between them and their sisters is well developed.

The relationship between the Undying isn't always clear and the ending of the main story is quite abrupt, leaving the subsequent fate of the characters open to interpretation, but at least a couple must have survived to become the legendary figures they are identified with in the post script material. For that reason, I rate this as a 4 star read but very enjoyable despite the slight niggles. show less

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-spellcoats-by-diana-wynne-jones/

The Spellcoats was new to me; although the third published of the series, it’s the first in internal chronology, set in “prehistoric Dalemark” where the only written language is runes woven into garments – hence the “spellcoats” of the title.

It’s a different sort of society to most of DWJ’s books – a low-tech country coming into being, with indigenous inhabitants in conflict with newcomers, and evil men trying to take advantage of the situation, including through magic. Like a lot of DWJ’s stories, there is a long and transformational journey; like a lot of DWJ’s stories, there are siblings who have different talents and find different destinies. show more But there’s something attractively raw and pared-back about the setting here, along the banks of a primeval river, and there is a nice framework of telling the story as a woven rather than written text. show less

It didn't feel like fantasy throughout and that's part of the magic of how Diana Wynne Jones writes, it's only when I think back on the story that I realise how much magic there actually was in the story.

The story opens with Tanaqui's father and brother being taken as conscripts for a war, a war that leaves her father dead and her brother broken. Looking like the invaders who won, the villagers turn on them when the river floods catastrophically, saying that they brought evil down upon them, then there follows a trip downriver, a trip that will change their family and the future.

I liked this one, it really felt like there wasn't much magic in it, but then you realise that the magic is all-pervasive, like a world that had magic as normal show more would be. I liked the characters and how they worked and loved the idea of weaving stories into clothing. show less

The Spellcoats stands in contrast to the densely plotted and bitingly humorous style I most associate with Diana Wynne Jones (at its most action-y in Dark Lord of Derkholm). It also, for my vote, is the real standout of the Dalemark quartet--paring down from the background politics of the first two books and going back hundreds of years to prehistoric Dalemark results in a smaller, more mythic tale that echoes more loudly for how much more contained it is.

Tanaqui and her siblings have always lived by the river and --if they're seen as a little eccentric in their habits-- are still entrenched in the village rhythms. But when the Heathens come to invade the land, they find themselves alienated from the village and forced to take to the show more river. It's a journey that will take them into the heart of the land and position them into deciding the future of Dalemark against the larger darkness that attacks it.

For a "mythic tale", Spellcoats has a very small approach. Limited for a great majority to the perspective of Tanaqui and her family as they drift along, it's the slowness of the setting that works to the narrative's great advantage. The focus on their concerns and squabbles when faced with caring for themselves (and their shell-shocked brother Gull) lends a real heft... while Jones describes the river so beautifully you almost feel like you've lived upon it your whole life as well. It's this smallness, stripped away of the trappings of epic fantasy (maps! and imagined history! and rules!), that allows Dalemark to really finally emerge as a real character in its own right. And I mean so both figuratively and literally, in a crescendo of an ending which lets all the pieces (the history, culture, and magic of Dalemark, and the people) click into place- and brings into focus the real conflict of the series.

Diana Wynne Jones never returned to tell a straightforward story "epic" like the Dalemark Quartet (or at least the first three parts) again, but I would've liked to see how as a mature writer she would lent new twists to the idea. Or I would have at least liked to see more of the continued adventures of Tanaqui (and Duck and Gull, and why the hell not, Hern and Robin as well), which we were teased with mentions of in the other three books. show less

This was an enjoyable read and did fun, trippy things with narrative. But I think I would have to reread the book after first rereading the first two Dalemark books to feel satisfied that I understood the plot.

I enjoy that this book is so grounded in its imagined world; the landscape, ecology, and culture feel absolutely authentic. DWJ doesn't write very much set in secondary worlds, but when she does set a book in one, she does it right!

Tanaqui and her siblings live in prehistoric Dalemark, which is being torn apart by a Heathen invasion. Their father is killed in the battles and their older brother Gull comes back just a husk of himself. When the people of their village turn against them because they look like the invaders, the five children must sail downriver to escape. As they travel on, they learn more about the Undying, their household gods, and the reason they look different from the natives of Dalemark. They are being mysteriously drawn to the sea, and there they learn that the Heathen aren't the real enemies. The sorcerer Kankredin is sucking up the souls of everyone in the land — and because of their unique lineage, Tanaqui and her siblings are the only show more ones who can stop him.

It sounds rather run-of-the-mill put like that, doesn't it? But Jones manages to make this story something very unique and complex. It is told in the first person by Tanaqui, who is learning about her powers of weaving not just cloth, but stories and even spells. She is a wonderful, honest narrator — and her descriptions of her siblings and their relationships are very realistic.

The writing is very deft and serves the story well. I'm currently wavering between this and the second book to be my favorite of the series. I love the complexity of this one and the believable relationships among the characters. I recommend it. show less

The Spellcoats (#3 in the Dalemark Quartet) acts as a prequel of sorts to the previous entries in the quartet although it is the third book in the series. This takes place in prehistoric Dalemark, whose later history Jones dealt with in Cart and Cwidder (1977) and Drowned Ammet (1978); but there is no evident connection except that the characters of The Spellcoats have become legendary figures in the other novels. The story, all 280 pages, is purportedly being woven, as it happens, into the coats created by young narrator Tanaqui--at first, it seems, she weaves only to record her family's adventures, but later for the inherent magic power of the woven symbols. Orphaned by a war against blond, invading Heathens, Tanaqui and her siblings show more (who look like the Heathens) are expelled from their village and embark on a long journey down river to an encounter with an evil enchanter out to capture their souls. The children carry with them three ancestral figures called the Undying. (For a while they also carry an ailing older brother, magically transformed into a clay figure.) They learn en route that The One, the most revered of the three figures, is the supreme river god and their own grandfather, and that their dead mother is also the river--and like Grandfather, a god and one of the figures (the Lady).

As usual with DWJ, siblings are at the center. They're not a perfect family--this would not be a book by DWJ if they were. Tanaqui gets impatient with her siblings, especially her sister Robin; Hern is a rationalist who doesn't believe in magic (unfortunate, because it seems to surround them) and Duck gets all vague whenever trouble threatens. But this is exactly what makes the story work, because it's the conflicts between them that create the conflict that drives the story. Their encounter with the evil Kankredin (a stealer of souls and weaver) is perfect because the children have to learn to overcome their conflicts if they are to survive. Tanaqui fights with her brothers and wants to shake her sister, but they all still love each other and support one another.

The main conceit of this book, as mentioned above, is that Tanaqui, a master weaver, is telling the story through weaving it into a giant "rugcoat"; those who know how can read it. DWJ's skill makes this conceit hold together, as Tanaqui tells the story as if it's all already happened (which it has) and the "coats" end and begin in places where Tanaqui would have the ability to weave. This acts as interesting yet initially confusing storytelling device but about half through the novel things start to fall in place.

It’s also easy to not realize that The Spellcoats is part of a quartet. Of the four books, it’s by far the most independent. It’s set centuries (maybe millennia) prior to the first two books in the series, and connects only in an epilogue (until the fourth book ties things together more).


I believe this book deserves multiple rereads to be fully appreciated. I plan to revisit it one day soon. show less