Calandra
et in arcadia ego
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2003
- Messages
- 185
I just finished the Riddlemaster Trilogy by Patricia Mckillip, of which not much has been written on this forum, and doing a search pulls up another thread that contains the mother of all unmarked spoilers, so I thought a new thread was merited.
This book is quite in a category all its own, though it contains elements of Tolkien, GG Kay, Pullman, and ? others with a beautiful and flowing writing style that takes care and patience on the part of the reader to unfold all of the nuances. In fact, I was 3/4ths of the way through it and I went back and started over at the beginning to pick up some of the "clues" scattered throughout.
Some have classified it as a "young adult" book, and if by that they mean no sex and little violence, maybe that is right. George Martin it is not. But it is by no means simplistic or uncomplicated. Others have said that they didn't like it because it has "floating" quality to the world and the characters, as the history of the land and the qualities of the characters are not set out in stone at the onset. This is for me one of the best qualities of the book, as these fundamental elements are all in fact "riddles" to be unraveled. If you hate books where you occasionally have to flip back to uncover hidden references and things of importance later on, then this book is not for you. But if you like puzzles, riddles, and beautiful writing, then by all means read this book. Like many books, it gets off to kind of a slow start, but it was worth it to perservere.
Has anyone else read these books, and what did you think?
This book is quite in a category all its own, though it contains elements of Tolkien, GG Kay, Pullman, and ? others with a beautiful and flowing writing style that takes care and patience on the part of the reader to unfold all of the nuances. In fact, I was 3/4ths of the way through it and I went back and started over at the beginning to pick up some of the "clues" scattered throughout.
Some have classified it as a "young adult" book, and if by that they mean no sex and little violence, maybe that is right. George Martin it is not. But it is by no means simplistic or uncomplicated. Others have said that they didn't like it because it has "floating" quality to the world and the characters, as the history of the land and the qualities of the characters are not set out in stone at the onset. This is for me one of the best qualities of the book, as these fundamental elements are all in fact "riddles" to be unraveled. If you hate books where you occasionally have to flip back to uncover hidden references and things of importance later on, then this book is not for you. But if you like puzzles, riddles, and beautiful writing, then by all means read this book. Like many books, it gets off to kind of a slow start, but it was worth it to perservere.
Has anyone else read these books, and what did you think?
groan) since I first read them, and I still often find myself thinking about the characters and events. I like her other books too, my favourites (other than Riddlemaster) are The Changeling Sea, Moon Flash and The Moon and The Face. In the unlikely event that I ever put down on paper my own stories, she would be one of the writer's whose style would have the most influence on my own.
