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Susan Cooper’s is a strange brand of children’s fantasy. It’s highly mystical, rather obliquely set out in terms of plot and characterisation, and low on humour and whimsy. But somehow it works.
Is Philip Pullman really a writer of fiction for children? Even more so than the His Dark Materials trilogy, The Ruby in the Smoke left me wondering exactly how much a younger reader would get from it. However, unlike Northern Lights, with it’s armoured bears and animal daemons, there is little in the way of magic or wonder in this first volume of Pullman’s Sally Lockhart mysteries to sustain a younger mind through some of the darker and more mature concepts. That’s not to say it’s a poor book - I just don’t quite understand what marks this out as a children’s book. Read the rest of this entry »
Garth Nix emerged from nowhere with his novel, Sabriel, the first volume of the Old Kingdom Trilogy. With its blend of richly imagined magical rules and a fascinating relationship between the realms of life and death, it established him as one of the world’s most exciting young fantasy authors. In the second volume, Lirael, Nix fleshes out the Old Kingdom with greater detail, more realised characters and, most importantly, more hordes of shambling zombies! Read the rest of this entry »
Susan Cooper’s strangely beautiful fantasy, Seaward, is a masterpiece of vivid storytelling. The essence of all good storytelling, but especially vital in fantasy, is the ability to do three things: to create an inherently dramatic and exciting situation; to guide the reader or listener to a satisfying resolution of that situation; and to describe the action so vividly that the reader/listener is transported into the world of the story for the duration. It sounds so obvious to say it, but the truth is that anyone who tries to create a story is attempting to succeed at all three of these basic elements.
