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Summary: When Magic Awakens, Next Door...
Review: A simple holiday in the rural countryside south of Manchester...a legacy, a glittery bit of crystal worn on a girl's wrist...an ancient legend which resonates down through the centuries, sleeping, but never dying...High wizardry, dark sorcery, secrets and whispers and folk tales coming to life...and one of the most truly terrifying sequences in all of fantasy fiction, fleeing monstrous enemies in the black depths of an abandoned mine...Alan Garner is one of my very favorite British authors. I applaud the way he inverts the all-too-common recipe for young readers' speculative fiction: instead of transporting the protagonists into some magical land (i.e. like Narnia) he prefers to depict modern kids dealing with ancient magic leaking into the here and now. Terrifying, to have old powers awaken...and fascinating, the mythic stories which linger in the British countryside to this day, contorted and convoluted, but still identifiable, still powerful, still sending shivers up the back. The sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is The Moon of Gomrath---these two novels embody really terrific storytelling, fascinating and fabulous ...
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Summary: Nothing compares
Review: As a children's novel, this book is entirely successful. The plot is compelling, the characters are well-drawn, and it allows in just enough chaos and evil to make the final triumph of order and good truly satisfying. I have dozens of children's novels on my shelves with the same qualifications, but very few of them do I reread with the same frequency and pleasure as I reread both Tales of Alderley. What sets this book apart and makes me return to it is the amazing quality of Garner's description of sights, sounds, smells, and textures. The children's ordeal undergound is unforgettable; the dancing flame at the heart of the weirdingstone is an image that has never left me; the evil characters are made all the more evil by their grotesqueness, slime, and stench. When I think of this book I don't think of any of the cliches of most fantasy novels; I think of the grit of sand, the crunch of boots on gravel, ordinary English farmers, and the suburbs through the eyes of a dwarf.
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Summary: Stunning, the best book in the world if you are under 14
Review: From the train drawing in to the station to the heart stopping scene on Alderly Edge this book brings depest England to life. Many years later as I walk down the lanes I still see the places, the people and the villages look almost the same. If you want to open your childrens eyes' to what might lie "on the way to to Mobberley" you could not buy a better book. Magic really is in the air after all these years!!
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Summary: Got me hooked.
Review: Garner, not Tolkien, got me hooked on fantasy, myth, and folklore. BRISINGAMEN, not THE HOBBIT, was my gateway into that world. Garner writes about reality and the magical world that dwells beside it in prose that brings both worlds home to the reader. Each seems as real as the one just outside your window. His style is efficient and elegant without being flowery. I won't give away the plot, but if you think you don't like fantasy, read a couple Garner books before you make your final decision.
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Summary: not as good as I had hoped
Review: I came to this book with high hopes, but was disappointed. It has some very good writing and some very gripping sequences. But some of the sentences are stiff and obscure. And overall, the book did not flow. And the contrast between the ordinary world of the children and the fantastic world they became enmeshed in was too stark and jarring. The various aspects of the fantastic world are thrown pell mell at the reader with little development or integration. The sequence where the children get lost in the tunnels deep in the mountain is just so shatteringly hopeless as it starts out, I never really recovered. The author is just so ridiculously matter of fact about it.
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Summary: The defining book of my childhood....
Review: I can recommend this, not only to older children, but to adults as well. I first read Weirdstone 20 years ago, when I was 10, and still enjoy revisiting it now. Garner's world of the imagination is believable and his strong female lead one of the role models of my childhood. A fantastic book - in both senses.
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Summary: compelling "clash of worlds" fantasy for older kids
Review: I fell in love with Garner's Alderley Edge books about the same time as I did with "Lord of the Rings", at the age of 8 or 9. The lifting from Norse myth is still there, although more subtle. Celtic and later mediaeval accretions (the sleeping knights) are mixed in, along with some beautiful original creations (laclacs!). The idea of fantastic beings and doings coexisting covertly with everyday life in rural Cheshire is well handled. NB - the Legend, and virtually every nook and cranny on the Edge that is mentioned, are all quite real, and it can be an eerie experience visiting the place after reading this book. My only cavil is that the pace is judged just right for the intended readership :-) Re-reading as an adult, I found the final few chapters a bit rushed and superficial.
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Summary: One of the few books I read and read again
Review: I first read this book in 1973, and 25 years later it is remains tense and compelling. I can still taste the sand and mud in my mouth after the crawl through the tunnel. This is a brilliant journey and I am just about to introduce my 9 year old to the book for the first time. A perfect introduction to Garner's vivid blend of the present and past.
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Summary: images for a life time
Review: I first read this book when I was 11 or 12 and it captivated me. Like other readers even 30 years later I cannot see a flock of crows, a snowy landscape or a small crystal gemstone without thinking of the Wierdstone. Unlike most fantasy books this takes place in our own world and is all the more real and believable for it - it also put me off potholing for life!
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Summary: A VERY enjoyable book!!!
Review: I had read a few reveiws on another of Alan Garner's books, "The Owl Service", saying that the style of Alan Garner was mysterious, and the end of the book left you wanting more or left you slightly dissatisfied. When I picked up "The Wierdstone of Brisingamen," I was immediatly enthralled 25 pages in. The book had me dizzy with suspense and sheer enjoyment. The characters were wonderfully described, and all the names were introduced at a good rate. The book was so good that I couldn't put it down! I was in the world of the book. When I reached the end, the very last page, I wanted more; I was stunned, and flipping through the rest of the book looking for an epilogue. Of course, there was none, and I was a bit disapointed. So yes: I think this book is slightly mysterious, but very, very enthralling. Thank God Alan Garner has written other books as well: I can't wait to read them! I reccomend this book to ages eleven and up, up up...
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