AJOA: Day 3

Day 3: A favorite book

As hard as it was to single out a favorite song and a favorite movie in the last couple of posts, this is by far the hardest decision to make. I love books. I love reading. And I really don't have a favorite book.

So I've decided to write about a book --or rather a series-- that has frequently made my favorites list since I first read it a couple of years ago. I've always been a fan of fantasy: I grew up reading Narnia and Harry Potter, and I'll forever have a soft spot for fun, magical adventures. And Alison Croggon's fantasy quartet, The Books of Pellinor, essentially embodies everything that I love about the genre: an engaging story, an expansive fictitious universe, simple good-vs-evil conflicts, and swordfighting. Oh yes.

The Naming, the first book in the series

The plot itself is nothing new; basically, a dark shadow has fallen across the land, and a young peasant  must defeat the gathering forces of evil with her newly discovered magic powers. It's your typical fantasy storyline. What's beautiful about this series isn't the story itself but rather the universe in which that story takes place.

Maerad, the main character, is gifted with the magic powers of the Bards. These Bards are not only wizards, but scholars, healers, artisans, musicians, poets, and so on and so forth. Throughout the kingdoms of Edil-Amarandh, the Bards have built institutes of learning and Bardic tradition, known as Schools.

Over the course of the books, Maerad and the other main characters travel all over the map, and Croggon describes her fantasy world in incredible detail. Each School, and city surrounding it, has its own culture, traditions, poetry, music, cuisine, etc. The pains the author goes to in order to paint a fully developed universe are truly remarkable. While most fantasy stories (especially in the Young Adult genre) will sketch a simple, generic world around their characters, Croggon makes you believe you're really rediscovering a lost civilization.

One of the largest components of the cultural depth is the books' poetry. Croggon is an award-winning poet, and the poetry she incorporates into the stories lends incredible believability to narrative. It's real poetry, not just a bunch of rhyming lines all strung together. A sample:

I am the Lily that stands in the still waters, and the morning sun 

    alights on me, amber and rose;

I am delicate, as the mist is delicate that climbs with the dawn; yea, the

    smallest breath of the wind will stir me.

And yet my roots run deep as the Song, and my crown is mightier

    than the sky itself,

And my heart is a white flame that dances in its joy, and its light will 

    never be quenched.

Though the Dark One comes in all his strength, I shall not be

    daunted,

Though he attack with his mighty armies, though he strike me with iron

     and fire, with all his grievous weapons,

Even should he turn his deadly eye upon me, fear will not defeat me. 

I will arise, and he will be shaken where he stands, and his sword 

     will be shivered in the dust,

For he is blind and knows nothing of love, and it will be love that

     defeats him.

From The Song of Maerad, Itilan of Turbansk 

{Excerpted from The Singing by Alison Croggon}

I could go on about these books for a long time. Heck, I could write a few more paragraphs just about the music in the books (something that particularly intrigues me as a musician). But I think I've written enough.

I'll leave you with this: read these books. Seriously. You won't regret it.