Tag Archives: Alison Croggon

The Crow by Alison Croggon (The Third Book of Pellinor)

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Synopsis:
Young Bard-in-training Hem finds himself in the midst of a war, recruited into a vicious army of children enslaved by evil magic.

Review:
The Crow got off to a very slow start, but once it got going I was enthralled by the uniqueness of the world and the beauty of the writing. I fell in love with Hem, a deep thinker whose life has been marred by tragedy, and his friend Zelika, an impetuous girl who is the last of her family. The war scenes rival any found in Tolkien, and Alison Croggon doesn’t shy away from darkness and tragedy, even while filling her story with light and hope.

The Riddle by Alison Croggon (The Second Book of Pellinor)

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Synopsis:
Maerad of Pellinor heads north in pursuit of the Treesong as the Winter King threatens her at every turn.

Review:
I was so glad to see Alison Croggon leave her Tolkien influences behind in The Riddle, the second book in her well-told story of Pellinor, which started out as just your typical fantasy country beseiged by the coming of the dark.

Fortunately, Croggon brings in some non-medieval elements in her construction of the mythology of her world. I really liked some of the harsher elements she brought into her development of the more northern societies–and because winter is my favorite season I enjoyed spending time in the snow and ice. I also liked that Maerad’s status as a hero is brought into question, hence the “riddle” of the title. There’s more to her than just the prophecy calling her the One. Her destiny isn’t singular, and I love that element of uncertainty.

Croggon’s writing is beautiful, and I was especially impressed by the haunting poetry she included. I can’t wait to read The Crow and The Singing.

The Naming by Alison Croggon (The First Book of Pellinor)

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Synopsis:
A slave discovers that she is The One prophesied by the mystical race of Bards.

Review:
It really is all about execution when it comes to epic fantasy. I mean, that one sentence synopsis of The Gift could pretty much describe about a zillion other books, many of them truly dreadful. In fact, I was listening the audiobook of Mistborn at the same time, which has basically the same premise!

So far, Alison Croggon is delivering a fine, fine tale. She admits to being heavily influenced by JRR Tolkien, and it shows, but her writing is strong enough to that the book doesn’t feel like a copy or a pastiche. (Plus, there are no elves.) Maerad is strong without being plucky–that awful fantasy cliché for women–and her mentor Cadvan has a lot going on under the surface.

Cadvan is training Maerad in the Gift to which she was born, that of the noble race of Bards, who are teachers and healers and benevolent rulers. However, a strain of dark Bards called Hulls has arisen, under the leadership of the darkness, and Maerad might be the One prophesied to bring them down. This first book concerns itself with Maerad’s discovery of her gift and her increasing awareness of the threat, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes next.