Diana Wynne Jones
Hardcover | Pages: 785 pages Rating: 4.21 | 622 Users | 23 Reviews
Particularize Based On Books The Dalemark Quartet (The Dalemark Quartet #1-4)
| Title | : | The Dalemark Quartet (The Dalemark Quartet #1-4) |
| Author | : | Diana Wynne Jones |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 785 pages |
| Published | : | January 1st 2001 by Science Fiction Book Club (first published 1993) |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Young Adult. Fiction |
Narration To Books The Dalemark Quartet (The Dalemark Quartet #1-4)
The four books included in this omnibus are listed below. I've read this before, but it has been quite a while, and as I recall it's not a real fast read (maybe because the book is heavy!)Cart and Cwidder
Clennen the singer, his wife and 4 children are traveling through Dalemark. They pick up Kialan as a passenger, but he acts very strange. Clennen's son Moril inherits his cwidder, a musical instrument that has strange powers which Moril must learn to use to save Kialan.
Drowned Ammet
Mitt is a young boy in the slums of Holand, who dreams of being a revolutionary and putting down the oppressive rule of the earls in the south of Dalemark. When his part of an uprising goes wrong, he must flee - and he ends up on a boat owned by two children of one of the hated earls, Hildy and Ynen, the children of Navis. They go to the Holy Islands with the help of Old Ammet and Libby Beer, avatars of the Undying. The story ends when the three children and Navis are helped by the islanders to get away and sail to the north.
The Spellcoats
I realized too late that this one should be read first - it deals with happenings in prehistoric Dalemark, well before the times of the previous two books. The five children of Closti the Clam live near the River. The story is told by the fourth youngest, Tanaqui, who is weaving their story into rugcoats. Their father and eldest brother Gull have to go away to fight the Heathens, leaving the children behind. The people of the village hate them, except for their uncle Kestrel, because they are blond-haired instead of brown and look like the people the villagers call the Heathens. Their father does not return, but Gull returns a shattered man. When the river rises unexpectedly and floods them out, they load everything into a boat and go off down the river to escape the villagers, taking the statues of their 'Undying' gods, with them - the One, the Lady, and the Young One. When they reach the sea, they meet the evil Kankredin, a sorcerer, and get involved in a war against him. The River and their gods help them, but the book ends just before the final battle, with Tanaqui struggling to finish her final weaving.
The Crown of Dalemark
The first section of the book begins somewhere after Drowned Ammet left off, with Mitt now in the service of Countess of Aberath. He is told that Ynen will be killed unless Mitt agrees to kill a girl called Noreth, who is looking for the crown of Dalemark to unite the north and south. Then the second book switches to modern times 200 years later, and a girl called Maewen, who is traveling by train to Kernsberg to visit her father who is the curator at the Tannoreth Palace. The palace contains a lot of portraits and artifacts from olden days. When Wend, her father's secretary, hands Maewen a golden statue of the One, she is suddenly sent back in time to take Noreth's place. Wend is with her, and Mitt and Navis are there, as is Moril the singer from Cart and Cwidder. She is supposed to find the ring, the cup, and the sword of the true king which will lead to an uprising that eventually will unite the north and south. But the remnants of the evil mage Kankredin are reassembling themselves, and he is doing his best to steer Maewen into the wrong paths. The rest of the story tells what she overcomes to find the three artifacts and eventually get back to her own time. I felt this was the most exciting book of the four, but it ends with Maewen determined to find the witch Cennoreth and find Mitt again. So it was a rather unsatisfying ending - I felt as if there should be a fifth book to wrap everything up.
List Books During The Dalemark Quartet (The Dalemark Quartet #1-4)
| Original Title: | The Dalemark Quartet |
| ISBN: | 073943389X (ISBN13: 9780739433898) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | The Dalemark Quartet #1-4 |
Rating Based On Books The Dalemark Quartet (The Dalemark Quartet #1-4)
Ratings: 4.21 From 622 Users | 23 ReviewsCritique Based On Books The Dalemark Quartet (The Dalemark Quartet #1-4)
I typically find Diana's stories intriguing and captivating; this one was no exception. This book is realy four books in one, with the first three stories occurring at different times and places, but within the same country. The final story tied everything together - for the most part. I can't help but confess confusion on more than one occasion while reading this book. The use of one name for more than one character (i.e. the Adon and Osfameron) was very hard to keep straight, especially whenDiana was born in London, the daughter of Marjorie (née Jackson) and Richard Aneurin Jones, both of whom were teachers. When war was announced, shortly after her fifth birthday, she was evacuated to Wales, and thereafter moved several times, including periods in Coniston Water, in York, and back in London. In 1943 her family finally settled in Thaxted, Essex, where her parents worked running an
At first I was a little confused, the only thing the first three books had in common was the country, Dalemark, and the "Undying", gods with powers and maybe immortal humans. But the fourth gathers all the threads and makes a satisfying whole. Though I think there could have been a few more chapters at the end. Overall quite an enjoyable read for adults and young people.
These four novels (collected in this SFBC omnibus) create a fascinating land full of living myths and unexpected magic. Most pleasingly, this land is not an obvious reflection of any particular real-world country or culture. That originality is wonderfully refreshing. The style of each novel is well-suited to the story it is telling (I'm thinking particularly of the dream-like quality of The Spellcoats). And the characters are all very realistic and focused on their own desires, from the
This book (this book which is technically four books in one) is my favorite book. When I say my favorite book, I mean this set of four books right here have been my favorite singular piece of writing since my mom first bought it for me from a library book sale when I was in sixth grade, almost nine years ago now. I consider this book to be Diana Wynne Jones's greatest masterpiece. Originally, this being one of the first books I had ever read by her and therefore not prepared, I was extremely
Many plot strings are left unfinished, but still fun to read.
THIS SERIES. I... I... I... Wordless. I need to own this collection so I can read it whenever I want. ALL THE THINGS.
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