Thief of Time. Terry Pratchett.

Thief of Time.
Terry Pratchett.
Harper Collins: 2001

Another Discworld book involving Death's grand-daughter, Susan.  This time she winds up with a love interest in the person of Lobsang Ludd, the child of Time.

Pratchett discovers his funniest new (I think) character in a while: Lu-Tze.  This guy is the 800-year-old sweeper of a secret monastery who is nevertheless the most respected guy there--to those who know who he is.)  His knowledge of "The Way" comes from a housewife in Ankh-Moorpark, and he carries around a book of her sayings, which are, of course, everyday trite proverbs to us, but their application in the story is hilarious.

The usual misadventures, near catastrophe, and last-minute solution, with sit-com/slap-stick/monologue humor by that old stand-by, Death.

The Princess and the Goblin. George MacDonald.

The Princess and the Goblin.
George MacDonald.

MacDonald is well-known for being an idol of C.S. Lewis and, to a lesser degree, of J.R.R. Tolkien. This is the second story of his I have read and it is quite wonderful.

As before, I came away a little confused by the imagery of this "Christian" (as he is packaged today) author. The main image in this book is that of the Princess Irene's great-grandmother who can only be seen by those who believe in her, or whose light can be seen by those she wishes to save. These are concepts clearly familiar to Christianity, and yet this magical person is a woman: unusual. Compare this to Lewis' Aslan, who -- although a lion -- is both male and masculine.

Another note of interest is MacDonald's acceptance of and use of evolution. Although approached from a fantasic storyteller's point of view rather than a scientific one, MacDonald makes liberal use of the theory which is now fought against by so many Christians. These two extended metaphors (among others) make me belive that MacDonald's faith is more personal than the over-politicized faith of some today. It would be interesting to read his original romance novels and compare them to the modern 'reprints' edited for a specifically Christian audience. I wonder what exactly needed to be "edited" out of or into these novels? Surely MacDonald is a superior writer to his editor!

In an interesting twist on the Genesis account of the Flood, the goblins in this story wanted to mate with the "higher species" (princess) and were punished for that desire. In Genesis, fallen man had become even worse by the nephilim who had taken the women as mates.

Fun story, well told. Highlight of ridiculous writing: foot-stomping fights.

Lord Foul's Bane. Stephen R. Donaldson.

Lord Foul's Bane.
by Stephen R. Donaldson.
Ballantyne. 1977.

First novel in popular epic fantasy series. Thomas Covenant has leprosy and is magically transported to fantasy world, which he refuses to believe in. The whole leprosy thing is done well, though overdone at some points, but his constant anger and disbelief are a bit wearisome. The problem with the book is that the reader doesn't care about any of the characters. The plot (Covenant has to defeat the evil Lord Foul) is so inane that it doesn't hold the reader's interest, either. So, the author does what all epic writers do: keep the characters moving, keep introducing new settings, weird characters, etc.

Well-written from a technial standpoint, but the author never gets us to question our own reality (even though this is the whole point of the book), and only in a limited way get us to see that there are other realities: specificly, how different it must be to be a leper. Overall, rather boring, and I doubt I'll read any further in the series.

Guardians of the Singreale. Calvin Miller.

Guardians of the Singreale
by Calvin Miller.
Harper & Row: 1982.

This tale takes place on a world akin to Eden: people are vegetarian, live for thousands of years, etc. The evil black-haired (the rest have gray hair) Parsky tricks people into eating meat and is after a magic diamond which is symbolic of God's love.

This is the first of a trilogy, and suffice it to say that I will not be reading the next two volumes. Simple in plot, boring in characters, tedius in moral teachings, the book could effectively be read in an hour or two. Perhaps its biggest flaw is a lack of imagination: the only interesting thing are the tilt-winds which are powerful seasonal winds the locals use to go hang-gliding. Whoopee.

The Passion. by Donna Boyd.

The Passion
By Donna Boyd.

I do like werewolf stories, and this is a good one. The setting is turn-of-the-century (1900), and the plot is one of "pack" politics. The werewolf pack has become scattered over the centuries, and now two parties (each represented by one of two brothers) are vying for control: one wants to take advantage of the Industrial Revolution and work with humans (yet be in charge of them), and the other brother wants to exterminate humans. Caught in the middle is a human woman captivated by the "good" brother. He winds up marring the female pack leader, and sends the human off to Alaska with his brother for what he thought was her & the brother's conspiracy against him. These two find a lost werewolf castle and mate (which was not thought possible). The good brother realizes the woman was trying to protect his wife, so they set off to Alaska in search of her, only to wind up killing the bad brother. Whew, what a plot!

Most characters are done wwell, though we connect with none. Well written, thought a bit repetitive in general descriptions of werewolf attitudes.

Bed-Knob and Broomstick
by Mary Norton.

A well-written little book for early or pre-teens which has apparently been made into a Disney film.

Three English children befriend Miss Price, a local witch, and blackmail her: they'll keep her secret (that of being a witch) if she gives them magic. She refrains from turning them into frogs (she's a good person, after all), and accepts the agreement by making their bed magical: it can teleport anywhere & anywhen.

Needless to say, the kids have various misadventures with the bed. Finally they bring a 1611 necromancer to the present time. He and the witch like each other, and she eventually moves back in time to be his wife. The book ends with the girl being able to see and hear the by now 300-year-dead Miss Price puttering about in the garden, happy with her new life.