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This might have been the first book I ever read by Diana Wynne Jones.
I know that the edition I read, and still own, was from the MagicQuest line, which was much better than it sounds, a line of fantasy novels for children and teenagers, not connected to each other and selected for quality. Jane Yolen had a rather minor novel, The Magic Three of Solatia
; Peter Dickinson had Tulku
(I have never really enjoyed Dickinson, though I respect his craft and ambition), and Jones also had The Magicians of Caprona
, a wacky, surrealistic retelling of Romeo and Juliet in an alternate Italy, with Punch and Judy playing a major role. Probably the best book in the line - and it was an excellent line - was Elizabeth Marie Pope's The Perilous Gard
.
Did anyone else read these? I have always been curious about Paul Fisher, whose novels were somewhat standard fantasy made notable by intense, dreamlike atmosphere. I have never seen his name anywhere else.
The Power of Three uses a number of standard elements of fantasy - magic Gifts, shapeshifting, curses, elves (sort of), giants (very sort of) - but gives them a whole series of unique twists. It also has one of the very few prologues which is actually worth reading, in which a girl (who later becomes the mother of the protagonists) watches in horror as her brother kills a shapeshifter boy to get his golden collar. It comes with a curse...
When the main story picks up, about fifteen years later, it's from the point of view of Gair, the oldest child of three and the only one without a magic Gift. He's from one of the three cultures living on the moor, all of which simply call themselves people. His people sometimes have magic gifts, but otherwise their strangeness is slipped in piecemeal. I remember reading it and only very slowly realizing that no, Gair's people are not just magical people, they're not what I would call humans. This is very, very well-done, and his culture is convincingly and fascinatingly odd.
The other people are what Gair's folk call Dorigs, who live underwater and shapeshift, and Giants, who are... us. All three are on a collision course, if not outright at war, but begin meeting and interacting with each other halfway through. (Warning: One of the human characters, who turns out to be quite likable and heroic, is fat, unhappy about being fat, and has others thinking that being fat is unattractive.) The lessons they learn are unsurprising but, again, well-done and with unexpected details.
A plot description doesn't capture the atmosphere of the book, which is alternately mythic, magical, and down to earth and funny. It's not one of Jones's best books, but it's well worth reading. I'm very fond of it.
Feel free to put spoilers in comments.
Power of Three
I know that the edition I read, and still own, was from the MagicQuest line, which was much better than it sounds, a line of fantasy novels for children and teenagers, not connected to each other and selected for quality. Jane Yolen had a rather minor novel, The Magic Three of Solatia
; Peter Dickinson had Tulku (I have never really enjoyed Dickinson, though I respect his craft and ambition), and Jones also had The Magicians of Caprona, a wacky, surrealistic retelling of Romeo and Juliet in an alternate Italy, with Punch and Judy playing a major role. Probably the best book in the line - and it was an excellent line - was Elizabeth Marie Pope's The Perilous Gard. Did anyone else read these? I have always been curious about Paul Fisher, whose novels were somewhat standard fantasy made notable by intense, dreamlike atmosphere. I have never seen his name anywhere else.
The Power of Three uses a number of standard elements of fantasy - magic Gifts, shapeshifting, curses, elves (sort of), giants (very sort of) - but gives them a whole series of unique twists. It also has one of the very few prologues which is actually worth reading, in which a girl (who later becomes the mother of the protagonists) watches in horror as her brother kills a shapeshifter boy to get his golden collar. It comes with a curse...
When the main story picks up, about fifteen years later, it's from the point of view of Gair, the oldest child of three and the only one without a magic Gift. He's from one of the three cultures living on the moor, all of which simply call themselves people. His people sometimes have magic gifts, but otherwise their strangeness is slipped in piecemeal. I remember reading it and only very slowly realizing that no, Gair's people are not just magical people, they're not what I would call humans. This is very, very well-done, and his culture is convincingly and fascinatingly odd.
The other people are what Gair's folk call Dorigs, who live underwater and shapeshift, and Giants, who are... us. All three are on a collision course, if not outright at war, but begin meeting and interacting with each other halfway through. (Warning: One of the human characters, who turns out to be quite likable and heroic, is fat, unhappy about being fat, and has others thinking that being fat is unattractive.) The lessons they learn are unsurprising but, again, well-done and with unexpected details.
A plot description doesn't capture the atmosphere of the book, which is alternately mythic, magical, and down to earth and funny. It's not one of Jones's best books, but it's well worth reading. I'm very fond of it.
Feel free to put spoilers in comments.
Power of Three
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I will admit that I was hoping that what I was missing was a bit... simpler, I guess. Maybe I would have understood everything better had I read the book as a child, but it kind of makes me feel old and slow. :)
I also am still not sure I really get how they get around Laurel at the end. I think it might make more emotional sense to me if they couldn't.