Review - The Magician's House
Jun. 16th, 2008 01:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wilderthanI suppose the premise of The Magician's House, by William Corlett, is very typical of a children's fantasy series: a group of three young siblings go on holiday to a big old house, where they get tangled up in things they don't understand, to do with magic and saving the world. It all starts in a secret room which they figure out exists from the layout of the rest of the house... I could almost be describing Susan Cooper's Over Sea, Under Stone. There's the usual big brother character: William in this book, Simon in Susan Cooper's books; the spoilsport middle child who ultimately goes along with it and does well anyway: Mary in this book and Jane in Susan Cooper's books; the youngest child who is often right but ignored: Alice and Barney, respectively.
Still, the writing is descriptive and interesting without being over-descriptive. To me, now, the books seem a little short, a little rushed, but the story is still interesting and absorbing. The portrayal of adult characters and what they do and think interests me a lot: Phoebe and Jack's views about marriage, and their vegetarianism particularly. To me, the way the children react to these more unorthodox (for the time) ideas is partly what makes the children more than 2D characters. There's some lovely characterisation that really does make the characters seem like their own age, not miniature adults - for example, Alice asking if a baby being born is horribly rude.
The first book is a quick and enjoyable read. It poses some questions and sets things up for the rest of the series, but doesn't really go deeply into what's going on.
I didn't think the second book really advanced the story that far. We found out a little more about Golden Valley, of course, and about what the Magician wants from the children, but... there were still questions in my mind about what the conclusion of it all could possibly be -- a showdown, perhaps, with the Magician's apprentice, Morden? But it seemed strange that we hadn't met him yet and that he was hardly mentioned in this book, if that were the case.
The characters were still more like quick sketches than complete watercolours, but they still reacted realistically and have both good points and flaws. Phoebe, in particular, impressed me as quite a realistic character, with her desire to do things well and have the children enjoy themselves, but getting angry easily.
I liked that the third book got on with things, while still leaving things unanswered -- for example, why the Magician wants the valley to remain as it is. It was interesting to see Morden playing a more active part, too: the second book felt more like an interlude, an opportunity for the children to learn and grow more without a real bad guy (the badger baiters don't really count because they're ordinary people, in my mind -- not able to do magic like Morden, the Magician and the children).
The fourth book made for a lovely conclusion to the story. It isn't happy-happy, bad things happen, and yet everything is still "okay" in the end -- or, well, not quite: but you know it will be. I was surprised at how much impact the end had on me -- I'd slowly, subtly grown to love the characters, more than I thought I had.
Still, the writing is descriptive and interesting without being over-descriptive. To me, now, the books seem a little short, a little rushed, but the story is still interesting and absorbing. The portrayal of adult characters and what they do and think interests me a lot: Phoebe and Jack's views about marriage, and their vegetarianism particularly. To me, the way the children react to these more unorthodox (for the time) ideas is partly what makes the children more than 2D characters. There's some lovely characterisation that really does make the characters seem like their own age, not miniature adults - for example, Alice asking if a baby being born is horribly rude.
The first book is a quick and enjoyable read. It poses some questions and sets things up for the rest of the series, but doesn't really go deeply into what's going on.
I didn't think the second book really advanced the story that far. We found out a little more about Golden Valley, of course, and about what the Magician wants from the children, but... there were still questions in my mind about what the conclusion of it all could possibly be -- a showdown, perhaps, with the Magician's apprentice, Morden? But it seemed strange that we hadn't met him yet and that he was hardly mentioned in this book, if that were the case.
The characters were still more like quick sketches than complete watercolours, but they still reacted realistically and have both good points and flaws. Phoebe, in particular, impressed me as quite a realistic character, with her desire to do things well and have the children enjoy themselves, but getting angry easily.
I liked that the third book got on with things, while still leaving things unanswered -- for example, why the Magician wants the valley to remain as it is. It was interesting to see Morden playing a more active part, too: the second book felt more like an interlude, an opportunity for the children to learn and grow more without a real bad guy (the badger baiters don't really count because they're ordinary people, in my mind -- not able to do magic like Morden, the Magician and the children).
The fourth book made for a lovely conclusion to the story. It isn't happy-happy, bad things happen, and yet everything is still "okay" in the end -- or, well, not quite: but you know it will be. I was surprised at how much impact the end had on me -- I'd slowly, subtly grown to love the characters, more than I thought I had.
