The Blue Hawk is powerful, sacred, untameable. Its sacrifice will bring glory to the gods, strength to the nation - and the success of evil plans by sinister priests. But when the gods command Tron, a temple boy, to rescue the bird and overturn the sacrifice, the destiny of the kingdom is placed in his hands. Hunted by temple assassins, Tron and his hawk flee into the blazing desert, where they are helped by an ambitious young king with dark secrets of his own. And soon they find themselves at the heart of a ferocious battle for the future of their world. "Magnificent. Peter Dickinson is the past-master storyteller of our day" - "TLS".
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent YA fantasy; quasi-Egyptian setting,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Blue Hawk (Hardcover)
This is the best of the Peter Dickinson juveniles: in a kingdom somewhat like ancient Egypt, with failing harvests and contracting horizons, a young man has adventures. He winds up participating in the rescue of the whole land, joined by the new young king and an exiled priest.While the above sounds like the standard fantasy, the book is both more subtle and less predictable. It is also very well written. The description of the hero's journey down the pseudo-Nile while hidden in the coffin of the old king is a high point.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Classic of Fantasy,
By
This review is from: The Blue Hawk (Mass Market Paperback)
A review prior to mine gives five stars to this novel, calling it the best of Peter Dickinson Juveniles, saying that it sounds like the standard fantasy, but is more subtle and less predictable, as well as being very well written. I feel that this review actually sells the novel short! This is an underappreciated Classic! It is not, in my opinion, a juvenile: the book makes believable the existence of gods (as of ancient Egypt, but different - 'O' for the sun, "Aa" for the moon (and Death), and "Gdu" for the Blue Hawk (and healing), an avatar of which the title character Tron finds he is able to tame (or...make his friend), and creates an explanation of why these gods came to be, unimaginable powers that The Wise (obviously, modern humanity) found among the stars and then bound on Earth, and how at the end of the novel the gods have escaped their bondage, leaving humans free to become wise again. Thus it has aspects of "The Magic Goes Away" which is one of the best Niven concepts and aspects of Ursula LeGuin, in the sense that it is beautifully written and moving in a way that few other authors can achieve. I do not wish to imply that a brilliant and moving work can't be a juvenile -- I was a bright child, and "Lord of the Rings" and "The Lay of Beren and Luthien" are counter-examples -- but "The Blue Hawk" so surpasses these in sophistication that I feel a young person who would appreciate all of it would be very rare indeed. Compare it rather to Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness", John Crowley's "The Translator", and Tennyson's "Mortre D'Arthur".
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superbly written, not just for kids,
This review is from: Blue Hawk (Paperback)
I read this little book as a child of seven or eight years old and remembered liking it. Having just read it again thirty years I realise that it would be a crime to characterise this as juvenile fiction. Like much of the work of Rosemary Sutcliff, Ronald Welch or Alan Garner, this may be ostensibly aimed at children but it is worthy of adult attention. This is part "historical" novel grounded in Egyptian mythology, part coming of age story, written with a kind of strong-limbed delicacy. I'm amazed that this is no longer in print. If you have a bright and thoughtful child, buy it read it, then pass it on to them.
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