Cart and Cwidder (Dalemark Quartet, Vol. 1) (Paperback)

~ Diana Wynne Jones (Author) "Do come out of that dream, Moril," Lenina said..." (more)
Key Phrases: big cwidder, wine jar, new earl, Clennen the Singer, Mark Wood, Earl of Hannart (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this fantasy adventure set in mystical Dalemark, the children of a murdered gypsy begin an investigation into their father's death that has far-reaching consequences. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

For centuries, Dalemark has been a land divided by the warring earldoms of the North and South. Now, with the help of the Undying, the mysterious gods of Dalemark, four extraordinary young people -- from the past, present, and future -- nust join forces to reunify their beloved land.

When Moril inherits his father's prized instrument -- a Cwidder said to have belonged to one of the Undying -- he must learn to harness its strange power in time to prevent a destructive civil war.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books; First Thus edition (April 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064473139
• ISBN-13: 978-0064473132
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,580,696 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 1 in The Dalemark Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very satisfying coming-of-age fantasy., December 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cart and Cwidder (Dalemark Quartet, Book 1) (No 5) (Hardcover)

Moril is a dreamy and contemplative boy, with "his head in the clouds" most of the time. He loves the stories of the old and glorious days, when big doings were about, which his father, a well-known singer, tells often. Little does he know what his future holds, just around the corner.

This is a tale of unexpected magic, immersed in plenty of action. The old mandolin-like cwidder that Moril's father played, turns out to be more than just a musical instrument in Moril's hands. And just in the nick of time...

As always, Jones gives us a cast of characters that become instantly familiar and believable. The tale is a warm and believable human drama, mixed judiciously with magic, and a young person's budding maturity. Beginning as an engaging adventure, the book turns into a compelling page-turner, with a wonderfully complex and unpredictable ending. Great stuff for an imaginative young reader.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid, readable, involving, but not spectacular, June 27, 2001

By	Richard R. Horton (Webster Groves, MO United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Cart and Cwidder is the first of Diana Wynne Jones' Dalemark books, which run to four volumes. Dalemark is a fairly obvious version of Wales. Indeed, the book reminded me a bit of Lloyd Alexander, though not the Prydain books (set in a version of Wales), but rather the Westmark books, as they share, very roughly, tech level, and an interest in politics.

This book concerns an 11-year old boy named Moril, a musician traveling with his family. They earn their money by stopping at towns and villages and playing songs. They also pass news among the people of Dalemark, and take passengers : they and other musicians are the only people who regularly travel between the northern and southern parts of the land, which are at the point of war. The south in particular is being severely repressed by the Earls (there has been no King for some time). Moril's family consists of their jolly father Clennen, their beautiful, aristocratic mother Lenina, the talented 15-year old songwriter son Dagner, and a 12-year old girl, Brid, in addition to Moril. The title refers to the cart they live and travel in, and to the main musical instruments they use, "cwidders", which seem guitar-like, and one of which may have magical powers.

On the journey in question, they pick up a rather mysterious traveller, Kialan, a boy of roughly Dagner's age. He has a tendency to disappear when they pass through villages. Then, near the castle of Lenina's former fiance, some men show up and murder Clennen. Abruptly, Lenina heads to her ex-fiance's house, as he has long promised to marry her if she is ever free. But the children recognize one of the murderers as a guest at the house, and they decide to head on their own to the North. On their way, they find more trouble, and eventually they learn that war is closer to hand than they thought. Can it be stopped?

It's very readable and involving -- I'm not sure Jones can be other than readable and involving. But it shares with much YA fantasy a certain thinness in the background. Her best work, such as _Fire and Hemlock_, seems much more completely imagined, more complex in characterization, theme, and morality. This book is fun, and not without real tension and interesting characters, but it seems minor compared to my favorites among her work. I will be buying the rest of the Dalemark books, however.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original, character-driven fantasy, March 8, 2002

By	Royce E. Buehler "figvine" (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

In the Dalemark Quartet, of which this is the first volume, Diana Wynne Jones is attempting something fresh and ambitious. Unlike the standard fantasy series, in which each volume follows the continuing adventures of a single cast of characters - a series of tunes played on the same set of instruments - this one really is designed as a "quartet". Each of the first three books is all but independent of the rest, told in its own distinct voice. They interlock in many ways, but in subtle ones - common geography, a set of family names that link with the long history of Dalemark and its peculiar "gods", known in Dalemark as the Undying. Only halfway through the third book does the depth of the historical and the very original mythological patterns begin to come into focus. The "quartet" of voices - the travelling singer Moril in this book, the sailor's apprentice Mitt in the second, the weaver Cennoreth in the third, and the time travelling teen Maewen in the last - are neatly balanced. The two boys are from the Dalemark's "present," an age of political intrigues with a three musketeers flavor, and the girls are from the far past and the not so far future. One of each gender is from the North, the other from the South, and the ultimate task facing them all is to reunite the torn land under a single monarch.

Each of the first three volumes on its own comprises a satisfying story, if a bit open-ended. Cart and Cwidder is the most successful as a stand-alone story. The lute-like cwidder that Moril's father plays for a living as the family's gipsy cart wends through Dalemark's towns gradually discloses its magical powers, but it's the play of personalities that will keep you turning the pages.

There's the daydreaming Moril, his father Clennen, the jovial showman, his older brother Dagner, brimming with talent but painfully shy, his perceptive and sharp-tongued sister Brid, their mysteriously quiet high-born mother Lenina, and an elusive paying passenger whose humility seems like mockery. All these vivid first impressions are real, but they all turn out to be just surface manifestations of the deeper waters running through every member of the troupe.

You'll want to hear more about Moril's adventures when you finish Cart and Cwidder. Be advised that you'll have to lay your eagerness aside. All the members of the quartet will be brought together again in the long fourth volume, where Moril's voice will carry only a little of the melody; and there are three solos to be played in full before the final harmonizing.