Castles Made of Sand (Gollancz Sf S.) [Hardcover]

Gwyneth Jones (Author)

Book Description

Series: Gollancz Sf S. | Publication Date: June 20, 2002

Ax Preston, Sage Pender and Fiorinda, charismatic leaders of the Rock 'n' Roll Reich, have beaten the cascade of disasters that followed the collapse of the former United Kingdom. Now they have to find some resolution to the impossible dynamics of their own relationship, while the world keeps getting stranger. There are fearsome things going on in England's rural hinterland, and in Continental Europe the green nazis are planning a final solution to desperate environmental damage. But there's nothing the Triumvirate can't handle - until Fiorinda's father, secret master of powers that are very old and very new, reaches out to reclaim his magical child, the flower-bride. And that's when darkness falls over Ax's England ...Harrowing ...enchanting -- a dark fairy tale with an epic sweep, set in a world very like our own.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Gwyneth won the Arthur C Clarke award this year for Bold As Love, this novel is the next in this excellent series. These are not ordinary fantasy novels,their appeal reaches way beyond. Reviews: 'Her first novel was excellent - this is even better.'THE GUARDIAN 'Further proof that it's possible to do something triumphantly new with the fantasy genre.'DREAMWATCH 'Castles Made of Sand quickly establishes itself among her best work.'STARLOG 'Gripp

About the Author

Gwyneth Jones lives in Brighton with her husband and son. She has won the James Tiptree Memorial Award and two World Fantasy Awards and been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz (June 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575070331
• ISBN-13: 978-0575070332
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #464,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gwyneth Jones, born in Manchester UK, 14th February 1952, is the author of many novels for teenagers, fantasy, horror and thrillers, using the name Ann Halam, and several highly regarded sf and fantasy novels for adults. Her critical essays and reviews are collected in Deconstructing The Starships, 1999 and Imagination/Space 2009. Among other honours she's won two World Fantasy awards, the Children of the Night award, the Philip K Dick award, the BSFA award and the Pilgrim award for Science Fiction criticism. Several of her novels have been nominated for the Arthur C Clarke award, the latest being Spirit, 2009; she won the award for Bold As Love in 2002. She lives in Brighton, UK, with her husband and son, some goldfish and two cats called Ginger and Milo; likes old movies, practices yoga & has done some extreme tourism in her time. Hobbies include gardening and cooking, and playing with her websites.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy follow up to Bold As Love, November 17, 2003

By 

George (Geneva, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Castles Made of Sand (Gollancz Sf S.) (Hardcover)

I thought that Bold As Love was brilliant. The best fantasy book I had read in years until I read Castles Made Of Sand which is even better.

All of the same characters except this time we know them better. Still brilliantly portrayed as we have come to expect from Jones. The menage a trois between the principles is portrayed as the fraught and dynamic thing that I suspect such arrangements will always be.

The action moves along at a cracking pace and I challenge anyone not to cheer when Sage does his stuff (I won't say more so as not to spoil it).

So, a more than worthy successor.

Roll on Midnight Lamp.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually, February 13, 2007

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Castles Made of Sand (Gollancz Sf S.) (Paperback)

The Rock and Roll Reich of Ax, Sage and Fiorinda returns to face new challenges and increasingly strange politics. The three of them need to figure out their relationship with each other while keeping the hard-core Celtic underground from undermining every good that the present brought the world.

Jones is one of the smartest writers around, and Castles Made of Sand is a worthy heir to the level set by Bold As Love. She deserves much more of a reputation in the US than she has. This book (set in the "near future" of England) continues to break genre conventions and turn reader assumptions on their head. I love her take on the Arthur legends-- twisted and very loyal at the same time. Also, living in Amsterdam, I had more than a few laugh out loud moments over the Green Nazis who populate her worst case scenarios.

Not to be read without first reading Bold As Love, I would recommend the series for any fans of smart speculative or slipstream novels.

4.0 out of 5 stars Super Reader, August 26, 2007

By 

Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Castles Made of Sand (Gollancz S.F.) (Hardcover)

The Arthurian three have brought some sort of hope and stability to the UK, at least, but the world outside still has severe problems. Europe impacts them most closely, but the USA are most definitely not big fans of theirs.

The green revolution could spill over into a rather large amount of violence.

The other thing is, in any Arthurian legend, there is an evil [...] or [...] lurking in the older generation, in general.

It is no different here. In this case, Fiorinda's father is a truly vile man. He is also, basically, now an evil wizard and partly behind what has been going on. The triumvirate has managed to spoil a lot of his fun.

When that happens, what do any heroes of the era do? Yep, attack the evil wizard in his tower stronghold, and hope they survive.