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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting jaunt into fantasy,
By K. Calen (Rome, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: DEVIL'S CHILDREN (Changes Trilogy) (Mass Market Paperback)
This book is a great diversion for a few days entertainment. I have never been a huge fan of fantasy, but I appreciated this novel and what it had to offer. First off, I'd like to say that the other review on this site is wrong. The synopsis is for the SECOND book in the series (Heartsease), and not "The Devil's Children."
This book begins in a cryptic manner, and intriguingly, ends that way, too. The beginning and end of this book were what held me, although the story within the pages is exciting and interesting as well. The story revolves around young Nicola Gore, who has been separated from her family during the "Changes." The Changes is a vaguely described as a time when machinery must end because of the effect it has on English humans. England reverts to medieval times, employing the use of blacksmiths and the like, and ridding their world of all machinery like tractors, guns, and alarm clocks. Nicola returns home to wait for her parents, but after 28 days, leaves with a traveling band of Sikhs. This book expands on her adventures with the new people and their trials and tribulations. It also deals with the pain of Nicky being separated from her family, putting up barriers around her heart, and learning to live independantly. I won't give away the exciting points of the book. It will suffice to say that there are moments where the book gets gorey and viscious, but never to the point of needing to shield a young adult reader from the book. Peter Dickinson is a delightful author. He writes incredibly well and I am very happy to have finally read one of his books. I intend to continue reading the series. I would recommend this book for any younger reader interested in different ways of life. It is not fantasy like "The Lord of the Rings" or "Harry Potter." It is much more likely to happen than either of those. (Although both of the others are wonderful reads, as well.) Overall, I give this book 4 stars. It had moments of dead time that could have been more interesting.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A culture closing in on itself,
By
This review is from: DEVIL'S CHILDREN (Changes Trilogy) (Mass Market Paperback)
I read "The Devil's Children in an evening, and I am going to try to locate the other two books in the series as well. The setting is a twentieth century England where the English people have recently and mysteriously been afflicted by a loathing of --and a compulsion to destroy-- technology, as well a mild but increasing amnesia of any concepts or ideas that might involve thinking about a world removed from the immediate surroundings. "We have not talked to the village about this, but we think that all this island is closing in on itself." Young Nicky meets a large family of Sikhs (called "The Devil's Children" by some of the xenophobic English), some native to India and others born in England, who are apparently (and once again, mysteriously) immune to the madness. "She felt she ought to know about the war, and about Indians, just as she ought to have known about turbans, but she'd forgotten. She was irritated by being forced to recognize another of those moments when she saw or heard something which felt as though she'd dreamed it before, but had forgotten the dream." Adrift by herself, Nicky accompanies them for their mutual benefit, and the group copes with survival on a level beyond scavenging. While the point of the story is the irrational behavior brought about by the change, and there is some violence (as will happen in adventures), the tone of the writing is positive about people, over-all. It is not unduly gloomy for a young reader.
I wonder if the writer, Peter Dickinson, was observing anti-technological and isolationist tendencies in 1960's England, that inspired this series.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic fantasy suitable for all ages,
This review is from: DEVIL'S CHILDREN (Changes Trilogy) (Hardcover)
The first book in The Changes Trilogy, The Devil's Children starts Margret and Jonathan's quest through a 'changed' England in which everyone, except a chosen few, is deathly and irrationally afraid of technology. Margret is one of the few who have noticed the changes and she must run or be executed as a witch. Her quest: to find out what went wrong, and a possible remedy
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