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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Good, the Bad and the Undying, May 14, 1998
By A Customer
A young dissident flees his home town in an earldom downtrodden by a harsh ruler and his martial forces, and winds up trying to survive at sea with the grand niece and nephew of that very Earl. And then, the mysterious Undying take a hand and you realize that nothing is as it seemed. There are more things at stake than were clear at first. Out of all her fantastic books, this one is my all-time favorite. Mitt, the hero, is in a situation of such inner and outer difficulty and truly walks the lonely knife edge between right and wrong. And all the while, he is so familiar and likeable that you feel you have been friends for years. I respect this author so much for not being treacly or saccharin, but still being so compassionate and wise. She never falls for a stereotype & fully promotes the good mystery in life. What is not to love? I always wished there was a Mitt to really meet. If only all authors kept such high standards!
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The plots thicken and the magic deepens, March 12, 2002
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, but in subtle ways - through common geography, family names that link with the long history of Dalemark and its peculiar "gods". Diana Wynne Jones always provides the pleasure of well-told, formula-busting stories. In her Quartet, she also provides the pleasure of watching an intricate pattern unfold behind the stories. In this second volume, we meet at last the main character of the series, Mitt, raised in poverty under the grinding heel of the despotic Earls of South Dalemark, grown up too soon, and recruited early to the dangers and exhilarations of a revolutionary underground in the seaport of Holand. The plots and counterplots he's embroiled in come to a head at the port's spring festival, when all the nobles must take part in a grand procession to the sea, carrying the festival effigies of Drowned Ammet and Libby Beer to be cast into the harbor. No one remembers why the ritual has to be performed, but no one dares to alter the tradition. Well, Drowned Ammet may remember. And perhaps that's why everyone's best laid plans start going queer... Family drama, peril on the high seas, ancient magics awakened - there's a lot of action packed into these pages. Young adults will love it, and Ms. Jones proves once again to her crossover adult audience that YA doesn't *always* stand for Yawns Assured. Just for rousing storytelling, I give volumes 1 and 3 four and a half stars, volumes 2 and 4 four stars. But the Quartet is more than the sum of its parts, and the series as a whole merits five.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fine continuation to the Dalemark Quartet, September 21, 2001
_Drowned Ammet_ is the second in Diana Wynne Jones' _Dalemark Quartet_. It is set roughly contemporaneously with the first book, _Cart and Cwidder_. In this book we meet Alhammitt, or Mitt, a poor boy from the far southern town of Holand, who becomes somewhat radicalized when his father and mother are thrown out of their farm for capricious reasons by the tax collector for the evil Earl Hadd. Later his father's involvement with the Free Holanders goes terribly wrong, leaving Mitt and his feckless mother alone. Mitt grows up a sailor and later a gunsmith's apprentice, and plots to gain revenge on both the Free Holanders (for betraying his father) and on Earl Hadd (for pretty much everything) by killing the Earl and implicating the Free Holanders. But this plot too goes terribly wrong, and Mitt ends up on a yacht with the two of the Earl's grandchildren, heading for the North. I liked this book quite a bit -- Jones' puts her characters (Mitt and the two noble children) under great stress -- not just physical danger but she pushes them to see their own severe personal faults, and this works very well. The fantastical elements, involving the mysterious godlike figures of Ammet and Libby Beer, are very nicely evoked. The political situation is also well described and realistic. The plot is well resolved, albeit with a bit of convenience, maybe with a bit more magical help than I like, and with a plot twist that even though I saw it coming, I could hardly believe she had the effrontery to exercise. (And I thought it just a shade unfair.) All told, though, a very nice book, and coupled with the first clearly part of a series, but reasonably well contained too.
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