From Publishers Weekly
Chetwin's third novel departs from the adventures of the Wilson sisters (All Hallow's Eve, Out of the Dark World for a fairy-tale-like fantasy. A lonely woodcutter named Stig lives a simple life on Windy Mountain, until a mysterious woman appears on his doorstep and moves in with him. Silent as to her origins, she (Stig calls her "Wife") and Stig marry and set up housekeeping. Each year another child appears, all like Stig, until the 10th child, dark and mysterious like his mother, arrives alone and unannounced. Wife has left the child and her strange pendant and vanished. Stig raises the infant, Gom, to be a woodcutter. But Gom has inherited more than his mother's pendant, and his adventures begin from his ability to communicate with animals and nature. Ultimately, Gom must choose between his father's life and his mother's legacy, and the first book in this trilogy ends with Gom setting forth to find her. A pleasant if familiar story, but with a tendency toward the precious.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7 In what is apparently the first book in a projected series, "Tales of Gom," readers meet the title character, a strange lad who lives alone with his father, Stig, a woodcutter. Gom is not like his nine brothers and sisters, all of whom were farmed out to local families when their mother mysteriously disappeared. In fact, Gom is unlike anyone, except his errant mother, a fact which eventually gives rise to whispers of wizardry, for Gom is telepathic and can speak animal languages. It is Gom's powers which lead him into trouble, for his visions and subsequent discovery of a cache of gold bring him across the path of Dismas Skeller, as evil a gold-seeking malefactor as ever trod his way across the pages of a fantasy. Gom's adventures are variably pacedsome slow and seemingly insignificant, others heart-stoppingwhich makes for a good blend. Chetwin has drawn the three principal characters (Gom, Stig and Skeller) exceedingly well, while Stig's wife is purposely shadowy. All speak with a lilting country dialect which doesn't interfere with comprehension. Gom and his search for both his heritage and his destiny are pleasantly reminiscent of Ursula LeGuin's Ged ( A Wizard of Earthsea Houghton, 1968), and readers will look forward to the next installment of his exploits. Kathleen Brachmann, Highland Park Public Library, Ill.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
