Customer Reviews

Ingledove

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ingledove and her brother, Lang, set out to visit the grave of their mother in the mountains of the Carolinas. However, on their journey, Lang is enchanted by a mysterious music, resulting in complications that draw the children deeper and deeper into the land of Adantis. As I read Ingledove, I found myself connecting with Lang, feeling the lure of music, for me, the magical music of Youman's writing. Attempting to put the book down, I found that I, too, was hooked, needing to learn more about Adantis, the land of the Hidden People.

As with The Curse of the Raven Mocker, her first book about Adantis, Youman's writing is rich with description. Her books not only advance the plot, but they invite the poet in the reader to stop and dwell in the beauty of language.

As a middle school teacher, I'm particularly pleased to discover Marly Youman, for really fine writing is in short supply for this age reader. However, I'll not concede her writing solely to the young adult reader. This magical book will find its place on my bookshelf alongside The Curse of the Raven Mocker to be taken down and read again and again.

This is a marvelous literary MG fantasy, set in Adantis, a hidden world in the Appalachians that is a blend of Old World Scots-Irish-English settlers and Cherokee. The setting is uniquely American, and told with beautiful descriptive prose. The characters are all brought completely to life with just a bit of description and dialog, and the relationship between Ingledove, a young girl who is wise beyond her years, and Jarrett, the Master of Witchmasters, was touching and bittersweet. This book really deserves to take its place as a classic of children's literature. Youmans's other book set in Adantis, The Curse of the Raven Mocker, is also good, but in my opinion, Ingledove is even better.

I read this book after a long interval between a fantasy novel. While a lot of people don't want to read a Tolkien-esque book, that was exactly what I was looking for. The book here isn't a heavy book of fantasy that has magic, fairy tales, and adventure. It is a simple small journey to the mountains after Ingledove's town was burned down and flooded with water. While I wasn't looking for a large series of books 500 pages or more I discovered after I read this book in one sitting that that is probably what I was looking for. However, I didn't know this book was a sequel and surely you don't need to read the first book to understand the second one. If you want a quick read filled with a huge description of every single event that is taking place then choose this book. At only 200 pages I thought that this book was still too long and at times boring. After they reach Adantis though the book becomes very interesting and the last half of the book flies by. However, I wish there was more humor to the book, even in its short length. I rated this book a 3/5 because I almost threw it down and didn't finish it and I felt that it was about average.