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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
We find this novel extraordinary, February 2, 2003
This book is classic Lloyd Alexander -- funny, romantic, complicated and well-written, with likeable heroes and a fresh plotline. A lot of the stuff in it is in the mold of other books like the Prydain Chronicles and "Arkadians," but it never feels stale at all. In the country of Hamelin-Loring, Sebastian is the fourth fiddler in the Baron's orchestra, and a mistake costs him his job and sends him wandering with nothing but his fiddle. He loses the fiddle to a gang of thugs, and gains a pet cat called Presto. When he tries to steal food he is rescued from death by a pleasant stranger called Nicholas, who takes Sebastian under his wing. But they end up rescuing a girl dressed as a boy, who happens to be the Princess Isabel, who has run away from her castle so that she will not have to marry the Regent. To save themselves they will have to dodge the Regent's ruthless spies and soldiers, the disgruntled citizens of Hamelin-Loring, and possibly the mysterious rebel Captain -- with a ragtag circus troupe, a cursed violin, and a very smart cat as their allies. "Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian" is a charming, delightful story that shows Alexander at his best, with the exception of the Prydain Chronicles. Alexander keeps a good pace and storyline going while also including a few subtle lessons about pride, love, kindness, and a few things about music. (He himself plays the violin) He throws in a few twisting plot developments that will keep you guessing about the seemingly cursed violin, which plays for Sebastian as it did for no one else, and the mysterious Captain, whose identity is kept a secret for most of the book. His writing style is brisk and fast, with a lot of funny dialogue (especially Isabel's very verbose sentences) and charming characters (the various circus performers). Sebastian is the nice-guy hero that Alexander does so well, while Isabel is a bit different from his other heroines, in that she has a major lesson to learn -- originally she's a bit snobby, naive and full of herself rather than full of common-sense. Nicholas is harder to pin down, since many of his actions really don't make sense at first; Presto is delightfully three-dimensional considering that he is a cat who never talks. "Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian" lives up to its title, and readers will definitely enjoy it. Especially if they play the violin.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A marvelous stand-alone adventure, full of wit and charm, February 18, 2009
An excellent introduction to Alexander for readers not ready for the serious issue of Alexander's Westmark trilogy, with similar issues treated in a more lighthearted way. Alexander is always good, but this is perhaps his best book: lyrical, light, charming, and with a real message about the dangers of giving into tyranny.
The cover will skew readership unjustly downward; the rascal hero Sebastian seems about 17 in the story, if naive for his age.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
"They're Waiting for Us, All Those We Love...", May 24, 2008
Despite its mouthful of a title, this children's novel has everything that you would expect from Lloyd Alexander story: a likeable protagonist, a colourful supporting cast, plenty of twists and turns, and a profound morality at work that is so expertly melded into the storyline that many won't even realized they've been reading about it.
Set in what feels like sixteenth-century Italy (though Alexander is never specific on the time or location) young Sebastian is a fiddler for the Baron Purn-Hessel, up until the time a badly-timed discord on his fiddle coincides with the gluttonous Treasurer bending over. Thinking his pants have been torn, and then believing that Sebastian deliberately made the noise to embarrass him, the Treasurer demands his immediate dismissal - which is how Sebastian finds himself wandering the countryside with his fiddle and little else.
He's soon accompanied by a white cat named Presto, a burly villager named Nicolas, and the badly-disguised Princess Isabel, learning that the Regent of the country is forcing her hand in marriage and that the people of the country are suffering under his rule. Determined to join forces with the mysterious Captain (a rebel working against the Regent's tyranny), Sebastian first must survive the more mundane trials of angry mobs out to kill him, and the curse of a beautifully carved fiddle that threatens to steal away his spirit with its beautiful music.
The story is reasonably straightforward (several times I was expecting some twists in the plot, but these never came to fruition), but there are plenty of laughs, particularly when Sebastian falls in with a traveling theatre called the Gallimaufry-Theatricus. Sebastian himself is a perfectly nice protagonist whose main attribute is his boundless optimism, though most of the character development goes to Princess Isabel, who we first meet as a stiff, rather nervous monarch (with a very long-winded way of speaking) to a more relaxed young woman with a greater understanding of how her kingdom should be run. Perhaps the story should have been about her, considering she goes through the major character development of the story - but Alexander was no doubt daunted by her dialogue. Here's a sample: "Sir, in future and presumably more favourable circumstances, your courtesy shall be both gratefully remembered and appropriately recompensed." She's like that for pretty much the whole book!
The pace of the story is brisk, and the language is clear and descriptive (but what else would you expect from Alexander Lloyd?) giving young readers plenty of opportunities to extend their vocabulary. There are a couple of loose ends, particularly the exact nature of Sebastian's fiddle, which is hinted to have magical powers - yet in the story's wrap-up, one of the characters pretty much tells Sebastian (and the reader): "We'll never know."
But it's impossible for Lloyd Alexander to write a bad book, and although "The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian" isn't quite up to the standards of the The Prydain Chronicles or the Westmark (Westmark Trilogy), this is a great little book.
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