Customer Reviews

Midwinter Nightingale (Wolves Chronicles)

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Who needs Harry Potter when you can thrill to the adventures of Dido Twite, the indefatigable Cockney heroine of Joan Aiken's Wolves Chronicles?
In this latest installment, Dido is back in England during the (fictional) reign of King Richard IV, just in time to help save the throne from the loutish son of a werewolf baron. Yes, the plot sounds outrageous, and perhaps it is--but the story is so fast-paced, the narrative so vivid and yet so concise, and the characters so charismatic that even the most literal-minded reader (youngster or adult) is unlikely to care.
For fans of Aiken's entire series, which begins with "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" and includes "Black Hearts in Battersea," "Nightbirds on Nantucket," and "The Cuckoo Tree" (one of my favorites), one of the most rewarding aspects of "Midwinter Nightingale" is Dido's reunion with her mate Simon--and the bittersweet yet open-ended way Aiken closes the book. Surely another episode is in the works?

I have been a fan of Joan Aiken's Wolves chronicles ever since my mother brought home The Wolves of Willoughby Chase for me to read in first grade; I own most of her books and enjoy her short stories and other novels as well. However, both this novel and the preceding Dangerous Games disappointed me. While I have no objections to the fantastic plot, it needed to be more fleshed out in order to be convincing. In The Stolen Lake and The Cuckoo Tree Ms Aiken successfully meshed magical, mysterious elements with the vivid, real-feeling world of her novels. Midwinter Nightingale, despite some promising plot elements, falters: she takes her readers' suspension of disbelief for granted. This wouldn't be so bad, however, if the characters held up. Instead, Dido seems a flat imitation of her usual self, drained of all complexity and turned into a dashing puppet. Simon, too, is reduced to a cricature. The villains are unconvincing, and they way that the story deals with them is troubling. One character in particular does not seem evil enough to merit the swift death and lack of remorse that the plot imposes, while another character is killed off in a rather callous manner. I hope that Joan Aiken's next (and final) novel is a return to form; all of her previous books are so good, it would be a shame for this one to overshadow her memory.

I loved Joan Aiken's series, starting with the Wolves of Willoughby Chase, when I was a child, and now at 36 they still have just as much ability to charm me. This latest in the installment had enough excitement and humor to keep me reading cover to cover in one sitting. At first I thought she might have gone too far in this story line-werewolves after all! (though I suppose after the Stolen Lake anything was possible), but Aiken carried it off admirably. I was a bit disappointed by the ending though. I suppose I was hoping she might wrap up the story, not because I want the series to end (I wish it could go on forever), but because Aiken is 80 after all and I hope she ties up loose ends before she dies. I hope she's working on the next one!

Dido Twite has just returned to England, from a visit to Nantucket, and a chilling welcome greets her. She is captured and imprisoned by Baron Rudh (werewolf), his awful son Lot, and the evil Duchess of Burgundy. Her captors hope that she will lead them to Simon Battersea (6th Duke of Battersea) and King Richard, who is on his deathbed. The bad trio plan to put Lot on the throne.

Meanwhile, Simon is struggling to hide King Richard, in the flooded wetlands (where the Burgundians are planning to invade).
Simon also has to find the ancient coronet, but is hampered by the boring Jorinda, a flock of sheep, Russian Bears, and the United Real Saxon Army, who do not fight.

Who will be the King?

A thrilling novel, by Joan Aiken, that makes you want to read it.

Wolves of Willoughby Chase won a newbery honor or medal. The series continued in Nightbirds off Nantucket, with a trip to America. I must admit I never knowbwho Aiken was writing for--children or for grownups who will venture into the Children's Room and brave the children's librarians. The "Wolves" series centers on two characters: Simon,who enters as a goose boy dwelling in cave near an English mansion called Willoughby Chase, which is the setting for part of only the first book in the series. Black Hearts over Battersea is actually the second, which introduces Dido Twite, A late-born sprite. Dido travels the world, meeting and saving people from awful fates. Dido and Simon become a romantic diad, tied by fate and parted by fate just as frequently. Aiken shifted history in her books, to put technology and politics where they made good drama. enjoy the ride. Nightingale, one of the last books in this series that was published over a period of decades, includes magic, fate, evil relatives, kings, islands, cellars, and Dido and Simon. Aiken won't be writing any more. She died a few years ago. If you have to get her books from your local library and from inter-library loan, you won't be sorry.

Midwinter Nightingale
By: Joan Aiken

" What? Where am I? And my keys-where are the keys of the palace?" wailed the king. The king is becoming sicker and sicker each day, and the enemy grows ever closer. How much longer does King Richard have before he goes to live among the angels? King Richard goes missing just before Dido Twite comes back from America. She is a good friend of Simon Bakerloo, the duke of Battersea, who is also gone missing. Not only does the king's archbishop believe that Dido knows where the two are, but the Duchess of Burgundy thinks so too. As soon as Dido is finished being questioned by the archbishop, she is kidnapped and taken to an old school that is being used as the Burgundian's headquarters. While Dido is trying to stay alive and find a way out of the dreadful place, Simon is struggling to keep the king alive long enough so that he can find King Alfred's headpiece. He already knows that the king`s, "Cousin Dick," days are numbered, so Simon is trying to find King Alfred's headpiece, so that he can finish the coronet ceremony which is the passing of the headpiece to the new king. Dido escapes the school and meets up with Simon and his faithful herd of animals, a flock of sheep and two bears accidentally imported from Russia. Together they are able to get the king and themselves to safety and perform the coronet ceremony just minutes before the king dies. Luckily for the king, he was able to hear the nightingales sing one last time efore he passed away. This was a good book, but it was a little confusing at times. The setting is in England, so the characters talked like the English do. I would recommend this book to all who love to read an exciting mystery.
English people talk different from Americans, so some words were confusing, but it got the reader into the book because by reading the dialogue, it felt like the person was talking to you. Just before the king died, he met and talked to an old friend. He said, "`Sir Thomas Coldace?' he whispered. `Nay, he's no stranger. I ken him well. I'd like tae see the callant!'" Another English use of a word was how the used "Ay" before beginning a sentence, like Americans use hey. Another example of how confusing the dialogue became was when Simon was talking to the king and he replied, "'Och, aye, so tis. Lucy who scarce seven hours herself unveils.'"
This book was somewhat disturbing in the horrible ways the people were killed. One man who refused to tell the duchess where the king was hiding was stuffed into a tiny crate, starved for several days, and then thrown into a moat full of crocodiles. Another gruesome death was when Lot's father who had just gotten out of prison was killed my molten silver. His own daughter set fire to the school. Then the bags of silver were melted down and were poured onto Magnus as he tried to climb the ladder. The most horrific death was when lot killed his own sister. He was trying to kill Simon, but he moved out of the way, and Lot's sister Jorinda stepped in to protect Simon. Lot caught her right in the throat with his spear and it took him a while to try to get it out of her throat.
This book had some interesting characters. Simon Bakerloo, who was a duke, was very modest to be of such high authority. When he is first introduced, he is riding a regular train and meets Jorinda. He shows great patience that helped him be patient and levelheaded with the king. Aboard the train, he had to listen to the constant chatter of Jorinda. The when they had a train check he had to withstand being checked many times by the guards. They had put stolen jewels in Simon's bags, but Simon had checked them and took them out before his bag was checked. Aunt Titania was another character. She had the gift of prophesy and tried to us it to figure out what side she wanted to be on. She helped Cousin Dick through most of his sickness, but two days before he died, she left without telling Simon and went to the school where the duchess was. The last character was Baron Magnus. He was an awful man. The reason he had been in prison was because he'd murdered people, and the reason why he killed people was that he was a werewolf and couldn't help it. The thing was is that even though he couldn't help that, he could stop himself from murdering others when he was in his human form, but he didn't. After he got out of prison, he killed the doctor that had taken care of him and all the guards that had watched his room.
Midwinter Nightingale is a great book. If you want to read about a werewolf craving revenge, an ailing king and some strange animal behaviors plus twenty new ways to torture a person, this is the book for you. It's a great book to get lost in for hours!





S.Gore