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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
hugely entertaining ancient tale,
By peter d pipinis "mysticskeptic" (berri, s.a. australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Quest for Olwen (Hardcover)
The Quest For Olwen (All-wen) is a traditional Celtic story first written down in medieval Welsh, and is here retold in English by Gwyn Thomas and Kevin Crossley-Holland, with colour and black and white illustrations by Margaret Jones.
Prince Culhwch (Keelooch) is cursed by his stepmother to love only Olwen, beautiful daughter of Ysbathaden, king of the Giants. With help from his cousin King Arthur and his knights, not to mention several wise, very old animals, he succeeds in fulfilling the very long list of incredibly difficult tasks the Giant sets for him in order to win the hand of Olwen. The wonderful details in the story - brilliantly highlighted by the superb illustrations (particularly the black and white ones) by Margaret Jones - that makes it so satisfying include the names of King Arthur's knights, and their special abilities - my favourite was Sgilti Light-Foot who, 'when he went out on an errand for his Lord, he never walked along a road. If there were trees beside the road, he would walk along the tops of them, and on a mountain side he would walk on the tips of grass blades; and for as long as he lived not one blade of grass bent beneath his feet. let alone broke, because he was so light'. During the course of the story we meet the king of the Giants, whose 'great eyes...slowly opened' only after his 'servants got hold of long pitchforks, as large as oars, and jammed them under Ysbathaden's eyelids and pushed till their faces were red as firecoals and their tongues were hanging out'. We also make the acquaintance of Wildboar, who manages to 'destroy one fifth of the land of Ireland' while being hunted by King Arthur and his followers. Last but not least we confront the Black Witch (address: 'Upper Grief Valley, The Uplands Of Hell') - who we get no description of - an oversight remedied by a very vivid illustration by Jones. She proves hard to kill until Arthur takes it on himself to fight her: 'He slashed her round the middle and divided her into two halves like twin barrels'. These are unforgettable and frightening monsters (though Ysbathaden is also hilarious). There are other killings in the story. One in particular - involving a sword - is absolutely hair-raising! Battle and hunting scenes - however poetically described - are brutal. There is no attempt to soften the violence. The integrity of the tale demands these harsh facts, and they are only a small element of it. This book will be loved by readers of all ages because it tells a compelling story which combines realism with unbounded imagination. During the first half, especially, there were magical moments when I found myself drawn totally into a world where every last creature and thing was endowed with supernatural significance. This was the world (I was made to believe) of the ancients, when an extraordinary zest for life, and wonder, reigned utterly.
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