Customer Reviews

Silver Sun

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I read this book when I was fifteen, and still think it's one of the greatest works of literature I've ever read. This is the store of Alan, and his blood brother Hal, as they struggle to fight against an evil king, find the women they love, and fulfill their destinies.

This novel has some great characterization, and Springer does a great job of portraying the complexities of life in Isle. I only wish they could reprint this series. This is one of her best books!

A must read for fantasy lover and for readers who enjoy complex characterization.

This book, which is among Ms Springer's earlier works, is a great read. Springer is a great storyteller, so while I was not surprised at the story's end, I didn't mind taking in the sights along the way.

I enjoyed Springer's references to the religious/cultural customs of past societies, without bogging the story down with largely unnecessary explanations. They simply add a backdrop which gives the story a richer and more believable flavor.

While it is now out of print, the paperback version can be inexpensively obtained from a number of used sources. Give it a try.

This is perhaps one ot the best written fantasy novels of the decade. The storyline is superior, writing style is captivating, and the reader becomes a part of the manuscript.

Being a fantasy novel author, I fully appreciate the great efforts that Nancy Springer put into creating characters that the reader can relate to and understand. Her descriptive quality of writing is fantastic.

I highly recommend this book to readers of fantasy of all ages.

Dave

When I was in 7th or 8th grade I came across a book called The Silver Sun by Nancy Springer. I read the book multiple times and it wound up being one of my favorites of all time. I don't think there was one day through 7th and 8th grade that I wasn't carrying it around with me and engrossed in it in study hall.

The Silver Sun is a fantasy novel set in the land of Isle, ruled by the tyrannical King Iscovar. The main characters are Hal, the son of the king, and Alan, his half brother.

Throughout his childhood, Hal was hated by his father and physically tortured and kept in dungeons. He escaped and has a quest to take the throne from his father and rule the land peacefully.

At the beginning of the book, Hal finds Alan, who has been robbed and beaten in the forest. Hal nurses him back to health and they soon become blood brothers and partners in the quest to take the kingdom from the evil King, building alliances with local outlaws and building an army in order to do so.

The book is filled with, and basically built around, a whole mythology. In the land in which the book is set, there are many gods. Hal worships the god called "The One", which is, in his belief system, the true god. There is a lot of mythology built around The One- and elves, the original peaceful rulers of the earth, who are immortal until they marry or are killed. Elves are not univerally believed to exist, however within the mythology surrounding The One, elves were once believed to rule the earth until humans took over and corrupted it. The elves are peaceful beings and are believed to live in a land without corruption - a perfect world that they created when the humans took over the earth - that is sheltered from the evil of the human blight.

The One also has an appointed "messiah", who is referrred to as "The Very King". Throughout the book the prophecies surrounding the coming of "The Very King" and the return of the elves begin to come true and piece by piece you begin to realize that "The One" truly exists and The Very King is soon to appear, as the prophecies laid out in the "Book of Suns" are slowly fulfilled one by one.

The Silver Sun captivated me as a young 13 year old with the detailed world it created and the mythology of hope and peace that slowly builds throughout the book. It is truly my favorite book of all time. While it has been out of print for a while, I have actually bought second copies (used) through amazon in order to make sure I always had a copy that wasn't falling apart.

Apparently it is back in print, as I have found it again on Amazon (this is the only book that I actually periodically check Amazon for to see if copies are available). So I recommend that you grab it while there are still copies available. The world that Nancy Springer builds is very engaging and inspiring and her stories are just a pure joy to read.

There are four books in the "Book of Isle" series. The White Hart, The Silver Sun, The Sable Moon, and the Black Beast. The Silver Sun makes many references to the White Hart, as it is the story of the first "Very King" to come to the land before evil took over the land. The Sable Moon continues where the Silver Sun left off, which I cannot explain further without giving away the final pieces of the Silver Sun.

I really hope this write up does this book justice and gets people to read it. I know I have tried to get Kelsi to read it a bazillion times to no avail. She's not a big fantasy book reader.

I'll definitely keep trying to convince her to take one of my copies though.

This is without a doubt the best book ever written. Known by another name The Book Of Suns Nancy Springer is my favorite author and love everything she has written she is what made me want to become a writter myself.

My cousin gave me this book when I was about fourteen, along with the Silver Sun and Sable Moon. I'm now 18, and still read and reread the books. I love them!!! The Silver Sun is definitely the best. Everyone should read them. I am also glad to know there are more books about them. The Book of Suns also is about the world Isle that is the world of Alan and Hal.

I reread this book every year or so. Something about it always touches me every time I read it. Truly an excellent story.

I'm pretty sure it's the Golden Swan, not the Black Beast, that's in this series. There is also a Hal and Alan story in Chance and Other Gestures of the Hand of Fate (which is probably also out of print, but there's a bunch of copies of it floating around).

Alan is a strong and intelligent fighter with clear eyes and a great heart. Hal, his true friend and blood brother, is a mystic as well as a fighter. Destiny spurs them to fight to free their land of the despotic rulers that have enslaved the people for seven generations, or die in the attempt. Their strength comes from their bond with each other, a partnership so strong that the One prophesied it ages ago. This is a must-read book, one whose characters and images will remain vivid for years. Springer is an excellent author, a storyteller with a knack for creating and describing new worlds, and she is at her best in The Silver Sun.

I read this book and its "sequel" (Sable Moon) as a teenager when they came out in the late '70's and early '80's, and I loved them passionately then. I still love them now, and reread them often, even as an old lady of 33. There is something in the Hal/Alan bond that never fails to move me. I only wish there was more (and I've always wished the Sable Moon actually reunited the two rather than merely hinting. I've thought of writing to the author, if I could find her!). Does anyone out there know if Ms. Springer has ever written anything else involving these characters (other than Golden Swan, and Chance and Other Gestures, which I must immediately find now that I know it includes is a Hal/Alan story)?