The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley [Paperback]

Alan Garner (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Two children battle Evil itself in this fantasy classic. "Marvelously exciting . . . the story is ferocious and deeply felt."--New Statesman "A piece of marvelously sustained invention. . . . A fine, new-mint book with echoes in it from the best of the old."--(London) Times Literary Supplement

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Readers who love E. Nesbit or Susan Cooper may discover a new favorite in Alan Garner, winner of many awards for literary excellence including the Carnegie Medal. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, first published in 1960, is the story of two children, Susan and Colin, who are sent to rural England to stay with Bess Mossock, their mother's childhood nurse. The Mossocks' farm is delightfully old-fashioned, and the Alderley area is dotted with interesting woods to explore as well as treacherous disused mines. Susan and Colin encounter a frightening local woman, and feel they are being watched by crows. The air of menace quickly becomes acute danger as the children are pursued by small goblinlike beings, who truss them in cobwebby ropes. An ancient wizard named Cadellin comes to their rescue. As they learn more of the dark forces that threaten Alderley, Susan and Colin find themselves on the run through the abandoned mine tunnels, aided by a pair of heroic dwarfs.

Garner's knowledge of folklore and the Alderley area--his characters' dialect sounds realistic instead of like rote fantasy-speak--imbues his story with a thoughtful depth. His writing is as clear as poetry: "And they passed between the stones, only to stop short a couple of paces later, with despair in their hearts, cold as the east wind." There is a sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, called The Moon of Gomrath, and both books are superbly written, absorbing tales of wizardry and adventure. --Blaise Selby

Review

"Marvelously exciting . . . the story is ferocious and deeply felt."--New Statesman

 

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper; Reprint edition (April 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152017666
• ISBN-13: 978-0152017668
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,787,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Want of a Horse, May 4, 2002

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley (Paperback)

When the wizard Cadellin took up his guardianship of 140 knights who await the final battle, he had yet to acquire one last horse. When he did so, the price was higher than he expected, for the seller took the stone Firefrost, the key that keeps the knights asleep and would wake them when they were needed. And so, it was lost to the sight of Cadellin.

This is the past that shapes the story of young Susan and Colin, children sent to stay with Gowther and Bess Mossock in Cheshire while their parents are abroad. For unknown to her, Susan bears the Wierdstone itself and the children quickly find themselves at the center of a great struggle between what is fair and what is utterly evil.

They will be menaced but the evil svarts and rescued by Cadellin. They will see Firefrost fall into the hands of the witch, Selena Place and Grimnir, the dark wizard. In the company of Gowther and two dwarves, Fenodree and Durathor they will snatch the stone back from the hands of the morthbrood and quest through tunnel, cave and forest to return it to Cadellin. And they will face a final battle at the edge of Ragnarok.

In an era of fantasy writing when we expect lengthy trilogies as a matter of course, it is amazing how few of them stand up to the standard set by this little (195 page) tale for young readers. Garner is a brilliant writer, who knows exactly how phrase his words so that they gain magical weight and shape without ever becoming over blown and stilted. From the first paragraph, the reader knows that this is something special and is quickly drawn into the world that lies behind the mundane appearances of rural Cheshire. Trees menace, mansions conceal passages to the underworld, and wizards live behind stones and under lakes. If animals do not talk, they certainly 'know,' and that is even better.

I have read this book several times, and if I regret anything, it is that is was not there for me when I was the age for which it was originally intended. But Alan Garner writes for the child we never leave behind, and the book remains entirely enchanting to me. Still a native of Cheshire, Garner captures the sounds and accents of that countryside with a sure pen. The story may remind you of Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, but it is not at all derivative. Rather, it stands with them as one of the fine moments of British fantasy. By all means, give this book to your children, but do not forget to read it yourself.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A mixture of Arthurian & Scandinavian folklore, February 17, 2002

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley (Paperback)

In "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen," award-winning Cheshire writer Alan Garner retells the ancient legend of the cave of the sleeping king as a Young Adult fantasy. His story treads very lightly on the mantle of "Lord of the Rings," and a bit more heavily on Arthurian legend, but draws mainly from local folklore and Scandinavian mythology.

Except for school, a brief stint at Magdalen College, Oxford, and service in the Army, Mr. Garner has lived in Cheshire near Alderly Edge, as did generations of his family. He knows the `Weirdstone' terrain as well as its folklore, and he writes about what he knows: the cliffs and meres of Alderley Edge; and the maze of mines and tunnels that underlies Cheshire.

`Weirdstone' doesn't follow the path of a true Arthurian romance, except for the Cave Legend, and the brief appearance of Angharad Goldenhand who might or might not be the Lady of the Lake.

(The story of a king and his followers sleeping in a secret cave predates Arthur, but became attached to him as the `once and future king,' who will wake to serve his country again in time of great peril.)

There is also the wizard who guards the Cave. In this story, his name is Cadellin, and a few centuries past he misplaced the Weirdstone of Brisingamen while bargaining for a milk-white mare.

This story really begins when two children, Colin and Susan get off the train at Alderley Station. They are going to stay on the Mossock farm while their parents travel abroad, as Mrs. Mossock was their mother's former nurse. Susan happens to be wearing a bracelet set with an unusual stone, and we gradually learn the history of the stone, which has been passed down from mother to daughter of a local Chesire family, and finally to Susan. As family legend has it, a wizard traded the stone for a milk-white mare.

Very soon Colin and Susan discover the truth of the family legend, when they are rescued from a band of goblins (svart-alfar) by the wizard, Cadellin, and are taken to the cave where a King sleeps, along with a hundred knights clad in silver and mounted on milk-white steeds.

Cadellin doesn't realize why Colin and Susan were being hunted by the servants of Nastrond, the evil spirit of Ragnarok. Only after Susan's bracelet is stolen by a skeletal creature of the mist, does Cadellin understand that she possessed his magical Weirdstone.

Colin and Susan's quest to return the stone to Cadellin leads them on a desperate chase through the mines beneath Cheshire, and into a countryside transformed by a fierce and unseasonable fimbulwinter (the immediate prelude to the end of the world---Ragnarok.)

This is not a good story for the claustrophobic (I almost lost it when the kids were stuck down in the mine)or for those who don't like things that go bump in the night. There are monsters galore; almost too many to keep track of. There are powerful wizards, both good and evil.

And then, there is Ragnarok.

However, this is a good read for those who are not easily frightened (or who love a good fright), and who have at least some knowledge of Arthurian legends and Scandinavian folklore.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spellbinding classic fantasy, December 31, 2001

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley (Paperback)

Wizards, dwarves, goblins and elves - Tolkien, right? Wrong, it's Alan Garner's "Weirdstone of Brisingamen," a spellbinding story in the true tradition of imaginative and inventive fantasy. Garner isn't as well-known as he deserves, but fantasy fans will gobble this right up.

Colin and Susan, a pair of English schoolkids, are sent to Alderly for a six-month vacation with their mother's old nurse and her husband. Things start off normally enough, with the kids exploring the area and the myths, legends and superstitions surrounding it. But things begin to take an eerie turn when they encounter a spell-chanting old woman named Selina Place - and then a horde of svart-alfar, hideous and hostile goblins.

They are unexpectedly rescued by the wizard Cadellin, who is the keeper of a company of knights sleeping deep under Alderly. They will awaken at some time in the future, to combat the evil spirit Nastrond and his minions in the final, magical battle. There's just one problem: long ago, Cadellin lost the Weirdstone of Brisingamen, the magical jewel that bound the knights there in the first place. Susan realizes too late that the little misty teardrop gem in her bracelet is the Weirdstone - and it's been stolen. The kids team up with Cadellin, the dwarves Fenodyree and Durathror, the lios-alfar (elves), and their friend Gowther to find the Weirdstone - and save the world.

Written in the 1960s, this book effectively combines the English-schoolkids-swept-into-magical adventure subgenre with mythology and the overlap of our world with another. Garner's wizards, dwarves, elves and goblins are as legit as Tolkien's, as Garner draws heavily from mythos and legends. There are similarities to Tolkien's creations, but they are sufficiently different that not once do you feel the need to compare. Garner lifts from Norse and Celtic mythologies for this book (mentions of the Morrigan and Ragnarok are featured within pages of one another) and manages to cobble it together into a coherent and believable whole.

Alderly is effectively shown - from the moment the kids venture out of the farm, you get the sense that enchantment is thrumming through the land, and that a magical creature could be lurking nearby. The sense of atmosphere is somewhat stunted by the fact that we rarely hear the characters' thoughts, though, but such creatures as the svart-alfar and the lios-alfar are effective in the simple, evocative descriptions.

This is a book more for Tolkien fans than Diana Wynne-Jones fans. Though there are a few funny parts, it is overall a relentlessly serious book, with many of the characters using archaic-sounding language. Another good thing: the kids speak like twentieth-century preteens ("That WOULD have made a mess of things!") while such characters as Durathror speaking like warriors from centuries ago ("... for there I think it will be, and so to Fundindelve, where I shall join you if I may.") In addition, there is no cutesy magic or gimmickry, or casual magical elements popping up every page or two. The magic featured in here is deadly serious and very intense.

Colin and Susan are the archetypical kids-on-holiday-in-magical-place: brave, respectful, inquisitive, curious, and in completely over their heads. Cadellin is an excellent wizard, dignified and powerful but sufficiently human to be sympathetic, such as his reaction when he hears that the Weirdstone has been stolen from Susan. This guy deserves a seat right below Gandalf, and alongside Merlin, Ged and Ebenezum. The dwarves are serious and unusually cool-headed for the fantasy portrayal of dwarves; the lios-alfar are featured less prominently, but the "elves of light" passage is one of the most moving paragraphs in the book, both sad and beautiful.

The only problem with this book is its shortness, and its presence as only one of two. The tales of Alderly are so rich that you feel that Garner could have churned out fifty books and never grown stale. If you are a fan of serious fantasy, for any age, read this book, and the sequel "Moon of Gomrath."