Customer Reviews

The Wizard in the Tree

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this fantasy tale the main character Mallory notices something strange about an old felled oak tree and discovers a tattered old wizared trapped in the oak for thousands of years. The wizard realizes that he has lost his magical powers and enlists Mallory to help him get back to his home where the magic folk live. Together they discover that the village villainous Squire plots to own the entire village and by working with each other they manage to save the village from the greedy Squire. This story has many plots with lots of twist and turns that keeps the reader laughing at their many adventures. It's a great book for the young adult.

I never thought I'd give two stars to a Lloyd Alexander story, but sadly this story is far below his usual fare. After reading the similar "Cat Who Wished To Be A Man" I expected excellence from this book. I was somewhat disappointed.

Mallory is a young girl who loves stories about magic and wizards and so forth; she also lives in a village ruled over by the repulsive Squire Scrupner, who is milking the people for money while masking it under faux benevolence. But when she notices an oddity about an old oak, she finds a real live -- and very cranky -- wizard inside!

Arbican was a powerful wizard who broke a certain law, and ended up sealed inside the tree. Thus, he hasn't been able to follow his fellow wizards across the sea, and his magic has gradually seeped away. Mallory agrees to keep Arbican a secret from her shrewish inkeeper and her spineless husband, and especially from Squire Scrupner.

But soon Arbican is revealed to the Squire--who uses him as a scapegoat for the death of the old squire. Mallory and Arbican end up in a perilous situation, with the squire determined to commit murder again.

It took me a while to understand why I disliked this book. Finally I figured out why: the story just lacks what we expect from Lloyd Alexander. With the greedy squire/mayor sapping money from the townsfolk, and the intervention of a magical being, it is similar in some respects to "Cat", but lacks what made that other book so appealing.

It lacks the supporting characters that Alexander does so well, and thus we get a rather stifling view of this invented land. His trademark humor and wit are rather underdone, as the only person with wit is Arbican and his seems to be a rather malicious one. Also, most of the characters other than Mallory are completely unsympathetic: The squire is detestable, so is the fawning woman that Mallory lives with, her husband is a first-order wimp, the farmer is a thief and child-abuser, his son is about the same, Arbican never apologizes for his snappishness or really does much at all, and only really shows much graciousness at the end.

The story gets two stars for being written in Lloyd Alexander's excellent style, and also for featuring the nice, fantasy-fed heroine Mallory.

Unfortunately Mallory cannot save this tale. I can only speculate that Alexander was experiencing a rather dreary view of humanity while writing this story, and scoot on to something else.

Finally a book that tells how magic really works! Mr. Alexander is well-spoken in magic and in this book he reveals that having magic powers isn't all it is cracked up to be. The author makes a few wise insights in this book. With a good lesson and an even better ending this book tells it how it is about the world of magic.

Mallory is not happy, and is living a miserable existence. She is an orphaned teenager being raised in rough manner by her new guardian, who mostly uses her as a slave which includes regular beatings. To make matters worse her idyllic village is being taken over by a greedy local squire who is scheming to take away the local farms and businesses. In their place will be the shops, farms, and Inns that he will own, and the verdant farmland will be dug up for coal.

Mallory always loved the old stories of magic and wizards. Unbelievably, she manages to rescue a real wizard named Arbican trapped in a tree. The wizard she finds is shockingly different than in the stories. He won't grant 3 wishes for one thing even though she rescued him. And to top it off, rather than showing his gratitude and helping her in her miserable state, he is permanently grouchy and wants to leave immediately. Confusingly for Mallory, she has to feed him and protect him, rather than the other way around.

The plot has many surprises and keeps you guessing. It delivers plenty of suspense and big surprises. I believe that in the long run the story is about the magic that we all have within, through perseverance, ingenuity, bravery, and other positive traits that get us through hard times. Arbican's magic takes a back seat to all of these, but usually in a hilarious way. When he is able to use his magic, it is usually done wrong... such as the time he wants to fly and turns himself into a goose instead. "Catch hold! The spell's gone wrong! Pull me down! I'm floating away!"
It is a short book, but fast-paced at 134 pages. Great coverart. There is a lot if fun in this story, it is a quick read, with an upbeat ending. I recommend.

In the story The Wizard in the Tree By Lloyd Alexander Mallory and a wizard named Arbacan experienced some terrifying adventures. If you like scary adventures, this is the book for you.
When Mallory finds Arbacan in the tree, Arbacan explains that he got put in the tree because Wizard are not supposed to fiddle with nature in the human world before they leave to Vale Innis. If they fiddled with the environment before they left they would be a part of whatever they fiddled with. When Mallory finds somewhere for Arbacan to stay, she goes and get food. When she brings the food back, Scrupnor the squire follows her. He chases Arbacan and Mallory for hours. Finally they get caught.
Will Mallory be forced to be Scrupnor's slave? Will Arbacan get beaten until he grants wishes for Scrupnor? Will Arbacan escape or not? Will Mallory escape? My favorite part is when Mallory and Arbacan have to sneak past all of Scrupnors guards. Will they sneak out without getting caught? They experience fabulous adventures until Arbacan has to leave to Vale Innis. Arbacan gives Mallory a magical gift before he leaves. What power does this gift has? Will Mallory be able to see Arbacan when she needs a friend? I encourage you to read The Wizard in the Tree.

Well, compared to a several books by Lloyd Alexander, this book isnt nearly as interesting or fun as others. However, it's still a very good book and, as all Lloyd Alexanders, a great read with very cool characters.

This book is for older kids, but I read it aloud to our 8 and 5 yo. Parents may want to know there is some language they may want to substitute, and there is a bit of murder in the book. The story is great though..our kids really enjoyed listening to it and looking at the illustrations.

This is a mystery, magic, fantasy story for older children with black and white illustrations.

I think this is a very interesting story. It has an excellent plot and is very easily understood.

All the wizards have long since departed this land for Vale Innis - but one has been left behind. When Mallory's favourite oak tree is felled, she finds a surprising discovery inside: an old wizard named Arbican who's desperate to follow his fellow wizards across the sea. The orphaned Mallory has grown up with stories of magic and enchantment, and couldn't be more delighted with the discovery - especially if there's a chance that she can go with him. Mallory does not have the most wonderful life as scullery maid to the nasty Mrs Parsel, but Arbican has bigger problems: his magical powers have been severely depleted, and if he does not reach Vale Innis soon he faces imminent death.

It sounds like another wonderful Lloyd Alexander story, but sadly "The Wizard in the Tree" falls short on several levels. It is a very slim novel, and so does not have time to delve very deeply into character or plot development - instead the story is made up of Mallory and Arbican running from various members of the neighbourhood who are intent on exploiting Arbican and harming Mallory. This complete lack of likeable secondary characters is surprising for Alexander, since friendship and teamwork is a major theme of many of his other books (particularly his beloved "Chronicles of Prydain"). Although Mallory is a spunky young heroine, Arbican is not as easy to like. He's bad-tempered and arrogant, faults that are not balanced or made endearing with the inclusion of more likeable traits. The more intriguing magical elements of the plot are overshadowed by the sinister designs of the corrupt Squire Scrupner who is too much of a one-dimension villain to be particularly interesting (a greedy land-developer who's out for all he can get). There's also some surprisingly strong language: Mallory is called "slut" throughout the novel by various characters.

Alexander also adds a general theme of environmentalism and love of country-side that is much akin to Tolkien's use of the topic with his Ents versus Saruman subplot. However, his general setting of early 19th century countryside, with rustic occupations and dialect is quite appealing, and his commentary on the true nature of magic is thought-provoking (though sadly there's not enough of it).

Laszlo Kubinyi provides simple, but lovely illustrations that portray Mallory particularly well and capture the time-period of the story in the clothing and hairstyles of the characters.

Ultimately, it is a harmless enough story, but is simply not up to the exceptional standards of other Lloyd Alexander publications.