Caribooks : Reviews with care

Fantasy Books

The Crystal Throne by Kathryn Sullivan

There's a haunted oak in Wilson's Forest, and Jeanne Tucker feels herself attracted by the tree... as if she doesn't have enough problems already.
Actually, she can feel people's emotions and pain, and many kids judge her strange or worse, and mock her. Jody, a girl new to town, is one. However Peter, Jody's twin, treats her cordially. And presently Jeanne and Peter are captured by the oak and introduced into a fantastic realm. Only, the realm of Free Lands isn't fantastic at all: three witches from Shadow Land are trying to conquer it, by violence and by magic, and the inhabitants are succumbing, unable to combat the evil power. The magicians, too, are more and more weak, because they are rapidly forgetting their spells; now they remember only the less powerful, and gradually are losing their grasp on those also. The only hope for the realm - so at least shown by the choice of the haunted oak, known in the Lands as "the Watcher" - is help from outside. The help of Jeanne and Peter.
So, in spite of disbelieving and disparity of forces, the kids begin a journey toward the core of the evil power. But their force is very small, even with the help from many creatures, and their quest will end in a defeat... unless they succeed in solving a riddle and pronounce the secret name of the being truly responsible for all that mess.

"The Crystal Throne" is a fantasy tale, and follows a model common to other fantasy stories. It's a journey toward a power source to destroy the evil reappeared in the world, menacing the life of all inhabitants. And so, there are humans (only two, really, because the others don't believe in magic), there are elves and dwarfs, trolls and goblins, leprechauns and fairies, witches and spells.
But there are original nuances, too, that make the tale refreshing. For example, besides the omnipresent magic, exists a sort of "technomagic", too, owned by the elves.
A nice touch is the use of "disbelief": Peter doesn't believe, really, in magic and that, instead of limiting the story, turns out to be a tool to enrich and vary it.
Also about the fightings, so common in fantasy stories, this book is a little different. There are few of them and, remarkably, Jeanne plainly refuses to use the violence, to carry weapons and to brandish them against other beings.
"The Crystal Throne" is a fresh and fast-paced story, with sudden twists that captivate the reader's interest and keeps the story's tension high. If you like fantasy, you'll love this story, winner of EPPIE 2002 Award as Best Fantasy Book.

(Reviewed by: Gianfranco Cazzaro)

"The Crystal Throne" (82,350 words; ISBN 1-59279-085-2 electronic; 1-59279-942-6 paperback) is published by Amber Quill Press.

Spirit Singer by Edward Willett

What can a seventeen years old girl from a lonely village do against an ageless monster, that feeds on souls and provokes terror and violence everywhere?
Amarynth lives with her grandfather, Nikos, on the hill over the fishermen's village known as Covedrift. Nikos is the village's Spirit Singer, the gifted man who guides the spirits of the deads from the Between World to the Gate and light of the Upper World.

Amarynth is still an apprentice but, before she can complete her instruction, her grandfather is killed by a devil creature, a monster roaming the Between World.

Despite her grief, the duty of Amarynth is clear: the village can't remain without a Spirit Singer, otherwise the deads will wander forever in the darkness and desperation of the Between World; for this reason she will have to find a new Spirit Singer, or to complete her instruction and return to the village to carry out that essential service.
The quest Amarynth is entrusted with doesn't seems too difficult. But, all too soon, the girl will find herself enveloped in events and tensions that threaten to reduce the world as she knows it in a world full of violence and cruelty. From adventure to adventure, the young girl will meet friends who perhaps are enemies, and opponents that can actually be allies... until she will reach the final challenge, face to face with the horrible monster, in order to complete the destiny of herself and the whole humanity.

"Spirit Singer" is a fantasy story by Edward Willett, freelance writer also known for many non-fiction works for children and teens, computer handbooks, lyric and theatrical performances.

In this book, the Author creates a story that the teen-agers certainly will like. But not only them. The tale possess a rich symbology that doesn't slow down the pace, but instead adds greater depth to it and will enthral the more mature readers (Willett himself says that "Spirit Singer is the most implicitly [...] Christian of my books").

In short, a story enjoyable by readers from 13 to... 100 years, winner of the Regina Book Award 2002, the Dream Realm Award 2003, the Eppie Award 2003. It will resonate with deep impact in your soul, and for a while, maybe, you'll find Amarynth as a new, friendly, thought-provoking "Spiritual Singer".

(Reviewed by: Gianfranco Cazzaro)

"Spirit Singer" (52,300 words; ISBN 1-58746-095-1) is published by Awe-Struck E-Books and available in many formats: pdf, pdb, html, lit, prc...

Spider World Series by Colin Wilson

All children know Lewis Carroll and "Alice in Wonderland".
But will ever come a day when they also know Colin Wilson and the "Spider World"?
The named author, Colin Wilson, is sure of this and talks about his books (five already published, seven remaining...) as "one of the most interesting things I have ever done"... "When it's finished, it will be a twelve volume work, about twice as long as The Lord of the Rings". And also much different from that one, altough both of them are "fantasy" books; for example, in the Spider World don't appear wizards, spells or magical objects.
Here we are in 25th century, and the Earth has been subdued by gigantic spiders. Humanity has been decimated and the survivors are divided in two groups: the slaves, that serve to produce food (human food, sometimes); and the runaways, scattered in caves and deserts.
Spiders don't like the desert with its suffocating heat. Nevertheless, the humans constantly scan the sky to spot the silken balloons transporting the death spiders.

Not even the underground life is sure, because the spiders, equipped with telepathic faculties, emit a terrorizing wave when they pass along. The fear evoked in the human beings is instantly unveiled and the humans killed and eaten. For that reason every person, from the infancy, is trained to control the emotions and suppress the fear reaction.
In a burrows under the desert surface lives a member of this second group, a boy, Niall, with his family, constantly threatened by the scarcity of food, the gigantic trapdoor spiders, scarabs, beetles, ants, wasps, scorpions, tiger beetles... all about the size of a man.
But gradually Niall discovers that he possess a special gift. All human beings are capable of "perceive" the presence of other humans, through a weak form of telepathy. Niall can accomplish much more. He can "enter" the mind of the desert beasts and sometimes guide their thoughts and control their will and behavior. A talent that will come in hand when bad luck will blow his family and he will be forced to undertake the more dangerous travel of his life. A travel that, maybe, will free the humanity from that seemingly eternal slavery condition.

Colin Wilson is a prolific (he has published more than sixty book, many on occult and paranormal topics) and brilliant writer. His characters are well-rounded, the world they inhabit is actually credible and interesting, the story's twists and turns gain the reader's attention.

Who will like the books of Spider World? Surely the young-adults, who will identify with the character of Niall. Also the children who are avid readers and will immerse themselves in the story. And certainly also the grown-ups, who will discover a new world, suspended between fantasy and science-fiction, that stand comparison with the world of Tolkien.

In summary, a must recommend saga, that will totally envelop you like the webs of the spiders' friend.

Spiders' friend? I'm referring to... Spiderman, obviously!

(Reviewed by: Gianfranco Cazzaro)

You can find the five books of "Spider World" - "The Desert", "The Tower", "The Fortress", "The Delta", "The Magician" - searching e.g. here