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The Tangled Leaves of Anniseed

The Tangled Leaves of Anniseed

Tag Archives: Magic

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman

08 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by Anniseed in Book Review

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Fantasy, Magic

Okay so I think this one is my favourite Neil Gaiman story. Read outside on a beautiful March day, it was like drifting into a weird dream, where not everything is comfy, some things are downright scary, but you trust absolutely that you’re in safe hands.

A young man returning home for a funeral has a sudden yearning to visit an isolated farm that he remembers from his childhood. Wasn’t there something odd about the duckpond? And the young girl who lived there – Lettie – whatever happened to her? And then he remembers…. The three women at the farm have always been there, ever since the Big Bang. And when creatures from beyond threatened his family, it was the women who battled them, with his help… And nothing was ever really normal again.

The imagery in this story is striking and memorable (aagh, the foot-worm!), and the way in which Gaiman builds up this magical tale enmeshed with the detail of everyday reality is breathtaking. It’s definitely one to read again and again, to delight in the precision of his words and the surety of his worlds. I’d been looking forward to reading it for ages, and it was one to savour, and it didn’t disappoint. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a film version at some point in the future – it would sit well in the style of the animated Coraline, another of his masterpieces.

And just to make a point – I borrowed this from my local public library. I’m sure Neil would approve.

Headline, 2013, ISBN 9781472200310

The Magus of Hay by Phil Rickman

21 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by Anniseed in Book Review

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Christianity, Crime, Magic, Murder, Paganism, Police, Religion, Thriller

Ooh, interesting! This was a Kindle daily deal which tempted me with the alluring of combination of paganism, murder and quirky bookshops, set just over the Welsh border. It’s part of a series – Merrily Watkins – chronicling the (mis)adventures of a parish exorcist, none of which I’ve read before so I plunged right into the latest installment. It reads well enough alone so you can follow the action, although the ongoing stories of the recurring characters remained slightly shrouded in mystery. But I enjoyed it nonetheless, and I’ve just downloaded the first two books in the series so I can get to grips with the beginning.

It’s certainly a different premise for a crime series. Merrily is the exorcist, called in to help (officially and unoffically) when bizarre occurances threaten the sanctity of Hay-on-Wye, famous for its bookselling trade. In this story, the death of a mysterious old man who lived a semi-isolated life up in the hills opens up a can of worms when his identity as a chaos magician is uncovered. Earlier in his life he had written extensively on how magic was central to the Nazi ideology, and this earned him unsavoury followers whom he spent years trying to avoid. But did someone uncover his past, and is his death a form of magical intent? When a young police officer investigating the case goes missing, events take an even darker turn.

I’ve not been to Hay-on-Wye for over twenty years, but I could really picture the town, and get a good feel of its inhabitants. The newcomers Betty and Robin with their creepy bookshop, which just might be the scene of a decades-old murder, are very sympathetic. And I loved Jeeter. Now I want to know if the actual shops are really there! The atmosphere is also built up very convincingly, as this seemingly picturesque town is revealed to harbour a sinister undercurrent of violence and hatred. Oddly, I didn’t want to leave, so engrossed I become with this odd community.

What did startle me was that according to the author, the story is not as far-fetched as it might appear – “For reasons of credibility, the eccentricity of Hay has been underplayed” he states in the credits. Several of the characters mentioned are actually real people, and the history that forms an integral part of the setting is true, as is the landscape. There are lots of famous people whose names are casually dropped, from Beryl Bainbridge to Aleister Crowley. But worryingly the satanic neo-Nazi groups on the Welsh border are also rather too real. It’s certainly challenged my romantic view of Wales…. But as a “slack pagan” myself I found it intriguing; the interplay of Christianity, neo-Paganism and and fascism could have been sensational, hysterical and misinformed, but Rickman handles it sensitively. I half-expected to be offended by the way in which Christianity or Paganism were depicted, but gratifyingly I wasn’t.

I can’t wait to read other books in this series. They’re refreshing, melding esoteric, mythical beliefs with the cold hard reality of a crime investigation, and producing something quite unique.

Atlantic Books, ISBN 9780857898685 (paperback, due June 2014)

Among Others by Jo Walton

13 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by Anniseed in Book Review

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Tags

Adolescence, Faery, Fantasy, Magic, Science Fiction

Amongothers

This is so much the book I’d wish I’d written… an intriguing tale of magic melding with science fiction in the adolescence of a young girl; an elegy to libraries and to the power of words. Teenager Mori has run away from the Welsh valleys, from her malignant mother, and the death of her beloved twin sister, to find sanctuary with her father in England. Sent to boarding school, Mori immerses herself in her love of science fiction, and finds new meaningful connections with those that can share this passion for exploring space and time. But it is the other world of faerie that keeps pulling her back to her roots, and to a final confrontation with her mother.

Whether Mori’s encounters with the elemental fae are real or figments of her imagination doesn’t really matter, neither does her constant referencing of science fiction works (you don’t need to have read them all to understand!); this is a beautifully told story that really drew me in. Mori’s fierce intelligence and independence pull you along to believe every word of her narrative, and I eagerly devoured this story, desperate to know how it ended. And it’s a great testament to the transformative power of reading, and the importance of libraries – so a sure-fire winner for me. Rating:****

Corsair, 2013, ISBN 9781472106537

Boneland by Alan Garner

05 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Anniseed in Book Review

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Tags

Fantasy, Magic, Paganism

It’s been years since I read The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath so I wasn’t sure how I’d get on with this, as my memories of the first two books are more than hazy. But surprisingly I found that you don’t need to have read them at all in order to enjoy this sequel. Colin is now a grown-up, an astrophysicist working in an observatory in Alderley Edge; looking forever for his lost sister amongst the stars, and invoking the spirits of the land to keep the world turning. Is he crazy, or is he the only one who can see clearly? You can read this as an exploration of madness, a pagan poem, as science fiction, or all three; Garner’s prose is exquisite with not a word wasted, and this is a story with many levels and many interpretations. Colin is fascinating and sympathetic in his mania, and slowly elements of the story coalesce to prove him right. Magic and science co-exist in Garner’s world, and he expresses that world beautifully. I read this each morning as I waited for my commuter train, and the mundane world did seem just that little bit more magical, more mysterious, each day, looking through Colin’s eyes. Rating: ***

Fourth Estate, 2012, ISBN 9780007463244

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