I am listing these in chronological order by events as they happen in the books themselves, as that is how I found them. Many years ago, I read and enjoyed Juniper, but never thought to follow up on possible sequels. Apparently, most people encounter Wise Child first.
These are set in a Northern Britain (Cornwall, Scotland, Ireland, Dalraida) where Christianity is finally beginning to take hold over the population.
Juniper tells the story of a spoilt princess who is taken in by her godmother, a local wisewoman, to learn the powers of good witchery, healing, and herblore. The wise woman, the girl, and their young friends must rise up against the girl's evil aunt, who has ensorcelled her own child, the girl's dear cousin.
Wise Child picks up many years later, in a distant land, where a girl is abandoned by her careless sorceress of a mother and her wandering sailor father. When her grandmother dies, she is left to the care of Juniper, the local wisewoman (and, the good Christians of the village know) the witch. This young girl learns that faith and knowledge can coexist and be quite powerful, but that evil and hateful people can be powerful forces also.
Colman finishes out the series (there are indications that Ms Furlong did not have a chance to edit or revise this last volume, as she passed away immediately upon penning it). Here Juniper, Wise Child, and their (now much more important) male companions return to Juniper's home for a final confrontation (a serious let-down) with her evil aunt and her terrifying knight companion - who are much the worse for wear in this last episode.
I wouldn't say that any of them are bad, but Colman and Wise Child both suffer greatly from a lot of fear and worry and talking up of "oh dear, the bad guys are awful, what are they going to do?" and then not being able to follow that up with any sort of equal action because these really are very Juvenile-level books.
Done well, that can be ok - done not so well, it makes the bad guys fall flat, and makes the good guys look a bit idiotic for being so worried and worked-up when everything was obviously not so dangerous after all. Good guys also look a lot less good and heroic when they don't have something (or someone) of worth and equal power to oppose them, and make them really sweat for their victory.
Anyway - minor complaints. A lovely series, and one I'm glad to finally have read. Both Wise Child and Colman are sweet stories that offer lovely counterpoints to the original tale I read as a child of the spoilt Juniper and her experiences while learning to become a wisewoman.
No comments:
Post a Comment