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Product Description
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7-- California is the setting for this sequel to Night of the Solstice (Macmillan, 1987), which combines Arthurian legend and original fantasy. Thia Pendriel, a power-hungry sorceress from the Wildworld, awakens the great magician Merlin; Alys, Charles, Janie, and Claudia must once again help the sorceress Morgana defend the world. Smith's imaginative reworking of legend casts Merlin not as a sage, but as an unscrupulous trickster. She exhibits a sure touch with children's thoughts and feelings, and the opening scene in Claudia's third-grade classroom will draw readers quickly into the story. In the beginning, Merlin's story is entwined with the children's through Alys' dreams. The magical beings from the Wildworld are part of a third plot strand, which is less well realized than the other two. For this reason, the coming together of these elements in a pyrotechnic display of magical power at the climax does not live up to the promise of earlier pages and may leave readers with unanswered questions. --Ruth S. Vose, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
A very ordinary day in the lives of the four Hodges-Bradley children takes on frightening dimensions in the aftermath of what seems like a typical California earthquake. A year and a half has passed since the great sorceress Morgana Shee, with the children's help, closed the last gateway to the Wildworld, a shimmering parallel universe of legend and danger.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
A decent follow-up,
By
This review is from: Heart of Valor (Paperback)
This book being the sequel to Night of the Solstice, I was glad to see that it detailed a lot more of Morgana's past. No longer was she seen as the sorceress who had a very magical mystical-sounding name, but she was tied back to the Morgan of Arthurian legend, giving her a depth even beyond what Smith writes of her character.We see a significant growth in maturity for the four main characters, too. Their personalities are much the same as we saw them in the previous book, but their adventures last time, plus their continued presence around magic, has helped them to grow and strengthen. It was nice to see characters who grew without changing completely, and remained familiar without acting as though the past never occurred. This wasn't a spectacular novel, but it was a fun one to read nevertheless. It had good pacing, a good mix of calm deduction and heavy action, and would be a good read for mid-grade kids who enjoy a good modern-day fantasy story involving ordinary children getting to save the world. Teenagers and adults may still get enjoyment from this novel, too, though perhaps more as a fluff read than anything else. If this book has any one flaw, it's that it takes trips to Exposition City. Crazy things happen, and when all is said and done, somebody has to recap and fill in the blanks with information that they have cleverly deduced somehow but that never actually gets a mention in the story itself. It ties up loose ends, certainly, but it makes for a weak ending. Still, I can't say I didn't have fun reading this one, even if for me most of the fun was in the nostalgia of the book, reliving a few days in high school when I'd found a copy of this tucked back in the shelves.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews) 11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Book,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Heart of Valor (Hardcover)
This book is the sequel to L.J. Smith's first book, "The Night of the Solstice." In it, four siblings come together to help the sorceress Morgana Shee, who is the only hope of their world's safety. I enjoyed this book more than the first one because it combines Arthurian lore, other legends, and an original plot, which is a talent L.J. Smith has continued to show in her more recent books. Unlike her recent Night World series, these books were more for children than young adults, and focus more on fantasy than romance. They are wonderfully simple, with an easy-to-follow format, but contain things that even adults can enjoy. Unfortunately, relationships and characters, especially the underused Morgana, are not explored very deeply, but this book is perfect for readers of any age...especially fans of magic and legends.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This was an absolutely thrilling book.,
By njcodalvr@hotmail.com - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Heart of Valor (Paperback)
I read the whole book in a matter of 3-4 hours, I just couldn't put it down! I'm dissapointed that I could never (and still can't) find one single copy of Night of the Solstice. I have read Heart of Valor a countless number of times. L.J. Smith is the only adolescent author that I buy and read their books nowadays (I'm 16, but I started reading adult novels when I was 7). That is really something too, and I give all of her books that I have read great! reviews.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A terrific book, but not quite as good as the first one.,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Heart of Valor (Hardcover)
I liked this book a lot because it was very believable. I admire most of the characters, especially Janie, because they are very good examples, but they're not perfect. My favorite part was the trial before the Council and I think that particular scene was the most thrilling scene in the whole book, although nothing too gruesome or sensational happened. I loved the ending, although I cannot give any reasons why because they would give it away. However, it does a lot of explaining in the text, and I was a bit disappointed about that, because in the first book most of the explaining was in the dialogue. I appreciate this style more because it makes everything clear without boring the reader at all. Not that I think the sequel was boring! It is definitely one of my favorite books, but nonetheless, I like Night of the Solstice better than its successor.
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