Language Of Stones [Paperback]

The cover does not really give a good guide as to the content, which is essentially an alternative history tale set around the onset of the War of the Roses. But this alternate world is very different from ours. Magicians wander around, drawing power from magical stones and keeping other creatures at bay. Willand is taken into the care of a magician, Gwydion, who speaks magic mostly in Gaelic, but sometimes slips in a bit of Welsh.

Potentially this is a great story, but I found it extremely slow. It took hundreds of pages for the characters to develop, and indeed a good many pages just to start to unravel the setting. The book would maybe have done better to forget the links with real history and geography (which are tenuous), and stick to a full scale fantasy world.

A faster plot would also aid the book.

Nevertheless it was not terrible. Anyone enjoying alternative history may love this book. The writing was good, and the action - when it finally came - was intersting, with a good and reasonably complex plot.

All in all, not a book I would recommend - but some readers with different expectations could love it.

Oh, I thoroughly enjoyed this. Spied it quite by chance whilst browsing through a shop the other day with its catchy cover, bought it, sat down and read in two sessions. Quite a remarkable first novel.

Robert Carter's The Language of Stones is set in an alternative fifteenth century England. One where a thirteen year old lad named Willard has his world rudely turned upside down on Beltine when a gandalf-esque character looms out of the darkness to claim his protege. This sorceror/warlock/wizard (Will is not sure what he is) goes by a multitude of names down the generations but is recognisable under more familiar pseudonyms as Jack O'Lantern or Merlyn , though know n throughout the novel Gwydion. The legend of King Arthur is reborn.

A forced march to the Wychwood dumps poor Will in the hands of Lord Strange with his boar's head for six months where the rebellious streak in the lad means he learns some mild naming magic and promptly nearly gets killed by a marsh hag whilst waiting for Willow, a girl of equal age that he has confused feelings for. Just in time Merlyn reappears to take Will with him as the land prepares for a coming war. A trip to meet King Hal and a last minute escape from the overly boorish Duke Edgar lands Will and Gwydion off the Irish coast whence they learn what they must do. Namely discover the battlestones that sit on the lorc lines. What follows is a coming of age for Will as he continues to prove his inheritance before ending up at Fotheringham castle under the guardianship of Duke Richard, pretender to the throne, training as a squire to the overly thuggish firstborn, Edward. Schroolroom fights and taunting later he finds himself grown to a young man, learning from the Wortmaster and struggling to deal with his feelings for Willow who has reappeared.

Gywdion returns and has fallen out of favour with the Duke after passing the exquisite diamond they found at Leir's tomb to Queen Mag. War is coming and he takes Will in a desperate attempt to locate the Doomstone, that evil-harbouring piece of granite that is driving the Realm towards War. After finding the lesser Plague stone and discovering more about his inner self Gwydion and Will find themselves at Badon Hill as Duke Richard prepares to assault the town harbouring King Hal, Duke Edgar and the Queen. A short nasty fight finds many prophecies fulfilled and Will has his own sorcerous battle at the heart of the Sightless Ones with the Doomstone cover of St Swythyn's tomb before returning to his own Shire will he enemies defeated but not vanquished.

What is sparkling about Carter is that here is clearly an author well versed in English and Celtic myth as he transcribes many names, places and myths into his own versions that are immediately recognisable to the knowledgeable reader. His finest effort is Gwydion's reference to Iuliu the Seer (or Julius Caesar to the historian) but the novel is littered with altered names and celtic mythology that seeks to demonstrate how easy it is to twist the facts by word of mouth. The lengthy author's note at the end goes into some detail about the parallels he draws with British geography and the times that preclude the Wars of the Roses. Carter is a fine author and the sequel to this opener is one novel I'll definitely be shelling out the extra for the hardback version as soon as it is out in May.

Like a modern-day Geoffrey de Monmouth, Robert Carter has crafted a detailed and thoroughly enjoyable re-imagining of British history. The myths, legends and artifacts of pre-Christian England are given new life through the story of Will, who must unravel his mysterious destiny and prevent the hidden powers of the Realm from inciting a terrible war. Elements of Mediaeval history and fantasy coalesce across a landscape that is both familiar and unfamiliar, and at times it's hard to say just where 'the real' ends and 'the unreal' begins. With a memorable cast of characters and an engaging story full of eldritch terrors and wonders, 'The Language of Stones' sits well alongside the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Evangeline Walton and Ursula Le Guin. Excellent!

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