I must say that I really enjoyed this novel. Although Mr. Alexander's books are vastly unknown and underrated he will always be one of my favourite authors. I fell in love with his Chronicles of Pydian series 7 years ago and never looked back. Since that time I've taken every opportunity to scoop up his books and read them. Unfortunately, most of his books are rarely printed because no one really know about him, in fact this year I had the great fortune to come across a newly printed box set of The Chronicles of Pydian at Cosco. Needless to say I bought it then and plan on reading in fairly shortly so you can expect reviews of his lovely work at some point in the near future. The opportunity I had to get Westmark came several years ago at a library book sale. I thought it looked interesting before I was that it was my Lloyd Alexander at which point I knew that I wouldn't be leaving without it. It was one of the best decisions I've made at a library in quite some time.
In the back of the book Mr. Alexander makes some remarks about his book that I find relevant so I'm going to share them with you now. (Feel free to skip over them if you think they will spoil anything for you, as always the last paragraph shall be perfectly safe to read)
His characters are as easy to love as they are to hate and the ending was tricksy. All in all, this book was a pleasure to read. It's not too fantasy but at the same time it's not really real.
If you have recently read my review for A Storm of Swords you might think that it is odd that I'm continuing to put this book in the fantasy genre were I have stripped the Game of Thrones series of the title when it certainly has more fantastical elements than Westmark. Unfortunately, I don't have a satisfying answer as to why I've done this at all.
I give Westmark 9.5 wells out of 10. Certainly an excellent read if you can ever find it.
There are three other books in the series and I am going to try to hunt them down because I would like to read them for the obvious reasons. I'd also like to note that I give this review a 3 out of 10. Obviously my reviewing skills are not getting any better. If you have any handy tips for me please feel free to leave some helpful comments.
In the back of the book Mr. Alexander makes some remarks about his book that I find relevant so I'm going to share them with you now. (Feel free to skip over them if you think they will spoil anything for you, as always the last paragraph shall be perfectly safe to read)
"I had been writing happily for a good while, and discovered that stories of fantasy worlds were for me the best way to express my attitudes and feelings about people, problems, and relationships in our real world.He later continues on to say that he doesn't think that he has answered any of these questions but he has certainly approached them in this first volume of the Westmark series.
Still, questions stuck in my mind: the uses and abuses of power, not only the conflict between good and evil but-far more difficult-the conflict between good and good, noble ideas broken by violence even in a good cause; and, in the midst of tragedies, events that were hysterically, incongruously funny"
His characters are as easy to love as they are to hate and the ending was tricksy. All in all, this book was a pleasure to read. It's not too fantasy but at the same time it's not really real.
If you have recently read my review for A Storm of Swords you might think that it is odd that I'm continuing to put this book in the fantasy genre were I have stripped the Game of Thrones series of the title when it certainly has more fantastical elements than Westmark. Unfortunately, I don't have a satisfying answer as to why I've done this at all.
I give Westmark 9.5 wells out of 10. Certainly an excellent read if you can ever find it.
There are three other books in the series and I am going to try to hunt them down because I would like to read them for the obvious reasons. I'd also like to note that I give this review a 3 out of 10. Obviously my reviewing skills are not getting any better. If you have any handy tips for me please feel free to leave some helpful comments.
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