Here are the occasional reflections of a joyful traveller along the strange pathways of fantasy and adventure. All my reviews are independent and unsolicited. I read many books that I don’t feel sufficiently enthusiastic about to review at all. Rather, this blog is intended as a celebration of the more interesting books I stumble across on my meandering reading journey, and of the important, life-affirming experiences they offer. It is but a very small thank you for the wonderful gifts their writers give.

Tuesday 14 June 2016

The Crimson Skew by S. E. Grove

 

Here is the final part of the trilogy that began with The Glass Sentence and continued in The Golden Specific. (See my posts from Jan & Aug '15.) I wrote then at length explaining my huge admiration for and enormous enjoyment of these truly wonderous books, and this conclusion fully lives up to the standard of its predecessors.

S.E. Grove's is, to my mind, easily the most original, imaginative, intelligent and convincing creation of a fantasy world since that conjured by Philip Pullman in His Dark Materials, which matches it with one of the great children's literature creations of recent years. Even its intriguing and captivating titles show the profound inventiveness of its author. (It is so refreshing to have children's fantasies whose titles do not ape the Harry Potter/Percy Jackson format: you know, Jimmy Blog and the Slime of Superstition, or whatever.) The deep, rich complex novels to which they belong are no less amazing. If you haven't done so, please read my earlier post about this megastar author and DO NOT MISS THIS WONDERFUL SEQUENCE. It may not be the quickest and easiest of recent reads, but it is up there with the greats in terms of rewards.

Hopefully it will soon be showered with awards too. it certainly deserves to be.

UK publication PLEASE.