The Crystal Gryphon is the reason I keep meaning to read more Andre Norton.  Another reread for Once Upon a Time, it’s a beautifully written book with a vivid world and excellent characters.

The narration alternates between our two leads, Kerovan and Joisan.  Kerovan was born of humans but with his taint of Old Blood showing in his amber eyes and hoofs.  He is shunned by his mother and grows up apart, despite being the son of a lord.  Wishing to affirm Kerovan as his heir, his father makes a political betrothal for him to Joisan.  She’s strong-minded and independent, but fiercely conscious of honor, duty and loyalty.  Officially married as children but never meeting, Kerovan and Joisan follow separate paths, until all plans change with the coming of invaders from across the sea.

I love Kerovan and Joisan, and the growth they each experience.  Kerovan in some ways comes to terms with his past and his differences–and in other ways does not, which is okay because there are two more books after this.  Joisan is always intelligent and strong, and in time of crisis she emerges as a leader for her people.

Without giving much away, Kerovan and Joisan do eventually meet.  I liked all of the book, but it felt most compelling when the characters came together–and in my memory, it stood out as a much larger section than it really is!  The development of the romance is brief, but felt satisfying too.

The culture and the world is immensely rich and complex, with several societies jostling together.  Kerovan and Joisan’s people have a feudal structure and loosely Medieval technology.  The invaders come with modern weaponry.  And all throughout the land, there are traces of the Old Ones, who possessed mysterious powers.  The book has some sense of a larger context, and apparently its part of Norton’s larger Witchworld series.  I don’t know much of the larger context, but I don’t feel like that was ever a barrier to reading.

I have a few criticisms…Norton relies a bit on characters experiencing compulsions, to make them do things that don’t entirely make sense but move the story forward.  Considering powerful magic and larger forces are woven throughout, though, I’ll mostly give that a pass.  The alternating POV is brilliant for getting into both characters, but can make the chronology confusing in places, when we jump backwards in the timeline with a POV shift.

But those are relatively minor issues, more than made up for by Norton’s beautiful writing style and wonderful characters.  Highly recommended–and I already got hold of the sequel.

Author’s Site: http://www.andre-norton.org/

Other reviews:
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Okay, more people should read this…hardly any reviews out there!

Buy it here: The Crystal Gryphon

We’re getting down to the end of Once Upon a Time, but I fit in another reread of an old favorite: The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern’s Classic Tale by William Goldman.  The first time I read this was in college, and it only took me a day.  I didn’t have quite so much reading time this go-around–so it took two and a half days.  It has a decent number of pages, but it’s a fast-paced, very quick, very delightful adventure story.

Plotwise, the story centers around Buttercup, the most beautiful woman in the world, who is engaged to Prince Humperdinck but in love with Westley.  But it’s not really about the plot, which is largely just a farcical blend of kidnapping, conspiracy theories, and excuses for swordfights.  It’s really about the other characters, the derring-do and the witty repartee, and the dangerous and sometimes absurd circumstances.

If you’ve seen the movie (my review here), then you’ll have a very good idea what to expect in the book.  I’ve rarely seen a movie that was so true to the book, and I’m sure that has everything to do with the fact that Goldman also wrote the screenplay.  They’re basically the same thing–the book is just a bit more.  More history of the characters, more descriptions, more witty asides.  But it’s the same in the essentials, and there were plenty of lines of dialogue I read in my head the way the actors said them.

The spoofing quality of the story may be one way the book is more.  The movie is obviously playing on adventure story tropes, but it’s even clearer in the book how much it’s deliberately poking fun at the standards.  You can see it in the main characters: the beautiful but dumb Buttercup, the impossibly heroic Westley, and the ruthless Humperdinck are all caricatures, but they’re knowingly caricatures, and they’re such entertaining ones besides.  This entire book feels like one big, sly wink.

For me, I think it’s much more about the supporting cast.  There’s Fezzik the giant who has the world’s strongest arms and biggest heart, who’s not very smart but loves rhymes, and is afraid of nothing so much as loneliness.  And there’s Inigo, a Wizard with a sword who is driven only by his desire to seek revenge on his beloved father’s murderer.  There’s also Vizzini, the brilliant and crafty Sicilian–but mostly it’s about Inigo and Fezzik.

We get more of Fezzik and Inigo and their friendship in the book.  One of my favorite sections is when the two of them enter the Zoo of Death, looking for Westley.  They both have to face fears and it’s clear that neither could make it through without the other one–and even though they squabble along the way, they seem to figure that out too.

The book has more or less the same frame story as the movie as well, though in the book it’s Goldman’s father reading him the book.  Frame story spoiler in white text, highlight if you want to read it…  The story goes that Goldman’s father read him only the good parts of the book, and now he’s abridging S. Morganstern’s classic tale…which just isn’t true.  It’s a lovely idea, but if you actually read the book, it becomes pretty clear that it’s not true (and a quick search online will confirm it), just from the style of the book itself, the things that Goldman claims to have cut, and especially the things Goldman writes about his own life.  I love the concept, though, and I love that the idea is floating out there and believed.   I think that’s why I had to do this part in white text–I wanted to comment on the whole thing, but I hate to give it away for anyone! Like I said, the book really is one huge, sly wink.

All in all, The Princess Bride is not a deep story or a profound one, but it’s just so much fun.  Watch the movie or read the book, both are light and delightful.

Other reviews:
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Elle Literate
Hot Diggity Daffodil
Anyone else?

Buy it here: The Princess Bride