In my piece on The Weirdstone of Brisingamen I wrote about the nature of magic in Garner as wild and unbound by scientific rules in the way that many more modern systems of magic are. Magic systems are something that fascinate me in books, a good magic system can not only bring wonder and delight but can allow us to explore different elements of society. In the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan it explores dynamics of gender and power by making magic work differently for men and women. Lots of magics corrupt or give a reason not to use them, giving characters ways to overcome insurmountable odds but making them wary of the cost. Brandon Sanderson is a brilliant creator of interesting magic systems which allow you to imagine what is possible beyond that which you see, magic systems which influnce the world they are in allowing you to see how society could have developed differently. Garner's magic is of a different older kind, a kind that feels like it has not been created but found and a kind where the apelation of system feels inapropriate. Garner's is a magic of culture, with desires and whims of its own. It is a magic which resonates with the power of words and phrases. It is a magic of the rule of three and of unintended consequences. There are lots of references to dark and light and the currents of each. I really enjoy the description of the Brochallan as "though the night were as black as a wolf's throat... the Brollachan is blacker than that." As in Weirdstone this is again the magic given shape by everyday fears and hopes, a natural consequence of a story stemming from myths which have been shaped by those same primal fears and desires. I love books with this kind of magic where it feels like an instinctive artistic persuit rather than a reasoned intellectual one.

The magic also belongs to a school of magic that exists on the edge of our world, coexisting with our everyday lives and making them more magical by its presence. This is where this magic becomes almost inseperable from myth and legend, things we add to our world to deepen the sense of mystery and to speak about what is important to us. If we take that as a key role of myth then the things that strike me as important to Garner are connections between our past and our present, a care for nature and a need for caution in our impact on the world. There is a particuarly good scene where the children say they would be better off with guns to fight off the oncoming enemies and Uthecar replies:

"That is where we part from men. Oh, you may look here, and find us at the slaughter, but we know the cost of each death, since we see the eyes of those we send to darkness, and the blood on our hands, and each killing is the first for us. I tell you, life is true then, and its worth is clear. But to kill at a distance is not to know, and that is men's destruction. You will find in the bows of the lios-alfar [elves] much to explain their nature, which was not always as now."

This paragraph speaks to one of the reasons that fantasy felt much more welcoming to me as a child than science fiction, I felt that good fantasy engaged with the pain of conflict in a way that science fiction sometimes didn't. Interestingly, as an adult I have come much more round to science fiction for its ability to pit characters against their society.

This is a slightly more sprawling story than Weirdstone and at times I lost track of which chracter was which but it didn't matter as the feel of the story is the thing. There are two good maps at the beginning of the book but no other illustrations which is a shame as somebody like Charles Keeping would have done a fantastic job as evidenced by his work on Elidor.