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The Books of Pellinor #2
The Riddle
A young woman embraces her power -- and her destiny -- as the thrilling quest begun in THE NAMING continues!
Maerad is a girl with a tragic and bitter past, but her powers grow stronger by the day. Now she and her mentor, Cadvan, hunted by both the Light and the Dark, must unravel the Riddle of the Treesong before their fractured kingdom erupts in chaos. The quest leads Maerad over terrifying seas and vast stretches of glacial wilderness, ever closer to the seductive Winterking -- ally of her most powerful enemy, the Nameless One. Trapped in the Winterking's icy realm, Maerad must confront what she has suspected all along: that she is the greatest riddle of all. A sequel to THE NAMING, this second book in a captivating quartet about the ancient world of Edil-Amarandh is a sweeping epic readers won't soon forget.
Maerad is a girl with a tragic and bitter past, but her powers grow stronger by the day. Now she and her mentor, Cadvan, hunted by both the Light and the Dark, must unravel the Riddle of the Treesong before their fractured kingdom erupts in chaos. The quest leads Maerad over terrifying seas and vast stretches of glacial wilderness, ever closer to the seductive Winterking -- ally of her most powerful enemy, the Nameless One. Trapped in the Winterking's icy realm, Maerad must confront what she has suspected all along: that she is the greatest riddle of all. A sequel to THE NAMING, this second book in a captivating quartet about the ancient world of Edil-Amarandh is a sweeping epic readers won't soon forget.
490 pages, Hardcover
First published May 2, 2005
333 people are currently reading
7199 people want to read
About the author
Alison Croggon
51 books1,725 followersAlison Croggon is the award winning author of the acclaimed fantasy series The Books of Pellinor. You can sign up to her monthly newsletter and receive a free Pellinor story at alisoncroggon.com
Her most recent book is Fleshers, the first in a dazzling new SF series co-written with her husband, acclaimed playwright Daniel Keene. Her latest Pellinor book, The Bone Queen, was a 2016 Aurealis Awards Best Young Adult Book finalist. Other fantasy titles include Black Spring (shortlisted for the Young People's Writing Award in the 2014 NSW Premier's Literary Awards) and The River and the Book, winner of the Wilderness Society's prize for Environmental Writing for Children.
She is a prize-winning poet and theatre critic,, and has released seven collections of poems. As a critic she was named Geraldine Pascall Critic of the Year in 2009. She also writes opera libretti, and the opera she co-wrote with Iain Grandage was Vocal/Choral Work of the Year in the 2015 Art Music Awards. Her libretto for Mayakovsky, score by Michael Smetanin, was shortlisted in the Drama Prize for the 2015 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. She lives in Melbourne..
Her most recent book is Fleshers, the first in a dazzling new SF series co-written with her husband, acclaimed playwright Daniel Keene. Her latest Pellinor book, The Bone Queen, was a 2016 Aurealis Awards Best Young Adult Book finalist. Other fantasy titles include Black Spring (shortlisted for the Young People's Writing Award in the 2014 NSW Premier's Literary Awards) and The River and the Book, winner of the Wilderness Society's prize for Environmental Writing for Children.
She is a prize-winning poet and theatre critic,, and has released seven collections of poems. As a critic she was named Geraldine Pascall Critic of the Year in 2009. She also writes opera libretti, and the opera she co-wrote with Iain Grandage was Vocal/Choral Work of the Year in the 2015 Art Music Awards. Her libretto for Mayakovsky, score by Michael Smetanin, was shortlisted in the Drama Prize for the 2015 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. She lives in Melbourne..
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 684 reviews
January 9, 2022
I think I left part of my soul behind after finishing this book. So I read it again. And again. I devoured The Riddle for the first time in May 2020, and I've read it seven times since. I know these characters better than the back of my hand.
When I first read this, I sort of skimmed the boring parts so I could finish faster. But on my reread, I sat back and basked in the beautiful world of Edil-Amarandh and the comforting companionship of Maerad and Cadvan.
There was one passage I remember vividly, a huge argument between Maerad and Cadvan. I read it quickly first, relishing the angst and emotions that pour out of the pages. But then I looked over it again, marveling at how genius the whole thing was. How each phrase had meaning. It is clearly evident how much Alison Croggon loves to write. It fills every word with a magical, comforting quality.
I'm pretty sure this has something to do with my unending love for these characters. Cadvan is sometimes solemn, but there's always a hint of humor lurking somewhere behind that mask. He's kind and gentle and unflinching. And Maerad, despite all her wild emotions, is usually calm, capable, and intelligent.
I physically felt a stabbing pain in my heart from all the grief and coldness and nostalgia that this book is filled with. Reading The Riddle feels like coming home.
5 stars
When I first read this, I sort of skimmed the boring parts so I could finish faster. But on my reread, I sat back and basked in the beautiful world of Edil-Amarandh and the comforting companionship of Maerad and Cadvan.
There was one passage I remember vividly, a huge argument between Maerad and Cadvan. I read it quickly first, relishing the angst and emotions that pour out of the pages. But then I looked over it again, marveling at how genius the whole thing was. How each phrase had meaning. It is clearly evident how much Alison Croggon loves to write. It fills every word with a magical, comforting quality.
I'm pretty sure this has something to do with my unending love for these characters. Cadvan is sometimes solemn, but there's always a hint of humor lurking somewhere behind that mask. He's kind and gentle and unflinching. And Maerad, despite all her wild emotions, is usually calm, capable, and intelligent.
I physically felt a stabbing pain in my heart from all the grief and coldness and nostalgia that this book is filled with. Reading The Riddle feels like coming home.
5 stars
May 17, 2018
We begin right where
The Naming
left off, with Cadvan and Maerad escaping the Edil-Amarandh mainland on a ship bound for the islands. Among the Islanders they find many allies, but witness frightening omens. On the open sea they are harassed by magic, sent by an entity whom Cadvan identifies as the Winterking.
Having now escaped into a different part of the Edil-Amarandh continent, the two Bards are still pursued by agents of the Dark, even as they search for something they don’t know how to identify. This stressful situation is made even worse for Maerad, because she is suddenly desperate to be Cadvan’s equal instead of his student. Some of this is her competitive nature and nascent powers. Some of it she doesn’t understand. She feels warm and cold at the same time when he looks at her…it bothers her when he spends much time with other women…the mildest criticism of his stings fiercely…
When a freak accident (that might not have been so accidental) happens in the mountains, Maerad assumes Cadvan is dead and begins to wander alone. Her rambling path will help her learn more about her family and her powers, and eventually lead her into the lair of Arkan the Winterking himself. And he is quite different from what she expected…
Content Advisory
Violence: Our main characters and their friends are attacked by the forces of the Dark, and fight back with gusto. Maerad transmogrifies a Hull into a rabbit and Cadvan snaps the rabbit’s neck, just to be sure. Maerad is terribly wounded and captured by Viking-like raiders. She gets her period while still wounded and sick in captivity, and the narrator tells us that “her whole body felt like it was weeping blood.” Lovely.
Sex: Maerad feels very awkward with the two different men she develops crushes on.
Language: Nothing.
Substance Abuse: Social wine drinking as befits the pseudo-medieval setting.
Nightmare Fuel: Not recommended for people who are afraid of avalanches. The Storm Dog was pretty scary too.
Conclusions
When I finished The Naming, I figured that Allison Croggon had established her universe and characters and could now move on to more exciting material. Unfortunately, The Riddle appears to have wandered off course.
On the surface, nothing appears to have progressed. Our characters are still wandering with no clear direction. Ostensibly, they’re on a quest, but their quest is so vague that there’s almost no way of knowing if they find what they seek. Meanwhile they get pursued by generic agents of evil. In between flights and fights, they sit at the hearths of various allies, eating well and reciting poems lifted from Tolkien and droning about how sad everything is.
The supporting characters are nice enough, but nothing we haven’t seen many times in this genre before.
The only interesting aspect—the whole heart of the story—is Maerad struggling with her crush on Cadvan, which at first she can’t even admit to herself. In the first book we learned that she has a hard time trusting men, after one tried to rape her in the settlement where she was held as a slave. Even though her teacher has been nothing but kind to and protective of her, she is still a little afraid of him, especially on those occasions when he acts tenderly, and she suspects that he might return her feelings.
Maerad’s constancy and self-control are (deliberately) tested by .
So this book, while its prose is well-crafted and its main characters likeable and compelling, is a chore to complete. The author seems to have completely misunderstood what worked in the first book, and doubled down instead on the many things that didn’t…
Croggon steals from the best—the influence of Tolkien is all over the world of this series, while the characters and their abilities can trace their lineage to Ursula K. Le Guin, Robin McKinley, George Lucas, Tamora Pierce, Garth Nix, and the Brontës. But impeccable pedigree isn’t enough to render something interesting that you’ve already read about so many times.
Middle-earth could seem vast and gloomy and lonely too, but what made it work were the spots of brightness—from the grandeur of Minas Tirith to the elegance of Lothlórien to, perhaps most importantly, the rustic warmth of the Shire. Tolkien could even make the reader believe in kindly lands that were no more, such as the opulent Dwarven Halls of Erebor and Moria. Each of these places had its own culture and mood; if anything, it was the dark passages between these places that started to blur together.
Unfortunately, in the Pellinore series, the pleasant environs all seem the same, allowing for some differences of climate and cuisine, and likewise once you’ve seen one monster or ruin, you’ve seen them all. You’ll also notice that while some of the authors listed above, Nix most of all, could describe a magic system and make it sound unique and even functional, Croggon’s is vague and brings nothing new to the table.
Pierce’s magic is pretty vague too, and her settings are very close to those of an earlier fantasy master—Tortall is to Narnia as Edil-Amarandh is to Middle-earth—but Pierce has always known her greatest strength and emphasized it. It’s her characters that bring readers back for at least eighteen books set in the same universe. George, cheeky and clever and loyal unto death; Thayet, noble and gracious; Alanna, the spitfire with a heart full of insecurity; Numair, vain and secretive and romantic; Daine, empathetic and feral; Keladry, whose altruism and self-control as a young teen outshine that of most adults. They burn so bright that we forget how cliché their surroundings and their struggles can get. The overarching storylines are just a way for these lovable folks to interact. Watching them build friendships and rivalries, flirt with each other, and learn from each other is more than worth the admission price.
Cadvan and Maerad are much more introverted and morose than any of the Tortall characters—again, Brontë/Tolkien influence rather than Austen/Lewis influence—but they are equally likeable and tangible. By a wide margin, this wandering mage and his angst-ridden pupil are the best part of this series. I loved watching the growth of their friendship, in spite of their both being afraid of opening their hearts, in The Naming. I loved the hints of romance in that book, and the stronger ones in this. That’s what the story is really about. .
That is where the emphasis should be. But instead, the book wastes hundreds of pages on aimless treks through fantasy lands that we’ve already traversed under other names, with a thin magical system that is neither functional nor unusual enough to sustain interest, in a melancholy narration style that treads too close to a better-known writer’s voice. The many moments of friendship and blossoming love between Cadvan and Maerad are enough to carry the first third of the book—sometimes these are even lightly humorous—but after the two are separated, all fun disappears from the story for several hundred pages.
Arkan, while an interesting-enough fellow, lacks a clear motivation. He needed to be highly developed to make up for the Nameless One being traced-over Sauron, but while the Winterking was meant to be enigmatic, he comes off as blank instead. He reminds me of both Jadis from Narnia and Jareth from Labyrinth, but both of them are much better defined.
Jadis works because she’s a pure and ruthless evil, capable of no emotion except lust for power and contempt for those who get in her way.
Jareth works because he’s not actually evil—he acts like a man under a curse, desperate to communicate with the girl he loves and trying to do as little damage as possible while still acting the role his curse demands of him.
This book asks us to believe that Arkan has human emotions, but his interest in Maerad veered between seeming sincere and merely lustful; he’s also much more violent than Jareth ever was, and shows a Jadis-like lack of empathy.
Besides, why root for Arkan, or feel more than passing pity for him, when there’s already a handsome, brooding magician in this story and he’s actually nice? Cadvan actually cares for all of Maerad—he enjoys her company as a friend, he honors her gifts as a fellow mage, and he cherishes her beauty and heart as a future lover. He’s the whole package. Of all the series that don’t need a love triangle (however subtle in its execution) this one rivals The Selection and Splintered for the top spot on the list. When you have a Maxon, a Morpheus, or a Cadvan, the love story is a foregone conclusion, and that is just fine.
I’m not sure I’ll continue with this series. The next book, The Crow, doesn’t even feature Cadvan and Maerad, but follows her brother Hem and his tutor Saliman. I liked those two well-enough in The Naming, but they don’t strike me as being able to carry a whole book themselves. And the last book appears to be even more wandering around and vague magic words and very little romance.
So tell me, friends, is it worth continuing?
Having now escaped into a different part of the Edil-Amarandh continent, the two Bards are still pursued by agents of the Dark, even as they search for something they don’t know how to identify. This stressful situation is made even worse for Maerad, because she is suddenly desperate to be Cadvan’s equal instead of his student. Some of this is her competitive nature and nascent powers. Some of it she doesn’t understand. She feels warm and cold at the same time when he looks at her…it bothers her when he spends much time with other women…the mildest criticism of his stings fiercely…
When a freak accident (that might not have been so accidental) happens in the mountains, Maerad assumes Cadvan is dead and begins to wander alone. Her rambling path will help her learn more about her family and her powers, and eventually lead her into the lair of Arkan the Winterking himself. And he is quite different from what she expected…
Content Advisory
Violence: Our main characters and their friends are attacked by the forces of the Dark, and fight back with gusto. Maerad transmogrifies a Hull into a rabbit and Cadvan snaps the rabbit’s neck, just to be sure. Maerad is terribly wounded and captured by Viking-like raiders. She gets her period while still wounded and sick in captivity, and the narrator tells us that “her whole body felt like it was weeping blood.” Lovely.
Sex: Maerad feels very awkward with the two different men she develops crushes on.
Language: Nothing.
Substance Abuse: Social wine drinking as befits the pseudo-medieval setting.
Nightmare Fuel: Not recommended for people who are afraid of avalanches. The Storm Dog was pretty scary too.
Conclusions
When I finished The Naming, I figured that Allison Croggon had established her universe and characters and could now move on to more exciting material. Unfortunately, The Riddle appears to have wandered off course.
On the surface, nothing appears to have progressed. Our characters are still wandering with no clear direction. Ostensibly, they’re on a quest, but their quest is so vague that there’s almost no way of knowing if they find what they seek. Meanwhile they get pursued by generic agents of evil. In between flights and fights, they sit at the hearths of various allies, eating well and reciting poems lifted from Tolkien and droning about how sad everything is.
The supporting characters are nice enough, but nothing we haven’t seen many times in this genre before.
The only interesting aspect—the whole heart of the story—is Maerad struggling with her crush on Cadvan, which at first she can’t even admit to herself. In the first book we learned that she has a hard time trusting men, after one tried to rape her in the settlement where she was held as a slave. Even though her teacher has been nothing but kind to and protective of her, she is still a little afraid of him, especially on those occasions when he acts tenderly, and she suspects that he might return her feelings.
Maerad’s constancy and self-control are (deliberately) tested by .
So this book, while its prose is well-crafted and its main characters likeable and compelling, is a chore to complete. The author seems to have completely misunderstood what worked in the first book, and doubled down instead on the many things that didn’t…
Croggon steals from the best—the influence of Tolkien is all over the world of this series, while the characters and their abilities can trace their lineage to Ursula K. Le Guin, Robin McKinley, George Lucas, Tamora Pierce, Garth Nix, and the Brontës. But impeccable pedigree isn’t enough to render something interesting that you’ve already read about so many times.
Middle-earth could seem vast and gloomy and lonely too, but what made it work were the spots of brightness—from the grandeur of Minas Tirith to the elegance of Lothlórien to, perhaps most importantly, the rustic warmth of the Shire. Tolkien could even make the reader believe in kindly lands that were no more, such as the opulent Dwarven Halls of Erebor and Moria. Each of these places had its own culture and mood; if anything, it was the dark passages between these places that started to blur together.
Unfortunately, in the Pellinore series, the pleasant environs all seem the same, allowing for some differences of climate and cuisine, and likewise once you’ve seen one monster or ruin, you’ve seen them all. You’ll also notice that while some of the authors listed above, Nix most of all, could describe a magic system and make it sound unique and even functional, Croggon’s is vague and brings nothing new to the table.
Pierce’s magic is pretty vague too, and her settings are very close to those of an earlier fantasy master—Tortall is to Narnia as Edil-Amarandh is to Middle-earth—but Pierce has always known her greatest strength and emphasized it. It’s her characters that bring readers back for at least eighteen books set in the same universe. George, cheeky and clever and loyal unto death; Thayet, noble and gracious; Alanna, the spitfire with a heart full of insecurity; Numair, vain and secretive and romantic; Daine, empathetic and feral; Keladry, whose altruism and self-control as a young teen outshine that of most adults. They burn so bright that we forget how cliché their surroundings and their struggles can get. The overarching storylines are just a way for these lovable folks to interact. Watching them build friendships and rivalries, flirt with each other, and learn from each other is more than worth the admission price.
Cadvan and Maerad are much more introverted and morose than any of the Tortall characters—again, Brontë/Tolkien influence rather than Austen/Lewis influence—but they are equally likeable and tangible. By a wide margin, this wandering mage and his angst-ridden pupil are the best part of this series. I loved watching the growth of their friendship, in spite of their both being afraid of opening their hearts, in The Naming. I loved the hints of romance in that book, and the stronger ones in this. That’s what the story is really about. .
That is where the emphasis should be. But instead, the book wastes hundreds of pages on aimless treks through fantasy lands that we’ve already traversed under other names, with a thin magical system that is neither functional nor unusual enough to sustain interest, in a melancholy narration style that treads too close to a better-known writer’s voice. The many moments of friendship and blossoming love between Cadvan and Maerad are enough to carry the first third of the book—sometimes these are even lightly humorous—but after the two are separated, all fun disappears from the story for several hundred pages.
Arkan, while an interesting-enough fellow, lacks a clear motivation. He needed to be highly developed to make up for the Nameless One being traced-over Sauron, but while the Winterking was meant to be enigmatic, he comes off as blank instead. He reminds me of both Jadis from Narnia and Jareth from Labyrinth, but both of them are much better defined.
Jadis works because she’s a pure and ruthless evil, capable of no emotion except lust for power and contempt for those who get in her way.
Jareth works because he’s not actually evil—he acts like a man under a curse, desperate to communicate with the girl he loves and trying to do as little damage as possible while still acting the role his curse demands of him.
This book asks us to believe that Arkan has human emotions, but his interest in Maerad veered between seeming sincere and merely lustful; he’s also much more violent than Jareth ever was, and shows a Jadis-like lack of empathy.
Besides, why root for Arkan, or feel more than passing pity for him, when there’s already a handsome, brooding magician in this story and he’s actually nice? Cadvan actually cares for all of Maerad—he enjoys her company as a friend, he honors her gifts as a fellow mage, and he cherishes her beauty and heart as a future lover. He’s the whole package. Of all the series that don’t need a love triangle (however subtle in its execution) this one rivals The Selection and Splintered for the top spot on the list. When you have a Maxon, a Morpheus, or a Cadvan, the love story is a foregone conclusion, and that is just fine.
I’m not sure I’ll continue with this series. The next book, The Crow, doesn’t even feature Cadvan and Maerad, but follows her brother Hem and his tutor Saliman. I liked those two well-enough in The Naming, but they don’t strike me as being able to carry a whole book themselves. And the last book appears to be even more wandering around and vague magic words and very little romance.
So tell me, friends, is it worth continuing?
July 27, 2017
A wonderful second adventure for Maerad and Cadvan as they now search for the Tree Song. A story filled with danger, thrills, death, magic and love. There are many difficulties for Maerad to overcome and she faces loss, despair, confusion and has to do some deep soul searching to keep herself alive.
I can't wait to find out what happens next. A great read and wonderful series.
I can't wait to find out what happens next. A great read and wonderful series.
August 30, 2017
4.5 stars!
Review to come.
Review to come.
Read
May 21, 2023So What’s It About?
Maerad is a girl with a tragic and bitter past, but her powers grow stronger by the day. Now she and her mentor, Cadvan, hunted by both the Light and the Dark, must unravel the Riddle of the Treesong before their fractured kingdom erupts in chaos. The quest leads Maerad over terrifying seas and vast stretches of glacial wilderness, ever closer to the seductive Winterking -- ally of her most powerful enemy, the Nameless One. Trapped in the Winterking's icy realm, Maerad must confront what she has suspected all along: that she is the greatest riddle of all. A sequel to THE NAMING, this second book in a captivating quartet about the ancient world of Edil-Amarandh is a sweeping epic readers won't soon forget.
What I Thought
In The Riddle, we reach the portion of the classic epic fantasy journey where the protagonist is Overcome By Their Inner Darkness aka My Least Favorite Part. I’m just not particularly interested in the classic good/light vs. bad/dark inner conflict because it often seems to play out just as annoyingly as it does here. Basically, Maerad spends the second quarter or so of the book being really childishly rude and petulant and annoying, and then this culminates in her killing a woman. I really didn’t dig this. For starters, the escalation from Maerad being a brat to her taking a person’s life felt very jarring. Second of all, I feel like her temptation with evil could have been addressed without something quite as drastic as a murder - or, alternatively, the repercussions of that act really should have been emphasized more. Yes, she suffers intensely and goes through great privation for the rest of the book, but I never find it very satisfying when a character “atones” just by suffering a lot randomly after doing something bad instead of actually grappling with what they did in any meaningful way.
I also didn’t feel the emotional reality of Maerad’s grief for anyone who has died or who she is separated from in this book. Croggon has a habit of listing these characters' names and then saying “Maerad missed them all so much,” and then the detail and emotional weight stop there. Additionally, I’m iffy about how the relationship between Maerad and Cadvan develops here - she kind of realizes she has a crush on him but then gets freaked out when she gets a sense that he might reciprocate. Which….yes….that should freak you out, Maerad!!!!! I never really know what to do with these teen girl/ancient man relationships and I’m just hoping that it doesn’t turn into an actual romance here.
There are a few things that are objective weaknesses but didn’t actually bother me. The plot here is very repetitive: there’s a travel section, there’s a stop with Bards, there’s a travel segment, Ardina saves Maerad, rinse and repeat. There is a LOT of traveling just as there was in the first book, which again seems like it should be boring but is very enjoyable instead for some reason. It might be that we get to see all kinds of new places and cultures from the Pilanel fortress to the isolated Wise Kindred the Kinterking’s surreal palace. There are so many lovely touches like the joyous festivities on the island Thorold, the bird room in Ossin, the old hermit lady with visions, all the wolves and dogs that Maerad can talk to and the kind young Jussock man with whom she bonds while she’s their captive. I would say that this is definitely a weaker book than the first one, but it was still full of atmosphere and charm and that wonderful classic fantasy feel. On to The Crow!
Maerad is a girl with a tragic and bitter past, but her powers grow stronger by the day. Now she and her mentor, Cadvan, hunted by both the Light and the Dark, must unravel the Riddle of the Treesong before their fractured kingdom erupts in chaos. The quest leads Maerad over terrifying seas and vast stretches of glacial wilderness, ever closer to the seductive Winterking -- ally of her most powerful enemy, the Nameless One. Trapped in the Winterking's icy realm, Maerad must confront what she has suspected all along: that she is the greatest riddle of all. A sequel to THE NAMING, this second book in a captivating quartet about the ancient world of Edil-Amarandh is a sweeping epic readers won't soon forget.
What I Thought
In The Riddle, we reach the portion of the classic epic fantasy journey where the protagonist is Overcome By Their Inner Darkness aka My Least Favorite Part. I’m just not particularly interested in the classic good/light vs. bad/dark inner conflict because it often seems to play out just as annoyingly as it does here. Basically, Maerad spends the second quarter or so of the book being really childishly rude and petulant and annoying, and then this culminates in her killing a woman. I really didn’t dig this. For starters, the escalation from Maerad being a brat to her taking a person’s life felt very jarring. Second of all, I feel like her temptation with evil could have been addressed without something quite as drastic as a murder - or, alternatively, the repercussions of that act really should have been emphasized more. Yes, she suffers intensely and goes through great privation for the rest of the book, but I never find it very satisfying when a character “atones” just by suffering a lot randomly after doing something bad instead of actually grappling with what they did in any meaningful way.
I also didn’t feel the emotional reality of Maerad’s grief for anyone who has died or who she is separated from in this book. Croggon has a habit of listing these characters' names and then saying “Maerad missed them all so much,” and then the detail and emotional weight stop there. Additionally, I’m iffy about how the relationship between Maerad and Cadvan develops here - she kind of realizes she has a crush on him but then gets freaked out when she gets a sense that he might reciprocate. Which….yes….that should freak you out, Maerad!!!!! I never really know what to do with these teen girl/ancient man relationships and I’m just hoping that it doesn’t turn into an actual romance here.
There are a few things that are objective weaknesses but didn’t actually bother me. The plot here is very repetitive: there’s a travel section, there’s a stop with Bards, there’s a travel segment, Ardina saves Maerad, rinse and repeat. There is a LOT of traveling just as there was in the first book, which again seems like it should be boring but is very enjoyable instead for some reason. It might be that we get to see all kinds of new places and cultures from the Pilanel fortress to the isolated Wise Kindred the Kinterking’s surreal palace. There are so many lovely touches like the joyous festivities on the island Thorold, the bird room in Ossin, the old hermit lady with visions, all the wolves and dogs that Maerad can talk to and the kind young Jussock man with whom she bonds while she’s their captive. I would say that this is definitely a weaker book than the first one, but it was still full of atmosphere and charm and that wonderful classic fantasy feel. On to The Crow!
March 7, 2017
The Riddle starts out exactly where The Naming left off. It is still largely a travel-quest story, but the havens are fewer and the stakes are much higher than before. I found this second installment did not remind me as much of Tolkien as the first. I believe it's because the story leaves the haunted lands of barrows and wights and the enchanted forests, and pursuit by the Dark is less immediate.
The story grows in leaps and bounds, really taking off in its own direction, and Croggon outdoes herself with her powers of description. The Naming was beautifully written, but The Riddle takes place in a much broader variety of landscapes, and Croggon brings each of them alive so that you feel that you are there with the smells, sounds and sights. She takes you from warm tropical islands and sea voyages with the smell of salt on the air to mountain tops and passes, to the frozen north with dog sleds and northern lights and wolves, where you can feel the ice cracking. It's truly breathtaking, and I love this series as much for the vivid world she evokes as for the people struggling in it.
This is quite a bit darker than The Naming, as reality sets in and Maerad begins to crack under the pressure. I found her annoyingly bratty through at least half of this book. She willfully lashes out and pushes people away, and spends a lot of time feeling sorry for herself in her self-alienation. On the surface, it's disappointing that she is not just the perfect hero-child, riding forth valiantly to sacrifice everything. Looking a little deeper, though, her reactions are plausible - until a few months ago, she was an ignorant slave. Now she has discovered she is fated to save the entire world, and she is still not firm enough in her new life to understand and accept the support and love of others. She is very confused, and unable to bear the weight of this new world on her own. I didn't like her, and I didn't like all of the decisions she made, but I understood where she was coming from.
Fortunately, one of Croggon's strengths is bringing transformation to her characters, and the change is believable because it happens through experience and real circumstances. Maerad is forced to confront the consequences of her childish actions, and she grows through hardship, mistakes, and painful discovery of herself.
Once this soul-journey truly began, I found it very hard to put the book down. While Maerad is undergoing such a painful process, the story itself takes some unexpected turns, defying the 'quest narrative' expectations in my mind and keeping me on the edge of my seat. Rarely these days do I find a story that surprises me as well as evoking such a variety of emotions, and I'm not letting go of this series for a long time.
The story grows in leaps and bounds, really taking off in its own direction, and Croggon outdoes herself with her powers of description. The Naming was beautifully written, but The Riddle takes place in a much broader variety of landscapes, and Croggon brings each of them alive so that you feel that you are there with the smells, sounds and sights. She takes you from warm tropical islands and sea voyages with the smell of salt on the air to mountain tops and passes, to the frozen north with dog sleds and northern lights and wolves, where you can feel the ice cracking. It's truly breathtaking, and I love this series as much for the vivid world she evokes as for the people struggling in it.
This is quite a bit darker than The Naming, as reality sets in and Maerad begins to crack under the pressure. I found her annoyingly bratty through at least half of this book. She willfully lashes out and pushes people away, and spends a lot of time feeling sorry for herself in her self-alienation. On the surface, it's disappointing that she is not just the perfect hero-child, riding forth valiantly to sacrifice everything. Looking a little deeper, though, her reactions are plausible - until a few months ago, she was an ignorant slave. Now she has discovered she is fated to save the entire world, and she is still not firm enough in her new life to understand and accept the support and love of others. She is very confused, and unable to bear the weight of this new world on her own. I didn't like her, and I didn't like all of the decisions she made, but I understood where she was coming from.
Fortunately, one of Croggon's strengths is bringing transformation to her characters, and the change is believable because it happens through experience and real circumstances. Maerad is forced to confront the consequences of her childish actions, and she grows through hardship, mistakes, and painful discovery of herself.
Once this soul-journey truly began, I found it very hard to put the book down. While Maerad is undergoing such a painful process, the story itself takes some unexpected turns, defying the 'quest narrative' expectations in my mind and keeping me on the edge of my seat. Rarely these days do I find a story that surprises me as well as evoking such a variety of emotions, and I'm not letting go of this series for a long time.
February 1, 2016
I'm really falling in love with this series. :) The characters are all so vivid and well thought out. Of course we mainly spend our time with Cadvan, apart from Maerad, we follow Maerad all the time. I love Cadvan, he is such a deep character, so many layers. Maerad is an amazing female character, she is kickass, yet she has her flaws, and under it all she is just a lost little girl who has the weight of the world on her shoulders. I really enjoyed watching her character development continue in this book. She still has a long way to go!
I think the author may be a bit lacking on the romantic front. The book is set up for a certain romantic thing, but then the romance is in another direction completely! And I just nodded going "Uh, if you say so, I don't feel it... but alright." Luckily romance is only a tiny part of this book.
We have a real traditional epic fantasy in this series. How can I tell? We do lots and lots and lots of traveling! And no it doesn't get boring. :) The detail of the landscape and is so detailed and interesting. We encounter varius different cultures, and they are all so well thought out and explained in depth.
This book, this series is really good. If you love epic fantasy, please read it!
I think the author may be a bit lacking on the romantic front. The book is set up for a certain romantic thing, but then the romance is in another direction completely! And I just nodded going "Uh, if you say so, I don't feel it... but alright." Luckily romance is only a tiny part of this book.
We have a real traditional epic fantasy in this series. How can I tell? We do lots and lots and lots of traveling! And no it doesn't get boring. :) The detail of the landscape and is so detailed and interesting. We encounter varius different cultures, and they are all so well thought out and explained in depth.
This book, this series is really good. If you love epic fantasy, please read it!
April 20, 2022
Christopher Booker’s The Seven Basic Plots suggest that the more different archetypal narratives a novel includes the richer it becomes (Booker admires The Lord of the Rings for this), and on this basis Croggon’s Pellinor series must be rich indeed. The Riddle includes the themes of the Quest, Overcoming the Monster, Voyage and Return and Tragedy, while it is only a matter of time and two more novels before we must surely encounter Rags to Riches, Comedy (in the classical sense) and Rebirth. On this understanding alone The Riddle is very satisfying, even as a middle volume in a sequence.
But novel writing is more than just a matter of narrative structure. First and foremost must come characterisation. Maerad, the young heroine of the tale, would, in a modern context, be just another petulant teenager, a trait which some reviewers have found annoying but is absolutely right, not just for plot reasons but because that’s exactly what teenagers are normally about. While she is the Chosen One with innate mysterious powers (and you could argue that this is an annoying motif in itself), she still has to rely on her human resourcefulness, her stubbornness, her quick-wittedness and her physical strength. I liked also the roundedness of many of the other characters, even those who appear for such a short time, and even those who don’t support Maerad’s cause.
Other important elements in a story are a sense of place and time, and here Croggon has thought long and hard about the nature of her secondary world. The journey Maerad takes is one we take too, from cold to warmth, from mountains to plains, from habitation to habitation, because her descriptions give us exactly what we require to imagine and sensually feel ourselves there. There is also a clear sense of the passage of time, marked by key dates in the changing seasons (the book ends on midwinter’s day, for example) and Maerad’s monthly periods arriving at the time of the full moon.
Finally, Croggon’s theme is about words (as the title of the book hints). Poetry (real poetry, mind you, not doggerel verse) suffuses both prose and song in her text, recounted in English; and for the linguist too there is much delight in her creation of the languages of Pellinor: the names of peoples, of things, of places, of concepts. And let us not forget the crucial dialogues that Maerad has with key figures in the story; for those who like their fantasy dished up with lashings of action this may be a weakness, but for those who love words, the to-and-fro of conversations and the subsequent conflicts or resolutions that arise from them this must surely be a strength.
But novel writing is more than just a matter of narrative structure. First and foremost must come characterisation. Maerad, the young heroine of the tale, would, in a modern context, be just another petulant teenager, a trait which some reviewers have found annoying but is absolutely right, not just for plot reasons but because that’s exactly what teenagers are normally about. While she is the Chosen One with innate mysterious powers (and you could argue that this is an annoying motif in itself), she still has to rely on her human resourcefulness, her stubbornness, her quick-wittedness and her physical strength. I liked also the roundedness of many of the other characters, even those who appear for such a short time, and even those who don’t support Maerad’s cause.
Other important elements in a story are a sense of place and time, and here Croggon has thought long and hard about the nature of her secondary world. The journey Maerad takes is one we take too, from cold to warmth, from mountains to plains, from habitation to habitation, because her descriptions give us exactly what we require to imagine and sensually feel ourselves there. There is also a clear sense of the passage of time, marked by key dates in the changing seasons (the book ends on midwinter’s day, for example) and Maerad’s monthly periods arriving at the time of the full moon.
Finally, Croggon’s theme is about words (as the title of the book hints). Poetry (real poetry, mind you, not doggerel verse) suffuses both prose and song in her text, recounted in English; and for the linguist too there is much delight in her creation of the languages of Pellinor: the names of peoples, of things, of places, of concepts. And let us not forget the crucial dialogues that Maerad has with key figures in the story; for those who like their fantasy dished up with lashings of action this may be a weakness, but for those who love words, the to-and-fro of conversations and the subsequent conflicts or resolutions that arise from them this must surely be a strength.
January 28, 2022
February 2020 Reread
I love these books so muuuuuuch. They speak to things in my Soul, guys. 💙
Original February 2019 Review
Y'all, I am falling pretty hard. This may not bode well.
I love these books so muuuuuuch. They speak to things in my Soul, guys. 💙
Original February 2019 Review
Y'all, I am falling pretty hard. This may not bode well.
May 6, 2010
I loved The Riddle, Croggon's second in the Pellinor series, even more than the first. For one, she worked through that tricky issue of pacing that plagued her first book. Admittedly, The Riddle is best read and followed in large chunks of time -- it's not the kind of story that's easy to pick up in little 20 page snatches -- but there's still a much steadier, more enjoyable pace happening here. And second, while Croggon convinced me to give Maerad a chance to be enjoyable in the first book, she convinced me to absolutely love her in the second.
In this novel, Maerad is separated from her brother Hem and travels with Cadvan far north, in search of the Treesong. Here's where I feared the story would veer off into tedious mysticism, and we all can think of fantasies that have, in our opinions, fallen into that trap (poor Christopher Paolini; talk about your truly fantastic adventure story mired down in hundreds of pages of weird elf lore). But instead, Croggon keeps the story fresh by adding tangible realities to the Treesong quest. The song's secrets are hidden in an actual nomadic people -- as opposed to tapestries woven with gossamer threads, you know what I mean -- that she must travel to and win over enough to gain an audience with their unusual Bard and his wolf den.
Also, Maerad does a lot of growing up in this novel that's more tangible than book 1, where she faced such relatable challenges as being instated as a Bard (and I'm still not sure what that meant). Here, she still has to suffer through some of Cadvan's Ben Franklinish pearls of wisdom, but her relationship with him gains a reality and a clarity. They fight; things are awkward, then very painful. The question of her own evil isn't a black and white fantasy thing (fear not, no evil forces possess her), but rather a question of the internal secrets of her mind and her heart, that she has to decide to alternately control or release.
In this way, it becomes a sort of coming-of-age story, even if it is complete with Ice Witches and wolf spirits, and Maerad's journey gains a vividness and a poignancy that made this book a wonderful sequel.
In this novel, Maerad is separated from her brother Hem and travels with Cadvan far north, in search of the Treesong. Here's where I feared the story would veer off into tedious mysticism, and we all can think of fantasies that have, in our opinions, fallen into that trap (poor Christopher Paolini; talk about your truly fantastic adventure story mired down in hundreds of pages of weird elf lore). But instead, Croggon keeps the story fresh by adding tangible realities to the Treesong quest. The song's secrets are hidden in an actual nomadic people -- as opposed to tapestries woven with gossamer threads, you know what I mean -- that she must travel to and win over enough to gain an audience with their unusual Bard and his wolf den.
Also, Maerad does a lot of growing up in this novel that's more tangible than book 1, where she faced such relatable challenges as being instated as a Bard (and I'm still not sure what that meant). Here, she still has to suffer through some of Cadvan's Ben Franklinish pearls of wisdom, but her relationship with him gains a reality and a clarity. They fight; things are awkward, then very painful. The question of her own evil isn't a black and white fantasy thing (fear not, no evil forces possess her), but rather a question of the internal secrets of her mind and her heart, that she has to decide to alternately control or release.
In this way, it becomes a sort of coming-of-age story, even if it is complete with Ice Witches and wolf spirits, and Maerad's journey gains a vividness and a poignancy that made this book a wonderful sequel.
April 10, 2008
This is a good continuation of the story. There is more action in this story and we see the darker side of Maerad.
I copy the summary below, this is not from my hand....
Maerad and Cadvan flee Busk to escape the hostile takeover of Norloch and the darkness of Sharma, the immortal being who is trying to enslave Annar. While Cadvan searched in the libraries for anything about The Tree Song, While Maerad furthers her studies in the way of bards, enchanting, healing, and music. Enkir, the first bard of Norloch who betrayed Pellinor, one of many bard schools also where Maerad is from, sends out word that anyone who is hiding Maerad and Cadvan will be declared outcasts.
Nerili, first bard of Busk, tricks Enkir into thinking that Maerad and Cadvan are not there. Spies in Busk reveal to Enkir that they are there so Maerad and Cadvan go up into the mountains to hide. They stayed there for a short period of time then when go through Gwalhain Pass to Ossin.
They rode out of Ossin and stumble into an impoverished village where a sickness has killed most inhabitants. While walking through the ruins Cadvan cures a small child of the sickness. They continued North in search of the Tree Song, they bump into two other bards who think that Maerad and Cadvan are betrayers of the light. One of the bards stuns Maerad but Maerad ‘s powers in self-defense killed the bard. Cadvan has the other bard forget who did it and the bard and corpse leave.
Cadvan is furious with Maerad for killing a fellow bard who is merely ignorant of the current situation. They travel for some time up north not speaking to each other. While battling an Iridugul, an avalanche crushes Cadvan and Maerad is swamped with grief. Maerad plays the lute that the Adrina, the Elidhu queen, gave her. Adrina comes to Maerad’s call and speaks to her about how love is wasted.
Maerad blacks out and finds herself in a cave with an old woman feeding her. The old woman is Pilanel, the same religion that her father is from. Mirka nurses her to health and gives her a necklace and directions on how to get to Pilanel. Maerad journeys there and gains entrance with the necklace Mirka had given her.
Maerad finds her father’s sister and tells her what happened. She asked her aunt for help and she gladly agrees. Maerad stays in Pilanel for a couple weeks. Then with the guidance of her cousin and his dogs they leave Pilanel going up north looking for the Tree Song. As they sled up north they are captured by Jussacks. Her cousin is killed but Maerad is taken to the Winter King’s Palace.
The Winter King drains most of Maerad’s power as traps her in a false reality. Maerad breaks free from the false reality and The Winter King requests her into his throne room. She argues about the difference between good and evil and ends up unsure of herself. She gets tired and goes back to her room.
When she wakes up she eats and travels to the throne room. Arkan (the Winter King) lectures her about how humans are frail and if they knew the truth then they would be miserable. He exposes how half The Tree Song is on her lyre. Maerad goes back to her room and untwists her emotions.
The next day She explores the Palace. She finds herself on the roof looking over the desert of ice and snow. Arkan appears on the roof beside her. He asks her to show him her lyre. When Maerad wakes she brings her lyre to the throne room. The Winter King sings her the Tree Song. Arkan tells her his wish that she be his queen. Maerad is scared and rushes back to her room.
Maerad sees a wolf with the same eyes as Adrina staring at her and speaks to her in wolf tongue. Maerad follows her directions and with Adrina’s help turns into a wolf. She travels as a wolf into a cave that hosts a pack of wolves.
She travels with the wolves and then alone to the remains of Pellinor. Maerad is astonished to find Cadvan there. She transforms back into a human and tells Cadvan what happened. Cadvan tells her that he wasn’t crushed in the avalanche and how he got to Pilanel two weeks after her and how he wasn’t allowed to go after her.
He tells her how a wolf spoke to him in his dream; her words were “Seek the Fire Lilly in her birthplace.” So he did. That concludes the summary of The Riddle.
I copy the summary below, this is not from my hand....
Maerad and Cadvan flee Busk to escape the hostile takeover of Norloch and the darkness of Sharma, the immortal being who is trying to enslave Annar. While Cadvan searched in the libraries for anything about The Tree Song, While Maerad furthers her studies in the way of bards, enchanting, healing, and music. Enkir, the first bard of Norloch who betrayed Pellinor, one of many bard schools also where Maerad is from, sends out word that anyone who is hiding Maerad and Cadvan will be declared outcasts.
Nerili, first bard of Busk, tricks Enkir into thinking that Maerad and Cadvan are not there. Spies in Busk reveal to Enkir that they are there so Maerad and Cadvan go up into the mountains to hide. They stayed there for a short period of time then when go through Gwalhain Pass to Ossin.
They rode out of Ossin and stumble into an impoverished village where a sickness has killed most inhabitants. While walking through the ruins Cadvan cures a small child of the sickness. They continued North in search of the Tree Song, they bump into two other bards who think that Maerad and Cadvan are betrayers of the light. One of the bards stuns Maerad but Maerad ‘s powers in self-defense killed the bard. Cadvan has the other bard forget who did it and the bard and corpse leave.
Cadvan is furious with Maerad for killing a fellow bard who is merely ignorant of the current situation. They travel for some time up north not speaking to each other. While battling an Iridugul, an avalanche crushes Cadvan and Maerad is swamped with grief. Maerad plays the lute that the Adrina, the Elidhu queen, gave her. Adrina comes to Maerad’s call and speaks to her about how love is wasted.
Maerad blacks out and finds herself in a cave with an old woman feeding her. The old woman is Pilanel, the same religion that her father is from. Mirka nurses her to health and gives her a necklace and directions on how to get to Pilanel. Maerad journeys there and gains entrance with the necklace Mirka had given her.
Maerad finds her father’s sister and tells her what happened. She asked her aunt for help and she gladly agrees. Maerad stays in Pilanel for a couple weeks. Then with the guidance of her cousin and his dogs they leave Pilanel going up north looking for the Tree Song. As they sled up north they are captured by Jussacks. Her cousin is killed but Maerad is taken to the Winter King’s Palace.
The Winter King drains most of Maerad’s power as traps her in a false reality. Maerad breaks free from the false reality and The Winter King requests her into his throne room. She argues about the difference between good and evil and ends up unsure of herself. She gets tired and goes back to her room.
When she wakes up she eats and travels to the throne room. Arkan (the Winter King) lectures her about how humans are frail and if they knew the truth then they would be miserable. He exposes how half The Tree Song is on her lyre. Maerad goes back to her room and untwists her emotions.
The next day She explores the Palace. She finds herself on the roof looking over the desert of ice and snow. Arkan appears on the roof beside her. He asks her to show him her lyre. When Maerad wakes she brings her lyre to the throne room. The Winter King sings her the Tree Song. Arkan tells her his wish that she be his queen. Maerad is scared and rushes back to her room.
Maerad sees a wolf with the same eyes as Adrina staring at her and speaks to her in wolf tongue. Maerad follows her directions and with Adrina’s help turns into a wolf. She travels as a wolf into a cave that hosts a pack of wolves.
She travels with the wolves and then alone to the remains of Pellinor. Maerad is astonished to find Cadvan there. She transforms back into a human and tells Cadvan what happened. Cadvan tells her that he wasn’t crushed in the avalanche and how he got to Pilanel two weeks after her and how he wasn’t allowed to go after her.
He tells her how a wolf spoke to him in his dream; her words were “Seek the Fire Lilly in her birthplace.” So he did. That concludes the summary of The Riddle.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 30, 2011
I'm commenting on the entire series as a whole, not just this book.
I liked this series and might read it again at some point. The writing is good, the plot is (mostly) well paced, there are plenty of likable (albeit predictable) characters, and some interesting world/myth building. The appendix in The Singing touches on the background of a few characters. I would have enjoyed it if those details had been integrated into the story.
The problem with the majority of fantasy novels is that they all draw from the same pool, and have a familiar deja-vu quality. This series is no exception, right down to the obligatory bowls of stew, the orphaned boy, the battle between light/good and dark/evil, and predictably . I found myself comparing this series to other books frequently.
Just a few similarities to works by J.R.R. Tolkien:
* Lay of Andomian and Beruldh = The Lay of Beren and Luthien
* Andomian sounds like Undomiel
* Darsor, Lord among horses = Shadowfax, Chief of the Mearas
* Hull = Ringwraith
* You shall not pass (Ch. XXVI, The Riddle) = You can not pass (Ch. V, Fellowship) or You shall not pass (movie)
There are many similarities to other books as well. Maybe I've read one too many fantasy novels, so I'm seeing coincidences where others would not. It's clear that the author's aim was to create a multi-layered world with a rich history, and to that end this series is fairly successful.
I liked this series and might read it again at some point. The writing is good, the plot is (mostly) well paced, there are plenty of likable (albeit predictable) characters, and some interesting world/myth building. The appendix in The Singing touches on the background of a few characters. I would have enjoyed it if those details had been integrated into the story.
The problem with the majority of fantasy novels is that they all draw from the same pool, and have a familiar deja-vu quality. This series is no exception, right down to the obligatory bowls of stew, the orphaned boy, the battle between light/good and dark/evil, and predictably . I found myself comparing this series to other books frequently.
Just a few similarities to works by J.R.R. Tolkien:
* Lay of Andomian and Beruldh = The Lay of Beren and Luthien
* Andomian sounds like Undomiel
* Darsor, Lord among horses = Shadowfax, Chief of the Mearas
* Hull = Ringwraith
* You shall not pass (Ch. XXVI, The Riddle) = You can not pass (Ch. V, Fellowship) or You shall not pass (movie)
There are many similarities to other books as well. Maybe I've read one too many fantasy novels, so I'm seeing coincidences where others would not. It's clear that the author's aim was to create a multi-layered world with a rich history, and to that end this series is fairly successful.
April 9, 2012
This particular book had a few more...'boring spots' than the last one, yet was more exciting than The Naming...maybe this is because i like the whole Maerad+Arkan=<3? thing ( but it wasn't profound or a big deal really ).
i liked the fact that this book takes place in an entirely different environment than the last one, seeing Maerad travel through the icy cold of the North and the seas of the...West (i guess)?? I hope the third one will keep that up.
I am also afraid at Maerads moods..is there really something Dark inside her, as so many have claimed?? That would sure make an interesting twist...
i am so excited to read the next one! hopefully i get it before i go to Indiana...*twiddles thumbs*
and i swear. if Cadvan and Maerad don't fall in love by the close of book four...
i liked the fact that this book takes place in an entirely different environment than the last one, seeing Maerad travel through the icy cold of the North and the seas of the...West (i guess)?? I hope the third one will keep that up.
I am also afraid at Maerads moods..is there really something Dark inside her, as so many have claimed?? That would sure make an interesting twist...
i am so excited to read the next one! hopefully i get it before i go to Indiana...*twiddles thumbs*
and i swear. if Cadvan and Maerad don't fall in love by the close of book four...
September 6, 2019
This is the second book in the Books of Pellinor series. This is a very classic feeling adventure fantasy series. While I really loved the first book, I ended up stopping this book about 70% of the way through. The story just moved way too slow.
I listened to this on audiobook and between the soothing narrator and the slow pace of the story it kept putting me to sleep. Since I normally listen to audiobooks while driving, I decided to return it to audible...didn't want to fall asleep while driving. So, while there wasn’t anything horribly wrong with the narration. it was just a bit too soothing sounding for me most of the time, I also still found the heroine’s voice to be too pinched sounding.
In this volume Maerad and Cadvan must hunt down the Treesong before the Dark can fully fracture the kingdom. Unfortunately, the journey will be a long and arduous one and Maerad will be tested every step of the way.
Although this did still have a classic adventure fantasy feel to it, I felt like this book was much much slower than the first one. I knew it was time to stop reading it when I started dreading getting in the car to listen to it. I think this is a book that might be better to physically read, so I may pick it up again in the future in paperback form.
I did continue to enjoy the Light vs Dark theme to the story. I also enjoyed watching Maerad grow into her magical powers. However, things just happen way too slowly and it took way too long to get back to the adventuring part. By the time things started to get interesting again I found I just didn’t care.
Overall this just was not for me, it just moved too slow. I did enjoy the classic adventure fantasy feel, but the slow pace ended up making me just not care about what was going on here. This was disappointing to me because I really loved the first book in this series. I may go back and revisit this book in paper format at some point but for now I am done with this series.
I listened to this on audiobook and between the soothing narrator and the slow pace of the story it kept putting me to sleep. Since I normally listen to audiobooks while driving, I decided to return it to audible...didn't want to fall asleep while driving. So, while there wasn’t anything horribly wrong with the narration. it was just a bit too soothing sounding for me most of the time, I also still found the heroine’s voice to be too pinched sounding.
In this volume Maerad and Cadvan must hunt down the Treesong before the Dark can fully fracture the kingdom. Unfortunately, the journey will be a long and arduous one and Maerad will be tested every step of the way.
Although this did still have a classic adventure fantasy feel to it, I felt like this book was much much slower than the first one. I knew it was time to stop reading it when I started dreading getting in the car to listen to it. I think this is a book that might be better to physically read, so I may pick it up again in the future in paperback form.
I did continue to enjoy the Light vs Dark theme to the story. I also enjoyed watching Maerad grow into her magical powers. However, things just happen way too slowly and it took way too long to get back to the adventuring part. By the time things started to get interesting again I found I just didn’t care.
Overall this just was not for me, it just moved too slow. I did enjoy the classic adventure fantasy feel, but the slow pace ended up making me just not care about what was going on here. This was disappointing to me because I really loved the first book in this series. I may go back and revisit this book in paper format at some point but for now I am done with this series.
February 21, 2014
Mixed feelings about this one. After the first 150 pages I was sorely tempted to give up. The story wasn't progressing and I was getting sick of reading about two characters wandering across varying landscapes while refusing to speak to each other. It felt like I was reading a travel guide instead of a novel.
Then, spectacularly, the story changed and Maerad found herself without Cadvan and forced to continue her quest alone. This is where the story really picked up and I found myself glad I kept at it. I think the book would have been a lot better had their separation occurred earlier, or some of the many flowery passages describing hedgerows and streams could have been omitted. Croggon writes some stunning, poetic prose but, although pretty, it really takes away from the action. So, half a star for the first half of the book, and 2.5 for the second half.
Then, spectacularly, the story changed and Maerad found herself without Cadvan and forced to continue her quest alone. This is where the story really picked up and I found myself glad I kept at it. I think the book would have been a lot better had their separation occurred earlier, or some of the many flowery passages describing hedgerows and streams could have been omitted. Croggon writes some stunning, poetic prose but, although pretty, it really takes away from the action. So, half a star for the first half of the book, and 2.5 for the second half.
March 17, 2021
Auch der zweite Band war wieder gut. Maerad muss sich eingestehen, dass große Macht sich viel Verantwortung mit sich bringt und sie vorsichtig damit umgehen muss. Manche Stellen waren zwar auch wieder etwas in die Länge gezogen, aber sonst wirklich eine tolle Fortsetzung.
May 21, 2019
The Riddle, by Alison Croggon, is the second book in the Pellinor quartet. The book picks up where the prequel left off, following Maerad and Cadvan as they flee Norloch and quest to learn the mysteries of the Treesong.
It struck me how pensive and interior this book is. The previous book was also that way, maybe because a large part of that novel followed the characters as they traveled, and I felt this book was more so because the main character was traveling through even more of this novel. I do like that approach – Maerad is undergoing the hero’s journey, and while she struggles against the forces of Dark and the elements, she also struggles with herself and her emotions. While I appreciated her emotional struggle with Cadvan (man, their relationship is awkward – is it just mentor/mentee or something more? You can tell that Maerad herself is struggling with that question), I thought the mental struggle with Arkan the Winterking was surprisingly short. For such lynchpin and defining moment for Maerad, I did not expect her stay there to be so short. Furthermore, Maerad admits to Cadvan at the end that she fell in love with the Winterking. Was this really love? Or was this something imposed on her by the Winterking? I get the sense that the sense of love she has for him is not genuine, but Maerad’s reaction leaves me questioning that. I also have to continually remind myself that Maerad is just 16, and it’s only been several months since the start of the previous novel.
I do want to talk about the way magic works in the Pellinor series so far. It’s fun to read a series that doesn’t strictly define magic by certain rules (like the Sanderson novels). So when magic happens, it’s really cool, especially since the characters strive to use it as little as possible. I appreciate that there is a stark difference between the Bardic powers and the Elemental powers that Maerad possesses too, and I hope the series could elaborate a little more on what the Elemental powers actually are.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and thought it was a good sequel to the first book in the series. For as much as I enjoyed the book, there was an awful lot of traveling from place to place, and if this book didn’t have a map I was religiously following, it would be a lot more difficult to track the action. While the novel capitalizes on this with a lot of introspection with the protagonist, it lacks perhaps the climatic confrontations a reader typically expects. Overall, maybe this is a good thing, and this subversion sets up Maerad as another form of a hero.
Also, I still don’t understand why the author’s intro and appendix creates the façade that this story is drawn from factual material. It’s fascinating, but has no impact my understanding of the story at all.
It struck me how pensive and interior this book is. The previous book was also that way, maybe because a large part of that novel followed the characters as they traveled, and I felt this book was more so because the main character was traveling through even more of this novel. I do like that approach – Maerad is undergoing the hero’s journey, and while she struggles against the forces of Dark and the elements, she also struggles with herself and her emotions. While I appreciated her emotional struggle with Cadvan (man, their relationship is awkward – is it just mentor/mentee or something more? You can tell that Maerad herself is struggling with that question), I thought the mental struggle with Arkan the Winterking was surprisingly short. For such lynchpin and defining moment for Maerad, I did not expect her stay there to be so short. Furthermore, Maerad admits to Cadvan at the end that she fell in love with the Winterking. Was this really love? Or was this something imposed on her by the Winterking? I get the sense that the sense of love she has for him is not genuine, but Maerad’s reaction leaves me questioning that. I also have to continually remind myself that Maerad is just 16, and it’s only been several months since the start of the previous novel.
I do want to talk about the way magic works in the Pellinor series so far. It’s fun to read a series that doesn’t strictly define magic by certain rules (like the Sanderson novels). So when magic happens, it’s really cool, especially since the characters strive to use it as little as possible. I appreciate that there is a stark difference between the Bardic powers and the Elemental powers that Maerad possesses too, and I hope the series could elaborate a little more on what the Elemental powers actually are.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and thought it was a good sequel to the first book in the series. For as much as I enjoyed the book, there was an awful lot of traveling from place to place, and if this book didn’t have a map I was religiously following, it would be a lot more difficult to track the action. While the novel capitalizes on this with a lot of introspection with the protagonist, it lacks perhaps the climatic confrontations a reader typically expects. Overall, maybe this is a good thing, and this subversion sets up Maerad as another form of a hero.
Also, I still don’t understand why the author’s intro and appendix creates the façade that this story is drawn from factual material. It’s fascinating, but has no impact my understanding of the story at all.
August 13, 2025
Einen dichten Plot und viele folgenschwere Ereignisse, die die Geschichte wirklich vorantreiben, sucht man in diesem Buch/dieser Reihe eher vergeblich. Dennoch ist das meiner Meinung nach keine Schwäche, sondern zeigt relativ realistisch, wie schwierig das übergreifende Rätsel zu lösen ist und dass es eben keine gerade Linie bis zum Ziel gibt. Außerdem unterstreicht diese hauptsächlich von Reisen geprägte Erzählweise die besondere Atmosphäre dieser Welt. Man muss sich aber definitiv auf eine langsamere Erzählweise einlassen können.
Ein wenig schade finde ich, dass die wirklich toll geschriebenen Nebencharaktere Maerad jeweils nur ein kurzes Stück begleiten. An sich macht das schon Sinn, denn sie befindet sich ständig nur „auf Durchreise“ – aber so verschwinden die zunächst wichtig und prägend wirkenden Personen recht schnell wieder aus dem Gedächtnis.
Maerad ist in der zweiten Hälfte des Buchs definitiv erwachsen geworden. Während sie sich in der ersten Hälfte immer mehr zurückzieht und mit sich zu kämpfen hat, findet sie durch die Herausforderungen, die sie nun plötzlich alleine bewältigen muss, endlich zu sich selbst. Diesen Aspekt finde ich optimal gelöst und auch sehr glaubwürdig. Der Bruch in der Mitte des Buches sowie die letzten Seiten waren auch sehr emotional für mich.
Ein wenig schade finde ich, dass die wirklich toll geschriebenen Nebencharaktere Maerad jeweils nur ein kurzes Stück begleiten. An sich macht das schon Sinn, denn sie befindet sich ständig nur „auf Durchreise“ – aber so verschwinden die zunächst wichtig und prägend wirkenden Personen recht schnell wieder aus dem Gedächtnis.
Maerad ist in der zweiten Hälfte des Buchs definitiv erwachsen geworden. Während sie sich in der ersten Hälfte immer mehr zurückzieht und mit sich zu kämpfen hat, findet sie durch die Herausforderungen, die sie nun plötzlich alleine bewältigen muss, endlich zu sich selbst. Diesen Aspekt finde ich optimal gelöst und auch sehr glaubwürdig. Der Bruch in der Mitte des Buches sowie die letzten Seiten waren auch sehr emotional für mich.
April 5, 2018
So much better than the first!
This book didn't have those dragging info dumps like the first book and so it was not difficult to finish it. I still love the story's writing, world, and characters. Some moments made me tear up because it was so touching or because it was sad. There were a couple things that confused me but it's not a big deal. Anyways I'll be reading the next book. :D
4 Stars.
This book didn't have those dragging info dumps like the first book and so it was not difficult to finish it. I still love the story's writing, world, and characters. Some moments made me tear up because it was so touching or because it was sad. There were a couple things that confused me but it's not a big deal. Anyways I'll be reading the next book. :D
4 Stars.
August 23, 2019
Leaning more 3.5 now.
December 13, 2020
Still an amazing read! I'm adoring being back in this world I know so well and I can't wait to read Hem's book next!
December 2, 2018
I'll be the first to admit that I possibly read this book... too fast.
But a third of the way through, it hit me right in my Cadvan-loving heart, and the back of the book promised there would be a "seductive Winterking," so what's a girl to do?
This was another utter delight. A lot of people compare it to LotR, but to me the only real similarity is that there's this feeling of vast, infinite lore. This is an expansive, complex world and I could spend ages and ages learning about it and its history.
But Maerad is really what keeps me going. She's so stubborn and confused and frightened and angry at it all, even as she can't help caring so, so much, and I love her and want her to succeed. Her will is really something to behold, and apparently things just keep getting better as the series goes on!
My only complaints: I wish the end of the book had taken more time to wrap up the earlier conflict between Maerad and Cadvan. And... I wish we had spent way more time with the seductive Winterking.
But a third of the way through, it hit me right in my Cadvan-loving heart, and the back of the book promised there would be a "seductive Winterking," so what's a girl to do?
This was another utter delight. A lot of people compare it to LotR, but to me the only real similarity is that there's this feeling of vast, infinite lore. This is an expansive, complex world and I could spend ages and ages learning about it and its history.
But Maerad is really what keeps me going. She's so stubborn and confused and frightened and angry at it all, even as she can't help caring so, so much, and I love her and want her to succeed. Her will is really something to behold, and apparently things just keep getting better as the series goes on!
My only complaints: I wish the end of the book had taken more time to wrap up the earlier conflict between Maerad and Cadvan. And... I wish we had spent way more time with the seductive Winterking.
August 30, 2020
In this second installment of Croggon's Naming series, we accompany Maerad through trying to understand who she is, and coming to terms with what she has been chosen to do. While I liked this entry well enough, the pacing was slightly slower and the angst level was slightly higher than I might have hoped for. I might also have read this at the wrong time. I appreciate that Croggon writes in an elevated style, but life outside of this book was busy, and I might have been better served by putting this down and picking up something a little shorter and lighter.
Anyway, this was still pretty good, and I'm looking forward to finishing out the series. I still feel like this is a well done example of the chosen one/Tolkien genre, and I liked that we got to go to the far northern latitudes here.
Anyway, this was still pretty good, and I'm looking forward to finishing out the series. I still feel like this is a well done example of the chosen one/Tolkien genre, and I liked that we got to go to the far northern latitudes here.
May 11, 2022
I remember literally nothing from the 1st book despite reading it 3x in the last 10 years trying to get farther into the series.
With this being said, I find the characters slightly confusing but they were interesting. The worldbuilding was good. The plot was slow but separate from the 1st book enough to where it's not too difficult to follow. If you like fantasy, this should be good for you, especially if the reader is 12-15.
Recommended 12+ for violence, death, scary situations, magic, and topics/moments younger readers may not understand.
With this being said, I find the characters slightly confusing but they were interesting. The worldbuilding was good. The plot was slow but separate from the 1st book enough to where it's not too difficult to follow. If you like fantasy, this should be good for you, especially if the reader is 12-15.
Recommended 12+ for violence, death, scary situations, magic, and topics/moments younger readers may not understand.
February 16, 2018
Really five stars but I'm not sure I can reread it soon (it was really gloomy at times), which is my criteria for five. Very haunting, epic book in which the main characters are so, so beautifully drawn, even more so than in the first book. Maerad is an unconventional heroine, she's annoyed most of the time, but she's also very endearing. The mythology is very interesting and I can't wait to read more. The end's gorgeous, very emotional. I've already begun the next book.
June 25, 2025
Rha !! The ending !! Loved this one !
(Short review, but it's really, really hot in France these days : no energy, I want to move in a freezer.)
I love this series. Wonderful, wonderful characters that stay with me. Rather slow pace but really, who cares ? Great story. Suspense. Wolves ! One rare thing : the heroin has her periods (don't you hate all those heroins who never seem to have cramps ?). And one thing that I don't find often in fantasy but interested me *a lot* : oral culture vs written culture. We're used to characters delving into grimoires to find solutions (even Buffy) but where, where do you find witnesses with a good memory ? The evolution of oral culture as it passes from person to person.
Loved it. Need the next one !
(Short review, but it's really, really hot in France these days : no energy, I want to move in a freezer.)
I love this series. Wonderful, wonderful characters that stay with me. Rather slow pace but really, who cares ? Great story. Suspense. Wolves ! One rare thing : the heroin has her periods (don't you hate all those heroins who never seem to have cramps ?). And one thing that I don't find often in fantasy but interested me *a lot* : oral culture vs written culture. We're used to characters delving into grimoires to find solutions (even Buffy) but where, where do you find witnesses with a good memory ? The evolution of oral culture as it passes from person to person.
Loved it. Need the next one !
January 10, 2021
The saga continues. This installment is quite dark and not a lot of fun to read. Like all epic stories the heroine must encounter many difficulties and that is what this book is. It did end better than I thought it might.
January 19, 2025
A great book! The dialogue is sometimes unnecessarily vague and frustrating, but the world building is excellent. I also didn't get the whole thing with the Winterking. It seemed to come out of nowhere.
November 10, 2020
This book took me absolutely forever to finish.....I can't fault the writing or the characters but at times the storyline was just much heavier than my brain could process. Great series so far though.
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