- Find all the latest books, toys, games and DVDs from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in our Harry Potter store.
| ||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Spellcoats (Dalemark Quartet) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
A magical adventure
Product Description
Tanaqui, and her brothers and sister, are left alone to fend for themselves. But the people in the village turn against them. They must flee their home and begin a terrifying journey to the sea. BLDiana Wynne Jones is recognized as being one of the most outstanding writers of fantasy in recent times. BLThe Dalemark Quartet books are for good readers who have enjoyed the Christopher Chant books by the same author. The books contain the same ability to immerse the reader with real child characters having magical adventures in an imaginary world. BLThis genre of fantasy writing is currently very popular due to the success of the recent 'Lord of the Rings' film. BLDiana Wynne Jones has won the Guardian Award for fiction and has written over twenty novels in less than twenty years.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is easily my favourite of the Dalemark Quartet, and can be read separately from the others as it is set in the prehistory of the country that will become Dalemark. Part of the pleasure is only understanding a little bit faster than the narrator just how special the family that is sailing down the River is. The plot is believable and the twists thrilling, the atmosphere of the world is convincing, the characters are wonderful, the things that happen affect them as they would real people (these are not boring superhuman hero types)- in short it is a typical Diana Wynne Jones book. Please read it.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Spellcoats" is the first book I read in the Dalemark Series, written by Diana Wynne Jones, although it is not the first book (in reading order) of the series. The world of Dalemark is a detailed, believable but undoubtedly strange and magical creation. The compelling strangeness of the world is perhaps most obvious in this title, although the others of the quartet ("Drowned Ammet", "Cart and Cwidder" and "The Crown of Dalemark") are also filled with the otherworldly and strangely poignant atmosphere of that world.
Dalemark is not a typical fantasy world, although it has the conventional elements of evil to fight, hereos to fight that evil, and battles which must be won and lost. Within "The Spellcoats" the enemies are found not simply within the army which is invading the country, and the danger is not merely that of war. There are deep magics which threaten the Great River, which is the soul of the country, as well as posing a potent threat the family of the narrator, Tanaqui (whose name means younger sister). The Undying (Dalemark's gods) are being sucked dry and Tanaqui and her brothers and sister discover that they are the only ones with any hope of saving the soul and life of their home.
The heroes of all the Dalemark books are children, and the series is primarily written for children, although adults will certainly not find the plots too simplistic to be interesting. The promblems which most be solved for "good" to triumph vary from the physical to the magical, and finally the moral. Children from the age of nine or ten will enjoy this book, and probably re-read it for many years to come, getting more and more out of it each time. Adult will also enjot it, in perhaps a quieter way, and both adults and children should also have a keen interest in obtaining the otheres in the series......
Format:Paperback
Really struggled with this for some reason, having enjoyed 1 and 2 in the series. It's a lot more ambitious, fantasy-wise, than the first two, with quite heavy mystical and magical concepts (souls captured inside dolls, magical rivers and wizards etc).
It feels more Ursula Le Guin in places than a simple kids' romp, and comparisons between this author and the Potter books are well wide of the mark in my opinion. I think I prefer Rowling's books as I can switch of my brain and enjoy the ride. Too often with this series I find myself re-reading paragraphs of tentacle-like, back-to-front sentences to check I got it right. Clever and thick with detail - yes. Comparable to Rowling's stuff? Not at all.
Will definitely read again soon to check I haven't been too harsh!
It feels more Ursula Le Guin in places than a simple kids' romp, and comparisons between this author and the Potter books are well wide of the mark in my opinion. I think I prefer Rowling's books as I can switch of my brain and enjoy the ride. Too often with this series I find myself re-reading paragraphs of tentacle-like, back-to-front sentences to check I got it right. Clever and thick with detail - yes. Comparable to Rowling's stuff? Not at all.
Will definitely read again soon to check I haven't been too harsh!
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not what I expected
I've read a number of Diana Wynne Jones' books and thought I knew what to expect. This was quite different. I didn't warm to it at first and thought it slow moving and odd. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Sally Swann
great myth story
This is a very intriguing story of siblings on a journey in the olden days. It is told from the perspective of one of the sisters which makes it very absorbing and more real... Read more
Published 19 months ago by penelope
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
