The Chestnut King
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Product Description
Product Description
"A must-read series." —The Washington Post
When Henry York found 99 cupboards hidden behind his bedroom wall, he never dreamed they were doors to entirely new worlds. Exploring them with his cousin Henrietta was all the action and adventure an overprotected boy could imagine. But Henry's discovery also released the undying witch Nimiane, whose hunger for power could destroy every world connected to the cupboards—and every person whom Henry loves. Now Henry must seek out the legendary Chestnut King to answer the unanswerable: How do you kill someone who cannot die?
With The Chestnut King, N. D. Wilson concludes a remarkable, worlds-spanning trilogy that began with one boy and 100 avenues to adventure.
When Henry York found 99 cupboards hidden behind his bedroom wall, he never dreamed they were doors to entirely new worlds. Exploring them with his cousin Henrietta was all the action and adventure an overprotected boy could imagine. But Henry's discovery also released the undying witch Nimiane, whose hunger for power could destroy every world connected to the cupboards—and every person whom Henry loves. Now Henry must seek out the legendary Chestnut King to answer the unanswerable: How do you kill someone who cannot die?
With The Chestnut King, N. D. Wilson concludes a remarkable, worlds-spanning trilogy that began with one boy and 100 avenues to adventure.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I will start off by saying that I absolutely love this series. When I read book one, 100 Cupboards, I thought it was an excellent story and that it could be the beginning of a great series. When I read book 2, Dandelion Fire, I thought it was an incredible story, Tolkienesk even, and yet it left we wanting more of Henry's story. Book 3, The Chestnut King, blew away all my previous expectations. Very few authors in my opinion are worthy of being compared to C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien or Madeleine L'Engle, and yet as I read this book I could not help but find myself comparing the author's style, and the substance of his writings to these three giants in literature.
This story continues the adventures of Henry York Maccabee, a young boy about to turn 13, raised near Boston on our earth. While visiting family in Kansas he discovers 100 magic doors hidden in a wall. He also finds out that he is not from earth and that the person he thought was his Grandfather had brought him through one of the doors when he was young. He has released an ancient evil Nimiane from Endor, and she devours all life. She is hunting Henry and wants to capture him before he comes into his power. He has been touched by her blood and its scar on his face is expanding. It is a bond between them. Henry's Father and Uncle are off searching for the dark witch when calamity befalls the family. They are taken by soldiers from a southern kingdom. The dark witch is trying to draw Mordecai, Henry's father, and Henry into a trap.
This specific story, and the whole trilogy, is told as a series of narratives telling different people's parts of the story. It reminds me of The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, which is told in 6 books each telling a part of the tale and going back and forth. This story does the same thing. Told from Henry's vantage point, his cousin Henrietta's, his father's and at times even the witch's, the story switches back and forth from different vantage points and most times there are gaps in the story. Some get filled in by others, some are left for you to fill in. Yet it works together as a cohesive whole. At nearly 500 pages this third volume is the longest and also the best written. The story is compelling and highly addictive. I read it in 3 sittings, not wanting to put it down either of the times I did, but life intruded upon my desired reading time.
This is an excellent book by an author who is coming into his own. The story arc across the three novels proceeds well, and this particular volume is excellent. I look forward to future offerings from N.D. Wilson for if they are as good as this one, they will be greatly entertaining.
(First Published in Imprint 2010-05-21.)
This story continues the adventures of Henry York Maccabee, a young boy about to turn 13, raised near Boston on our earth. While visiting family in Kansas he discovers 100 magic doors hidden in a wall. He also finds out that he is not from earth and that the person he thought was his Grandfather had brought him through one of the doors when he was young. He has released an ancient evil Nimiane from Endor, and she devours all life. She is hunting Henry and wants to capture him before he comes into his power. He has been touched by her blood and its scar on his face is expanding. It is a bond between them. Henry's Father and Uncle are off searching for the dark witch when calamity befalls the family. They are taken by soldiers from a southern kingdom. The dark witch is trying to draw Mordecai, Henry's father, and Henry into a trap.
This specific story, and the whole trilogy, is told as a series of narratives telling different people's parts of the story. It reminds me of The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, which is told in 6 books each telling a part of the tale and going back and forth. This story does the same thing. Told from Henry's vantage point, his cousin Henrietta's, his father's and at times even the witch's, the story switches back and forth from different vantage points and most times there are gaps in the story. Some get filled in by others, some are left for you to fill in. Yet it works together as a cohesive whole. At nearly 500 pages this third volume is the longest and also the best written. The story is compelling and highly addictive. I read it in 3 sittings, not wanting to put it down either of the times I did, but life intruded upon my desired reading time.
This is an excellent book by an author who is coming into his own. The story arc across the three novels proceeds well, and this particular volume is excellent. I look forward to future offerings from N.D. Wilson for if they are as good as this one, they will be greatly entertaining.
(First Published in Imprint 2010-05-21.)
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
24 reviews
25 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Genius
6 Feb 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've been reading N.D. Wilson's writing, ever since he first started getting it published. I read his early short stories and poems in Credenda Agenda. I've also recommended his work before but having just finished the concluding volume of his 100 Cupboards trilogy (100 Cupboards, Dandelion Fire, The Chestnut King), I have much more to say.
Genius is rare. We all know that. Acheiving popularity as a writer is pretty rare too. Very rarely do the two coincide, and it is almost unheard of for genius and popularity to come together in the author's own lifetime. I sincerely hope it happens for N.D. Wilson though. He's got five kids to feed.
There is quite a lot going on in this trilogy and I really don't have the time or the space to analyze everything. I do want to make a couple of comparisons though. I'm not a fan of Rowling, or her hero: Harry Potter. I don't hate the kid, but I find his story dull and uninteresting. I don't find the world Rowling created very magical, mysterious, or enchanting. I wouldn't really want to visit there. The school politics and bereaucracy are alive and well in that world and their mind-numbing qualities are quite available outside the pages of a book. The idea that she is writing about wizardry is severely misguided. What she calls wizardry and magic, is really just scientific knowledge and method. The classes at Hogwarts are just science and history classes. The wizard world is only a more technologically advanced version of Great Britain.
All of that to say, Wilson's fantasy world is as homegrown American as Rowling's is British, but it is truly fantastical. There exists within it references to things like mayors and bereaucracies, but the vision of it is transformative and deeply magical. Wilson's hero-child, Henry, isn't a wizard (though wizards do exist and are wizardish), he is a green-man. This distinction is important imaginatively and it deeply shapes the narrative. Harry Potter is basically a bright-boy with a high IQ. This means his spells work particularly well. He still has to memorize them though. He has to have technical knowledge to be a wizard. Wilson's wizards have mysterious knowledge but they operate in a Merlinic fashion: they produce their effects by being themselves rather than by manipulating charms. Henry is a seventh son of a seventh son, branded by the fire of the dandelion. Further, Henry's powers and knowledge as a green-man are acheived as wisdom is, by distilled experience and personal virtue. Birth and naming are more important than access to textbooks or library research (sorry Hermione). This means that the pull, the attraction, of Wilson's world is that of the mythic, the poetic, the otherworldly. Rowling's world is attractive as all success, fame, and ambition stories are; they stimulate the desires of pride and lust for power.
Another interesting aspect of the 100 Cupboards series is the orphan-status of the hero: Henry. Many (most?) children's books feature an orphan for the hero. I have a very smart colleague at Boise State who is studying this phenomena in mythology and literature. Sometimes the child is an outright orphan, as is Harry Potter, and sometimes it is a child with orphan-status: some kind of parents exist but he is effectively abandoned and alone. Wilson takes this typical situation and uses it in some unique ways. I've never seen the joy and the primacy of a family so beautifully affirmed in a book. It is a wonderful to read. Wilson is Gene Wolfe for kids.
Finally, one character when faced with death, comments that he ought to have eaten more of his wife's pies. And that is just good philosophy.
Genius is rare. We all know that. Acheiving popularity as a writer is pretty rare too. Very rarely do the two coincide, and it is almost unheard of for genius and popularity to come together in the author's own lifetime. I sincerely hope it happens for N.D. Wilson though. He's got five kids to feed.
There is quite a lot going on in this trilogy and I really don't have the time or the space to analyze everything. I do want to make a couple of comparisons though. I'm not a fan of Rowling, or her hero: Harry Potter. I don't hate the kid, but I find his story dull and uninteresting. I don't find the world Rowling created very magical, mysterious, or enchanting. I wouldn't really want to visit there. The school politics and bereaucracy are alive and well in that world and their mind-numbing qualities are quite available outside the pages of a book. The idea that she is writing about wizardry is severely misguided. What she calls wizardry and magic, is really just scientific knowledge and method. The classes at Hogwarts are just science and history classes. The wizard world is only a more technologically advanced version of Great Britain.
All of that to say, Wilson's fantasy world is as homegrown American as Rowling's is British, but it is truly fantastical. There exists within it references to things like mayors and bereaucracies, but the vision of it is transformative and deeply magical. Wilson's hero-child, Henry, isn't a wizard (though wizards do exist and are wizardish), he is a green-man. This distinction is important imaginatively and it deeply shapes the narrative. Harry Potter is basically a bright-boy with a high IQ. This means his spells work particularly well. He still has to memorize them though. He has to have technical knowledge to be a wizard. Wilson's wizards have mysterious knowledge but they operate in a Merlinic fashion: they produce their effects by being themselves rather than by manipulating charms. Henry is a seventh son of a seventh son, branded by the fire of the dandelion. Further, Henry's powers and knowledge as a green-man are acheived as wisdom is, by distilled experience and personal virtue. Birth and naming are more important than access to textbooks or library research (sorry Hermione). This means that the pull, the attraction, of Wilson's world is that of the mythic, the poetic, the otherworldly. Rowling's world is attractive as all success, fame, and ambition stories are; they stimulate the desires of pride and lust for power.
Another interesting aspect of the 100 Cupboards series is the orphan-status of the hero: Henry. Many (most?) children's books feature an orphan for the hero. I have a very smart colleague at Boise State who is studying this phenomena in mythology and literature. Sometimes the child is an outright orphan, as is Harry Potter, and sometimes it is a child with orphan-status: some kind of parents exist but he is effectively abandoned and alone. Wilson takes this typical situation and uses it in some unique ways. I've never seen the joy and the primacy of a family so beautifully affirmed in a book. It is a wonderful to read. Wilson is Gene Wolfe for kids.
Finally, one character when faced with death, comments that he ought to have eaten more of his wife's pies. And that is just good philosophy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
loved it
3 Oct 2011
Format:Paperback
My family loved this book. Positive truths to help my kids think about living a life of character in a book they love reading.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The End of Cupboard Travel
8 Mar 2011
Format:Paperback
Reason for Reading: Next (and last) in the trilogy.
It's the final showdown in this volume. Nimiane is making her move to take over the empire, her hatred for Henry's bloodline makes his whole family targets of her wrath, especially him, since they are tied together with the blood bond and she knows how powerful he could become. Most of the book takes place within the worlds of the cupboards, with the doors being used for travel and a few pit stops are made here and there to the house in Kansas in the process. People actually notice a few strange things happening where the house used to be and the area is becoming popular to the paranormal events -type crowd. Henry learns a lot more about who he is and who he could be while Henrietta becomes much more of a teammate than she has ever been before, though she and Henry do end up on different teams at times. I think all the characters have grown as people throughout this series and that is always a good feeling to have at the end of a series.
The paranormal elements of this volume where quite intriguing. The full truth comes out about Henry's scar and his ties to Endor because of it. Henry's case is an exciting one as at one point it boils down to the options of giving up and dying quickly or going forward to die with honour or at least die trying. But things are never always as they seem and at the end we can sigh with relief at the happy ending. In fact, this is my main problem with the book, the ending is too pat. All ends were finished off just so perfectly nicely that it destroyed some of the story's believability for me. The other thing I find annoying is the trend of these juvenile fantasies, with book 1 being 200 and some pages, book two pushes the 400 mark and then book 3 has to top them all off by trying to become a 500 page tome. That is what actually made me take so long to get started on this book since I had enjoyed the first two books so much.
An interesting, well-thought out fantasy world and story that delivers an exciting conclusion while on the other hand draws out the trilogy when it might have been trimmed a little to make it a bit move quicker and therefore more tense.
It's the final showdown in this volume. Nimiane is making her move to take over the empire, her hatred for Henry's bloodline makes his whole family targets of her wrath, especially him, since they are tied together with the blood bond and she knows how powerful he could become. Most of the book takes place within the worlds of the cupboards, with the doors being used for travel and a few pit stops are made here and there to the house in Kansas in the process. People actually notice a few strange things happening where the house used to be and the area is becoming popular to the paranormal events -type crowd. Henry learns a lot more about who he is and who he could be while Henrietta becomes much more of a teammate than she has ever been before, though she and Henry do end up on different teams at times. I think all the characters have grown as people throughout this series and that is always a good feeling to have at the end of a series.
The paranormal elements of this volume where quite intriguing. The full truth comes out about Henry's scar and his ties to Endor because of it. Henry's case is an exciting one as at one point it boils down to the options of giving up and dying quickly or going forward to die with honour or at least die trying. But things are never always as they seem and at the end we can sigh with relief at the happy ending. In fact, this is my main problem with the book, the ending is too pat. All ends were finished off just so perfectly nicely that it destroyed some of the story's believability for me. The other thing I find annoying is the trend of these juvenile fantasies, with book 1 being 200 and some pages, book two pushes the 400 mark and then book 3 has to top them all off by trying to become a 500 page tome. That is what actually made me take so long to get started on this book since I had enjoyed the first two books so much.
An interesting, well-thought out fantasy world and story that delivers an exciting conclusion while on the other hand draws out the trilogy when it might have been trimmed a little to make it a bit move quicker and therefore more tense.
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