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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The White Bird of Kinship, 20 Mar 2004
The start of the great "Kinship Saga" is not - despite this being the first novel of the trilogy - to be found here. While you can do as I did and begin reading the series here, the true beginning is to be found in the collection of short stories named "Custodians and Other Stories" in the short story of Thomas the musical prodigy and his guide Peter the Tale-Spinner "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn". Long-time fans of the Pink Floyd will no doubt recall the name from an early album."The Road to Corlay" takes place 18 years after the events at the gates of York described in the "Piper" and follows Thomas of Norwich, one of the Boy Piper's followers, as he tries to make his way from the shattered islands of a far-future Drowned Britain to the distant castle of Corlay in Brittany. Disaster befalls Thomas betwee the Quantock and Blackdown hills of Devon and Somerset - divided islands in a new Somersea in the drowned Britian of this far-flung future world - and he is cast overboard to drown in the sea above Taunton. There, no doubt, he would drown were it not for the intervention of a mind from the far past of the 20th century - a mind that is as lost and faces as much danger as does Thomas himself. These two people, a drowned religious pilgrim from the future and a dying scientist from the far past, are locked together in a strange embrace that keeps them both alive for the duration of the novel - but at a terrible cost. A third hero enters the tale in the form of Brother Francis, the private investigator of a senior member of the Catholic Church, who is sent to uncover the truth about this strange new religion of the Boy, known as "Kinship". Quickly, he becomes aware that Thomas of Norwich may be carrying a priceless cargo with him to Corlay: the document of prophecy written by the Boy's own teacher, Morfedd the Wizard. As is ever the case with such envoys of the Church, Francis faces a terrible risk in coming so close to a contest between religions and soon finds himself enraptured by Kinship and now searching for Morfedd's Testament for his own reasons. Here, finally, the novel becomes clear for though Thomas of Norwich and Brother Francis are so very different they are both captured by the prophecy of the Testament - Thomas, because he carries it towards Corlay and Francis because he, almost alone in the world, begins to understand its meaning. A meaning that seems to have something to do with Thomas, with the strange spirit from the past before the Drowning, with the girl Jane who rescues Thomas from the sea and even with Brother Francis himself. Are they truly heroes in the world, making their way on their own journeys? Are they each great players in a burgeoning new religion? Are they captives of a wizardly prophecy? What is the nature of their strange connection and who or what is the mysterious "Child of the Bride of Time"? Get this book. Read it. Read it again. Then put it away for a while and read it again. It is magnificent, powerful, glorious and fantastic. True, it is an early example of Cowper's work and is not as well-written as the later stories, but here we see the breadth of imagination that makes great writers remembered far beyond their own lifetimes. This book may not be remembere with fondness or kindness by its readers - it is too disturbing for that - but it will be remembered when other writers are all but forgotten. It is one of the great books of the 20th century. Buy it now!
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by Richard Cowper
