Melleron's Magic

Melleron #2

by Douglas Arthur Hill

TreeTops Stories have been given a fresh new look with new covers, a new TreeTops logo, parental notes on inside back cover and new teaching materials.

NB. Please note levelling All of these titles were originally packed as Stage 16E.

Genres: Fantasy

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 2000

About the author

Douglas Arthur Hill (6 April 1935 – 21 June 2007) was a Canadian science fiction author, editor and reviewer. He was born in Brandon, Manitoba, the son of a railroad engineer, and was raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. An avid science fiction reader from an early age, he studied English at the University of Saskatchewan (where he earned an Honours B.A. in 1957) and at the University of Toronto. He married fellow writer and U. of S. alumna Gail Robinson in 1958; they moved to Britain in 1959, where he worked as a freelance writer and editor for Aldus Books. In 1967–1968 he served as Assistant Editor of the controversial New Worlds science fiction magazine under Michael Moorcock.

A lifetime leftist, he served from 1971 to 1984 as the Literary Editor of the socialist weekly Tribune (a position once held by George Orwell), where he regularly reviewed science fiction despite the continued refusal of the literary world to take it seriously. Before starting to write fiction in 1978, he wrote many books on history, science and folklore. Using the pseudonym Martin Hillman, he also worked as an editor of several anthologies, among them Window on the Future (1966), The Shape of Sex to Come (1978), Out of Time (1984), and Hidden Turnings (1988). He is probably best known for The Last Legionary quartet of novels, supposedly produced as the result of a challenge by a publisher to Hill's complaints about the lack of good science fiction for younger readers.

Hill and his wife had one child, a son. They were divorced in 1978. He lived in Wood Green, London, and died in London after being struck by a bus at a zebra crossing. His death occurred one day after he completed his last trilogy, Demon Stalkers.

Reviews

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Melleron’s monster friends are quite memorable, Melleron himself has precious little personality or agency. The fantasy setting lacks depth and development. The villainous magician and his hench-monsters evince evil without motivation. A lacklustre offering from a writer capable of much more.

[M A · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a very, very, very, very, very good book if you want something to make fun of. If not, it is very, very, very, very, very bad book.

[Iker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a boy called Melleron that went to the forest to find his friends. Rose and Grit. Horrimal and an eagle, they fought Horrimal. The mysterious eagle turned to Saelez. Horrimal and Saelez Punched the boy, Rose and Grit. they lay down fainted. Horrimal and Saelez went away with them. The boy made a spell and Saelez lay asleep. The boy,Rose and Grit took their chance. They finally had escaped. They rushed to the land of the monsters to sleep a bit. Magically they found Horrimal and his gang. The boy, Rose and Grit new they would loose so they escaped. Saelez found the boy and did a spell. Consequently, the boy lay in pain. Rose spit fire and Saelez cried. Rose and Grit fought and won.

[Heba · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a good and nice story for young readers. It’s about a boy and his two friends: a dragon and a stone dog. Together they face the evil magician and his gang.