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One Bright Star to Guide Them
As children, long ago, Tommy Robertson and his three friends, Penny, Sally, and Richard, passed through a secret gate in a ruined garden and found themselves in an elfin land, where they aided a brave prince against the evil forces of the Winter King. Decades later, successful, stout, and settled in his ways, Tommy is long parted from his childhood friends, and their magical adventures are but a half-buried memory.
But on the very eve of his promotion to London, a silver key and a coal-black cat appear from the past, and Tommy finds himself summoned to serve as England’s champion against the invincible Knight of Ghosts and Shadows. The terror and wonder of Faerie has broken into the Green and Pleasant Land, and he alone has been given the eyes to see it. To gather his companions and their relics is his quest, but age and time have changed them too. Like Tommy, they are more worldly-wise, and more fearful. And evil things from childhood stories grow older and darker and more frightening with the passing of the years.
One Bright Star to Guide Them begins where other fairy tales end. Brilliant and bittersweet, the novella hearkens back to the greatest and best-loved classics of childhood fantasy. John C. Wright’s beautiful fairy tale is not a subversion of these classics, but a loving and nostalgic homage to them, and reminds the reader that although Ever After may not always be happy, the Road of Life goes ever on and evil must be defeated anew by each and every generation.
John C. Wright has been described as one of the most important and audacious authors in science fiction today. In a poll of more than 1,000 science fiction readers, he was chosen as the sixth-greatest living science fiction writer.
But on the very eve of his promotion to London, a silver key and a coal-black cat appear from the past, and Tommy finds himself summoned to serve as England’s champion against the invincible Knight of Ghosts and Shadows. The terror and wonder of Faerie has broken into the Green and Pleasant Land, and he alone has been given the eyes to see it. To gather his companions and their relics is his quest, but age and time have changed them too. Like Tommy, they are more worldly-wise, and more fearful. And evil things from childhood stories grow older and darker and more frightening with the passing of the years.
One Bright Star to Guide Them begins where other fairy tales end. Brilliant and bittersweet, the novella hearkens back to the greatest and best-loved classics of childhood fantasy. John C. Wright’s beautiful fairy tale is not a subversion of these classics, but a loving and nostalgic homage to them, and reminds the reader that although Ever After may not always be happy, the Road of Life goes ever on and evil must be defeated anew by each and every generation.
John C. Wright has been described as one of the most important and audacious authors in science fiction today. In a poll of more than 1,000 science fiction readers, he was chosen as the sixth-greatest living science fiction writer.
66 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2014
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154 people want to read
About the author
John C. Wright
147 books456 followersJohn C. Wright (John Charles Justin Wright, born 1961) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy novels. A Nebula award finalist (for the fantasy novel Orphans of Chaos), he was called "this fledgling century's most important new SF talent" by Publishers Weekly (after publication of his debut novel, The Golden Age).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
February 26, 2015
Damn John C. Wright for writing a story that has been bouncing around in my head for years, but like so many stories, I never wrote: children who went on a magical adventure to another world grow up, and then the evil returns and they must face it again as adults.
Well, the idea is not wholly original. Stephen King did it in It. Lev Grossman did it in The Magicians. But those were both R-rated deconstructions of a children's portal fantasy, while One Bright Star to Guide Them is a loving tribute.
The land Tommy and his friends journeyed to is very obviously a Narnia analog (there is even a lion in the end), and one way in which I felt the story dragged a bit was that Wright tried to make up for the fact that this little novella is not really a sequel to an established work of children's fantasy by packing the pages with descriptions of the Summer Knights and the Lands of the Fairy and magic mirrors and the One Good Werewolf in the World and a host of other names and events that supposedly happened during the protagonists' childhood adventures but which the reader has never actually read. These are frequently recited to us by Tommy, the last hero standing, as he seeks out his former companions and tries to get them to join him in his quest, only to find out that they have been corrupted or made fearful by adulthood and the loss of magic and innocence.
Tommy, called upon to save the world once more by a talking cat, has various MacGuffins to acquire. Many of his adventures are simply related to us after the fact. In the process he has his own heart and soul tested, and the ending is suitably epic, if abbreviated.
There's definitely a Christian subtext here, as with the Lewis stories that Wright is paying tribute to. If you read and remember fondly the Chronicles of Narnia, or any children's series of that genre (but especially Narnia), then One Bright Star to Guide Them will certainly spark some fond memories and is worth reading. On the other hand, if you don't particularly care for children's portal fantasies, then this novella is not really a grown-up version of one, nor a subversion, so you may not find much here to savor.
Well, the idea is not wholly original. Stephen King did it in It. Lev Grossman did it in The Magicians. But those were both R-rated deconstructions of a children's portal fantasy, while One Bright Star to Guide Them is a loving tribute.
The land Tommy and his friends journeyed to is very obviously a Narnia analog (there is even a lion in the end), and one way in which I felt the story dragged a bit was that Wright tried to make up for the fact that this little novella is not really a sequel to an established work of children's fantasy by packing the pages with descriptions of the Summer Knights and the Lands of the Fairy and magic mirrors and the One Good Werewolf in the World and a host of other names and events that supposedly happened during the protagonists' childhood adventures but which the reader has never actually read. These are frequently recited to us by Tommy, the last hero standing, as he seeks out his former companions and tries to get them to join him in his quest, only to find out that they have been corrupted or made fearful by adulthood and the loss of magic and innocence.
Tommy, called upon to save the world once more by a talking cat, has various MacGuffins to acquire. Many of his adventures are simply related to us after the fact. In the process he has his own heart and soul tested, and the ending is suitably epic, if abbreviated.
There's definitely a Christian subtext here, as with the Lewis stories that Wright is paying tribute to. If you read and remember fondly the Chronicles of Narnia, or any children's series of that genre (but especially Narnia), then One Bright Star to Guide Them will certainly spark some fond memories and is worth reading. On the other hand, if you don't particularly care for children's portal fantasies, then this novella is not really a grown-up version of one, nor a subversion, so you may not find much here to savor.
May 7, 2015
Here's a quotation from the last chapter of this novella:
"Nothing happened and nothing continued to happen."
And that sums up this review. Most of the action takes place off-stage and is so inconsequential that it's tedious to read. The info-dumps are not at all informative, and they pummel the reader like streams of projectile vomit (except in fact possessing the stench of diarrhea... verbal diarrhea).
If there were any subtlety to the moral of the story, then the novella might have at least one redeeming aspect. But the story exists to deliver a message, and that message is about as subtly delivered as a mallet struck on the foot of the reader. Again and again. And again. And in case you didn't get it yet, here's another mallet. And one more.
And finally, one last mallet impact... between the eyes just for good measure. Now stop serving evil and follow the Light. And do not sit passively, as your inaction allows evil to flourish. And follow your orders faithfully, you wretch. That's why they call it "faith" and not "pride" or "sloth".
If only I had a silver key that I could use on this story, twisting the key in air while muttering an inane rhyming verse, and miraculously banish this dreck from existence.
"Nothing happened and nothing continued to happen."
And that sums up this review. Most of the action takes place off-stage and is so inconsequential that it's tedious to read. The info-dumps are not at all informative, and they pummel the reader like streams of projectile vomit (except in fact possessing the stench of diarrhea... verbal diarrhea).
If there were any subtlety to the moral of the story, then the novella might have at least one redeeming aspect. But the story exists to deliver a message, and that message is about as subtly delivered as a mallet struck on the foot of the reader. Again and again. And again. And in case you didn't get it yet, here's another mallet. And one more.
And finally, one last mallet impact... between the eyes just for good measure. Now stop serving evil and follow the Light. And do not sit passively, as your inaction allows evil to flourish. And follow your orders faithfully, you wretch. That's why they call it "faith" and not "pride" or "sloth".
If only I had a silver key that I could use on this story, twisting the key in air while muttering an inane rhyming verse, and miraculously banish this dreck from existence.
April 6, 2015
"Oh my gosh, does that suck!" - Frank Cross "Scrooged"
Editors note: I'm going back and giving another star to the first two books in the S.M. Stirling "Emberverse" series which I recently gave only two stars, because this story allowed me to re calibrate what a bad story is.
First the good: it's an interesting premise, the formerly young adventurers called back to re-battle the evil, but with one twist - they're now middle-aged!
What else...what...else.... Nope. Sorry, that's the end of the "good".
The Bad:
Disjointed story - just, a mess.
No sense of Place - I know it's set in England, because the writer keeps saying it, but I don't feel it.
Cardboard Characters - you meet two of the protagonists former (human) companions, and they're just there.
Major action takes place "off screen" - I just can't even. I actually wondered mid-story if the character would turn out to be imagining everything.
Clumsy writing: I've read handouts for RPG campaigns that were more movingly written and clearer. I actually had to force myself to finish - it's 66 pages.
The first 20 pages are just...disjointed. I've read books with that leave the reader feeling like they have come into an ongoing series (for example, Steven Brust's marvelous "Jhereg" series) and I'm aware that it's hard to kick start something like this in only 66 pages, but that's the writers job, isn't it?
Sadly, it doesn't get better, old compatriots are brought up to be discarded, major action happens off-screen, with some heavy-handed "the call is coming from inside the government" writing that really didn't work for me, in no small part because, other than repeatedly being told that this was happening in England, I never had a real sense of place established.
I'm really left with the impression that this story really doesn't know what it is; if it was written for adults, the characters are too simple; in the sense that they behave in ways that a kid might think adults would, and yet it's too poorly written to be of interest to a younger reader (not to mention the rape and abortion references made in the early part of the story).
I guess I can give it one other thumbs up for being thought provoking, in that I'm thinking about how a story like this could have been handled so much better, so call it a 1.5 star story.
I appreciate the obvious nod to Narnia, but C.S. Lewis is probably spinning in his grave. I kid, he's likely up in heaven, and since heaven is bliss, he will Never. Learn. Of. This. Story.
September 6, 2014
First off, I can't remember being so filled with a novella. I feel as if I read a 400-plus page fantasy novel. So much to unpack from it and think about and the story is really something I want to re-read.
It contained an interesting premise where a group of children had previously gone on an adventure together and survived the quest in some instance of fairyland. Now they are adults who have put such ideas behind them. A new challenge threatens their own lands. I liked the playfulness is part of this idea. To be challenged to go on a quest and yet don't you have bills to pay and a job to maintain?
There are slight echoes of Narnia without some of the ham-fisted allegory. A deep understanding of human nature makes this quest go off not quite as you would expect. John C. Wright has a talent of invoking much with his words without having to go deeper into side stories. Just his phrases paint a picture of events such that your own mind renders the details to fill it out. There is always a sense when reading you are participating in a story, in this case I felt I was participating by imagining backstory.
I found this story totally satisfying and no doubt I will find it the same in the future.
It contained an interesting premise where a group of children had previously gone on an adventure together and survived the quest in some instance of fairyland. Now they are adults who have put such ideas behind them. A new challenge threatens their own lands. I liked the playfulness is part of this idea. To be challenged to go on a quest and yet don't you have bills to pay and a job to maintain?
There are slight echoes of Narnia without some of the ham-fisted allegory. A deep understanding of human nature makes this quest go off not quite as you would expect. John C. Wright has a talent of invoking much with his words without having to go deeper into side stories. Just his phrases paint a picture of events such that your own mind renders the details to fill it out. There is always a sense when reading you are participating in a story, in this case I felt I was participating by imagining backstory.
I found this story totally satisfying and no doubt I will find it the same in the future.
October 31, 2014
I'm not sure how Wright did this. This novella picks up the idea of what happens when the children who were once engaged on a grand adventure (a la The Lion and the Wardrobe) reach middle age. The adventure has been sublimated to the necessities of adult life. When the call goes out for their heroic talents how will they respond? What will be the consequences for each of them? And for the rest of the world?
This is a very deep story with much to ponder and it promises rich enjoyment upon rereading. I now want the sequel.
This is a very deep story with much to ponder and it promises rich enjoyment upon rereading. I now want the sequel.
August 31, 2015
To be honest, One Bright Star to Guide Them is perhaps one of the best stories to symbolise the problem with the 'Sad/Rabid Puppy' slates from the 2015 Hugos. On paper it looks like a great idea, 'what if the heroes of the Narnia books had grown to adulthood and then been needed again', but the novella fails to deliver on that interesting premise. Indeed, this rates as flat out one of the worst pieces of fiction I've read this year. It's an astonishingly lackluster story, ruined by an astoundingly bad structure and leaden writing. It's so bad that I was honestly wondering how it even got published, let alone nominated for anything beyond a Razzie.
The central, unbelievable problem with One Bright Star to Guide Them is that its structure doesn't fit its story. The structure dedicates each chapter (except the last) to recruiting one of the four childhood heroes to the quest to save the world, but these scenes are largely irrelevant to the plot at hand. OBSGT is about the main character Tommy's journey, leaving the other three behind at the end of their chapter, but what seems like every part of his journey happens off the page. He grows from a somewhat selfish man child into Wright's idea of a hero, but the majority of this happens between the chapters.
The most egregious example of this is the transition between chapters two and three. Two ends with Tommy betrayed by one of his friends and captured by the enemy. Three then opens with Tommy having been free for months! What makes this worse is that once he starts telling the story of how he escaped, it becomes clear that one of his most major moments of character development (to wit, his faith in the advice of Tibalt, the messenger from the magical world) happened during the course of this escape. That this incredibly important moment in the story has to be recounted by Tommy to a fellow character is one of the most obvious mistakes I've seen in any published work.
This moment also leads into OBSGT's second major problem which is that it relies heavily on telling the reader about its world rather than showing it. Both chapters two and three are rife with Tommy telling other characters about the things he's seen on his off-page adventures and often (hilariously) about themselves. One moment that particularly sticks out is when three characters from the magical world appear and Tommy tells them about how they met, because of course they need to be reminded of this. Another is Tommy dedicating a chunk of chapter three to explaining everything that happened to him while he was kidnapped.
What makes this worse is that it's not hard to see a vastly more interesting story peeking out of the seems here. Wright takes a positive delight in having Tommy tell us about the wonderous and hideous sights he's seen on his journey across demon-haunted England and the scenes he alludes to are vastly more interesting than the scenes we actually have to suffer through. In another world, it's hard not to imagine One Bright Star to Guide Them being a full length novel, packed with the scenes Wright has declared unnecessary to his novella's narrative.
Characterisation is definitely one of the novella's flaws. Tommy, the main character, is largely a blank slate. His job in the novel is mostly to deliver exposition and it's hard not to notice that he really only oscillates between outrage and disgust. Tibalt, Tommy's guide and mentor is worse. Supposedly a representative of everything Good in the world, Tibalt is predominantly a jerk. He's judgemental and withholds critical information for no good reason. Indeed, much of the ending relies on Tibalt deliberately not telling Tommy his plans, an act that really makes no sense.
The final nail in the coffin has to be the novella's finale. While facing down the villain, Tibalt tells Tommy to slay him, which is as far as the reader and Tommy knows, will both kill Tibalt and destroy the magic sword Tommy's trying to use at the time. Once Tommy does slay his only friend, he of course wins and Tibalt returns, having been exalted for his 'sacrifice'. The problem here is twofold. Firstly, Tibalt's 'sacrifice' is an egotistical one, where he both knows he will survive and that he will ascend to a greater form, which negates the whole 'sacrifice' thing. Secondly, the theology surrounding it is more than a little creepy. Tibalt makes it clear that Tommy should never have questioned his orders and that more than anything, Tibalt's masters demand Tommy's blind obedience, not allowing or giving explanation for the hoops they demand he blindly leap through. It's a creepy and disturbing demand that feels enormously unpleasant, especially given the explicitly Christian themes of the story. Illegitimising a worshipper's questions or confusion comes off as the worst kind of fundementalism, let alone allowing all kinds of charlatans to abuse worshippers' blind obedience.
On the theocracy front, it's worth pointing out how bad a job this does of presenting the difference between good and evil. Wright rather obviously conflates physical and spiritual ugliness to an almost absurd degree (the chapter in which Tommy confronts his traitorous friend is spent entirely in an unlit room filled with ugly paintings. This lack of light doesn't seem to affect the scene in any way), but beyond this, he's also really unable to portray any actual moral difference. Every time Tommy tries to say something about the rightness of his cause, all he can really talk about is the pretty and beautiful things he saw in the magical world. For a story about the battle between good and evil, it does a poor job of articulating exactly what good is.
Overall, it's hard not to consider One Bright Star To Guide Them a complete mess. The book's theme is little more than the 'virtue' of blind obedience given cover by the aping of a much better series. Characterization's flat and annoying, with much of the novella's impact due to a refusal to share information, not any real conflict. But worst of all has to be the utterly unbelievable structure, an incredibly obvious problem that no one seems to have tried to fix. Again, I have difficulty understanding why this was published, let alone nominated for an award.
The central, unbelievable problem with One Bright Star to Guide Them is that its structure doesn't fit its story. The structure dedicates each chapter (except the last) to recruiting one of the four childhood heroes to the quest to save the world, but these scenes are largely irrelevant to the plot at hand. OBSGT is about the main character Tommy's journey, leaving the other three behind at the end of their chapter, but what seems like every part of his journey happens off the page. He grows from a somewhat selfish man child into Wright's idea of a hero, but the majority of this happens between the chapters.
The most egregious example of this is the transition between chapters two and three. Two ends with Tommy betrayed by one of his friends and captured by the enemy. Three then opens with Tommy having been free for months! What makes this worse is that once he starts telling the story of how he escaped, it becomes clear that one of his most major moments of character development (to wit, his faith in the advice of Tibalt, the messenger from the magical world) happened during the course of this escape. That this incredibly important moment in the story has to be recounted by Tommy to a fellow character is one of the most obvious mistakes I've seen in any published work.
This moment also leads into OBSGT's second major problem which is that it relies heavily on telling the reader about its world rather than showing it. Both chapters two and three are rife with Tommy telling other characters about the things he's seen on his off-page adventures and often (hilariously) about themselves. One moment that particularly sticks out is when three characters from the magical world appear and Tommy tells them about how they met, because of course they need to be reminded of this. Another is Tommy dedicating a chunk of chapter three to explaining everything that happened to him while he was kidnapped.
What makes this worse is that it's not hard to see a vastly more interesting story peeking out of the seems here. Wright takes a positive delight in having Tommy tell us about the wonderous and hideous sights he's seen on his journey across demon-haunted England and the scenes he alludes to are vastly more interesting than the scenes we actually have to suffer through. In another world, it's hard not to imagine One Bright Star to Guide Them being a full length novel, packed with the scenes Wright has declared unnecessary to his novella's narrative.
Characterisation is definitely one of the novella's flaws. Tommy, the main character, is largely a blank slate. His job in the novel is mostly to deliver exposition and it's hard not to notice that he really only oscillates between outrage and disgust. Tibalt, Tommy's guide and mentor is worse. Supposedly a representative of everything Good in the world, Tibalt is predominantly a jerk. He's judgemental and withholds critical information for no good reason. Indeed, much of the ending relies on Tibalt deliberately not telling Tommy his plans, an act that really makes no sense.
The final nail in the coffin has to be the novella's finale. While facing down the villain, Tibalt tells Tommy to slay him, which is as far as the reader and Tommy knows, will both kill Tibalt and destroy the magic sword Tommy's trying to use at the time. Once Tommy does slay his only friend, he of course wins and Tibalt returns, having been exalted for his 'sacrifice'. The problem here is twofold. Firstly, Tibalt's 'sacrifice' is an egotistical one, where he both knows he will survive and that he will ascend to a greater form, which negates the whole 'sacrifice' thing. Secondly, the theology surrounding it is more than a little creepy. Tibalt makes it clear that Tommy should never have questioned his orders and that more than anything, Tibalt's masters demand Tommy's blind obedience, not allowing or giving explanation for the hoops they demand he blindly leap through. It's a creepy and disturbing demand that feels enormously unpleasant, especially given the explicitly Christian themes of the story. Illegitimising a worshipper's questions or confusion comes off as the worst kind of fundementalism, let alone allowing all kinds of charlatans to abuse worshippers' blind obedience.
On the theocracy front, it's worth pointing out how bad a job this does of presenting the difference between good and evil. Wright rather obviously conflates physical and spiritual ugliness to an almost absurd degree (the chapter in which Tommy confronts his traitorous friend is spent entirely in an unlit room filled with ugly paintings. This lack of light doesn't seem to affect the scene in any way), but beyond this, he's also really unable to portray any actual moral difference. Every time Tommy tries to say something about the rightness of his cause, all he can really talk about is the pretty and beautiful things he saw in the magical world. For a story about the battle between good and evil, it does a poor job of articulating exactly what good is.
Overall, it's hard not to consider One Bright Star To Guide Them a complete mess. The book's theme is little more than the 'virtue' of blind obedience given cover by the aping of a much better series. Characterization's flat and annoying, with much of the novella's impact due to a refusal to share information, not any real conflict. But worst of all has to be the utterly unbelievable structure, an incredibly obvious problem that no one seems to have tried to fix. Again, I have difficulty understanding why this was published, let alone nominated for an award.
April 29, 2015
Ugh, well, someone did nominate it for a Hugo, so I read it.
To begin with the minor issues, the writing style is largely unobjectionable and unimaginative. It's biggest problem occurs because it's a story in which backstory matters a lot but gets introduced in an unsubtle manner. Ugly info dumps, that sort of thing. Also, the story is set in a culture other than the author's which happens to be mine. Lots of Americans write stories set in Britain. You can pretty much always tell they're not British. They're rarely as utterly and flamboyantly out of tune with British culture as John C. Wright is.
Leaving aside these annoyances, the story attempts the same thing as another I read recently. The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books attempts to take a middle aged protagonist on a revisit of his younger self's adventures. That book failed as well, in better style than this one. I think an author who attempts this worthy project really, really needs to let his or her characters grow up and in a good way. Wright's don't even try. One is a bumbling man-child, the next has turned evil, the third neurotic, the fourth is dead. You know those kid's stories where the very ordinary child implausibly fights off the mighty villain and saves the world? Well, it’s even more implausible when a rather pathetic middle-aged man is doing it and not nearly as endearing.
I have to acknowledge the fact that this story aims at spiritual exploration. Generally, I appreciate such stories regardless of the religion or philosophy involved. Unfortunately, this story fails here as well. I'm sure it's mainly because its message is spiritually insignificant. It's a sort of Baddies v. Goodies tale, in keeping with the mental age of the protagonist. I also have to mention that the world-building around the fantastical elements which were supposed to act as allegories for the spiritual world was poor.
From the political standpoint I can't refrain from mentioning an absolute gem. It's hardly even a spoiler, being a very minor plot event, but still.
To begin with the minor issues, the writing style is largely unobjectionable and unimaginative. It's biggest problem occurs because it's a story in which backstory matters a lot but gets introduced in an unsubtle manner. Ugly info dumps, that sort of thing. Also, the story is set in a culture other than the author's which happens to be mine. Lots of Americans write stories set in Britain. You can pretty much always tell they're not British. They're rarely as utterly and flamboyantly out of tune with British culture as John C. Wright is.
Leaving aside these annoyances, the story attempts the same thing as another I read recently. The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books attempts to take a middle aged protagonist on a revisit of his younger self's adventures. That book failed as well, in better style than this one. I think an author who attempts this worthy project really, really needs to let his or her characters grow up and in a good way. Wright's don't even try. One is a bumbling man-child, the next has turned evil, the third neurotic, the fourth is dead. You know those kid's stories where the very ordinary child implausibly fights off the mighty villain and saves the world? Well, it’s even more implausible when a rather pathetic middle-aged man is doing it and not nearly as endearing.
I have to acknowledge the fact that this story aims at spiritual exploration. Generally, I appreciate such stories regardless of the religion or philosophy involved. Unfortunately, this story fails here as well. I'm sure it's mainly because its message is spiritually insignificant. It's a sort of Baddies v. Goodies tale, in keeping with the mental age of the protagonist. I also have to mention that the world-building around the fantastical elements which were supposed to act as allegories for the spiritual world was poor.
From the political standpoint I can't refrain from mentioning an absolute gem. It's hardly even a spoiler, being a very minor plot event, but still.
October 23, 2014
John C. Wright plays very well in other authors' sandboxes. In One Bright Star to Guide Them, Wright crafts a doppelganger of Lewis' Narniad adventures, weaves in a few Lovecraftian patterns, and adds a few golden threads of Tolkienesque theology.
As with his take on the Night Land of Wm. Hodgson's dying Earth or his own City Beyond Time, Wright excels in the art of atmospheric shadows. Whether the explicit and incomprehensible darkness of the Night Land's monsters, the Nietzschean nihilism of the Time Wardens, or the inter-dimensional evil manipulating dark magic and the darkened souls of former friends, Wright builds his literary worlds on a stage of numinous darkness. Darkness -- literal, moral, or spiritual -- seems to form the weft and warp of our world.
The weight of this darkness, much as in Lewis' marvelous That Hideous Strength, makes dim all hope of victory against it. So when the light -- glorious, celestial, numinous light -- pierces sky and shadow and deception and broken spirits to graciously lift the meager hearts of mere men and women and bears them to unforeseen victory, we exult that our underdog has triumphed and marvel with him at the incomprehensible Good that has guided him.
In each of Wright's works that I have read (this, City Beyond Time, and Awake in the Night Land), two passages from the Gospel of John hum like a resonant tuning fork: "The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it... [but] men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil" (John 1:5, 3:19). In this, John C. Wright is reminiscent of the theology of Middle Earth, where God appears distant and mortals and angels alike must choose whether to stand (possibly alone) against the invading shadows or rush to embrace them. Wright is also evocative of humanity's situation in C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. Lewis envisions the Earth as occupied territory, a world silent to the surrounding planets and shrouded in malevolent, invading darkness.
One Bright Star to Guide Them is clearly woven on the same loom as the Narniad, but Wright succeeds in crafting a story that is both distinct from Lewis' and heart-achingly similar. Wright's characters reminisce about their great and many childhood adventures in Not-Narnia, memories that we readers do no share and Wright has not (to my knowledge) actually written; but -- and this may be Wright's greatest achievement in this work -- he makes us WANT to share them, WANT to remember them, WANT to join young Tommy, Penny, Sally, and Richard as they break the reign of the Winter King.
The success of any story (and the skill of the author) can be measured by the degree to which its completion leaves a bittersweet void in the reader; by such a metric, One Bright Star to Guide Them, Wright's loving homage to Narnia, is a standout success.
John C. Wright is a talent well-worth following.
As with his take on the Night Land of Wm. Hodgson's dying Earth or his own City Beyond Time, Wright excels in the art of atmospheric shadows. Whether the explicit and incomprehensible darkness of the Night Land's monsters, the Nietzschean nihilism of the Time Wardens, or the inter-dimensional evil manipulating dark magic and the darkened souls of former friends, Wright builds his literary worlds on a stage of numinous darkness. Darkness -- literal, moral, or spiritual -- seems to form the weft and warp of our world.
The weight of this darkness, much as in Lewis' marvelous That Hideous Strength, makes dim all hope of victory against it. So when the light -- glorious, celestial, numinous light -- pierces sky and shadow and deception and broken spirits to graciously lift the meager hearts of mere men and women and bears them to unforeseen victory, we exult that our underdog has triumphed and marvel with him at the incomprehensible Good that has guided him.
In each of Wright's works that I have read (this, City Beyond Time, and Awake in the Night Land), two passages from the Gospel of John hum like a resonant tuning fork: "The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it... [but] men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil" (John 1:5, 3:19). In this, John C. Wright is reminiscent of the theology of Middle Earth, where God appears distant and mortals and angels alike must choose whether to stand (possibly alone) against the invading shadows or rush to embrace them. Wright is also evocative of humanity's situation in C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. Lewis envisions the Earth as occupied territory, a world silent to the surrounding planets and shrouded in malevolent, invading darkness.
One Bright Star to Guide Them is clearly woven on the same loom as the Narniad, but Wright succeeds in crafting a story that is both distinct from Lewis' and heart-achingly similar. Wright's characters reminisce about their great and many childhood adventures in Not-Narnia, memories that we readers do no share and Wright has not (to my knowledge) actually written; but -- and this may be Wright's greatest achievement in this work -- he makes us WANT to share them, WANT to remember them, WANT to join young Tommy, Penny, Sally, and Richard as they break the reign of the Winter King.
The success of any story (and the skill of the author) can be measured by the degree to which its completion leaves a bittersweet void in the reader; by such a metric, One Bright Star to Guide Them, Wright's loving homage to Narnia, is a standout success.
John C. Wright is a talent well-worth following.
May 18, 2015
This wants so badly to be an allegorical fable in the manner of C.S. Lewis's Narnia. And it fails so, so badly.
Years ago when they were children, Tommy and his three friends went on an adventure to a magical land and helped defeat evil and restore the true king, to the benefit of Earth as well as the magical realm. Now, with a boring job in the City, he's just gotten a promotion that he doesn't want, and a momentary encounter reminds him of his forgotten adventure. Suddenly, the magical cat Tybalt is with him again, with the Key that will send him off on a new adventure to confront a worse crisis.
This could have been so promising.
There's nothing especially original here, but that's the least of it. Tommy goes to see one of his old friends, Richard, and the initial conversation is downright painful. The Tommy we've seen so far can't be this naive and oblivious. Then he starts being wise and experienced again. And when things continue to spiral out of control as Richard betrays him to the evil powers, the chapter ends with Tommy flat on his back, unable to see or move.
The next chapter starts several months later, with Tommy visiting another old friend, Sally, and telling her what happened.
It's a perfect example of Tell rather than Show, and things don't get better from there. Altogether frustrating.
Not recommended.
Years ago when they were children, Tommy and his three friends went on an adventure to a magical land and helped defeat evil and restore the true king, to the benefit of Earth as well as the magical realm. Now, with a boring job in the City, he's just gotten a promotion that he doesn't want, and a momentary encounter reminds him of his forgotten adventure. Suddenly, the magical cat Tybalt is with him again, with the Key that will send him off on a new adventure to confront a worse crisis.
This could have been so promising.
There's nothing especially original here, but that's the least of it. Tommy goes to see one of his old friends, Richard, and the initial conversation is downright painful. The Tommy we've seen so far can't be this naive and oblivious. Then he starts being wise and experienced again. And when things continue to spiral out of control as Richard betrays him to the evil powers, the chapter ends with Tommy flat on his back, unable to see or move.
The next chapter starts several months later, with Tommy visiting another old friend, Sally, and telling her what happened.
It's a perfect example of Tell rather than Show, and things don't get better from there. Altogether frustrating.
Not recommended.
August 3, 2015
tl;dr: Don't ever even consider reading this absolute piece of garbage.
Content warning: discussion of sexual assault, abortion, religion
This book is poorly written and weakly plotted. It has a massive number of technical faults. It does have one clever thing it tries to do: telling a Narnia-style story entirely through the reminiscences of the characters as adults. Sadly, this just doesn't come off; there isn't enough depth and emotion in their descriptions of past stories to sell the reader.
But worse than any technical flaw: this story is absolutely morally bankrupt. Its central allegory amounts to "we must obey divine authorities unquestioningly, no matter what they tell us to do." That isn't compatible with my theology, but fair enough, theologies differ. Where things really go off the rails is when abortion is equated to murder (under the auspices of human sacrifice), and is simultaneously positioned as being *worse than the gang rape of a young girl*.
I mean, look. That's all you need to know to understand this book. The author genuinely believes that abortion is more horrible than the brutal sexual assault of a fully sapient human child. I really don't know what else to say.
Content warning: discussion of sexual assault, abortion, religion
This book is poorly written and weakly plotted. It has a massive number of technical faults. It does have one clever thing it tries to do: telling a Narnia-style story entirely through the reminiscences of the characters as adults. Sadly, this just doesn't come off; there isn't enough depth and emotion in their descriptions of past stories to sell the reader.
But worse than any technical flaw: this story is absolutely morally bankrupt. Its central allegory amounts to "we must obey divine authorities unquestioningly, no matter what they tell us to do." That isn't compatible with my theology, but fair enough, theologies differ. Where things really go off the rails is when abortion is equated to murder (under the auspices of human sacrifice), and is simultaneously positioned as being *worse than the gang rape of a young girl*.
I mean, look. That's all you need to know to understand this book. The author genuinely believes that abortion is more horrible than the brutal sexual assault of a fully sapient human child. I really don't know what else to say.
June 22, 2015
From the moment I read this passage on the third page or thereabouts, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on in this novella:
"Tommy stared down at the cat. “If you're really Tybalt, the Prince of Cats, the son of Carbonel, please say something,” he whispered. “Say anything. Please!” The cat began to wash his paws fastidiously. Tommy said, “It must be you! I know it's you! I remember you from when I was a schoolboy. There was the well behind the ruined wing of Professor Penkirk's mansion. Bombed during the war, and overgrown with moss, the black windows and spooky walls surrounded the well on three sides, and a broken angel was there. We knew it was a haunted well, we were sure of it. Penny and Richard and Sally and I, all of us were playing there when we found the key. It was the Well of the Nine Worlds, and the key opened the gateway…”"
Tommy, our protagonist, is a middle-age man coming home late at night, rather drunk, who has dropped his keys in a hedge and can't find them. Seeing the statue of St. George in the yard of the neighbouring church, he prays: "St. George,” he said in a soft voice, “help me find the key that I have lost. I want to open the door to my home.” And when he reaches into the hedge again, what should he find but a black cat with a silver key on a chain around its neck. No question about it, we are in for a Narnia-type religious fantasy.
And suddenly we are swamped in a torrent of faerie references from multiple traditions - the knight of ghosts and shadows, the wild hunt, the summer country, the fair folk, the harp of Finn Finbarra, tarnkappes and swords reforged and willow women, Melusine and the Winter King.
Called to a quest to save England, Tommy visits Richard, who was part of his childhood adventure, to enlist him and the magic sword he brought back with him from faerie - but he learns that not only has his old friend gone over to the dark side, he's committed sacrifices to the Winter King and forced a participant in sex magic to have an abortion. And he gave away the sword, to a museum. Tommy also discovers that all the countries of the East lie under the shadow of the Winter King (those godless commies!) and that most of the Members of Parliament have been replaced by changelings who serve the darkness (was Labour in power when Wright wrote this?).
He seeks another of his youthful companions, Sally, but she is too afraid to come with him on the quest, although she does give him the shard of glass she has kept as a memory.
From the heirs of his last companion, Penny, he receives a magic book once owned by Myrrdin (you just knew we would get the Arthurian Mythos in here somehow, didn't you? If C. S. Lewis can do it That Hideous Strength, then Dammit, John C. Wright will do it too) with maps, spells and secrets which can only be read in certain kinds of light. Also in the book is a message from Penny, who had foreseen what was coming and left the book so he would find and use it.
At last, after a great deal of talking and flashbacking to the adventure of his youth, Tommy is ready to go get the magic sword and fight the knight of Shadows. But first he has to blood the sword with a willing sacrifice - Tybalt. Despite his qualms, Tybalt finally convinces him it's the only way, so it's off with his head and on to the first real action of the novella, the confrontation with Evil, which he wins, sort of, for as Tolkien said first (and better), evil cannot be destroyed, only driven back for a time. As he sits and grieves for Tybalt, along comes Aslan, er, Tybalt Mark II, who tells him that now he must take up a new calling, as a guide to future champions who must fight the good fight in other times and places.
So... Seeing as I love faerie, and Narnia, and Arthurian references, and C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien (both of whom Wright cribbed from freely here), you'd think I'd kind of like something about this tale - but no. I really didn't. Just too derivative of too many things. I think it was a rather serious mistake to put so much of the story into the past, and then load the retelling up with references to names and events and things without giving much context for any of them. The real story was supposed to be in the here and now, but hardly anything happened. And Wright is not Lewis or Tolkien, and really should not try to write like either of them.
"Tommy stared down at the cat. “If you're really Tybalt, the Prince of Cats, the son of Carbonel, please say something,” he whispered. “Say anything. Please!” The cat began to wash his paws fastidiously. Tommy said, “It must be you! I know it's you! I remember you from when I was a schoolboy. There was the well behind the ruined wing of Professor Penkirk's mansion. Bombed during the war, and overgrown with moss, the black windows and spooky walls surrounded the well on three sides, and a broken angel was there. We knew it was a haunted well, we were sure of it. Penny and Richard and Sally and I, all of us were playing there when we found the key. It was the Well of the Nine Worlds, and the key opened the gateway…”"
Tommy, our protagonist, is a middle-age man coming home late at night, rather drunk, who has dropped his keys in a hedge and can't find them. Seeing the statue of St. George in the yard of the neighbouring church, he prays: "St. George,” he said in a soft voice, “help me find the key that I have lost. I want to open the door to my home.” And when he reaches into the hedge again, what should he find but a black cat with a silver key on a chain around its neck. No question about it, we are in for a Narnia-type religious fantasy.
And suddenly we are swamped in a torrent of faerie references from multiple traditions - the knight of ghosts and shadows, the wild hunt, the summer country, the fair folk, the harp of Finn Finbarra, tarnkappes and swords reforged and willow women, Melusine and the Winter King.
Called to a quest to save England, Tommy visits Richard, who was part of his childhood adventure, to enlist him and the magic sword he brought back with him from faerie - but he learns that not only has his old friend gone over to the dark side, he's committed sacrifices to the Winter King and forced a participant in sex magic to have an abortion. And he gave away the sword, to a museum. Tommy also discovers that all the countries of the East lie under the shadow of the Winter King (those godless commies!) and that most of the Members of Parliament have been replaced by changelings who serve the darkness (was Labour in power when Wright wrote this?).
He seeks another of his youthful companions, Sally, but she is too afraid to come with him on the quest, although she does give him the shard of glass she has kept as a memory.
From the heirs of his last companion, Penny, he receives a magic book once owned by Myrrdin (you just knew we would get the Arthurian Mythos in here somehow, didn't you? If C. S. Lewis can do it That Hideous Strength, then Dammit, John C. Wright will do it too) with maps, spells and secrets which can only be read in certain kinds of light. Also in the book is a message from Penny, who had foreseen what was coming and left the book so he would find and use it.
At last, after a great deal of talking and flashbacking to the adventure of his youth, Tommy is ready to go get the magic sword and fight the knight of Shadows. But first he has to blood the sword with a willing sacrifice - Tybalt. Despite his qualms, Tybalt finally convinces him it's the only way, so it's off with his head and on to the first real action of the novella, the confrontation with Evil, which he wins, sort of, for as Tolkien said first (and better), evil cannot be destroyed, only driven back for a time. As he sits and grieves for Tybalt, along comes Aslan, er, Tybalt Mark II, who tells him that now he must take up a new calling, as a guide to future champions who must fight the good fight in other times and places.
So... Seeing as I love faerie, and Narnia, and Arthurian references, and C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien (both of whom Wright cribbed from freely here), you'd think I'd kind of like something about this tale - but no. I really didn't. Just too derivative of too many things. I think it was a rather serious mistake to put so much of the story into the past, and then load the retelling up with references to names and events and things without giving much context for any of them. The real story was supposed to be in the here and now, but hardly anything happened. And Wright is not Lewis or Tolkien, and really should not try to write like either of them.
January 28, 2015
A bit of a disappointment
I was looking forward to this, based on the book description and reader reviews, but it disappointed in the reading.
I liked (and still like) the idea of catching up with middle-aged characters who, like the Pevensies of Lewis's Narnia series, as children visited a mystical land, fought the forces of evil, and then returned to mundane existence. So why didn't I enjoy One Bright Start to Guide Them?
It seemed to me, as I read, that far too much time was spent on the main character, Thomas, reminding his childhood companions of the adventures they once had -- adventures which evoke tales such as those told by Lewis (Narnia), Tolkien (Middle Earth), Susan Cooper (her Darkness Rising, Arthurian series), as well as a variety of Celtic mythology and modern horror stories (vampires). There is so much of this stuff, and so little real story, that the result seems a parody of the tales to which the author is paying tribute. This mishmash of backstory, to my mind, becomes almost a substitute for developing the actual story Wright is trying to tell.
The ending was rather strange, and seemed incongruous. The whole business of Thomas being reactivated as a hero to fight the forces of evil seems to be abandoned, and he is told that he has a mission on the far side of the universe -- huh?
Some readers claim this story is a parable -- if so, it should have been more sparely told, and it would have been a better tale. It would have been a better short story than it is a novella. It might also have been better as a well-developed novel (even if a rather short one) in which the present story and characters were given more attention than the backstory that clogs this one. More or less, but not this.
I think One Bright Start to Guide Them is based on an intriguing idea that is more appealing as a story concept than it is in its finished form. I wouldn't recommend it.
I was looking forward to this, based on the book description and reader reviews, but it disappointed in the reading.
I liked (and still like) the idea of catching up with middle-aged characters who, like the Pevensies of Lewis's Narnia series, as children visited a mystical land, fought the forces of evil, and then returned to mundane existence. So why didn't I enjoy One Bright Start to Guide Them?
It seemed to me, as I read, that far too much time was spent on the main character, Thomas, reminding his childhood companions of the adventures they once had -- adventures which evoke tales such as those told by Lewis (Narnia), Tolkien (Middle Earth), Susan Cooper (her Darkness Rising, Arthurian series), as well as a variety of Celtic mythology and modern horror stories (vampires). There is so much of this stuff, and so little real story, that the result seems a parody of the tales to which the author is paying tribute. This mishmash of backstory, to my mind, becomes almost a substitute for developing the actual story Wright is trying to tell.
The ending was rather strange, and seemed incongruous. The whole business of Thomas being reactivated as a hero to fight the forces of evil seems to be abandoned, and he is told that he has a mission on the far side of the universe -- huh?
Some readers claim this story is a parable -- if so, it should have been more sparely told, and it would have been a better tale. It would have been a better short story than it is a novella. It might also have been better as a well-developed novel (even if a rather short one) in which the present story and characters were given more attention than the backstory that clogs this one. More or less, but not this.
I think One Bright Start to Guide Them is based on an intriguing idea that is more appealing as a story concept than it is in its finished form. I wouldn't recommend it.
January 15, 2019
A sort of continuation of the Narnia books by C.S Lewis. A group of children has had adventures in a magical and as a child and they have brought back a few magical items, like a sword, a book and a shard of magical mirror. One member of the group encounters the magic cat, who used to help them in the fantasy land. Then he tries to find the other children, but one of them has turned to a devil worshipper, one has died and one has grown old prematurely and is pretty disillusioned and passive. And then there are some battles against evil and some pretty confusing scene changes. And the characters give each other’s extremely pompous expository long speeches about what they encountered and what they did in childhood. Most of the story was very clumsy and overwrought writing. What we learn from this story: You should blindly follow your [religious] leader and you’ll get to be a Christ figure in another world. Another of the worst things I have ever read.
May 25, 2015
This is something I would expect a high school student to write as fan fiction. The action is handled in info dumps and the "plot" is disjointed. Wright made a lame attempt to write a story set in England but did an abysmal job. The descriptive language and dialogue is 99% American English with the rare British English word used.
July 12, 2015
Wright has written some decent stories. This isn't one of them. At times it reads like a synopsis of a longer work.
July 20, 2017
John C. Wright is an incredibly inventive author (I recently read and loved The Golden Age but here, some of the ideas are imports from Narnia and Middle Earth. A more serious flaw is the mad rush to get through this novela: it read more like a detailed treatment for a novel than a novela. This error of pacing kept me from really enjoying this book.
March 15, 2024
I started this thinking it was a novel. It isn't. It's a novel's worth of plot condescend down into an accelerated summary, with most of the major plot points taking place off screen and related by the main character in his conversations with other characters. I can see what Wright was doing, but I wish he'd just told the story. Anyway, the story itself is fantastic. How do you drive away evil? What do you do once you've grown up? Wright actually answers those questions, and answers them well.
July 21, 2015
A middle-aged man is called back to the heroism of his youth.
I recently read the The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman. I kept wanting to see how things would turn out, but the story relied on The Chronicles of Narnia without standing enough on its own.
One Bright Star to Guide Them left me feeling mostly the same. Grossman and Wright are coming from different places when they look back to Narnia, but they both owe it much. Wright might be the stronger writer, but he fails a little more for me because of my background. I just have a hard time disconnecting and taking the story fully as fantasy because I know lots of people I grew up around take this type of thing as getting at Truth. Not just truth, mind you, that can be talked about and worked out, refined through experience and discussion, but supernatural Truth that is more important than people, that will let a person dehumanize others.
I recently read the The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman. I kept wanting to see how things would turn out, but the story relied on The Chronicles of Narnia without standing enough on its own.
One Bright Star to Guide Them left me feeling mostly the same. Grossman and Wright are coming from different places when they look back to Narnia, but they both owe it much. Wright might be the stronger writer, but he fails a little more for me because of my background. I just have a hard time disconnecting and taking the story fully as fantasy because I know lots of people I grew up around take this type of thing as getting at Truth. Not just truth, mind you, that can be talked about and worked out, refined through experience and discussion, but supernatural Truth that is more important than people, that will let a person dehumanize others.
April 8, 2015
Tommy, Penny, Sally, and Richard were all recruited as children to fight evil from a fantastic dimension. As they grew up and lost their innocence and faith, they grew apart and led separate lives. Tommy has been contacted to take up the fight again, but he hesitates and has difficulty believing even though he is willing. His friends have all taken different paths in life and have relegated their childhood to the past.
There is more philosophy than fairy story in this novella; there is much to think about and apply to one's personal life. As intriguing as this tale was, I couldn't help but wish I were reading the story from the beginning, with the characters as children, rather than joining the tale with them as adults. I realize readers are rarely treated to the less interesting story after the great conflict comes to conclusion, and it is good to know that some of our heroes continue with strong hearts and clear convictions even when their hair grays and their joints ache.
There is more philosophy than fairy story in this novella; there is much to think about and apply to one's personal life. As intriguing as this tale was, I couldn't help but wish I were reading the story from the beginning, with the characters as children, rather than joining the tale with them as adults. I realize readers are rarely treated to the less interesting story after the great conflict comes to conclusion, and it is good to know that some of our heroes continue with strong hearts and clear convictions even when their hair grays and their joints ache.
June 8, 2015
Read for the 2015 Hugos
I think I see what Wright was trying to do here. Too many stories end with the kids that are the heroes coming home and then nothing happens. This is about what happens when they grow up. It's too bad that Wright doesn't do this very well. Everything about this story feels like a 15 year old read The Chronicles of Narnia and tried to write a sequel, or continuation, or spirtual successor or something. The back story sounds like a weird, overblown, under-thought D&D campaign. The main story just isn't that interesting. The main character has no character development at all. He spends more time talking about his childhood adventures than actually doing anything. Then the actual ending is (once again) a Narnia knockoff. I might have enjoyed this story more when I was 15, but it just doesn't do it for me now.
I think I see what Wright was trying to do here. Too many stories end with the kids that are the heroes coming home and then nothing happens. This is about what happens when they grow up. It's too bad that Wright doesn't do this very well. Everything about this story feels like a 15 year old read The Chronicles of Narnia and tried to write a sequel, or continuation, or spirtual successor or something. The back story sounds like a weird, overblown, under-thought D&D campaign. The main story just isn't that interesting. The main character has no character development at all. He spends more time talking about his childhood adventures than actually doing anything. Then the actual ending is (once again) a Narnia knockoff. I might have enjoyed this story more when I was 15, but it just doesn't do it for me now.
February 15, 2016
I like John C. Wright's work and writing style. I enjoyed his Golden Age trilogy as well as Awake in the Night Land. However, this novella fell a bit flat for me.
The writing, as usual, was superb but the story seemed too rushed and extremely similar to a C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia book. This book is missing the originality that I have come to expect from a work of John C. Wright.
With that being said, I would still give it a read and I look forward to more of this author's work.
5 stars = Yearly re-read
4 stars = Re-read eventually
3 stars = Very Good
2 stars = OK
1 stars = Pass on this one.
0 stars = Couldn't finish it.
The writing, as usual, was superb but the story seemed too rushed and extremely similar to a C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia book. This book is missing the originality that I have come to expect from a work of John C. Wright.
With that being said, I would still give it a read and I look forward to more of this author's work.
5 stars = Yearly re-read
4 stars = Re-read eventually
3 stars = Very Good
2 stars = OK
1 stars = Pass on this one.
0 stars = Couldn't finish it.
August 1, 2015
I read this as part of the 2015 Hugo Awards packet (it was nominated for Best Novella).
I actually gave it 0.5 of 5 (no half-stars here!) A Narnia homage, this one is overfilled with references to past events in unknown places in a fantasy world and nods to various CS Lewis writings. Bold choice to make all the best action offscreen... and then blithely describe it in dialogue. It doesn't help that one of the characters inconsistently speaks in a very archaic fashion, and the ending is just bizarre
I actually gave it 0.5 of 5 (no half-stars here!) A Narnia homage, this one is overfilled with references to past events in unknown places in a fantasy world and nods to various CS Lewis writings. Bold choice to make all the best action offscreen... and then blithely describe it in dialogue. It doesn't help that one of the characters inconsistently speaks in a very archaic fashion, and the ending is just bizarre
July 5, 2021
Great children's book, easy to understand Christian symbolism. There is a reference to the Resurrection, to God's Kingdom, light, truth, the distinction between substance and shadow, truth and falsehood, etc, and putting your hand on the plow and not looking back. For an adult it was not a waste of time to read because it was densely packed with easy to swallow moral lessons and only took about half an hour to read. Again, READ THIS TO YOUR KIDS. Make sure they understand.
May 11, 2015
I loved the premise. The biggest problem was the story didn't flow. It was disjointed. One chapter you were somewhere, the next several months and lots of stuff has elapsed. The back-fill of the story is revealed throughout the chapter which makes it totally confusing and difficult to follow. I'm ashamed I nominated this for a Hugo, now that I think about it. Boo on me.
June 9, 2015
Such an interesting premise. Could have been good as a short story that parodies Narnia-type books. Instead this is overly detailed, long & bloated, with ambiguous purpose.
June 5, 2015
Badly written and not engaging at all.
December 11, 2021
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3821751.html
It's not very good. It's a story about four people who as children had a very Narnia-like adventure and are now dragged as adults into a new encounter with the other world by Tibalt the talking cat, who is killed and resurrected towards the end, in case you hadn't got the point. As my regular reader knows, I am not a huge fan of the comic series DIE, by Kieron Gillen and others, but it takes a similar idea and does it much better.
The dialogue of One Bright Star to Guide Them is florid. Many important points of the action happen off stage. (Our protagonist is a captive at the end of one chapter, and free at the start of the next, a transition that is never explained.) All of England is next door to all the rest of England. Wright had his moments earlier in his career; this is not one of them. His behaviour around the Puppies in 2015-16 would anyway have disinclined me to vote for him (yeah, I know, artist from the art, but the Hugos are community awards and choices have consequences). But this story is in no way Hugo worthy.
It's not very good. It's a story about four people who as children had a very Narnia-like adventure and are now dragged as adults into a new encounter with the other world by Tibalt the talking cat, who is killed and resurrected towards the end, in case you hadn't got the point. As my regular reader knows, I am not a huge fan of the comic series DIE, by Kieron Gillen and others, but it takes a similar idea and does it much better.
The dialogue of One Bright Star to Guide Them is florid. Many important points of the action happen off stage. (Our protagonist is a captive at the end of one chapter, and free at the start of the next, a transition that is never explained.) All of England is next door to all the rest of England. Wright had his moments earlier in his career; this is not one of them. His behaviour around the Puppies in 2015-16 would anyway have disinclined me to vote for him (yeah, I know, artist from the art, but the Hugos are community awards and choices have consequences). But this story is in no way Hugo worthy.
December 25, 2022
I finished the story on Christmas eve, and found that very fitting.
A strange, beautiful, bittersweet story about innocence and what maturity really means, of passing the torch and taking those lessons from childhood fantasy into the 'real' world, where it seems the battle never ends.
In form, much of the wild adventures happen 'off-screen,' but the descriptions cheerfully break the show-not-tell rule by giving events a mythic feel through the use of language.
So pick up a copy and learn what happens after the story ends.
A strange, beautiful, bittersweet story about innocence and what maturity really means, of passing the torch and taking those lessons from childhood fantasy into the 'real' world, where it seems the battle never ends.
In form, much of the wild adventures happen 'off-screen,' but the descriptions cheerfully break the show-not-tell rule by giving events a mythic feel through the use of language.
So pick up a copy and learn what happens after the story ends.
August 22, 2021
I stumbled on to this one because of the Rabid Puppies and their Hugo 2015 slate. It's short, and reminded me of the first book of The Magicians. The story is readable and has a nice flow, and feelings of details left unsaid.
The final battle could have been better, but other than that, it's a nice novella.
The final battle could have been better, but other than that, it's a nice novella.
November 21, 2021
Once upon a time, four children went to a magical land and did great and wonderful deeds. Then they came back, and grew up.
This opens with one, Thomas, middle-aged and not quite sober, trying to unlock his front door when he drops his key. Which is how he discovers their old companion, the black cat Tybalt, has returned with his magical key. And then he learns that there is trouble afoot.
It involves much from their old quest, discoveries of things, and people, gone wrong, vampires, willow women, writing readable only by certain lights, a gravestone like a ship with a swan's head as its prow, and more
This opens with one, Thomas, middle-aged and not quite sober, trying to unlock his front door when he drops his key. Which is how he discovers their old companion, the black cat Tybalt, has returned with his magical key. And then he learns that there is trouble afoot.
It involves much from their old quest, discoveries of things, and people, gone wrong, vampires, willow women, writing readable only by certain lights, a gravestone like a ship with a swan's head as its prow, and more
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews