Castledown

Tredana #2

by Joyce Ballou Gregorian

Sybyl is brought back to Tredana, now ruled by despots, and is expected to bear an heir to the exiled Lerona, Tredana's rightful ruler

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Young Adult

332 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1983

About the author

Joyce Ballou Gregorian was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the third child of the noted oriental rug dealer and expert Arthur T. Gregorian, an Armenian immigrant, and Phebe Ballou, of New England descent. She graduated from Beaver Country Day School in 1963, attended Edinburgh University for one year and graduated with honors from Radcliffe College in 1968. She then taught English for one year at the Iran Bethel School in Tehran. After that she joined the family business and became it's president. She married John Hampshire in 1986 and died in 1991 in Boston, Massachusetts, at Massachusetts General Hospital, after a long battle with cancer.

Reviews

[Otis Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s been about six years since Sibby stepped back through that Victorian window into Massachusetts. She’s nineteen now, living the city-slicker life as a college student in Boston. She thinks her childhood trip to the Otherworld was probably just a wild dream brought on by eating bad berries. But just when she's trying to figure out adult life, the universe hitches her trousers and yanks her straight back through the portal. Only, this ain't the friendly paradise she remembers. Time moves differently over there, and things have gone completely to seed. The kingdom of Tredana is currently being run by a bunch of nasty, corrupt despots who have the whole place under their thumb. The rightful ruler, Lerona, has been kicked out of his own house and is living in exile. The whole continent is on the brink of a brutal, no-holds-barred civil war for control of the throne. The minute Sibby drops out of the sky, the locals look at her and say, "Oh, good, you're here. We need you to marry the exiled prince and pop out an heir to the throne so we can save the country." Talk about a rough welcome back party. Sibby is willing to fight for her old friends, but she gets tangled up in a messy love triangle. She falls head-over-heels for a dashing, Robin Hood-style rebel leader named Clerowan. But because of country duty and royal politics, she ends up getting hitched to a completely different fella. Between the political backstabbing, the arranged marriage drama, and a massive war brewing on the horizon, Sibby has to swap out her college textbooks for a coat of armor. The book is full of Middle Eastern-style desert warfare, medieval castle-sieging, and some serious relationship messiness. This one departs from your standard cookie-cutter fantasy template. It throws out the childhood wonder and gets deep into the weeds of grown-up problems, broken hearts, and real-deal kingdom politics.

[James]

Although things have changed in the other world of Tredana during Sybil's six year absence, she is still willing to fight for her friends.

[Tina Dyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 2 in Gregorian's series. Sibby, now a college student in Boston, slips again between worlds, falls in love, gets married (not necessarily to the man she's in love with), and gets involved in a no-holds-barred battle for control of the Tredanan throne. The influences here are equal parts medieval and middle eastern; still sophisticated, a good read, and compelling characters--especially Clerowan, the Robin Hood figure who isn't.

[Yvette Saafir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sequel to the Broken Citadel Loved this book