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The Madigal
On the planet Haven, in a distant part of the universe, the Madigal dreams. For 40 years she has slept, while in the city Crown Prince Harry indulges his whims and plays politics. But now the Madigal awakes and once more must act on Haven.
- GenresFantasy
410 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Beverley MacDonald
7 books3 followersBeverley MacDonald grew up in a lot of small towns in Victoria, Australia: Nar Nar Goon, Morwell, Mildura, Murtoa, Rye and Corryong. Her father was a school teacher and they moved around a lot, experiencing the heat of the Mallee and the cold of the Snowy Mountains.
School was not a favorite past time of Beverley’s, which worried her parents. She liked reading instead. She once read the entire contents of the library so that the librarian would allow her to pick books from the adult section. She never imagined she would become a writer because, when she was growing up, girls did not do that kind of thing. Luckily, times have changed.
Beverley started writing because, she said, “[I] always loved to read, and spent a lot of time at school day-dreaming and making up stories in my head when I really should have been paying attention. Eventually, I decided I should write these stories down; it's a lot harder to do than you think.”
Now, many years later, Beverley writes fiction and non-fiction for children and teenagers, as well as fiction for adults. She still likes to read and is interested in everything from Roman history to quantum physics—she is also very good at Trivial Pursuit.
A whole string of great authors have made her laugh and cry. They’ve shocked and surprised her, explained things in a way she could understand, showed her worlds and people she never knew existed, kept her spellbound and made her stay up very late at night, reading under the bedcovers just to finish the story because she couldn't bear to put the book down.
Beverley can still remember reading John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids and thinking, “Hello, this guy thinks about really weird stuff.” He made anything seem possible and made her daydreams look tame in comparison; she was absolutely enthralled by his book.
“The best thing about being a writer is the writing. It’s the actual sitting down and making up stuff in your head and getting the words right and doing some more thinking and some more rewriting until you've got a great story. It's the process of creating something. It's actually a bit sad when you finish and you're not quite sure what to do with yourself because you've been living and thinking about the story just about every day for years.”
If she weren’t a writer, she would change professions every month or so—fishing captain, police detective, soap opera star, or lace-maker. “Work is just an excuse to listen, observe and learn about people, places and new situations so that you can write about them.”
Beverley currently lives in a chaotic household in Melbourne, Australia, with her partner, children, and various animals.
School was not a favorite past time of Beverley’s, which worried her parents. She liked reading instead. She once read the entire contents of the library so that the librarian would allow her to pick books from the adult section. She never imagined she would become a writer because, when she was growing up, girls did not do that kind of thing. Luckily, times have changed.
Beverley started writing because, she said, “[I] always loved to read, and spent a lot of time at school day-dreaming and making up stories in my head when I really should have been paying attention. Eventually, I decided I should write these stories down; it's a lot harder to do than you think.”
Now, many years later, Beverley writes fiction and non-fiction for children and teenagers, as well as fiction for adults. She still likes to read and is interested in everything from Roman history to quantum physics—she is also very good at Trivial Pursuit.
A whole string of great authors have made her laugh and cry. They’ve shocked and surprised her, explained things in a way she could understand, showed her worlds and people she never knew existed, kept her spellbound and made her stay up very late at night, reading under the bedcovers just to finish the story because she couldn't bear to put the book down.
Beverley can still remember reading John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids and thinking, “Hello, this guy thinks about really weird stuff.” He made anything seem possible and made her daydreams look tame in comparison; she was absolutely enthralled by his book.
“The best thing about being a writer is the writing. It’s the actual sitting down and making up stuff in your head and getting the words right and doing some more thinking and some more rewriting until you've got a great story. It's the process of creating something. It's actually a bit sad when you finish and you're not quite sure what to do with yourself because you've been living and thinking about the story just about every day for years.”
If she weren’t a writer, she would change professions every month or so—fishing captain, police detective, soap opera star, or lace-maker. “Work is just an excuse to listen, observe and learn about people, places and new situations so that you can write about them.”
Beverley currently lives in a chaotic household in Melbourne, Australia, with her partner, children, and various animals.
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June 18, 2014Looking at the cover of this novel, I was reluctant to read it at all. It *looks* like a bad fantasy novel. Generic fantasy. Trashy fantasy.
I wouldn't give this novel 5 stars - it's not the best fantasy novel I've ever read or anything like that (currently The Name of the Wind holds that prize) - but I wouldn't give it 1 star and denounce it as trash, either.
The characters are compelling and generally likeable, although the Keeper and the Madigal are possibly too mysterious for my personal tastes. The setting was entertaining and it was not difficult to suspend my disbelief.
I've been referring to this novel as fantasy but I guess that's technically incorrect. This is science fiction. I'm a much better judge of fantasy and certainly better read in that genre than this. But nevertheless, I enjoyed the novel. I don't know whether that means it succeeds as fantasy and fails as science fiction or what...
My dad described the plot as "dream-like" which is actually really appropriate given the story of this novel. I have to agree with his assessment, it is sort of a dreamy story and the novel is definitely not precisely plotted.
I was dissatisfied with the ending but I won't talk about that here for fear of spoilers.
Overall I would recommend this novel to readers of fantasy and science fiction. I don't think it would be appreciated by people who typically read outside these genres and I do think that there are better examples of both genres available. But it's an all right novel.
I wouldn't give this novel 5 stars - it's not the best fantasy novel I've ever read or anything like that (currently The Name of the Wind holds that prize) - but I wouldn't give it 1 star and denounce it as trash, either.
The characters are compelling and generally likeable, although the Keeper and the Madigal are possibly too mysterious for my personal tastes. The setting was entertaining and it was not difficult to suspend my disbelief.
I've been referring to this novel as fantasy but I guess that's technically incorrect. This is science fiction. I'm a much better judge of fantasy and certainly better read in that genre than this. But nevertheless, I enjoyed the novel. I don't know whether that means it succeeds as fantasy and fails as science fiction or what...
My dad described the plot as "dream-like" which is actually really appropriate given the story of this novel. I have to agree with his assessment, it is sort of a dreamy story and the novel is definitely not precisely plotted.
I was dissatisfied with the ending but I won't talk about that here for fear of spoilers.
Overall I would recommend this novel to readers of fantasy and science fiction. I don't think it would be appreciated by people who typically read outside these genres and I do think that there are better examples of both genres available. But it's an all right novel.
Displaying 1 of 1 review