Jesse’s Reviews > Silver on the Tree > Status Update

The trials of the Lost Land and its doom is hauntingly beautiful. There is a certain poignancy in Gwion’s efforts. The Lost Land is in stasis because of the ban on the crystal sword, but fulfilling its purpose—obtaining the sword—will result in its inevitable destruction. The novel’s out is magically Vonnegut—that all things continue to exist in time, as the Old Ones perceive that it is not linear.

I enjoy this book at the most when it is moving through metaphysical and faith tale-like spaces and The Lost Land has been nothing but. I’m surprised to see The Rider again but it’s only fitting as he was banished to the Ends of the Earth. Will and Bran make for a fun duo, but I’m wondering how the Drews fit into the rest of this, especially with how Jane had been feeling.

this book is AWESOME

the conflict with the lake monster and Bran exercising his power is great. the mashing of the times with the three “off the track” is, uh, all about ancient conflicts bleeding into the present, as the blood feud explains the bad blood in book four. It also echoes the story of the pirate in book three, though there it was more an echo of the walker from book two.

Now we have Will and Bran together with the Drew trio. Jane, the most intuitive one of the three, is finding herself off-put by Bran after initially sensing the inherent majesty of him being Arthur’s son. Barney makes a great point—how do you know that the misgivings aren’t the machinations of the Dark? Also, the spies of the Dark this time around are the cousins of Ferrets: minks and stoats.

At 330 pages this promises to be quite an adventure, tying the past four books together to an excellent climax. The dynamic between Will and Stephen and the hunt for the signs, hidden in time, has been a blast and reminds me of the best parts of the second and fourth books. I’m not sure how the bit with the bullies is gonna play out but I doubt that it’ll be free of heartache.