Until the Celebration

Green Sky #3

by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Alton Raible (Illustrator)

When the banished Erdlings were brought from their imprisonment below ground and finally reunited with the Kindar it seemed the times of love and joy that the founders of the Green-Sky had promised would at last arrive. But unforeseen problems arose and the result was turmoil, mind pain, unjoyfulness, and a constant fear. Only Raamo held hope for the future. He was proved right, although the path to rejoining lay through surprising sacrifice. Originally published by Atheneum in 1980, Until Celebration, a Junior Literary Guild selection, is the final book of the Green-Sky Trilogy.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction, Childrens, Dystopia, Middle Grade

214 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Zilpha Keatley Snyder was an American author of books for children and young adults. Three of Snyder's works were named Newbery Honor books: The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid and The Witches of Worm. She was most famous for writing adventure stories and fantasies.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zilpha Keatley Snyder's marvelous Green Sky Trilogy, begun in Below the Root and continued in And All Between , comes to a conclusion in this third and final installment of the story. Opening shortly after the events of the previous book, in which Uniforce returned to the Kindar in the form of the children Pomma and Teera, and the secret society of Geets-kel renounced their opposition to the Rejoyning of the Kindar and Erdling peoples, the story here kicks off as the leaders of Orbora are informed of the astonishing history that had been kept from them. All does not go quite as the Rejoyners hope however, and the book chronicles the first year after these revelations, as the Erdlings are released from their subterranean prison, and gradually join the above-ground Kindar world. The ongoing tensions between the two groups, and the challenges faced by those hoping for their integration—resistant factions on both the Kindar and Erdling sides, the seeming disappearance of Pomma and Teera, and the theft of the dangerous tool of violence—are chronicled, as events lead up to the Celebration—the one year anniversary of Green Sky's Rejoyning. Can Raamo and his friends triumph, and finally defeat the ancestral specter of violence their society was founded to escape from, and what price must they pay to do so...?

Although there are some flaws in Until the Celebration, as well as in The Green Sky Trilogy in general, I nevertheless enjoyed this conclusion to Snyder's story immensely. As with its predecessors, I found the world of the Kindar and Erdlings to be a fascinating one, appreciating all of the details regarding customs, rituals and beliefs, and the way these varied between the two groups. I thought Snyder did an excellent job depicting the disillusionment experienced by the Kindar, when some of the central tenets of their belief system—the evil nature of the Pash-shan, the infallibility and goodness of the Ol-zhaan—fell away. The way in which they subsequently latched on to the two children, Pomma and Teera, as figures with spiritual meaning, was astutely captured, revealing the way in which people need and desire symbols of hope and strength. Raamo's perceptive understanding that there is a danger in this veneration of the children may be proved correct in the end, but it also reinforces the original idea, that belief and ritual, especially of a spiritual and/or religious nature, is often necessary for peaceful and just societies. I was also greatly impressed by the storytelling decision Snyder made, in killing off her hero. Other great stories have flirted with the idea—a prime example being the Harry Potter books—but I think in general it is very unusual to see this outcome, in a work intended for children. Which isn't to say that children's fiction never addresses death, but when it does, it is usually the focus of the story, which tends to center around grief and loss. Here the focus is on sacrifice, even if done inadvertently, and I think it was a bold choice on Snyder's part. I have read that she regretted the end of this book, so it may be that she changed her mind after the fact, but in the telling, she clearly felt that sacrifice and loss were an essential part of her tale.

All of this being said, despite my great enjoyment of and appreciation for this series, I must admit that it suffers from some structural issues that prevent it from being quite as outstanding as it would otherwise have been. I think the trouble starts in the second book, And All Between , which covers much of the same material as in the first book, Below the Root . While I didn't dislike this "repetition" as much as some other online reviewers—I enjoyed seeing some of the same events from the Erdling perspective—given the fact that I found this third book somewhat rushed, covering too much in too few pages, I think that either this decision in the second book to go back and retell part of the story ought to have been reconsidered, or that this third book ought to have been expanded, and made into two books. There was simply too much going on here, and not enough attention paid to any of it, to truly satisfy. I also felt that the conclusion of the book was somehow off. Raamo's death, which should have been the climax of the story, was overshadowed by the return of Pomma and Teera. The latter also felt rushed, in and of itself, and I couldn't help feeling that the experiences of the two girls ought to have been its own storyline, within the book, rather than relayed briefly after the fact. Of course, despite these structural flaws, I do truly love this series as a whole, and consider the first book ( Below the Root ) practically perfect. Highly recommended to any younger (or older) reader who enjoys fantasy, science fiction, dystopian fiction, or just thoughtful, more philosophical fiction in general.

[ambyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still love the worldbuilding in this series, particularly the construction of a society that's been forced for generations to deny the existence of negative emotions (and the effort to show both the benefits and extreme costs of this approach). Plot-wise, though, the conclusion is a bit of a let-down. Evil undermines and defeats itself, allowing Good to triumph without getting its hands dirty. I don't quite want to call it authorial cheating, because I think it's a deliberate attempt to make a philosophical point . . . but it feels like cheating to me, all the same.

[LobsterQuadrille · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

What a strange, and sadly anticlimactic, finale to a series that started out so strong! As much as I want to give Until the Celebration a higher rating, it just felt sadly generic and monotonous compared to the first two books.

It bothered me that Raamo was so sidelined in Book 2, but at least there was more depth given to Neric, Genaa, and Teera instead. In this book, there is almost no character focus. There is a bit more of Raamo, but there is so much skipping around between different perspectives and yet no real need for it. I have nothing against Hiro D'Ankh or Dergg Ursh, but their viewpoints aren't the ones I was hoping to see here.

This series can't be described as action-packed, but before there was always enough going on to keep my attention. But in this book the pacing and worldbuilding really stagnated. A romance between Neric and Genaa was hinted at but never brought up again. Most of the story consisted of people talking and reiterating news in their council meetings. The worst of it is that every single conflict solves itself, requiring almost no action by anyone. Pomma and Teera come back on their own because they weren't really kidnapped. The servant who stole the tool-of-violence repented and brought it back. D'ol Regle gets hooked on pavo berries and Axon Befal's followers just get fed up and ditch him after an argument.

Then there is Raamo's death. I would have been okay with this being a plot point if Raamo had actually sacrificed himself in some way to unite the Kindar and Erdlings and destroy the tool-of-violence, but it is done in such a weird way. He literally just slipped and fell into the bottomless cave lake as he steeled himself to drop the weapon to its demise. When your hero's death could be prevented by a pair of slip-resistant shoes, you may need to go back and rethink a few things. But speaking of the weapon, was it actually some kind of nuclear bomb? I always assumed it was a gun but it looks like I may have been wrong.

Fear not! The disappointing ending to this trilogy doesn't make me think any less of Zilpha Keatley Snyder. With as long a career as hers it's inevitable that there will be a few clunkers, like The Gypsy Game and A Fabulous Creature. But these are balanced out by many more great books: The Egypt Game, Season of Ponies, The Witches of Worm, The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case, and many others. Zilpha remains in the pantheon of my favorite authors, and I'm glad that there are still more of her stories out there for me to read!

[Juliette · Rating 5 out of 5]

The focus of this third book is the "Rejoyning" of the Erdlings and the Kindar, which has caused me to put this on my multicultural childrens literature shelf. There are so many aspects of what is going on in our times as far as desegregation and how far it's come and how much further it has to go. But not just that, there are some ghosts of past with some allusions toward the Native Americans and the pilgrims as well.

Zilpha Keatley Snyder does a good job of bringing the reader into the turmoil of combining the two groups. How difficult it is on a day to day basis for those who've lived so long one way to give up learned fears and prejudices and how some of them can be serious and some down right ridiculous. Then there are those who say they want peace, but only if they can be the ones in charge. Reality as we would know this type of integration can be is avoided by Zilpha's careful introduction of both societies as being peaceful and loving to begin with in the previous books.

Growth of the characters here are a little muddied by the fact that the author has focused on the growth of the whole instead, but if looked for are obvious by the small actions and sacrifices they make.

Unfortunately in three volumes, I doubt it could be used in an age appropriate setting, I don't see high school students relating to the youth in these books, and I'm not sure middle school students could either, and there's not enough time for elementary students to cover a three volume series. But it's well worth trying if a teacher can do it on any level.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely better than the second in the series, this one has quite a bit of action. I didn't find the ending to be satisfying, however. It seemed rushed, and then there were these after-the-fact explanations of what had been happening. Maybe it would have been more engaging to tell those stories simultaneously. There were also characters who were mostly absent and then played significant roles all of a sudden. I still don't think I'm exactly sure what eventually happened to all the important characters. Certainly this could be my fault in not paying closer attention, but it was hard to discern what/who was just a background character and who was important.

I don't feel that the stories of the multiple factions that were involved were told all that well. Maybe there were too many of them; maybe they weren't well-defined enough. I'm sure this was clearer in the author's mind, but I had trouble with the distinctions. Earlier in the series it was easier because the splintering hadn't yet happened.

[Cathy | A Case Full of Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was slightly disappointed with this series. I remember reading it at age 10 or 12 and absolutely loving it. I was really excited to re-read them after so long, and they just fell short of what I remembered. They were really slow and very choppy. The story was still fantastic, it just wasn't as fun to read as I remember.

[Simon Eisenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the ending, and the trilogy as a whole, but my nostalgia told me it would be better than it actually was. Now that I've re-read the entire trilogy, I think the first book was the strongest. It's also the book that contained basically all of my memories of the series. I had completely forgotten that Raamo died at the end, for example.

[Kristyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first read this book, long ago, I was probably Pomma and Teera's age, I wanted it to be all from Raamo's perspective. I understand now, why it being from other perspectives is important, but I still felt that.

This rereading has been like an instant return to the childhood when I first read and reread it.

One memory I have is of my sister, who had a habit of reading the end of the book first and...
learning how Raamo sacrificed himself, in a way refused to read it.

Even now, the memory of what happens at the end created a certain sliver of dread, perhaps similar to what Raamo felt the whole book!

[Melody · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like it. Had I read it as a child, I probably would have, but as an adult I found it heavy-handed and deadly. I found myself rolling my eyes and skipping whole chunks of text.

[Mark Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

My name is Raamo, and the great Rejoyning has begun. A council has been formed to unite the Erdlings with Kindar, but things are not going smoothly. Fears and distrust have long festered between the two societies, and trying to merge them into one culture creates conflict. Many leaders were pleased when D'Ol Regle fled into the forest, but I was leery of his disappearance. Most of the people have renewed hope, yet I can't explain my reservations. I feel they've bestowed too much reverence upon my little sister Pomma and her Erdling friend Teera. They could become targets for the discontented rebels hiding in the forest. My visions of the future give me hope, but sacrifices will need to be made. Only time will tell if peace will prevail.

Remember the peace and serenity of book one? Well, that's gone now. The story highlights the difficulty of fostering peace when uniting different cultures. The author creates mystery and tension as the plot develops. It's clear D'Ol Regle will do something, especially with Raamo's uneasy feelings, and there have been Erdling rebels causing disturbances in books two and three. These antagonists weren't going to just disappear. Raamo is the main character, although he's not always present in the story. He was also reluctant to fully share his thoughts and feelings. These strategies by the author caused some disconnection from the book, as it's more difficult to empathize with characters who are more reserved and appear inconsistently. The author saved a couple of surprises for the plot's climax, so you'll be able to look forward to that. Overall, I liked the book, but it left me wanting something more.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book last for almost exactly the 12 months after the events in And All Between, although it seems like it skipped a few weeks right after the end of that second book. It follows the reunification mess that the Ol-zhaan and the council deal with, several factions that do not believe in reunification (one on each side), the far history of Green Sky, and the event planning necessary to mark the one-year anniversary of the events at the end of And All Between.

The character group expands a bit more, but only as a device to tell the main characters from the first two books what happened when they weren't around. Consequently, there are a lot of long retelling passages that are important to complete the plot, but not particularly engaging to read. Still, I was always glad I read the witness testimony, as it revealed (usually) hopeful information.

I had forgotten how this series ends. I remember now, not being pleased that it ended that way, and then I remembered that the end of this book goes against the way the video game played. I looked up the video game on Wikipedia and some other sources and discovered that the story we play in the video game was written by Snyder as a way to "right" the way this third book ended. It should be considered canon, even, which seems... weird. A little George Lucas twist there, you know? All the same, it sounds like Snyder was never apologetic about the end of this book and held tight to the conviction that it was needed to advance toward true closure of the original conflict. ::shrug:: Okay.

[Pamela Bronson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of realistic politics in it - perhaps TOO realistic if you're looking for escape fiction. I think the author did a good job of showing what happens when you combine two disparate societies with resulting friction from losses, grudges, and different views of right behavior.

We see that the seemingly idyllic existence of those above the Root is lacking - they are able to gain much from their new comrades as they realize that one can't always feel Peace and Joy and shouldn't try to. Grief and sadness are important emotions and even anger must be faced and understood.

I can see the influence of the Cold War and the Arms Race on this book first published in 1976. Though weapons of mass destruction are still a big problem in 2021, they're not so much on the minds of most of us. Here we see the naive, peaceful Kindar, for whom violent actions are literally dirty words, unwilling to give up a terrible "tool of violence" because the threat of using it is such a powerful bargaining chip to obtain good outcomes. But can any end justify this means? How can they permanently give up this desire for power and its potentially terrible results?

[Danny Rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the whole series. I feel like the vocabulary may be a little too difficult for a children's series, and a lot of the ideology and emotional complexity may go over their heads, but it's a great story of the problems with a utopian/dystopian society. The author does a great job of describing this beautiful world and how wonderful it feels to soar through the sky between the trees, and feel the characters' emotions. I would highly recommend it.

I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, but the author herself has said she felt the ending was a mistake. The 1984 video game "Below The Root" (one of my all-time favorite video games) was her attempt to fix the ending, and is actually considered canon in the story line.

[Jake Stookey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book in the series, Below the Root was fantastic. It created an exciting and interesting world and culture. The second and third books contributed little, besides a continued immersion in the world. I found this third book in particular to be almost devoid of events, and rather had chapter after chapter of complications that didn't contribute much to the story. It was a lot of waiting and reading to find out what is going on without a lot to keep me engaged.

That being said I'm glad to have read all three books in the series in order to get a better feel and understanding of where the Below the Root video game came from. Even this book is important to the events and landscape of the game. All in all, the three books and the game made for a compelling bit of entertainment.

[William Leight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Synder’s treatment of the way that Pomma and Teera are glorified as the Holy Children, and the detrimental effect this has both on them and the peoples above and below the Root, is fairly sophisticated: the way that the potentially violent movements of power-hungry fanatics essentially dissolve as their followers become disillusioned with them is perhaps a bit closer to wishful thinking. A perfectly good conclusion to the series, but sharing the same weaknesses (for an adult reader) as the previous books.

[SBC · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this conclusion to the trilogy deadly boring, which is surprising since it's the book in which the most action occurs. I think it was because the first two books were primarily told from a single child's point of view whereas this book never really settled on a key narrator and we spent a lot of time in the heads of adults. Also the plot lacked the drive to discovery of the first two books and was instead focused on the logistical and political ramifications of joining two peoples together.

[Raven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave the first two books 4 stars each. I give this one 3 because it became predictable. I found myself eager for it to be finished, but not because I wanted to know what happened. I just wanted it to be over. The story, overall, was good. I'm surprised I hadn't read (or heard of) them sooner. But this book was also filled with so many typos (at least the ebook) that it was hard to stay focused and enjoy it.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this maybe sometime in high school or college? My mom likes Zilpha Keatley Snyder and I think I got drawn in by the mass market paperback covers on the first two books. I own the trilogy now but it is the library bindings of the '70s hardcovers, which may have belonged to my mom. I KNOW I did not read the third one in mass market paperback.

[Toni Wyatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A children's sci-fi novel. The characters are forced to live underground.

[Ansate · Rating 4 out of 5]

kept me in suspense, and about as good an ending as you could hope for

[Robin Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ended a bit flat for my tastes, there was so much build up, but authors choice! I still appreciated Snyder's series.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm truly disappointed. Not because I read a book I didn't love - that happens all the time. I'm disappointed because I thought the first in this series was really good. It left off at a point that had such potential to go amazing places but it fell flat...at least for me.

The general story in a nutshell is this:
A group of humans left Earth generations ago because of war. These people didn't believe in violence and wanted to find a planet where they could start over in peace. They found Green Sky. The gravity on this planet was much lower than Earth so the people lived in the trees and developed clothing so they could glide through the air. This was the essence of book one. Lots of fun for kids (and me) to read.

At the end of book one, we learned that all wasn't peaceful in Green Sky. Two of the original founders disagreed on whether the people should be informed of everything including their violent history or if they shoud be kept in blissful ignorance. The disciples of the "losing" side were thrown into caves underground and trapped there. Book two tells about their life underground.

Book three is obviously where the two peoples come back together. This is where I started not liking most of the people in this world. The morals taught in this book are not just a matter of good and evil and the discussion points are backwards. For example...it is apparently a horrible thing to eat an animal. It's OK to kill massive trees to build your homes but not OK to eat meat (you can kill this life form but not that life form). Fine, some people have that opinion but it was followed up with these people eating berries on a regular basis that leave the people stoned. I don't think I'm good with a story telling children "don't eat meat - now go get stoned instead".

Frankly I had all kinds of things I was going to bring up to rant about with this book but I have decided I just want to forget about it. I liked the first and I wish I had have stopped there.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume concludes the saga of Green-Sky, beginning with the Rejoyning, where the Erdlings are released from below the root. There is much uncertainty, fear, and distrust between Kindar and Erdlings, causing many disturbances and much mind-pain. There are also still those who wish to gain control of the society through threats and violence, such as the former Ol-Zhaan, D'ol Regle, and the (Erdling) Nekom leader, Axom Befal.
However, crises are averted, and the society is saved without fighting. I think that's Snyder's point, that differences can be resolved without violence, but it doesn't make for a very exciting story. I kept waiting for something calamitous to happen and realized I was most of the way through the book without encountering much in the way of suspense. It's still a very interesting tale of an utopian society, but I am curious more about the resolution of the minor disputes, as it seems that the answer to the major one, is "All is One." Which, again, great sentiment, but not very exciting story.

[elbren · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh. very preachy, not as good as the other two.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently the popularity of this book and its sequels were attributed to some old school video game. It was recommended to me by a website I can no longer find. Someone did an extensive listing of mostly fantasy books from The Hobbit to current series circa 2000ish.
It took me years to find and buy them.
So I am saddened to say, I although I enjoyed the first book. (Below the Root, I found the rest of the series And All Between (Green Sky, #2) Until the Celebration (Green Sky, #3) grew tedious by the end. In fact, I did not enjoy the 3rd book much at all.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I slogged through the third and final of this series. Many of the things I liked about the previous books... the gentleness of the people, the aversion to violence, the childlikeness, was of course gone (that's pretty much the plot of the book). But even the characters I loved like Neric and Genaa, they were barely part of the story and when Neric advocated keeping the weapon to threaten their enemies, that pretty much killed it for me. I didn't appreciate Raamos fate, nor see the necessity of it. There were some good quotes though.

[Attila · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good conclusion for an intriguing series. People living in giant trees on a low-gravity planet have constructed a utopian society, eliminating violence and emotions to prevent wars that have destroyed their ancient home planet. Those who oppose the system are cast out and imprisoned below the root. In the end, people learn the truth about their history and those living above and below the root are reunited, though not without disputes and conflicts. A trilogy that touches many important ideas: the price of peace, prejudices, indoctrination, and honesty.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snyder's Below the Root trilogy is a nice introduction to fantasy and science fiction. It gets young readers ready for such heavy and layered series as the Lord of the Rings or Narnia.

[Shadow Jubilee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This trilogy is one of the many books I discovered as a child, and one of the few that lingered in my memory until, as an adult, I looked up the author to rediscover them. I have not reread them as an adult because I still remember a sense of uneasiness and sadness of the ending of this trilogy. But I do recall loving the books.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think The Green Sky Trilogy is an absolute must read. I first read them when I was in sixth grade, but I have read them as an adult, and still really loved it. Zilpha Keatley Snyder is an amazing author, and it is really a shame that more people haven't read her books.