The Troy Game

by Jean Morris

'I need you to go to a place to which there is no path,' the king's younger son Brannock is told. All the boy has to guide him is a brooch of old and battered gold, swinging from a leather thing. Using its magic, Brannock and his cousin Eilian, his dog and her cat, are led by way of seven circles to the centre of a maze. There they realize they have been following the pattern of the troy in Brannock's home village--where, in times past, a dance has always taken place on the eve of spring. The dance and the troy game have been forgotten: but when Brannock's kingdom is in danger, the land alone remembers how to protect and avenge itself.

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Real name: Margaret Jean Morris, aka Kenneth O'Hara:

UK writer who began her career with Man and Two Gods (1953), some plays and a series of detective novels as by Kenneth O'Hara, starting with A View to a Death (1958). As JM she began publishing YA fantasy novels with The Path of the Dragons (1980), which remains her best-known. Set in a richly conceived, technologically advanced Atlantis, it depicts – with a complexity reminiscent of the work of Ursula K Le Guin – the relation of the Atlantids to the Dragons who plough the skies, wise and inscrutable; and to the activities of men and gods in the throes of enacting – perhaps for the first time – the Myths which underlie the Greek Pantheon. Twist of Eight (coll 1981) contains Revisionist Fantasies, including examinations of Cinderella and "True Thomas". The Donkey's Crusade (1983), set in the ostensibly Christianized context of a monkish Quest for Prester John, transforms the Ass into a wise Companion who is both Talking Animal and savant, and who guides the humans in his care into the Land of Fable of the East. In The Troy Game (1987) a young man is sent on a quest by a Magus named Mennor (he resembles Merlin) which ends – after a Wild-Hunt episode – in a mysterious Edifice in the heart of the "troy maze" (> Labyrinth); the protagonist's Rite of Passage into wisdom is cogently presented. JM remains a central crafter of tales for her demanding market.

Reviews

[Capn · Rating 3 out of 5]

'I need you to go to a place to which there is no path,' the king's younger son Brannock is told. All the boy has to guide him is a brooch of old and battered gold, swinging from a leather thong. Using its magic, Brannock and his cousin Eilian, his dog and her cat, are led by way of seven circles to the centre of a maze. There they realize they have been following the pattern of the troy in Brannock's home village - where, in times past, a dance has always taken place on the eve of spring.
The dance and the troy game have been forgotten: but when Brannock's kingdom is in danger, the land alone remembers how to protect and avenge itself.

Inside jacket flap, The Bodley Head, 1987. ISBN:0370307593 / 9780370307596

I feel largely ambivalent about this one. On one hand, in terms of content and themes, this would be pushing a perfect score from me: magic and mystery, forgotten mystical rites and dances, standing stone circles and dolmens, ancient and hidden trackways, a strong female-male duo without romance (they're cousins), a loyal dog and much more clever cat, adventure, European history and archaeology (Roman, Stone Age, Bronze Age, the beginning of the Anglo-Saxons, and even some Pictish history is inserted), and of course a 'troy':

(Jean Morris) was inspired to write The Troy Game by her interest in the circular maze, the pattern of which is found on a silver coin from Knossos in Crete and an Etruscan vase of the seventh century BC. Several of these mazes can still be found in England, the Scilly Isles and Scandinavia. In England the mazes are called Troy, Troytown or Caerdroia, and on them was danced the Easter Maze Dance, a dance so old that its meaning has long been forgotten.

I'm afraid my ignorance is showing, but - I'm not really sure where or when this was set. I think it was set in fictionalised Wales (based mostly on given names and place names) in the dark ages / v. early medieval times, and before the Norman conquest in 1066... at least, I think. There are Seven Kingdoms mentioned, which I took to mean the Seven Celtic Nations, but "Waymark" and "Eastmark" are two of them, so perhaps not.

(Prince) Brannock of Waymark and Eilian of Eastmark, with Brannock's goofy and only partially-trained young hunting dog Goldeneye, are sent on a mysterious journey by an ornery village elder (a wizardy-sort of fellow) against the backdrop of rumours of war (of which the children are largely ignorant). Brannock's "favour of the land" is a special blessing giving him the ability to use a 'bob' (dowsing) and to find lost items, metal, water, etc. Eilian is not gifted beyond humble "women's charms", which turn out to be rather impressively useful in their scope.

Much of the book is the two of them navigating the labyrinth of the troy. This is where I struggled - I didn't feel personally invested in the characters (no Frodo and Sam, certainly), and of course the description of the scenery along a circular maze is going to be confusing and convoluted by its nature. (A note for my friend Sem: Pangur, Eilian's cat, is most certainly NOT lead through the maze, as we anticipated. The cat turns up when and where it likes, and seems to be the only one unbound by the mazes' course. Which made good feline sense, to me!).

I was interested in the beginning of the book (Brannock's divining abilties with a pendulum; the fraught relationship of the village elder (Mennor) and Brannock's father the king; the overgrown troy maze in the village that the children are both simultaneously wary of and attracted to, the meanings of which were already lost to the mists of time). The middle (the majority of it) rather sagged for me, and that I chalk up to writing style (I should have been captivated, but I just didn't have the emotional investment to care....).

Warning to app users: spoilers follow (tagged).

Before the climax, we encounter (within the troy) a Roman villa, existing seemingly out of time, and populated by a lone surviving Roman citizen and his Pictish servants, the latter of which who cannot or will not answer Brannock on how they came to be 'so far South'... is the troy itself located both out of time and space?! And then the action really starts to take shape, all at once. Treachery, invasions, proposed alliances, raids, and a 'final course of action', which was the cryptic message that the elder Mennor had entrusted Brannock to take.

Check the lists for content hints (one of them is one of my favourite mythological subjects!), but I had some major issues with this in the larger context of the story - what did this 'final course of action' actually seek to prevent? Because, as far as I can see, the outcome was pretty much identical if that 'final course of action' was taken or it wasn't, in re: loss of life, and eventual integration, which was already alluded to by Ambrosianus and pondered upon by Eilian. So, unless I missed something (I may have - it's entirely possible), there was a major structural flaw in the main plot. The outcome would have been the same, I think?

I had to sleep on it, because I was so conflicted - the details, concepts, themes and content here are awesome and pretty much everything I hope for in a story. But the execution left something to be desired, and the overall plot left me rather confused.

So three stars, but a curious and recommended read nevertheless - I had no idea about the existence of such troys/caerdroia, and having just recently read The Chains of Sleep (set on the Isles of Scilly, and having some, what I thought, incongruent Greek mythology worked in), now I'm very curious about the influence of ancient Greek culture on ancient Britain. Roman, I understand entirely; but Greek or Cretan? Did it really travel that far north? (These aren't rhetorical questions - if you know, please enlighten me! In the dark (ages), here!). ;)