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The Dalemark Quartet #3
Spellcoats
The third book in the epic fantasy-adventure series from ‘the Godmother of Fantasy’, Diana Wynne Jones. Now back in print!
‘I had not seen how they hated us till I heard them shout. It was terrible.’
Tanaqui and her family have always known they were somehow different from the other villagers. But when the great floods come and they are driven from their home, they begin to realise the part they must play in the destiny of the land.
As Tanaqui weaves the story of their frightening journey to the sea and the terrifying, powerful evil of the mage Kankredin, she realises the desperate need to understand the meaning of it all. Can she fit the pieces of the puzzle together in time to halt Kankredin’s destruction?
‘I had not seen how they hated us till I heard them shout. It was terrible.’
Tanaqui and her family have always known they were somehow different from the other villagers. But when the great floods come and they are driven from their home, they begin to realise the part they must play in the destiny of the land.
As Tanaqui weaves the story of their frightening journey to the sea and the terrifying, powerful evil of the mage Kankredin, she realises the desperate need to understand the meaning of it all. Can she fit the pieces of the puzzle together in time to halt Kankredin’s destruction?
327 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
66 people are currently reading
1719 people want to read
About the author
Diana Wynne Jones
149 books12k followersDiana Wynne Jones was a celebrated British writer best known for her inventive and influential works of fantasy for children and young adults. Her stories often combined magical worlds with science fiction elements, parallel universes, and a sharp sense of humor. Among her most beloved books are Howl's Moving Castle, the Chrestomanci series, The Dalemark Quartet, Dark Lord of Derkholm, and the satirical The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. Her work gained renewed attention and readership with the popularity of the Harry Potter series, to which her books have frequently been compared.
Admired by authors such as Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, and J.K. Rowling, Jones was a major influence on the landscape of modern fantasy. She received numerous accolades throughout her career, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, two Mythopoeic Awards, the Karl Edward Wagner Award, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. In 2004, Howl's Moving Castle was adapted into an acclaimed animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, further expanding her global audience.
Jones studied at Oxford, where she attended lectures by both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. She began writing professionally in the 1960s and remained active until her death in 2011. Her final novel, The Islands of Chaldea, was completed posthumously by her sister Ursula Jones.
Admired by authors such as Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, and J.K. Rowling, Jones was a major influence on the landscape of modern fantasy. She received numerous accolades throughout her career, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, two Mythopoeic Awards, the Karl Edward Wagner Award, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. In 2004, Howl's Moving Castle was adapted into an acclaimed animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, further expanding her global audience.
Jones studied at Oxford, where she attended lectures by both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. She began writing professionally in the 1960s and remained active until her death in 2011. Her final novel, The Islands of Chaldea, was completed posthumously by her sister Ursula Jones.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 207 reviews
February 14, 2013
The Spellcoats is one of the first books I ever read by Diana Wynne Jones and is still one of my favorites. With her tenth published novel, she demonstrates a maturity that marks the rest of her career; as good as her previous works are, with The Spellcoats she plays with first person limited POV and the clash of cultures to create Dalemark's history in a way that perfectly fits what she's already established with Cart and Cwidder and the more complex Drowned Ammet.
I didn't realize, back in the day, that this book was part of a series. I didn't have access to Drowned Ammet, and as The Spellcoats happens in pre-historic Dalemark, it wasn't obvious to me that it was set in the same world as Cart and Cwidder. Reading DWJ's novels in chronological order makes a huge difference. The Spellcoats is good on its own, but so much better read as a prequel (and I am very fond of prequels).
As usual, DWJ depends on the family structure to drive her plot. In this case, it's Tanaqui and her four siblings at the story's center; their blondness and mysterious dead mother setting them apart from the dark-haired villagers, and worse, they look like the invading Heathens their people are at war with. Driven out of their home, they travel down the River to whatever lies at its mouth near the ocean, find a great evil, and travel back to the River's source to find a way to stop it. They're not a perfect family--this would not be a book by DWJ if they were. Tanaqui gets impatient with her siblings, especially her sister Robin; Hern is a rationalist who doesn't believe in magic (unfortunate, because it seems to surround them) and Duck gets all vague whenever trouble threatens. But this is exactly what makes the story work, because it's the conflicts between them that create the conflict that drives the story. Their encounter with the evil Kankredin at the River's mouth goes both well and poorly because of who the children are and how they interact with each other.
The main conceit of this book is that Tanaqui, a master weaver, is telling the story through weaving it into a giant "rugcoat"; those who know how can read it. DWJ's skill makes this conceit hold together, as Tanaqui tells the story as if it's all already happened (which it has) and the "coats" end and begin in places where Tanaqui would have the ability to weave--not a small thing.
Tanaqui gets most of my sympathy because, as the POV character, she can put herself in the best light, but usually doesn't. Or, more accurately, she'll admit later in her weaving things that she left out earlier. She sketches the others fairly but accurately, and I especially like how she admits to getting impatient with her sister when Robin is ill. Tanaqui also ends up having the most important role to play, even though it's a role that leaves her ignored by history.
I'm tempted, just a little, to ignore my chronological reading project and move immediately to The Crown of Dalemark, which finishes the Dalemark Quartet--but it was written 14 years later, so I'll just have to be patient a little longer.
I didn't realize, back in the day, that this book was part of a series. I didn't have access to Drowned Ammet, and as The Spellcoats happens in pre-historic Dalemark, it wasn't obvious to me that it was set in the same world as Cart and Cwidder. Reading DWJ's novels in chronological order makes a huge difference. The Spellcoats is good on its own, but so much better read as a prequel (and I am very fond of prequels).
As usual, DWJ depends on the family structure to drive her plot. In this case, it's Tanaqui and her four siblings at the story's center; their blondness and mysterious dead mother setting them apart from the dark-haired villagers, and worse, they look like the invading Heathens their people are at war with. Driven out of their home, they travel down the River to whatever lies at its mouth near the ocean, find a great evil, and travel back to the River's source to find a way to stop it. They're not a perfect family--this would not be a book by DWJ if they were. Tanaqui gets impatient with her siblings, especially her sister Robin; Hern is a rationalist who doesn't believe in magic (unfortunate, because it seems to surround them) and Duck gets all vague whenever trouble threatens. But this is exactly what makes the story work, because it's the conflicts between them that create the conflict that drives the story. Their encounter with the evil Kankredin at the River's mouth goes both well and poorly because of who the children are and how they interact with each other.
The main conceit of this book is that Tanaqui, a master weaver, is telling the story through weaving it into a giant "rugcoat"; those who know how can read it. DWJ's skill makes this conceit hold together, as Tanaqui tells the story as if it's all already happened (which it has) and the "coats" end and begin in places where Tanaqui would have the ability to weave--not a small thing.
Tanaqui gets most of my sympathy because, as the POV character, she can put herself in the best light, but usually doesn't. Or, more accurately, she'll admit later in her weaving things that she left out earlier. She sketches the others fairly but accurately, and I especially like how she admits to getting impatient with her sister when Robin is ill. Tanaqui also ends up having the most important role to play, even though it's a role that leaves her ignored by history.
I'm tempted, just a little, to ignore my chronological reading project and move immediately to The Crown of Dalemark, which finishes the Dalemark Quartet--but it was written 14 years later, so I'll just have to be patient a little longer.
November 6, 2015
The Spellcoats stands in contrast to the densely plotted and bitingly humorous style I most associate with Diana Wynne Jones (at its most action-y in Dark Lord of Derkholm). It also, for my vote, is the real standout of the Dalemark quartet--paring down from the background politics of the first two books and going back hundreds of years to prehistoric Dalemark results in a smaller, more mythic tale that echoes more loudly for how much more contained it is.
Tanaqui and her siblings have always lived by the river and --if they're seen as a little eccentric in their habits-- are still entrenched in the village rhythms. But when the Heathens come to invade the land, they find themselves alienated from the village and forced to take to the river. It's a journey that will take them into the heart of the land and position them into deciding the future of Dalemark against the larger darkness that attacks it.
For a "mythic tale", Spellcoats has a very small approach. Limited for a great majority to the perspective of Tanaqui and her family as they drift along, it's the slowness of the setting that works to the narrative's great advantage. The focus on their concerns and squabbles when faced with caring for themselves (and their shell-shocked brother Gull) lends a real heft... while Jones describes the river so beautifully you almost feel like you've lived upon it your whole life as well. It's this smallness, stripped away of the trappings of epic fantasy (maps! and imagined history! and rules!), that allows Dalemark to really finally emerge as a real character in its own right. And I mean so both figuratively and literally, in a crescendo of an ending which lets all the pieces (the history, culture, and magic of Dalemark, and the people) click into place- and brings into focus the real conflict of the series.
Diana Wynne Jones never returned to tell a straightforward story "epic" like the Dalemark Quartet (or at least the first three parts) again, but I would've liked to see how as a mature writer she would lent new twists to the idea. Or I would have at least liked to see more of the continued adventures of Tanaqui (and Duck and Gull, and why the hell not, Hern and Robin as well), which we were teased with mentions of in the other three books. Rating: 5 stars (Reread 3/24/2011)
Tanaqui and her siblings have always lived by the river and --if they're seen as a little eccentric in their habits-- are still entrenched in the village rhythms. But when the Heathens come to invade the land, they find themselves alienated from the village and forced to take to the river. It's a journey that will take them into the heart of the land and position them into deciding the future of Dalemark against the larger darkness that attacks it.
For a "mythic tale", Spellcoats has a very small approach. Limited for a great majority to the perspective of Tanaqui and her family as they drift along, it's the slowness of the setting that works to the narrative's great advantage. The focus on their concerns and squabbles when faced with caring for themselves (and their shell-shocked brother Gull) lends a real heft... while Jones describes the river so beautifully you almost feel like you've lived upon it your whole life as well. It's this smallness, stripped away of the trappings of epic fantasy (maps! and imagined history! and rules!), that allows Dalemark to really finally emerge as a real character in its own right. And I mean so both figuratively and literally, in a crescendo of an ending which lets all the pieces (the history, culture, and magic of Dalemark, and the people) click into place- and brings into focus the real conflict of the series.
Diana Wynne Jones never returned to tell a straightforward story "epic" like the Dalemark Quartet (or at least the first three parts) again, but I would've liked to see how as a mature writer she would lent new twists to the idea. Or I would have at least liked to see more of the continued adventures of Tanaqui (and Duck and Gull, and why the hell not, Hern and Robin as well), which we were teased with mentions of in the other three books. Rating: 5 stars (Reread 3/24/2011)
January 29, 2016
must say didn't know what to expect and so came in with low expectations for this, so maybe that's the reason, but i really really liked it. i actually thought that this was a right time in the series to have this prehistoric dalemark series. katie and beth thanks for making me read this one before the crown of dalemark, i think this makes the crown more enjoyable.
January 11, 2016
The Spellcoats is the penultimate installment in Diana Wynne Jones’ Dalemark Quartet and it is very different from its predecessors.
If Cart and Cwidder is our introduction to Dalemark, and Drowned Ammet is a fleshing out of that earlier exposure, then The Spellcoats is the (pre) historical volume that gives these two their significance in the grand scheme of things.
Set 600 years in the past, Spellcoats gives us a glimpse at prehistoric Dalemark, a time before the land was divided by North and South, or into the earldoms that would define Mitt and Moril’s lives hundreds of years later. The story follows a group of orphans who have been outcast by their own people following a devastating war with an invasion force simply known as the Heathen. Unfortunately, this is a time of superstition and the children resemble these invaders and are ostracized and forced to flee down the River during a great flood. The heart of the group, and the narrator of the tale, is the youngest sister Tanaqui (like a few other names in this series, I’m not 100% sure how I’m supposed to pronounce this). She and her brothers Gull, Hern and Duck and her sister Robin flee their riverside home carrying little more than food and three valuable statues that represent the Undying, or what we would most likely call household gods. To save on spoilers, I’ll simply say that old stories reveal great secrets, and Tanaqui and her family discover the truth behind their resemblance to the invaders, shaping the history of Dalemark and the future we have already glimpsed in the adventures of Mitt and Moril.
This volume in the series is notably different from the first two, and not just because of the tremendous leap in time. While some reviewers have asserted that the differences in place and time between the volumes are disconcerting, I find the shifts to be one of the more interesting elements in the setup of the series. There is something intriguing about learning the history and mythology of the world later in the progress of the story, filling in the blanks rather than carrying a load of exposition into it to be fit willy-nilly throughout. Stylistically, Spellcoats is unlike the other volumes as well, being told in first person and with a straightforward, slightly formal sentence structure that is intended to reflect the pre-historical setting. The tale is not “written” but rather woven by Tanaqui into a garment known as a “rugcoat,” an object imbued with magic and tradition, and the story itself is a “translation” of this garment hundreds of years later. As far as artifacts and causal chains are concerned, Jones does a fantastic job constructing a story that spans centuries; the story does not seem overtly tied to the rest of the series until the revelations near the end, but it still feels familiar and important.
The characters are well developed and multi-dimensional, which is difficult in the first person format and with the mythological overtones, and much of the strength of the book can be attributed to this. The book’s strengths lie with the characters and the overall mythological makeup of the world, which does not depend on magical, non-human species (no elves or dwarves, etc) or elaborate belief structures. However, this book shares the common weakness that runs throughout the Quartet: endings, or a lack thereof. This volume ends abruptly, but this feels intentional, as we are supposed to be gleaning the story from an ancient piece of weaving and the purpose of the rugcoat is not to provide conclusions. BUT the events leading up to the ending are similarly abrupt, and this is not so easily explained away or forgiven. Again, as in the preceding books in the series, moments of great import or suspense happen so quickly you may miss them if you blink; the lead-up is generally good, but nine times out of ten the resolution is a disappointment and things are often solved too easily. I know I have definite suspension of disbelief problems with somehow conceiving that two peoples at war with each other could be united by . If it weren’t so vital to the overall story I could probably look past it, but as a lynchpin moment in the story arc it doesn’t work so well.
However, despite its issues, I have to say I still love this book. I first read The Dalemark Quartet in my early teens, and it was the first fantasy series I had ever encountered to approach the structure of the story in this way, interconnected but intentionally out of sequence. Frankly, it blew my mind at the time and prompted me to go looking for more, more, MORE complex stories to feed my voracious fantasy appetite. So for that, The Spellcoats keeps its 5-star rating for me.
If Cart and Cwidder is our introduction to Dalemark, and Drowned Ammet is a fleshing out of that earlier exposure, then The Spellcoats is the (pre) historical volume that gives these two their significance in the grand scheme of things.
Set 600 years in the past, Spellcoats gives us a glimpse at prehistoric Dalemark, a time before the land was divided by North and South, or into the earldoms that would define Mitt and Moril’s lives hundreds of years later. The story follows a group of orphans who have been outcast by their own people following a devastating war with an invasion force simply known as the Heathen. Unfortunately, this is a time of superstition and the children resemble these invaders and are ostracized and forced to flee down the River during a great flood. The heart of the group, and the narrator of the tale, is the youngest sister Tanaqui (like a few other names in this series, I’m not 100% sure how I’m supposed to pronounce this). She and her brothers Gull, Hern and Duck and her sister Robin flee their riverside home carrying little more than food and three valuable statues that represent the Undying, or what we would most likely call household gods. To save on spoilers, I’ll simply say that old stories reveal great secrets, and Tanaqui and her family discover the truth behind their resemblance to the invaders, shaping the history of Dalemark and the future we have already glimpsed in the adventures of Mitt and Moril.
This volume in the series is notably different from the first two, and not just because of the tremendous leap in time. While some reviewers have asserted that the differences in place and time between the volumes are disconcerting, I find the shifts to be one of the more interesting elements in the setup of the series. There is something intriguing about learning the history and mythology of the world later in the progress of the story, filling in the blanks rather than carrying a load of exposition into it to be fit willy-nilly throughout. Stylistically, Spellcoats is unlike the other volumes as well, being told in first person and with a straightforward, slightly formal sentence structure that is intended to reflect the pre-historical setting. The tale is not “written” but rather woven by Tanaqui into a garment known as a “rugcoat,” an object imbued with magic and tradition, and the story itself is a “translation” of this garment hundreds of years later. As far as artifacts and causal chains are concerned, Jones does a fantastic job constructing a story that spans centuries; the story does not seem overtly tied to the rest of the series until the revelations near the end, but it still feels familiar and important.
The characters are well developed and multi-dimensional, which is difficult in the first person format and with the mythological overtones, and much of the strength of the book can be attributed to this. The book’s strengths lie with the characters and the overall mythological makeup of the world, which does not depend on magical, non-human species (no elves or dwarves, etc) or elaborate belief structures. However, this book shares the common weakness that runs throughout the Quartet: endings, or a lack thereof. This volume ends abruptly, but this feels intentional, as we are supposed to be gleaning the story from an ancient piece of weaving and the purpose of the rugcoat is not to provide conclusions. BUT the events leading up to the ending are similarly abrupt, and this is not so easily explained away or forgiven. Again, as in the preceding books in the series, moments of great import or suspense happen so quickly you may miss them if you blink; the lead-up is generally good, but nine times out of ten the resolution is a disappointment and things are often solved too easily. I know I have definite suspension of disbelief problems with somehow conceiving that two peoples at war with each other could be united by . If it weren’t so vital to the overall story I could probably look past it, but as a lynchpin moment in the story arc it doesn’t work so well.
However, despite its issues, I have to say I still love this book. I first read The Dalemark Quartet in my early teens, and it was the first fantasy series I had ever encountered to approach the structure of the story in this way, interconnected but intentionally out of sequence. Frankly, it blew my mind at the time and prompted me to go looking for more, more, MORE complex stories to feed my voracious fantasy appetite. So for that, The Spellcoats keeps its 5-star rating for me.
July 9, 2008
Jones is just a fun author to read. This is the third in her Dalemark quartet, and I may like it the best of the four so far. It's a fast read and the characters have life. It's told from the perspective of the youngest sister, Tanaqui, who is weaving the story into a coat as she tells it. It develops nicely as she makes discoveries of her own that affect the plot's development. You'll find lots of seemingly little details that become significant, which adds to the adventure of reading.
May 28, 2021
I didn't recall a great deal about this book as this was a re-read after a long interval. It concerns a family of children, who have always been a bit "different" from the others in their village. Their mother died some years before (or at least that is what they believe) and their father plays only a minor role in the story since he and the eldest son, Gull, are drafted into the King's army to fight a war against invaders called the Heathern. Unfortunately, only Gull returns, suffering from what we would call PTSD. Meanwhile, the resemblance of the fair-haired children to the invaders has now become known, and the villagers are whipped up against them by the unpleasant headman. This necessitates a hasty departure downriver in their boat, at a time when the river is undergoing a flood, and as the story develops it becomes clear that the flood is an attack by a malevolent wizard who is part of the Heathern forces, but has his own agenda.
The story is a first person narrative told by the younger daughter, Tanaqui, who is actually weaving it into a coat. The part played by weaving as a form of magic and the mythical beings known as the Undying, who have taken the form of three household gods or idols that the children carry into exile with them, is quite fascinating. The main characters are all delineated, although the elder daughter Robin is rather a feeble person, and Tanaqui is quite often annoyed with her especially when Robin is ill. Gull has a quite minor part to play, other than his role in drawing them further towards the sea where the wizard awaits, but Hern and Mallard (known as Duck) are quite interesting characters and the family dynamic between them and their sisters is well developed.
The relationship between the Undying isn't always clear and the ending of the main story is quite abrupt, leaving the subsequent fate of the characters open to interpretation, but at least a couple must have survived to become the legendary figures they are identified with in the post script material. For that reason, I rate this as a 4 star read but very enjoyable despite the slight niggles.
The story is a first person narrative told by the younger daughter, Tanaqui, who is actually weaving it into a coat. The part played by weaving as a form of magic and the mythical beings known as the Undying, who have taken the form of three household gods or idols that the children carry into exile with them, is quite fascinating. The main characters are all delineated, although the elder daughter Robin is rather a feeble person, and Tanaqui is quite often annoyed with her especially when Robin is ill. Gull has a quite minor part to play, other than his role in drawing them further towards the sea where the wizard awaits, but Hern and Mallard (known as Duck) are quite interesting characters and the family dynamic between them and their sisters is well developed.
The relationship between the Undying isn't always clear and the ending of the main story is quite abrupt, leaving the subsequent fate of the characters open to interpretation, but at least a couple must have survived to become the legendary figures they are identified with in the post script material. For that reason, I rate this as a 4 star read but very enjoyable despite the slight niggles.
March 23, 2022
A young girl, who has little idea that she has a talent for weaving magical spells into garments, has to abandon home along with her orphan siblings when they are all suspected of colluding with invaders with whom they happen to share physical characteristics. Thus begins a journey downriver to the sea and then back again up to its source before the causes of the conflict can start to be addressed.
The Spellcoats has a markedly different feel compared to the middle two Dalemark tales. As well as being set in an earlier period, this story is recounted by the young weaver Tanaqui (an approach unlike that in the other three books which are third-person narratives). We also find that the story is being told through her weaving of the tale into the titular Spellcoats, a wonderful metaphor for how stories are often described as being told. We finally discover (in both an epilogue and in the helpful glossary that is supplied at the end of the book) that the boundaries between myth and factual truth are not as clear-cut as at first seems, a fascinating exercise in the layering of meaning and reality. which, as you all know, is defined as fiction about fiction, or ‘fiction which self-consciously reflects upon itself’ — a term which had only been coined in 1970, nine years before The Spellcoats was first published.
Some of the threads are picked up in Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet (published before The Spellcoats) as well as apparently resolved in the concluding The Crown of Dalemark; but don’t take that for granted. It’s typical of the author that the climax of the story is all smoke-and-mirrors: does it happen the way Tanaqui’s narrative implies, or is it all an illusion, a trick of the light flashing across the material of the Spellcoat? This is not a cop-out, as some might see it, but rather the mark of a writer who knows that magic should be experienced instead of explained away rationally.
This book comes satisfyingly close to the feeling of a good fable, and stands comparison with some of Ursula Le Guin’s similar fantasy writing. In large measure this is down to a general vagueness in geography, with the River running from the mountains in the south to the sea in the north, in contrast with the detailed map that can be (and has been) drawn for the other three titles set in later historical times. Nevertheless, all four novels involve travel for the protagonists in the lands of Dalemark, another metaphor, this time for the personal journeys they are all called on to make. Also there is a well thought-through (if at times confusing) theogony of the Undying and their relationships with humankind, matched by an attention to the etymology of names in the author’s created world of Dalemark; in this The Spellcoats shares the almost anthropological approach that Ursula Le Guin brings to her created worlds.
For me The Spellcoats is very much a tale that works on different levels, potentially appealing to both a young adult and an older readership. This, as much as other three titles, deserves to be better known by fantasy fans, especially those who love epic fantasy: Dalemark is as clearly imagined as Middle Earth, yet with characters perhaps more rounded than Tolkien’s and a chronology that, beginning in the mists of time, ends in the last of the quartet with a modern Dalemark not too unlike our own world.
A few additional thoughts occurred to me after a recent reread. One is the realistic sibling squabbling that goes on between the five youngsters named variously for birds or, in Tanaqui’s case, after the scented rushes that can be woven like wool or plaited into utilitarian objects; as The Spellcoats was dedicated to one of the author’s sisters, Ursula — herself a storyteller — no doubt the bickering echoed the relationships the three real-life sisters had at times while growing up.
A second point concerns how, even in this fiction set in a fantasy world in mythical times, Jones was wont to include aspects of her final home in the West Country city of Bristol. The muddy silt-laden River Avon that flowed through Bristol does seem to be echoed in the Aden river that dominates much of the story; and the tidal effects such as the surge wave or tidal ‘bore’ that affects the lower reaches of the book’s River is reminiscent of the equivalent phenomenon of the bore on the estuary of River Severn into which the Avon flows. Ebb and flow thus parallel how so many narratives, including this one, are offered for our inspection.
Finally, epic or high fantasy is sometimes derided as too often presenting a polarised and perhaps simplistic narrative of Good versus Evil, such as with the siblings here in conflict with the malign power that is Kankredin. Because, some critics would argue, the real world is never simply about some Dark Lord trying to attain self-aggrandisement through inhumanity and conquest: such a black-and-white situation would never happen in modern times, would it now? I’m not so sure that’s the case, though.
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The Spellcoats has a markedly different feel compared to the middle two Dalemark tales. As well as being set in an earlier period, this story is recounted by the young weaver Tanaqui (an approach unlike that in the other three books which are third-person narratives). We also find that the story is being told through her weaving of the tale into the titular Spellcoats, a wonderful metaphor for how stories are often described as being told. We finally discover (in both an epilogue and in the helpful glossary that is supplied at the end of the book) that the boundaries between myth and factual truth are not as clear-cut as at first seems, a fascinating exercise in the layering of meaning and reality. which, as you all know, is defined as fiction about fiction, or ‘fiction which self-consciously reflects upon itself’ — a term which had only been coined in 1970, nine years before The Spellcoats was first published.
Some of the threads are picked up in Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet (published before The Spellcoats) as well as apparently resolved in the concluding The Crown of Dalemark; but don’t take that for granted. It’s typical of the author that the climax of the story is all smoke-and-mirrors: does it happen the way Tanaqui’s narrative implies, or is it all an illusion, a trick of the light flashing across the material of the Spellcoat? This is not a cop-out, as some might see it, but rather the mark of a writer who knows that magic should be experienced instead of explained away rationally.
This book comes satisfyingly close to the feeling of a good fable, and stands comparison with some of Ursula Le Guin’s similar fantasy writing. In large measure this is down to a general vagueness in geography, with the River running from the mountains in the south to the sea in the north, in contrast with the detailed map that can be (and has been) drawn for the other three titles set in later historical times. Nevertheless, all four novels involve travel for the protagonists in the lands of Dalemark, another metaphor, this time for the personal journeys they are all called on to make. Also there is a well thought-through (if at times confusing) theogony of the Undying and their relationships with humankind, matched by an attention to the etymology of names in the author’s created world of Dalemark; in this The Spellcoats shares the almost anthropological approach that Ursula Le Guin brings to her created worlds.
For me The Spellcoats is very much a tale that works on different levels, potentially appealing to both a young adult and an older readership. This, as much as other three titles, deserves to be better known by fantasy fans, especially those who love epic fantasy: Dalemark is as clearly imagined as Middle Earth, yet with characters perhaps more rounded than Tolkien’s and a chronology that, beginning in the mists of time, ends in the last of the quartet with a modern Dalemark not too unlike our own world.
A few additional thoughts occurred to me after a recent reread. One is the realistic sibling squabbling that goes on between the five youngsters named variously for birds or, in Tanaqui’s case, after the scented rushes that can be woven like wool or plaited into utilitarian objects; as The Spellcoats was dedicated to one of the author’s sisters, Ursula — herself a storyteller — no doubt the bickering echoed the relationships the three real-life sisters had at times while growing up.
A second point concerns how, even in this fiction set in a fantasy world in mythical times, Jones was wont to include aspects of her final home in the West Country city of Bristol. The muddy silt-laden River Avon that flowed through Bristol does seem to be echoed in the Aden river that dominates much of the story; and the tidal effects such as the surge wave or tidal ‘bore’ that affects the lower reaches of the book’s River is reminiscent of the equivalent phenomenon of the bore on the estuary of River Severn into which the Avon flows. Ebb and flow thus parallel how so many narratives, including this one, are offered for our inspection.
Finally, epic or high fantasy is sometimes derided as too often presenting a polarised and perhaps simplistic narrative of Good versus Evil, such as with the siblings here in conflict with the malign power that is Kankredin. Because, some critics would argue, the real world is never simply about some Dark Lord trying to attain self-aggrandisement through inhumanity and conquest: such a black-and-white situation would never happen in modern times, would it now? I’m not so sure that’s the case, though.
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November 26, 2020
The Spellcoats is a perfectly fine, standalone YA fantasy novel. It was only much later, long after I first read this book as a teen-ager, that I learned it was #3 in Diana Wynne Jones’ The Dalemark Quartet. The edition I’m reviewing here makes no mention of the series. I tracked down the other three eventually but was underwhelmed by them. On the other hand, The Spellcoats was a favorite & one of the few books I recovered from my mother’s basement when we cleaned it out after her death.
The tale is told from Tanaqui’s, the younger daughter of Closti and the River’s Daughter, point of view via the titular spellcoats she weaves, which are recovered centuries later from a bog. Tanaqui and her siblings, Gull, Robin, Hern and Mallard (aka Duck), live in the village of Shelling with their father, their mother having ostensibly died years before. War comes to the Dalemark & Tanaqui’s father and Gull are conscripted. Closti dies and Gull returns in a near catatonic state. Because they look a lot like the invaders (blond with bushy hair) and because the family has always been a bit odd in the eyes of the villagers, they drive the children forth. They flee down the River, though they’re not sure where they’re going. They learn along the way that the Undying (The One, The Lady and the Young One), totems kept by the family since time immemorial, are far more than wooden statues and they are far more than simple village children. Reaching the mouth of the River, Tanaqui et al. cross paths with Kankredin, a wizard who seeks to bind the River and steal the souls of the dead. They escape him only to fall into the hands of Dalemark’s King, a schemer who wishes to exploit The One’s power to defeat the invaders. Nevertheless, he facilitates their next goal – reaching the source of the River – and Tanaqui and her siblings discover their destinies.
It’s a good read. I love the world Jones invokes, especially the idea of a “spellcoat.” Tanaqui and others can alter reality and bind powers by weaving them into a story told through the loom.
I’d certainly recommend it.
The tale is told from Tanaqui’s, the younger daughter of Closti and the River’s Daughter, point of view via the titular spellcoats she weaves, which are recovered centuries later from a bog. Tanaqui and her siblings, Gull, Robin, Hern and Mallard (aka Duck), live in the village of Shelling with their father, their mother having ostensibly died years before. War comes to the Dalemark & Tanaqui’s father and Gull are conscripted. Closti dies and Gull returns in a near catatonic state. Because they look a lot like the invaders (blond with bushy hair) and because the family has always been a bit odd in the eyes of the villagers, they drive the children forth. They flee down the River, though they’re not sure where they’re going. They learn along the way that the Undying (The One, The Lady and the Young One), totems kept by the family since time immemorial, are far more than wooden statues and they are far more than simple village children. Reaching the mouth of the River, Tanaqui et al. cross paths with Kankredin, a wizard who seeks to bind the River and steal the souls of the dead. They escape him only to fall into the hands of Dalemark’s King, a schemer who wishes to exploit The One’s power to defeat the invaders. Nevertheless, he facilitates their next goal – reaching the source of the River – and Tanaqui and her siblings discover their destinies.
It’s a good read. I love the world Jones invokes, especially the idea of a “spellcoat.” Tanaqui and others can alter reality and bind powers by weaving them into a story told through the loom.
I’d certainly recommend it.
February 13, 2013
I think this might be my favourite of the Dalemark books so far. It felt closer to what I expect from Diana Wynne Jones -- there is darkness, yes, but it doesn't feel the same; there's very little darkness in the protagonists. And we have a female main character who is the narrator! Tanaqui works well: she's not perfect, nor too annoying, but a good balance of characteristics -- unlike Robin, who just looks pale and interesting all the time without depth.
I enjoyed the way this deepened the understanding of Dalemark and shed light on aspects from the first two books. I'm a sucker for a fully formed secondary world, and Dalemark is getting there for me.
I enjoyed the way this deepened the understanding of Dalemark and shed light on aspects from the first two books. I'm a sucker for a fully formed secondary world, and Dalemark is getting there for me.
March 19, 2025
The Spellcoats is the third book in The Dalemark Quartet, but the first chronologically. Having re-read it in the context of the first and second book (I previously read it during childhood as a stand-alone) I feel that it holds up really well and is the strongest of the stories in this series that I've read so far.
The story is woven by Tanaqui, and tells how she and her four siblings flee their village. It also details the various people and experiences that they encounter as part of their journey.
The story is woven by Tanaqui, and tells how she and her four siblings flee their village. It also details the various people and experiences that they encounter as part of their journey.
November 12, 2024
2024 reread.
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When I first read this as a kid, I thought it was terribly dull. I was wrong.
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When I first read this as a kid, I thought it was terribly dull. I was wrong.
September 9, 2024
my fave of the dalemark quartet! set six hundred years before cart & cwidder and drowned ammet, it makes me think of noah’s ark, or rather, the great flood. a family flees their village in a boat and drifts along an overflowing river all the way to the sea, encountering cats, fish, and souls shaped as birds as they pass through veils of white rain. the heroine’s brother sickens after war, her sister wastes away in love; superstition and primeval sorcery abound. the heroine herself is quarrelsome and her brothers are little better, but it all comes together very well.
August 5, 2010
YA Fantasy. SIX HUNDRED YEARS EARLIER, Tanaqui and her four siblings are forced out of their home and up the River, urged north to the sea by their older brother, Gull, who has been cursed by a powerful wizard.
Book three takes place in prehistoric Dalemark, a time when the land was a different shape and the divide between North and South didn't exist OR DID IT? Tanaqui's people are at war with fair-haired invaders, and after their father dies in battle, the children have no one to protect them when the villagers decide the kids -- blond, all of them -- are heathens with magical powers. So they hop in their boat and escape.
Unlike the first two books, this one is in first person, so the perspective is steady, no jumping around from person to person unexpectedly. On the other hand, the tense wiggles from past to present in a way that can be distracting.
I had a little trouble following who the Undying were and their exact relationship to the kids, but that'll happen when your gods have three names apiece and all of them are associated with the river. Also Tanaqui would figure stuff out and then not share with the class, so I wasn't always sure what her plan was or if it was even working.
I'm curious to see what happens in the final book because none of these books have really felt finished so far. In fact, this one ends right before the final battle. I'm beginning to suspect this series is about Dalemark more than any of its citizens, which is frustrating because I grow to like the characters and then the book ends before their stories are fully resolved.
Three stars. Realistic siblings with individual personalities, another long boat ride with wonderfully descriptive writing, and another story where faith is a central, tangible part of the characters' lives.
Book three takes place in prehistoric Dalemark, a time when the land was a different shape and the divide between North and South didn't exist OR DID IT? Tanaqui's people are at war with fair-haired invaders, and after their father dies in battle, the children have no one to protect them when the villagers decide the kids -- blond, all of them -- are heathens with magical powers. So they hop in their boat and escape.
Unlike the first two books, this one is in first person, so the perspective is steady, no jumping around from person to person unexpectedly. On the other hand, the tense wiggles from past to present in a way that can be distracting.
I had a little trouble following who the Undying were and their exact relationship to the kids, but that'll happen when your gods have three names apiece and all of them are associated with the river. Also Tanaqui would figure stuff out and then not share with the class, so I wasn't always sure what her plan was or if it was even working.
I'm curious to see what happens in the final book because none of these books have really felt finished so far. In fact, this one ends right before the final battle. I'm beginning to suspect this series is about Dalemark more than any of its citizens, which is frustrating because I grow to like the characters and then the book ends before their stories are fully resolved.
Three stars. Realistic siblings with individual personalities, another long boat ride with wonderfully descriptive writing, and another story where faith is a central, tangible part of the characters' lives.
October 21, 2009
Again with the absolutely astoundingly gorgeous covers. This one is for The Spellcoats really, which makes me a bit sad. I want this style for all four!
Anyway. If the jump between Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet is disconcerting, the jump to The Spellcoats is even more so. Mitt and Moril might be only distantly aware of each other, but they are clearly in the same time. Tanaqui's story clearly is not. In fact, it's set in a sort of prehistoric Dalemark. Also, unlike the first two, it's in first person. Told from the point of view of Tanaqui, second daughter and second youngest child of Closti the Clam, it follows Closti's children on a voyage (literally) of discovery. I've said before that I think siblings are one of the things Diana Wynne Jones tends to get right and, in my opinion, she does it again here. The Spellcoats also introduces a very important character in the person of Kankredin, the villain.
I had forgotten just how confusing this sequence is. Nonetheless, I still maintain that reading the books in publication order rather than chronological order is the way to go. I think the confusion is part of it.
Anyway. If the jump between Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet is disconcerting, the jump to The Spellcoats is even more so. Mitt and Moril might be only distantly aware of each other, but they are clearly in the same time. Tanaqui's story clearly is not. In fact, it's set in a sort of prehistoric Dalemark. Also, unlike the first two, it's in first person. Told from the point of view of Tanaqui, second daughter and second youngest child of Closti the Clam, it follows Closti's children on a voyage (literally) of discovery. I've said before that I think siblings are one of the things Diana Wynne Jones tends to get right and, in my opinion, she does it again here. The Spellcoats also introduces a very important character in the person of Kankredin, the villain.
I had forgotten just how confusing this sequence is. Nonetheless, I still maintain that reading the books in publication order rather than chronological order is the way to go. I think the confusion is part of it.
February 17, 2021
Hmm. It was nice. A little weird. I dont think I understood everthing that went on... I may need to re-read in english, one day.
I think I totally ship Hern and Kars Adon. I'm gonna go look for fanfics about those too.
I think I totally ship Hern and Kars Adon. I'm gonna go look for fanfics about those too.
December 6, 2022
tanaqui my beloved. perfect book. no notes.
January 21, 2009
The Spellcoats has a very different tone as compared to the first two books in the series. According to the map at the beginning, this is prehistoric Dalemark, before earls and North vs. South and even before the gods and stories as they are known in Mitt and Moril's time. The tone takes a little getting used to, but Tanaqui is a fascinating and vivid narrator. It was fun to wrap my head around the idea of her weaving the story into a coat.
In this volume, we visit the place where the stories in Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet came from, and where the gods came from. This adds an extra layer to the books that came before, and sets up the villain for the final volume. Yes, it turns out there was a single villain all along -- Kankredin, who we meet in The Spellcoats. He becomes very important in The Crown of Dalemark. In fact, all of the characters from The Spellcoats are seen again, although some were in previous volumes. It's another way these books are woven together.
In this volume, we visit the place where the stories in Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet came from, and where the gods came from. This adds an extra layer to the books that came before, and sets up the villain for the final volume. Yes, it turns out there was a single villain all along -- Kankredin, who we meet in The Spellcoats. He becomes very important in The Crown of Dalemark. In fact, all of the characters from The Spellcoats are seen again, although some were in previous volumes. It's another way these books are woven together.
July 4, 2018
Reread whilst ill: it's been a long time, and as usual with deliberate rereads I remembered some aspects very vividly and others not at all.
The Spellcoats is the first-person narrative of Tanaqui, a girl living in what's effectively the prehistory of the other Dalemark books. She is weaving her narrative into the eponymous spellcoats -- and she understands much more about what she is doing by the end of the novel than she does at the beginning, when events are set in motion by the King's recruitment of Tanaqui's father, and her elder brother Gull, to fight the Heathens.
Tanaqui and her siblings (their mother is dead) are ostracised by the villagers (they look nothing like their neighbours, and they worship different gods) and are eventually forced to flee downriver. They meet a young man, Tanamil, who teaches each of them something important; they reach the river's mouth and encounter a great evil; most importantly, they find out something of their own origins.
This is a novel which demanded immediate rereading way back when I first read it, because the revelations of the latter half shed a different light on earlier chapters. I'm pleased to see that the slow build still works for me. And now, of course, I see that it is also a story about xenophobia, about being driven from one's home, about trying to tell the story of your life when you don't have a firm foundation on which to stand and look back on the events that shaped (and are still shaping) you.
The Spellcoats is the first-person narrative of Tanaqui, a girl living in what's effectively the prehistory of the other Dalemark books. She is weaving her narrative into the eponymous spellcoats -- and she understands much more about what she is doing by the end of the novel than she does at the beginning, when events are set in motion by the King's recruitment of Tanaqui's father, and her elder brother Gull, to fight the Heathens.
Tanaqui and her siblings (their mother is dead) are ostracised by the villagers (they look nothing like their neighbours, and they worship different gods) and are eventually forced to flee downriver. They meet a young man, Tanamil, who teaches each of them something important; they reach the river's mouth and encounter a great evil; most importantly, they find out something of their own origins.
This is a novel which demanded immediate rereading way back when I first read it, because the revelations of the latter half shed a different light on earlier chapters. I'm pleased to see that the slow build still works for me. And now, of course, I see that it is also a story about xenophobia, about being driven from one's home, about trying to tell the story of your life when you don't have a firm foundation on which to stand and look back on the events that shaped (and are still shaping) you.
September 29, 2013
At first, this story seems to have little relationship to the two before it. It's not till the very end that it's revealed that it takes place in Dalemark – but during near-prehistoric times. The society portrayed is very primitive, perhaps analogous to Bronze Age tribes in Britain. When most of the men of a village go off to fight a war against some blond invaders, the pale, fair looks passed down to one family's children by their mysterious, foreign(?) mother make them a target of fear and superstition.
They escape their threatening neighbors, bringing only their household gods with them in a boat down the river – but these gods turn out to be more than the reader might have assumed, as they embark on a journey of danger and magic, which will lead them not only to the center of the conflict between two tribes, but to the greater threat posed to all by an evil, soul-catching sorcerer.
The narrator is a young woman who tells the story through her complicated weaving, setting her tale down in a textile coat. To her people, these ‘spellcoats' have both traditional and magical powers, and the record of her story will become essential to her story.
They escape their threatening neighbors, bringing only their household gods with them in a boat down the river – but these gods turn out to be more than the reader might have assumed, as they embark on a journey of danger and magic, which will lead them not only to the center of the conflict between two tribes, but to the greater threat posed to all by an evil, soul-catching sorcerer.
The narrator is a young woman who tells the story through her complicated weaving, setting her tale down in a textile coat. To her people, these ‘spellcoats' have both traditional and magical powers, and the record of her story will become essential to her story.
December 15, 2016
DWJ has created, from whole cloth, this political world of Dalemark; in The Spellcoats she takes us back in time to its legends and mythology. One of the themes is when legends were little kids, what were they like? Some books have explored this before - The Sword in the Stone comes to mind. But DWJ's legendary children certainly act like real siblings, down to the pouting, teasing, bickering, and occasional fist fights that sisters and brothers get into. Overall, the tone of The Spellcoats is quite dark, but that adds to its mystery and charm. The Dalemark books are a strange bunch of books, and they aren't always completely successful, but The Spellcoats can stand alone as an interesting book.
July 10, 2017
By far my favorite of the Dalemark Quartet (so far)!
Tanaqui was a fantastic narrator, and I liked how truly..... unlikable... her and her siblings were. (...maybe unlikable is not the right word... what I mean to say is, as they got annoyed with each other, I got annoyed at and with them, which happened QUITE A BIT, so while clearly I was emotionally invested, it did not make a large section of the book very fun to read)
HOWEVER the manner in which the story was presented (as a recovered historical document) was by far my favorite aspect; as well as the epilogue, which made me want to reread the entire book instantly (which I will certainly do once I figure out where this whole series is going)
Tanaqui was a fantastic narrator, and I liked how truly..... unlikable... her and her siblings were. (...maybe unlikable is not the right word... what I mean to say is, as they got annoyed with each other, I got annoyed at and with them, which happened QUITE A BIT, so while clearly I was emotionally invested, it did not make a large section of the book very fun to read)
HOWEVER the manner in which the story was presented (as a recovered historical document) was by far my favorite aspect; as well as the epilogue, which made me want to reread the entire book instantly (which I will certainly do once I figure out where this whole series is going)
September 22, 2021
Jones is master of her craft. It will take more than a few rereads to appreciate her nuanced style.
Her characters are her strong suite - and in #3 they are unparalleled. Tanaqui and Tanamil will be some of my favorites long after I've forgotten everything else about the series.
4/22/17:
GOSH I'd forgotten how wonderful this book is. Truly delightful. I sat down and read it in one sitting. The one annoying thing was that I knew a million details were eluding me because it's been two years and because I'm not familiar enough with the series to recognize Jones' easter eggs. Motivation to revisit the others.
Her characters are her strong suite - and in #3 they are unparalleled. Tanaqui and Tanamil will be some of my favorites long after I've forgotten everything else about the series.
4/22/17:
GOSH I'd forgotten how wonderful this book is. Truly delightful. I sat down and read it in one sitting. The one annoying thing was that I knew a million details were eluding me because it's been two years and because I'm not familiar enough with the series to recognize Jones' easter eggs. Motivation to revisit the others.
November 12, 2019
This was disappointing. I was looking forward to reading this 3rd volume seeing as how it had higher ratings than the first two. It started very whimsical and I liked the narrative aspect but it dragged on and on, and I couldn’t feel as excited as I was with the first 2 books. Writing was still up to par with the first 2 books but the story didn’t grab my attention as well. Could I have read the quartet without the third book? Probably.
January 6, 2020
I'm not sure why I keep forcing myself to read books in this series. This one was fine, but there were a lot of boring parts, and not much happens for most of it. It was in a different time period than the first two books. I found the ending to be rather anticlimactic and sudden. I'm not excited about the fourth book, but I'll probably read it to finish off the series. At least they're quick reads!
August 12, 2019
A beautifully weird and satisfying story, the third in the Dalemark Quartet (8+)
*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. If you use it in any marketing material, online or anywhere on a published book without asking permission from me first, I will ask you to remove that use immediately. Thank you!*
*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. If you use it in any marketing material, online or anywhere on a published book without asking permission from me first, I will ask you to remove that use immediately. Thank you!*
November 26, 2024
Absolutely the best, and by a mile. This is the Tombs of Atuan of this series.
March 16, 2022
Ooooooooof. Who knew this book would be lying in this quartet? What a strange journey this quartet takes you on. Book 1 introduces you to a family traveling troupe and some side characters who seem critical to the North (like, lords and shit), which you think - maybe these people will be important later, Book 2 introduces you to some unhappy folks in the south where rebellion be a'brewing, and the timeline is mostly the same as Book 1 --- then BOOK 3, which introduces you to new folks with similar gods as Book 1 and 2 (same world after all), but you really have very little sense of where you are in the timeline (until which is JUST BEYOND fun).
This was good. I enjoyed it but it really kicked in about halfway through (for me). I loved discovering things about the world through the siblings in this book. I absolutely loved the spiritual bent of things (and familial tie-ins). I loved the weaving and the idea of spellcoats. I absolutely LOVED that at the moment of climax - when the fighting begins, the most important thing is for Tanaqui to finish weaving - and her weaving and crafting is essential to 'win the war' as it was. When they were like - honey, WEAVE! - I was here for it.
I'm fascinated to see where Book 4 puts us. What will be tied together? Will it feel like four separate books in the same world and setting, or will it come together in some way I cannot yet see - like a spellcoat just on the loom? AHHH. DWJ, I just love you.
This was good. I enjoyed it but it really kicked in about halfway through (for me). I loved discovering things about the world through the siblings in this book. I absolutely loved the spiritual bent of things (and familial tie-ins). I loved the weaving and the idea of spellcoats. I absolutely LOVED that at the moment of climax - when the fighting begins, the most important thing is for Tanaqui to finish weaving - and her weaving and crafting is essential to 'win the war' as it was. When they were like - honey, WEAVE! - I was here for it.
I'm fascinated to see where Book 4 puts us. What will be tied together? Will it feel like four separate books in the same world and setting, or will it come together in some way I cannot yet see - like a spellcoat just on the loom? AHHH. DWJ, I just love you.
August 23, 2025
Yes!
Jones' storytelling shines again in this installment of the Dalemark Quartet. Her particular twist on first-person narrative in this volume works, and even develops into an important plot point as the story progresses.
So many series read like episodes in a single story--you know the feeling when you reach the end of a book and think to yourself, "Wait--I didn't want to end on a cliffhanger, I just want to read a story!" Jones' series never take that route. In fact, she often (in this series, Howl's Moving Castle and the Chrestomanci books, for example) makes you work to discover what connections exist between the books that she publishes as a 'series.' They more often read as 'stories set in a shared world' than as a proper series, and it works.
As I finished reading Spellcoats, it occurred to me that one of the consequences of this approach to writing is a world that breathes--feels organic and much larger than it would otherwise. The worlds she builds do not exist solely to serve the stories she chooses to tell, but you can feel space around those stories--the untold stories of each world. Things that an author would be tempted to treat as loose ends that need tying up are allowed to just be. Her books are never weighed down by extra explication or explanation--she leaves a lot of room for the reader to imagine why things are the way they are (in the story) or what a character went on to do after the story ends. All of this makes her worlds much more compelling and believable than the average fantasy story.
Very Satisfying.
Jones' storytelling shines again in this installment of the Dalemark Quartet. Her particular twist on first-person narrative in this volume works, and even develops into an important plot point as the story progresses.
So many series read like episodes in a single story--you know the feeling when you reach the end of a book and think to yourself, "Wait--I didn't want to end on a cliffhanger, I just want to read a story!" Jones' series never take that route. In fact, she often (in this series, Howl's Moving Castle and the Chrestomanci books, for example) makes you work to discover what connections exist between the books that she publishes as a 'series.' They more often read as 'stories set in a shared world' than as a proper series, and it works.
As I finished reading Spellcoats, it occurred to me that one of the consequences of this approach to writing is a world that breathes--feels organic and much larger than it would otherwise. The worlds she builds do not exist solely to serve the stories she chooses to tell, but you can feel space around those stories--the untold stories of each world. Things that an author would be tempted to treat as loose ends that need tying up are allowed to just be. Her books are never weighed down by extra explication or explanation--she leaves a lot of room for the reader to imagine why things are the way they are (in the story) or what a character went on to do after the story ends. All of this makes her worlds much more compelling and believable than the average fantasy story.
Very Satisfying.
September 17, 2025
This book was so different than the first two. They don't really make that much sense as a series, although maybe the fourth one will tie them together. I enjoyed it, although I spent a lot of time puzzled and feeling like it was set in a completely different world.
This is the only book I've read where the climax to end of the story is just missing. You get right up to the climax and then boom. epilogue/historical note from hundreds/thousands of years later. It tells you the outline of what will happen in a vision and then you're left to tie it all together yourself.
Also, I gotta say that I was not a fan of Robin and Tanamil's relationship. It came out of nowhere (even for Diana Wynne Jones) and they went from zero chemistry to constantly wrapped around each other to the point of distraction from things like guard duty.
Also, Kars Adon and Hern were *right there* and had so much chemistry despite hardly interacting.
I did like how everything feels very far in the past compared to the previous books. Like, the places don't have names, the different groups of people don't have names (they just call each other heathens) and even the Undying have very vague names like The One and The Young One and The Lady. And I really enjoyed how those reveals turned out! They were very unexpected and cool (if confusing).
This is the only book I've read where the climax to end of the story is just missing. You get right up to the climax and then boom. epilogue/historical note from hundreds/thousands of years later. It tells you the outline of what will happen in a vision and then you're left to tie it all together yourself.
Also, I gotta say that I was not a fan of Robin and Tanamil's relationship. It came out of nowhere (even for Diana Wynne Jones) and they went from zero chemistry to constantly wrapped around each other to the point of distraction from things like guard duty.
Also, Kars Adon and Hern were *right there* and had so much chemistry despite hardly interacting.
I did like how everything feels very far in the past compared to the previous books. Like, the places don't have names, the different groups of people don't have names (they just call each other heathens) and even the Undying have very vague names like The One and The Young One and The Lady. And I really enjoyed how those reveals turned out! They were very unexpected and cool (if confusing).
August 21, 2019
Better for me than the first two in the series, but can only warrant an extra star. Found the character building poor and by the end of the book I really didn't care about them. I felt as a prequel it was odd to be third in the series but was good to get some history of Dalemark.. Some good ideas and differnet take on magic again once again in this book , but perhaps reading this as an adult is why it doesn't work for me idk. I just hope that the forth and last in this series is better again..
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