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Wizard of the Grove #1
Child of the Grove
The mortals of Ardhan are at the mercy of an evil wizard, bent upon ruling the entire world, but the Elders intervene and send Crystal, the child of the Grove, daughter of Power
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 3, 1988
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685 people want to read
About the author
Tanya Huff
151 books2,446 followersTanya Sue Huff is a Canadian fantasy author. Her stories have been published since the late 1980s, including five fantasy series and one science fiction series. One of these, her Blood Books series, featuring detective Vicki Nelson, was adapted for television under the title Blood Ties.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
May 4, 2021
This is an early traditional high-fantasy novel by Huff, pretty well done but not overwhelmingly memorable in concept. The idea is that magic is leaving the world, much like Larry Niven's The Magic Goes Away series. The first part of the book is quite compelling, and then there's a really major shift and I had trouble get re-engaged. Still, pretty good stuff.
January 31, 2021
Under siege from an evil wizard on Ardhan, the Elders send Crystal, the newest and last wizard born, to defeat him.
All those people you learned to love in the first half of the book? Dead. Say goodbye, because the second half is three generations and a few centuries later. All new characters, all new plot, not one iota of the enjoyability. There's nothing interesting going on here which is distressing because, being the second half of the book, this is the part with the climax. And I'm not going to review that first half at all because, while it's infinitely better, SO MUCH BETTER, and I actually really enjoyed it, it's used as nothing more than a 200+ page introduction to the bad guy, who we only see in two short scenes. Also you learn in the last page or two of it that there are centaurs, and that they are dicks. But I'll get to that in a second.
The main character is Crystal, a princess conceived in a really questionable, possibly mind-controlled kinda way. Crystal is whiney... I'm really trying to think of another adjective to follow up with that, but whiney covers her very well. She's a very unlikable character and she doesn't get any better. She was taken from her parents by the centaurs as a child to be educated in the ways of magic, and she was gone for something like a decade or so, and when she came back she was a little bitch from day one. Which is entirely likely to having been brought up by asshole centaurs, but I'll get to that.
Crystal's only purpose, the one she's been taught for the last decade, is to defeat the evil wizard who's been terrorizing all the other countries, and torturing their inhabitants for the hell of it because he'd been bored waiting around for Crystal to get strong enough to give him some proper entertainment. But fuck those other guys, let's not do anything until this one country is the last holdout. Talk about waiting for the last second, asshat. And she makes this huge deal about how she's a wizard, not a princess, and you can be both, dumbass, stop harassing your mother. But I guess it's okay at the end because .
Here we go. Here's where I explain why the centaurs are dicks. Are you ready?
They taught Crystal magic and drummed it into her head that she was the only one able to stop the evil wizard for the entire decade she studied with them. That doesn't sound like a dick move, right? It sounds like a standard prophecy child set up, right?
And the only good part of this second half is that Crystal keeps traveling to these other places to piece together the information on what she needed to do (because she was such a rude ass that no one was willing to give her all the information she needed at once). And at each place she goes the inhabitants, who all know exactly what she's supposed to be doing, all decide that the centaurs were assholes. And then the centaurs show up and try to defend themselves, saying they gave her all the information she needed and it wasn't their fault if she couldn't put it together on her own, when she didn't know anything about any of this stuff. All the other non-human folks knew all about this plan, up to and including exactly where to find the . It would have taken all of a few seconds to tell her during her decade of training, instead of spending years fluffing up her massive ego.
And there's nothing I can say about the (anti)climax other than it happened, I guess. It was over in about a paragraph. Don't hold your breath for a big wizard versus dragon battle. It was so lame.
THE VERDICT? The only interesting things about this book are the entire first section which had a super rich culture with a prince learning to lead an army, and fighting back the bad guys from coming into their land, and this crazy dryad/berserker magic, and this one great little snippet of how the villain's tower was built using the highly improbable bonding agent of crushed corpses (a prisoner was held in place and the stone slabs were dropped on them) and the follow-up scene way at the end when Crystal bumps into a wall and is deafened by the screams of the prisoners' trapped souls (really the only good thing in the second half). Crystal was a whiney brat, the villain was forgettable and stereotypical, the second half was meandering, and the whole thing was a waste of my time.
All those people you learned to love in the first half of the book? Dead. Say goodbye, because the second half is three generations and a few centuries later. All new characters, all new plot, not one iota of the enjoyability. There's nothing interesting going on here which is distressing because, being the second half of the book, this is the part with the climax. And I'm not going to review that first half at all because, while it's infinitely better, SO MUCH BETTER, and I actually really enjoyed it, it's used as nothing more than a 200+ page introduction to the bad guy, who we only see in two short scenes. Also you learn in the last page or two of it that there are centaurs, and that they are dicks. But I'll get to that in a second.
The main character is Crystal, a princess conceived in a really questionable, possibly mind-controlled kinda way. Crystal is whiney... I'm really trying to think of another adjective to follow up with that, but whiney covers her very well. She's a very unlikable character and she doesn't get any better. She was taken from her parents by the centaurs as a child to be educated in the ways of magic, and she was gone for something like a decade or so, and when she came back she was a little bitch from day one. Which is entirely likely to having been brought up by asshole centaurs, but I'll get to that.
Crystal's only purpose, the one she's been taught for the last decade, is to defeat the evil wizard who's been terrorizing all the other countries, and torturing their inhabitants for the hell of it because he'd been bored waiting around for Crystal to get strong enough to give him some proper entertainment. But fuck those other guys, let's not do anything until this one country is the last holdout. Talk about waiting for the last second, asshat. And she makes this huge deal about how she's a wizard, not a princess, and you can be both, dumbass, stop harassing your mother. But I guess it's okay at the end because .
Here we go. Here's where I explain why the centaurs are dicks. Are you ready?
They taught Crystal magic and drummed it into her head that she was the only one able to stop the evil wizard for the entire decade she studied with them. That doesn't sound like a dick move, right? It sounds like a standard prophecy child set up, right?
And the only good part of this second half is that Crystal keeps traveling to these other places to piece together the information on what she needed to do (because she was such a rude ass that no one was willing to give her all the information she needed at once). And at each place she goes the inhabitants, who all know exactly what she's supposed to be doing, all decide that the centaurs were assholes. And then the centaurs show up and try to defend themselves, saying they gave her all the information she needed and it wasn't their fault if she couldn't put it together on her own, when she didn't know anything about any of this stuff. All the other non-human folks knew all about this plan, up to and including exactly where to find the . It would have taken all of a few seconds to tell her during her decade of training, instead of spending years fluffing up her massive ego.
And there's nothing I can say about the (anti)climax other than it happened, I guess. It was over in about a paragraph. Don't hold your breath for a big wizard versus dragon battle. It was so lame.
THE VERDICT? The only interesting things about this book are the entire first section which had a super rich culture with a prince learning to lead an army, and fighting back the bad guys from coming into their land, and this crazy dryad/berserker magic, and this one great little snippet of how the villain's tower was built using the highly improbable bonding agent of crushed corpses (a prisoner was held in place and the stone slabs were dropped on them) and the follow-up scene way at the end when Crystal bumps into a wall and is deafened by the screams of the prisoners' trapped souls (really the only good thing in the second half). Crystal was a whiney brat, the villain was forgettable and stereotypical, the second half was meandering, and the whole thing was a waste of my time.
September 11, 2023
I always like a Tanya Huff book. She’s a solid performer. This one was a little bit less fun than her space wars ones but still enjoyable. It’s high fantasy the way I like to enjoy it. A little bit cursed destiny a little coming of age. Lots of world building.
August 15, 2015
I really liked the beginning of the book but then it all fell apart. The author traded characters I cared about for their descendents... normally they wait until the second book for that... The grove and nature parts were so awesome but then random the wizard part showed up which was dumb. "Oh no, a terrible wizard is terrorizing the countryside. We will make a wizard to end his reign. Oh wait she's just a girl that isn't actually suppose to beat him..." Seriously? Lackluster. And don't even get me started on the centaurs...
August 31, 2021
The beginning of the book follows a young prince Rael, who starts the book by being the main protagonist. While I do find this part of the story that’s centered around him a little slow and boring, I really like him as a character and his relationships with the side characters. Honestly at first I was wondering how he fits into this whole puzzle seeing as how it’s about a wizard girl and he’s not that. The beginning of the book is very slow paced and more of a military fantasy than anything really magical. While sometimes the transitions in scenes are a little abrupt, it really does suck you into the action.
So this book in a way is a family saga detailing the lives of the people of this kingdom. This first part of the story was a sort of very long prologue that sets up the oncoming conflict. The next part deals with one of Rael’s descendants, Tayer. While she herself doesn’t play that large of a role, her story centers around how she meets the father of her daughter. It’s her daughter Crystal that is essentially the main character of the story.
It’s not until about 120 pages into the novel that we finally get to Crystal. She is the main character and the titular “Child of the Grove”. While I did find the story of Rael interesting, I feel maybe it wasn’t needed? Like if this book had been written nowadays that part would’ve been the prequel novella that gets pushed out after the series gets popular. Still, I can see why this was made into a bind up. The original Child of the Grove was only like 288 pages.
I was hoping for a little more insight into Crystal’s character. We don’t really see her grow up and she just jumps into the climax of the story and the action starts from there. This is still a more military fantasy and doesn’t focus much on the wizardry and magic that I was hoping it would.
However I do enjoy all the relationships the characters have with each other. There’s no forced drama or trope-riddled royal family intrigue. For example I love that Tayer doesn’t care that her daughter Crystal is the titular Chosen One (TM). She’s just like “you’re gonna act like a princess and or I’m taking away your magicky-books” and all Crystal can do is say “BUT MOOOOOOOOM”.The author could’ve easily have made her parents fear/mistrust her but instead they act like a real teenagers parents. It’s very refreshing.
In spite of that we have a very one-dimensional villain. This was written before fantasy villains were really a thing, but could he be anymore uninteresting? We’ve been given no motivation other than that “he bored”. And there’s a lot you could do with him motivation-wise? Make him want to avenge the fallen wizards or something???
It’s not till the very end of book one that we actually get to see more of the magical creatures and races of this world. We get centaurs, dragons, hamadryads, dwarves, the whole nine yards. Honestly I think the book would’ve been a little more interesting if we got those sooner.
That first book had an abrupt and rather unsatisfying ending. I feel it wrapped up the big bad too easily and it was kind of out of left field. It’s the first in a duology so I’ll probably read the sequel.Overall it was a nice fantasy romp but did not have as much substance as I was hoping. Still, I recommend it for people who want a fantasy book that subverts a lot of tropes and like a badass female protagonist.
So this book in a way is a family saga detailing the lives of the people of this kingdom. This first part of the story was a sort of very long prologue that sets up the oncoming conflict. The next part deals with one of Rael’s descendants, Tayer. While she herself doesn’t play that large of a role, her story centers around how she meets the father of her daughter. It’s her daughter Crystal that is essentially the main character of the story.
It’s not until about 120 pages into the novel that we finally get to Crystal. She is the main character and the titular “Child of the Grove”. While I did find the story of Rael interesting, I feel maybe it wasn’t needed? Like if this book had been written nowadays that part would’ve been the prequel novella that gets pushed out after the series gets popular. Still, I can see why this was made into a bind up. The original Child of the Grove was only like 288 pages.
I was hoping for a little more insight into Crystal’s character. We don’t really see her grow up and she just jumps into the climax of the story and the action starts from there. This is still a more military fantasy and doesn’t focus much on the wizardry and magic that I was hoping it would.
However I do enjoy all the relationships the characters have with each other. There’s no forced drama or trope-riddled royal family intrigue. For example I love that Tayer doesn’t care that her daughter Crystal is the titular Chosen One (TM). She’s just like “you’re gonna act like a princess and or I’m taking away your magicky-books” and all Crystal can do is say “BUT MOOOOOOOOM”.The author could’ve easily have made her parents fear/mistrust her but instead they act like a real teenagers parents. It’s very refreshing.
In spite of that we have a very one-dimensional villain. This was written before fantasy villains were really a thing, but could he be anymore uninteresting? We’ve been given no motivation other than that “he bored”. And there’s a lot you could do with him motivation-wise? Make him want to avenge the fallen wizards or something???
It’s not till the very end of book one that we actually get to see more of the magical creatures and races of this world. We get centaurs, dragons, hamadryads, dwarves, the whole nine yards. Honestly I think the book would’ve been a little more interesting if we got those sooner.
That first book had an abrupt and rather unsatisfying ending. I feel it wrapped up the big bad too easily and it was kind of out of left field. It’s the first in a duology so I’ll probably read the sequel.Overall it was a nice fantasy romp but did not have as much substance as I was hoping. Still, I recommend it for people who want a fantasy book that subverts a lot of tropes and like a badass female protagonist.
April 17, 2024
You can really tell that this is one of Tanya Huff's earliest works. And you can tell that she wrote it in the 80s.
Too short. The villain was too powerful and cartoonishly evil. The protagonist was a prime example of "Chosen One" Syndrome, because the protagonist was specifically bred by the gods for the sole purpose of fighting the sole remaining evil wizard in the world. There weren't enough subplots, nor physical descriptions. A character's death was supposed to be shocking for the protagonist, but the story was so rushed, I barely noticed that character's existence both before and after death.
I liked the premise. The story starts out by describing how a king had taken a dryad for a bride, so the king's people didn't trust that the resulting son was human enough to be their ruler. THAT is a fascinating story. I would have been willing to read ten chapters just about what life was like for a male half-dryad. Persecution? Any biological differences from humans? I'm all over it.
But, that particular character only appeared in the prologue. We then jumped ahead several generations to his descendants. One of his mostly-human-but-a-little-dryad descendants was then visited by a divine vision of a naked man. This Heavenly being impregnated the partial dryad girl, resulting in our protagonist.
Again, I am fascinated by the hybridization. But, not enough time or attention was given to this. The author never even got around to describing a true magic system, beyond references to "sympathetic magic." There are descriptions of wizards creating living dragons. There are references to our protagonist controlling the weather. But, no true rules are ever established for the magic.
I love the Henry Fitzroy books by Tanya Huff. She didn't write the first one of those until a few years after this book. Clearly, she improved as an author with practice.
This book, you can just tell she was heavily influenced by the high fantasy novels that were around in the 80s. The nondescript medieval setting. The acceptance that dwarves, dragons, dryads, and centaurs are ordinary fantasy creatures that can make an appearance without anyone being shocked by their existence. The simple acceptance that wizards have "Magic," but not feeling any need to develop a strict system for how the power works? A childish protagonist being told she's the most important person in the world, not because of anything she worked to earn, but just because she lucks into the role?
This all feels very dated.
Too short. The villain was too powerful and cartoonishly evil. The protagonist was a prime example of "Chosen One" Syndrome, because the protagonist was specifically bred by the gods for the sole purpose of fighting the sole remaining evil wizard in the world. There weren't enough subplots, nor physical descriptions. A character's death was supposed to be shocking for the protagonist, but the story was so rushed, I barely noticed that character's existence both before and after death.
I liked the premise. The story starts out by describing how a king had taken a dryad for a bride, so the king's people didn't trust that the resulting son was human enough to be their ruler. THAT is a fascinating story. I would have been willing to read ten chapters just about what life was like for a male half-dryad. Persecution? Any biological differences from humans? I'm all over it.
But, that particular character only appeared in the prologue. We then jumped ahead several generations to his descendants. One of his mostly-human-but-a-little-dryad descendants was then visited by a divine vision of a naked man. This Heavenly being impregnated the partial dryad girl, resulting in our protagonist.
Again, I am fascinated by the hybridization. But, not enough time or attention was given to this. The author never even got around to describing a true magic system, beyond references to "sympathetic magic." There are descriptions of wizards creating living dragons. There are references to our protagonist controlling the weather. But, no true rules are ever established for the magic.
I love the Henry Fitzroy books by Tanya Huff. She didn't write the first one of those until a few years after this book. Clearly, she improved as an author with practice.
This book, you can just tell she was heavily influenced by the high fantasy novels that were around in the 80s. The nondescript medieval setting. The acceptance that dwarves, dragons, dryads, and centaurs are ordinary fantasy creatures that can make an appearance without anyone being shocked by their existence. The simple acceptance that wizards have "Magic," but not feeling any need to develop a strict system for how the power works? A childish protagonist being told she's the most important person in the world, not because of anything she worked to earn, but just because she lucks into the role?
This all feels very dated.
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February 4, 2024Tanya Huff's books are very hit-and-miss with me - I started listening to the audiobook of this and just about made it through the very dry, exposition-heavy prologue, hoping it would get better once the story started. But no - the prose was very stilted, remote and old-fashioned, so I couldn't connect to the characters and felt little interest in the story. So I gave up.
Unexpectedly, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the Postal Museum, which we visited with some friends yesterday. The exhibits were well-laid-out and fascinating - and the 15-minute ride on the underground mail train was awesome!
Unexpectedly, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the Postal Museum, which we visited with some friends yesterday. The exhibits were well-laid-out and fascinating - and the 15-minute ride on the underground mail train was awesome!
November 11, 2019
While having some interesting choices, Child of the Grove lacks a lot of things that make me engaged in a story. Parts of the book feel like they were completely skimmed over and the characters don't have time to have proper development. Suffering both in the story and character development makes this difficult to read to the point that it's just a numb experience where you read the words, but never register more than half.
July 14, 2025
This was of the first adult novels I read as a child, and a formative influence on my taste in fantasy. Tanya Huff is an elegant writer. She established a solid backbone of mythology for this world. My edition is combined with the sequel, The Last Wizard, which is where the character building truly pops. Looking forward to rereading the sequel. This series was also one of the earliest stories of polyamorous representation I found as a young reader. Kudos for that!
February 28, 2017
Even though I love this author, didn't particularly love this book. The first half of the book seems like prologue. (The main character wasn't even born until page 126, the book is only 285 pages.) So while I'm glad this book exists if it means she was able to write her later books, this isn't a book I would recommend.
November 11, 2018
This is an early book of Huff's and it shows. The first 100 pages are completely separate from the rest of the book about ancestors of the main character of the rest of the book and isn't really necessary. The rest of the book sets up a conflict between Crystal and the last evil wizard that the ending nicely subverts. There is some interesting humor too.
May 2, 2021
I have enjoyed it almost as much as when I had read it the first time years ago. I will, though, have to admit that there were some weakness in the story. Some aspects were underdeveloped (the whole Riven thing) which I would have loved to have explored.
Still, it’s nevertheless a very enjoyable read, a nice change from the horror genre I’ve been mostly reading these days.
Still, it’s nevertheless a very enjoyable read, a nice change from the horror genre I’ve been mostly reading these days.
May 24, 2021
What a delightful “random grab” at a used bookstore. Wanting to read some random fiction to distract me, this was exactly what the Dr ordered.
Like a good movie that you can fall into, it took me along for a ride to a different time and place and I was caught up in the wind.
Thoroughly enjoyed it and off to read the sequel.
Like a good movie that you can fall into, it took me along for a ride to a different time and place and I was caught up in the wind.
Thoroughly enjoyed it and off to read the sequel.
January 16, 2022
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It spans 400 years and does it very well. The only reason I took off a star and I would have rated a 4.5 if I could, was that the WHOLE conflict of the book wraps up within the last 5 pages. And it just seemed REALLY easy of a solution. But I loved the story, lots of magic and war and swords!
February 15, 2025
This is a light high fantasy that I enjoyed as a quick read. I'm not sure why there is such a long time frame where so many characters are introduced that get a little confusing. I do like Tanya Huff's writing so that's why I picked it up.
November 30, 2020
This feels like an abridged version of a really fun story. But I liked it.
July 4, 2012
Review from 1989.
There are really two complete stories here, set four generations apart. Both concern a fairly standard confrontation between the forces of good and evil, featuring the usual assortment of hamadryads, dwarves, centaurs, wizards, and dragons, with a brief guest appearance by a unicorn. I generally get headaches whenever I try to make it through a wizard and unicorn book, and I have long complained about the dearth of imagination in a fantasy mainstream that seems obsessed with recycling the same ten elements in perpetual permutation.
With Child Of The Grove I have to take it all back. Although there is little here that will not be immediately familiar to fantasy fans, Huff has nevertheless managed to create a work uniquely hers. Unlike the formulaic writing of much of the genre, Huff's characterizations go far beyond the usual cardboard cutouts, and her action sequences focus on how people feel and react, rather than on a recitation of cut and parry. The book is about people, and if they happen to be wizards or kings or hamadryas, they still have the same problems dealing with birth, death, and the confusing bits in between.
Huff's strength lies in a style which is both breezy and powerfully compact. Take, for example, this necessary but potentially dry account of the army marching off to battle:
And then came the remnants of the Palace Guard and the surviving Elite.. . . And then the Army of Ardhan, cavalry leading infantry--an order the infantry heartily wished reversed, horses being horses.
With the last line, Huff has not only managed to lighten the tone, but also deflated a fantasy cliché by replacing the traditionally over-romatisized image with the realistic sights and sounds and smells of a battlefield.
She also has an acute sense of what makes people individuals, and weaves these key details into her complex characterizations. At one level this simply means that Huff can cram more meaning into a single phrase or image than most fantasists can manage in entire trilogies. "She had a sudden vision of the way Riven's hair always fell over his face and her fingers itched to push it back." Here we see physical characteristics, mannerisms, and something of the characters' relationship in a single sentence, the more revealing because it intrudes on the character's thoughts in middle of an unrelated paragraph.
At a higher level, Huff has a profound understanding of the sorts of incidents that shape us; the ridiculous, irrational emotions that motivate us; and the mundane human responses even the most fantastic situations can elicit from us. For example, in the midst of the battle of titanic forces which will determine the fate of the world, the heroine's mother is preoccupied with the heroine's observation of proper courtly etiquette; and having just saved the world, the heroine's return is greeted by her maid complaining that she looks terrible dressed in red. This constant juxtaposition of the fantastic and the mundane provides a depth and reality to the characterizations seldom found in other fantasy works.
Huff also uses close-ups to good effect, focusing on a single event to illustrate long periods of time or very broad trends. In one three and a half page scene, for example, Huff sums up the suffering caused by the war, the impending defeat of the forces of good, and twelve years in the life and marriage of a minor character, simply by depicting that character taking leave of her husband.
Above all, Huff is the master of understatement, using the reader's own imagination to flesh out her vision. This is especially effective in the battle sequences (on which most fantasists lavish tedious detail) and in portraying the forces of evil. The scenes with the villain are particularly creepy precisely because Huff allows us only a tantalizing glimpse of the disgusting things he is doing. The reader's imagination balks at confronting the full implications of what Huff leaves unstated, so the evil becomes truly..."unimaginable".
About the only complaint I have with this book is the poor choice of character names. Two of the main characters are Rael and Raen which gets awfully confusing (one should always choose names with different first letters), and the repeated phrase "Hanna and her cousins" is unintentionally funny for Woody Allen fans. These are hardly serious flaws, however, and I would recommend this book even to those who don't usually enjoy fantasy.
There are really two complete stories here, set four generations apart. Both concern a fairly standard confrontation between the forces of good and evil, featuring the usual assortment of hamadryads, dwarves, centaurs, wizards, and dragons, with a brief guest appearance by a unicorn. I generally get headaches whenever I try to make it through a wizard and unicorn book, and I have long complained about the dearth of imagination in a fantasy mainstream that seems obsessed with recycling the same ten elements in perpetual permutation.
With Child Of The Grove I have to take it all back. Although there is little here that will not be immediately familiar to fantasy fans, Huff has nevertheless managed to create a work uniquely hers. Unlike the formulaic writing of much of the genre, Huff's characterizations go far beyond the usual cardboard cutouts, and her action sequences focus on how people feel and react, rather than on a recitation of cut and parry. The book is about people, and if they happen to be wizards or kings or hamadryas, they still have the same problems dealing with birth, death, and the confusing bits in between.
Huff's strength lies in a style which is both breezy and powerfully compact. Take, for example, this necessary but potentially dry account of the army marching off to battle:
And then came the remnants of the Palace Guard and the surviving Elite.. . . And then the Army of Ardhan, cavalry leading infantry--an order the infantry heartily wished reversed, horses being horses.
With the last line, Huff has not only managed to lighten the tone, but also deflated a fantasy cliché by replacing the traditionally over-romatisized image with the realistic sights and sounds and smells of a battlefield.
She also has an acute sense of what makes people individuals, and weaves these key details into her complex characterizations. At one level this simply means that Huff can cram more meaning into a single phrase or image than most fantasists can manage in entire trilogies. "She had a sudden vision of the way Riven's hair always fell over his face and her fingers itched to push it back." Here we see physical characteristics, mannerisms, and something of the characters' relationship in a single sentence, the more revealing because it intrudes on the character's thoughts in middle of an unrelated paragraph.
At a higher level, Huff has a profound understanding of the sorts of incidents that shape us; the ridiculous, irrational emotions that motivate us; and the mundane human responses even the most fantastic situations can elicit from us. For example, in the midst of the battle of titanic forces which will determine the fate of the world, the heroine's mother is preoccupied with the heroine's observation of proper courtly etiquette; and having just saved the world, the heroine's return is greeted by her maid complaining that she looks terrible dressed in red. This constant juxtaposition of the fantastic and the mundane provides a depth and reality to the characterizations seldom found in other fantasy works.
Huff also uses close-ups to good effect, focusing on a single event to illustrate long periods of time or very broad trends. In one three and a half page scene, for example, Huff sums up the suffering caused by the war, the impending defeat of the forces of good, and twelve years in the life and marriage of a minor character, simply by depicting that character taking leave of her husband.
Above all, Huff is the master of understatement, using the reader's own imagination to flesh out her vision. This is especially effective in the battle sequences (on which most fantasists lavish tedious detail) and in portraying the forces of evil. The scenes with the villain are particularly creepy precisely because Huff allows us only a tantalizing glimpse of the disgusting things he is doing. The reader's imagination balks at confronting the full implications of what Huff leaves unstated, so the evil becomes truly..."unimaginable".
About the only complaint I have with this book is the poor choice of character names. Two of the main characters are Rael and Raen which gets awfully confusing (one should always choose names with different first letters), and the repeated phrase "Hanna and her cousins" is unintentionally funny for Woody Allen fans. These are hardly serious flaws, however, and I would recommend this book even to those who don't usually enjoy fantasy.
November 12, 2014
This is a flawed book but I guess I liked it despite that? It definitely could have been better. If the ratings on Goodreads were 1-10 it would be a five, so do I round up or down? I guess I round up.
First flaw really is the first 100 pages or so. Now they weren't bad by any means, but they were basically a really long prologue. Just when things get going with the characters and am interested in the story, their time ends and it moves to another generation. I feel like the author could have done one of two things to make this better. Either A) Expand this section a bunch and make it part 1 of a trilogy or B) Shorten this section a bunch and just make it a summary prologue chapter. You get almost halfway into the book before you even meet the main character.
Other flaws exist. The love interest is not very likable. I feel like the only reason Crystal cares for him is because he is the only one who is interested in her. And really Crystals personality could have used a lot of expanding upon. It's touched on how she is sort of out of her element by being unlike everyone else by nature and sheltered a bit by how she was raised. She is conscious of trying to try and balance being a wizard, a princess, and a human being but it's not as well done as it could have been if perhaps we had more time with the character (say perhaps if the first 100 pages weren't dedicated to her ancestors?)
Another downer for me was the villain. His entire motivation is that he is immortal so he is bored. He doesn't feel much like a character but more like a caricature of an evil dude? He seems to be charming only via magic, and not by actual personality which would have been much more effective in my mind.
Anyway, despite these flaws it was an ok tale. Sort of average Fantasy fare. I wouldn't enthusiastically recommend it to all my friends, but I didn't hate reading it. While I am not dying to read the next book, I am moderately interested to see what will happen.
First flaw really is the first 100 pages or so. Now they weren't bad by any means, but they were basically a really long prologue. Just when things get going with the characters and am interested in the story, their time ends and it moves to another generation. I feel like the author could have done one of two things to make this better. Either A) Expand this section a bunch and make it part 1 of a trilogy or B) Shorten this section a bunch and just make it a summary prologue chapter. You get almost halfway into the book before you even meet the main character.
Other flaws exist. The love interest is not very likable. I feel like the only reason Crystal cares for him is because he is the only one who is interested in her. And really Crystals personality could have used a lot of expanding upon. It's touched on how she is sort of out of her element by being unlike everyone else by nature and sheltered a bit by how she was raised. She is conscious of trying to try and balance being a wizard, a princess, and a human being but it's not as well done as it could have been if perhaps we had more time with the character (say perhaps if the first 100 pages weren't dedicated to her ancestors?)
Another downer for me was the villain. His entire motivation is that he is immortal so he is bored. He doesn't feel much like a character but more like a caricature of an evil dude? He seems to be charming only via magic, and not by actual personality which would have been much more effective in my mind.
Anyway, despite these flaws it was an ok tale. Sort of average Fantasy fare. I wouldn't enthusiastically recommend it to all my friends, but I didn't hate reading it. While I am not dying to read the next book, I am moderately interested to see what will happen.
July 29, 2016
I first read this book about fifteen years ago. It is the first book in a duology omnibus by Tanya Huff known collectively as WIZARD OF THE GROVE. I only vaguely remembered the plot, but I remembered that it was one of my favorite fantasy novels. I even tweeted Tanya Huff at one point a few years ago to see if it was ever going to be released as an ebook because I had lost my copy and (at that time) the book was out of print. She actually tweeted me back that maybe one day they would be, which made me both stoked and disappointed. But, I do work for a secondhand bookstore, so all is not darkness and despair. Just before I transferred out of my old store we had a copy come through that was exactly like my old copy that I’d lost. Sold!
I think I’ve been reading too many kids books lately. In kids books, things aren’t often explained in detail, they just jump right in and you roll with it. In adult fantasy… I’d forgotten how long winded the build up of this book was. If you’re a frequent reader of adult fantasy, you probably won’t bat an eye, but for me it dragged. I will say that once the action gets going it doesn’t really stop. Tanya Huff’s world building is also first class, as is her ability to show not tell. She never has to tell you a character is angry or sad or in love. You just pick it up.
I categorize this book at “adult” even though the protagonist is seventeen for a few reasons. 1) Crystal is not allowed to be a teenager by the circumstances of the plot and thusly is never allowed to let her teenage emotions get in the way. 2) It isn’t a coming of age tale, it is a war story. 3) If I allow Crystal to be a teenager in my mind then one particular scene gets very squiggy and I just refuse to think about it. 4) She’s 29 in the sequel. All that being said, I read it first as a teenager, so I’m sure other teenagers would love it as well.
If you like tales of war and magic, check out UPROOTED by Naomi Novik or THE LAST UNICORN by Peter S. Beagle.
I think I’ve been reading too many kids books lately. In kids books, things aren’t often explained in detail, they just jump right in and you roll with it. In adult fantasy… I’d forgotten how long winded the build up of this book was. If you’re a frequent reader of adult fantasy, you probably won’t bat an eye, but for me it dragged. I will say that once the action gets going it doesn’t really stop. Tanya Huff’s world building is also first class, as is her ability to show not tell. She never has to tell you a character is angry or sad or in love. You just pick it up.
I categorize this book at “adult” even though the protagonist is seventeen for a few reasons. 1) Crystal is not allowed to be a teenager by the circumstances of the plot and thusly is never allowed to let her teenage emotions get in the way. 2) It isn’t a coming of age tale, it is a war story. 3) If I allow Crystal to be a teenager in my mind then one particular scene gets very squiggy and I just refuse to think about it. 4) She’s 29 in the sequel. All that being said, I read it first as a teenager, so I’m sure other teenagers would love it as well.
If you like tales of war and magic, check out UPROOTED by Naomi Novik or THE LAST UNICORN by Peter S. Beagle.
June 28, 2011
Tanya Huff is one of my all time favorite authors. So far I have not read a book by her that I have disliked and this one is no different. I'm always impressed by how much I can get involved with the characters and the story she writes. Something about the way she writes really appeals to me. I think it's because you always get to know more, and I always hate it when you read a book and only learn about one or two characters. In Child of the Grove you get to learn about Crystal, the main character, as well as many of her family and friends. I've come to realize that Huff is not afraid to take risks, but I'm still always shocked when a favorite character dies or something happens. I won't say who but it's always someone I miss once they're gone.
I can see why some who may be used to the way YA fantasy is written today would not be instrested in this, as there is quite a bit of back story before the main character is even born. That was really a plus for me, and I liked that as I mentioned. But I guess some may say the story is slow to start. Although there is constant action in this book.
The world building in the book reminds me quite a bit of the Tortall written in Tamora Pierce's books, especially the early ones. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the Song of the Lioness trilogy.
I can see why some who may be used to the way YA fantasy is written today would not be instrested in this, as there is quite a bit of back story before the main character is even born. That was really a plus for me, and I liked that as I mentioned. But I guess some may say the story is slow to start. Although there is constant action in this book.
The world building in the book reminds me quite a bit of the Tortall written in Tamora Pierce's books, especially the early ones. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the Song of the Lioness trilogy.
June 9, 2010
I'm pretty sure I had heard good things about this author, so I picked up this book. And ok, she's a quite successful writer; from everything about her online, she seems like a really extra-cool person.
But this book was the sort of book that I have to guess that all those people one encounters who are totally dismissive of fantasy-as-literature have read at one point or another.
It's aiming for light reading with a humorous touch – and there are some funny bits – but it frequently reads more like an outline for a novel than an actual novel. To the extent that the characters HAVE characterizations, they act and talk like 20th-century teenagers. The setting, with wizards, royalty, dragons, etc, is completely generic. It reminded me a bit of David Eddings – and I really don't like Eddings.
To be fair, after looking online, I have discovered that this was Huff's first novel. Another review online says that, in it, Huff "has not quite found her 'voice' yet." So I am going to assume that her writing improved greatly after this book.
But this book was the sort of book that I have to guess that all those people one encounters who are totally dismissive of fantasy-as-literature have read at one point or another.
It's aiming for light reading with a humorous touch – and there are some funny bits – but it frequently reads more like an outline for a novel than an actual novel. To the extent that the characters HAVE characterizations, they act and talk like 20th-century teenagers. The setting, with wizards, royalty, dragons, etc, is completely generic. It reminded me a bit of David Eddings – and I really don't like Eddings.
To be fair, after looking online, I have discovered that this was Huff's first novel. Another review online says that, in it, Huff "has not quite found her 'voice' yet." So I am going to assume that her writing improved greatly after this book.
March 12, 2010
This is the first book of Tanya Huff's that I've read. It was an interesting plot. I was confused about who the main character was until the middle of the book though. The back of the book mentions the birth of the last born wizard who will fulfill a prophesy to destroy an ancient evil wizard. Well several generations of the royal family are passed through before the main character - the child of the grove- shows up. What I'm interested in is the wizard's life in the future. She is the last born of her kind, but is also different than anyone before her. She can't fit in as a princess or as a wizard. Looking forward to the second book in the series to see what happens.
December 16, 2010
Maybe one day I will pick up this book again. It started out really well, and I feel like it may end on a good note, but I felt like Crystal isn't an entirely likable character, and the story telling leaves a lot to be desired. I'm really not fond of stories that are told from one character's point of view, and then on the same page (the next paragraph or sentence, even), I am reading someone else's point of view. It's distracting. One day I'll find out what happens, but I don't find it compelling enough to figure that out right now. Sadly, I'm going to have to put this in the Mercedes Lackey category.
February 26, 2016
Hmmm... I actually liked the concept, the fantasy world that this book has for the setting. What I did not like is what the author did with the characters. It also has a lot of loopholes in the story. I can't quite figure out if the story was just fast-paced or skipping some events that should have been more elaborated. There is little to say about this book. I don't think I'm gonna read the sequel.
June 30, 2016
While in a used book shop in London I spotted a book by my favourite Canadian fantasy writer - Tanya Huff.
Written in 1988, an early book by Ms Huff, it was derivative of other books, and made me love characters that were then ruthlessly chopped from the story; but it showed the promise of an author who later wrote The Silvered - a book I adore.
It is a heavy book, but was worth packing around Europe.
Written in 1988, an early book by Ms Huff, it was derivative of other books, and made me love characters that were then ruthlessly chopped from the story; but it showed the promise of an author who later wrote The Silvered - a book I adore.
It is a heavy book, but was worth packing around Europe.
June 1, 2009
I really enjoyed this book. I'm surprised what an appetite I'm edeveloping for fantast fiction. This is good, has a villian that is worth fighting, love, magic, magical creatures and collaboration. Plus great charasters.
November 6, 2011
This book had a lot of moments where I just went....WTF?! It was a good read and overal I enjoyed it but there were points where the the storylien would lead up to something, at one point a big something, then in a paragraph we're on to the next thing leaving you going...that's it....wtf....
July 12, 2013
I didn't understand how the first few chapters with the prince and the king had anything to do with the rest of the book. If someone does and cares to explain, I would totally appreciate it. Thanks guys!
February 1, 2022
History of a wizard
I enjoyed this story, though it's not as good as the Silvered, or The Fire Stone. It still held my interest till the end. Crystal is such a fearful as well as brave person. I'm highly tempted to buy the next book.
I enjoyed this story, though it's not as good as the Silvered, or The Fire Stone. It still held my interest till the end. Crystal is such a fearful as well as brave person. I'm highly tempted to buy the next book.
December 12, 2018
I always feel vaguely cheated at the time-jump at the beginning of this book, but the story is compelling throughout.
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