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Marco #1
Marco’s Pendulum
When Marco is dumped in Glastonbury to stay with his weird hippy grandparents for the summer, he's sure he's going to hate it. But he soon starts to recognise the magic of the place - the magic that a development company is planning to exploit and, his grandparents are sure, destroy the process. With his mysterious new found talent for dowsing, Marco is quickly drawn into the dangerous struggle to protect the ancient mysticism of Glastonbury.
459 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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211 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
July 20, 2013
The cover blurb gives it away: Is the Holy Grail buried at Glastonbury, or something much darker? Well, of course, you know the answer to that, because this would otherwise be a rather tame young adult novel.
Townies Marco and Rosa find themselves separately set down in Somerset, both saddled with parents who don’t seem to understand them and set about by bullies and by strange and very unsettling psychic experiences. Pretty soon they find themselves thrown together and flung into a claustrophobic labyrinth under Glastonbury itself (reminiscent of the endings of both mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingamen) in a narrative that is hard to put down and preferably not to be read at night. Well, not by adults anyway.
Thom Madley is better known as Phil Rickman, writer of the highly regarded Merrily Watkins mysteries set in the Welsh Marches. Here he uses the same technique for the Somerset town, skilfully mixing real locations with imagined locales and reality itself with imagined terrors, rather in the manner of Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum (which must have inspired Madley’s own title if not its atmosphere).
If you like slightly Gothick horror stories then this may be for you: I was marginally thrilled but only faintly engaged, and not really convinced by the grail proffered for our consideration. Some online reviews seem to think the themes of horror and mentions of Satanism, along with perceptions that the author has pagan sympathies and an anti-Christian bias, make this novel unsuitable for young adults; this may be why more recent editions have dropped the Madley pseudonym, so as to appeal to fans of Rickman’s adult titles.
There is a sequel, Marco and the Blade of Night, which also picks up on an Arthurian theme. Without having read the book (I certainly haven’t, as yet) you can nevertheless guess which sword they’re talking about. Or possibly not…
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-marco
Townies Marco and Rosa find themselves separately set down in Somerset, both saddled with parents who don’t seem to understand them and set about by bullies and by strange and very unsettling psychic experiences. Pretty soon they find themselves thrown together and flung into a claustrophobic labyrinth under Glastonbury itself (reminiscent of the endings of both mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingamen) in a narrative that is hard to put down and preferably not to be read at night. Well, not by adults anyway.
Thom Madley is better known as Phil Rickman, writer of the highly regarded Merrily Watkins mysteries set in the Welsh Marches. Here he uses the same technique for the Somerset town, skilfully mixing real locations with imagined locales and reality itself with imagined terrors, rather in the manner of Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum (which must have inspired Madley’s own title if not its atmosphere).
If you like slightly Gothick horror stories then this may be for you: I was marginally thrilled but only faintly engaged, and not really convinced by the grail proffered for our consideration. Some online reviews seem to think the themes of horror and mentions of Satanism, along with perceptions that the author has pagan sympathies and an anti-Christian bias, make this novel unsuitable for young adults; this may be why more recent editions have dropped the Madley pseudonym, so as to appeal to fans of Rickman’s adult titles.
There is a sequel, Marco and the Blade of Night, which also picks up on an Arthurian theme. Without having read the book (I certainly haven’t, as yet) you can nevertheless guess which sword they’re talking about. Or possibly not…
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-marco
February 4, 2008
An interesting look at new age habits from the perspective of a young UK boy.
Thom Madly is also Phil Rickman, so I give everything he writes a try out of loyalty. (After all, he sent me a calendar this year!)
I liked it, but I would read it before handing it to an impressionable child. Some scary stuff.
Thom Madly is also Phil Rickman, so I give everything he writes a try out of loyalty. (After all, he sent me a calendar this year!)
I liked it, but I would read it before handing it to an impressionable child. Some scary stuff.
July 8, 2021
4🌟
Great fun.
Great fun.
November 22, 2017
Loved it! Spent a very happy morning tucked indoors from the wind & rain reading this. Even if I didn't know that Thom Madley was an alias of Phil Rickman I surely would have known from the writing style, very evocative of the Merrily Watkins series - teens book or not I'm glad I read it & only wish it had been around when I was younger :o)
August 2, 2011
Phil Rickman writing for younger readers under a pseudynom... a great read even for us oldies!
February 22, 2013
I picked this up for Kindle because it's written by Phil Rickman. It's a decent children's book, set in Glastonbury. Some of the characters are great, and it certainly encouraged me to go to visit the area again.
Glastonbury Tor, a dark chalice, dowsers, the wild hunt, underground passages, a mysterious candle, and a dark monk - what more could you want?
Glastonbury Tor, a dark chalice, dowsers, the wild hunt, underground passages, a mysterious candle, and a dark monk - what more could you want?
August 4, 2014
This book and its sequel were thoroughly enjoyable. I read it aloud to my teenage son in front of the fire on winter nights when the books first came out. I am sure I read somewhere there had been a third book planned and I think it is a huge pity that it hasn't been written.
I wonder if the author and the publisher would make it into an ebook for all us Phil Rickman fans.
I wonder if the author and the publisher would make it into an ebook for all us Phil Rickman fans.
February 3, 2015
It is not at all surprising that the characters in this book ring true and that the ones I like I really like and the ones I don't like I can, or at least should, pity. As with his wonderful Merrily Watkins stories, Rickman has in Marco's Pendulum given us a story of the battle between good and evil, not in some other world, but in ours.
March 2, 2019
So glad I've re read this.
Even though this is classed as a teen book I enjoyed it immensely. Great characterisation and fast flowing storyline. Going to re read the second shortly and wishing there were more.
Even though this is classed as a teen book I enjoyed it immensely. Great characterisation and fast flowing storyline. Going to re read the second shortly and wishing there were more.
September 7, 2024
An interesting story line and a number of entertaining characters.
I'm writing this review on the iPhone's Goodreads app; technology is fabulous.
I'm writing this review on the iPhone's Goodreads app; technology is fabulous.
April 2, 2020
The first chapter of this book was perfect! It was one of those chapters that makes you want to pick the book up and read the whole thing through. The writing was easy going, funny and with thiswonderful initial concept that was thoroughly engrossing. I could not wait to read my way into the book.
And for a while the book really lived up to its promise. However, further in I found myself getting annoyed at a couple of things and about half way through I re-evaluated my opinion of the book. It was good. Indeed it was very good. It just was not the first rate, one of a kind excellent that I was expecting from that wonderful first chapter.
Marco's parents are gettin divorced. What is more they are both busy with their careers, so he is dumped on his reluctant father for the summer holidays who almost immediately palms the boy off on his grandparents in Glastonbury whom he has never met. But his grandparents are far from ordinary, as is Glastonbury.
The author describes Glastonbury perfectly and hilariously. Anyone who has been there will read this book with a wry grin.
On the downside, there is a satanist theme in the book - which whilts not altogether out of place (I can think of many much more disturbing books), it does mean I would not personally give it to younger children. The depiction of the curate at Glastonbury also owes rather too much to a certain stereotype. There was plenty of scope for a more complex characterisation there, but instead we had a rather cardboard-cut out stereotype that does not actually fit with any reality I have known. The "theology" being propounded in the book is rather befuddled too.
The stroy line itself is good. Just about worthy of five stars I think, but not so good that this will be an all time favourite of mine.
All in all a good book for young adult readers, but not one I would give to younger children. Perhaps best used as a basis of a fuller discussion about the themes.
And for a while the book really lived up to its promise. However, further in I found myself getting annoyed at a couple of things and about half way through I re-evaluated my opinion of the book. It was good. Indeed it was very good. It just was not the first rate, one of a kind excellent that I was expecting from that wonderful first chapter.
Marco's parents are gettin divorced. What is more they are both busy with their careers, so he is dumped on his reluctant father for the summer holidays who almost immediately palms the boy off on his grandparents in Glastonbury whom he has never met. But his grandparents are far from ordinary, as is Glastonbury.
The author describes Glastonbury perfectly and hilariously. Anyone who has been there will read this book with a wry grin.
On the downside, there is a satanist theme in the book - which whilts not altogether out of place (I can think of many much more disturbing books), it does mean I would not personally give it to younger children. The depiction of the curate at Glastonbury also owes rather too much to a certain stereotype. There was plenty of scope for a more complex characterisation there, but instead we had a rather cardboard-cut out stereotype that does not actually fit with any reality I have known. The "theology" being propounded in the book is rather befuddled too.
The stroy line itself is good. Just about worthy of five stars I think, but not so good that this will be an all time favourite of mine.
All in all a good book for young adult readers, but not one I would give to younger children. Perhaps best used as a basis of a fuller discussion about the themes.
October 30, 2024
This is very similar in tone to Phil Rickman’s Merrily Watkins mysteries (same author), but YA. The main characters are 13 and talk like they’re 40, so that got distracting. It also took half the book before it started to pick up. 250 pages of table-setting, with another 250 to go, made me check out and start skimming. I’ll read the next one because it’s the only other book in the set, but Merrily Watkins (and even Bobby Maiden) are far superior.
April 21, 2021
Sorry for those that enjoyed it....but from my part I consider it a total disaster! The mixture of occult science, religion, modernity and 13years old children is not a good receipt for my tastes! The characters were totally unrealistic and the story had a lot of weaknesses.
December 20, 2021
Fascinating and absorbing, difficult to put down
A well thought through p!it based on local stories tinged with well documented myths and legends made this an absorbing read. Thoroughly recommended.
A well thought through p!it based on local stories tinged with well documented myths and legends made this an absorbing read. Thoroughly recommended.
January 16, 2024
An interesting but slow mystical historical mystery . Loved the setting of Glastonbury , very atmospheric especially at the end .
Two good lead characters in Rosa and Marco , despite them
being teens .
Two good lead characters in Rosa and Marco , despite them
being teens .
January 7, 2019
Apparently writing a children's book isn't quite as easy as it looks, even for Phil Rickman.
May 11, 2019
Good fictional fun, but with many links to the real Glastonbury and its legends and traditions.
November 27, 2019
Intriguing and reading wise satisfying!
March 16, 2020
As always, deftly plotted and accessible. Phil Rickman lightens a little the depths of complexity in this book for adolescents but emotional charge and excellent use of myth remain the same.
March 7, 2022
Realised this book is mainly targeted toward a younger audience, perhaps teen/YA but enjoyed the read nonetheless. Very interesting premise, easy read.
November 28, 2022
Just Brilliant
Another wonderful.from the master of suspense. I have read everyone of your books Phil and you never disappoint .Long may you keep writing
Another wonderful.from the master of suspense. I have read everyone of your books Phil and you never disappoint .Long may you keep writing
November 4, 2016
Grabs you and you have to finish it or else!
February 1, 2014
Okay, this book was fun, but it also was a disappointment in many ways. I read it based on a recommendation from writer Robin McKinley. It's a YA book (by Phil Rickman using a pseudonym) set in Glastonbury, complete with a young teen spending the summer with his laid back hippie-ish parents, whose daughter left Glastonbury and them behind years ago, wanting nothing to do any more with either the town nor her parents. And then there's the young teenage daughter of the town's C o E's church new curate, who reluctantly left Yorkshire when she was forced to accompany her parents to Glastonbury, such a weird place.
We have a Glastonbury setting that I truly hope isn't the true Glastonbury. Granted, I don't live in Glastonbury, but I've visited there numerous times and also have spent time in nearby towns, villages and cities (Wells being an example of a nearby city; I'm not meaning Bristol nor Bath). I moved to England almost 15 years ago from Boulder, Colorado. Glastonbury to me is Boulder with medieval and older artifacts, such as a ruined abbey, the Tor, the Chalice Well gardens, the holy thorn tree etc. When I first moved to England, it was difficult to find places offering vegetarian food that also banned smoking. Glastonbury had such places even before the smoking ban. And what with all of the shops offering Pagan books (including Wicca) and various other bits and pieces, along with the obvious influences of other religions, such as Christianity, Buddhism and Sufis (hey, there's a Sufi charity shop in town), among others. There are health food stores and a huge Morrisons supermarket. There's a Boots the Chemist right by a new age shop. So, there I am: a bit of Boulder, but with added history.
I'd like to think that people in Glastonbury with different religious beliefs are tolerant of one another, unlike the new curate in this book, who seems to be a born-again fundamentalist CofE priest, reminding me far more of Terry Jones in Florida than Rowan Williams, for example. And whilst I know there are "town versus gown" conflicts in cities such as Oxford and I'm sure there are "townies versus pilgrims" issues in Glastonbury, I just hope that the local curate doesn't consider street musicians near his church as horrible threats.
Although Rickman tries to give both Christianity and more Pagan beliefs fair treatment, to be honest, both of them seem to be poorly represented here. Rosa's father, the curate, is far too one-dimensional for most of the novel, and most of the pilgrims also come across that way. Yes, it's a children's/YA novel, but come on. Give kids a fair chance.
This book could have been so much better.
We have a Glastonbury setting that I truly hope isn't the true Glastonbury. Granted, I don't live in Glastonbury, but I've visited there numerous times and also have spent time in nearby towns, villages and cities (Wells being an example of a nearby city; I'm not meaning Bristol nor Bath). I moved to England almost 15 years ago from Boulder, Colorado. Glastonbury to me is Boulder with medieval and older artifacts, such as a ruined abbey, the Tor, the Chalice Well gardens, the holy thorn tree etc. When I first moved to England, it was difficult to find places offering vegetarian food that also banned smoking. Glastonbury had such places even before the smoking ban. And what with all of the shops offering Pagan books (including Wicca) and various other bits and pieces, along with the obvious influences of other religions, such as Christianity, Buddhism and Sufis (hey, there's a Sufi charity shop in town), among others. There are health food stores and a huge Morrisons supermarket. There's a Boots the Chemist right by a new age shop. So, there I am: a bit of Boulder, but with added history.
I'd like to think that people in Glastonbury with different religious beliefs are tolerant of one another, unlike the new curate in this book, who seems to be a born-again fundamentalist CofE priest, reminding me far more of Terry Jones in Florida than Rowan Williams, for example. And whilst I know there are "town versus gown" conflicts in cities such as Oxford and I'm sure there are "townies versus pilgrims" issues in Glastonbury, I just hope that the local curate doesn't consider street musicians near his church as horrible threats.
Although Rickman tries to give both Christianity and more Pagan beliefs fair treatment, to be honest, both of them seem to be poorly represented here. Rosa's father, the curate, is far too one-dimensional for most of the novel, and most of the pilgrims also come across that way. Yes, it's a children's/YA novel, but come on. Give kids a fair chance.
This book could have been so much better.
February 11, 2014
This book was so beautiful! The sociology aspect was pretty black and white but I can completely see how the plot wouldn't have worked without it.
The characters were believable and lovable and I just can't wait to read the next in the series!
I have to say though, if you've ever read Animorphs, the Marco in this book reminded me so much of the Marco from Animorphs with all the comical comments and how he always seems to be sarcastic. I know Marco was my favourite character from Animorphs and I actually loved how - even if it was mostly my imagination bringing him back - I got to relive the experience of reading about him in this book.
You might see no resemblence though, and it might just have been my imagination.
However, I can't recommend this book enough! Go read it now!
The characters were believable and lovable and I just can't wait to read the next in the series!
I have to say though, if you've ever read Animorphs, the Marco in this book reminded me so much of the Marco from Animorphs with all the comical comments and how he always seems to be sarcastic. I know Marco was my favourite character from Animorphs and I actually loved how - even if it was mostly my imagination bringing him back - I got to relive the experience of reading about him in this book.
You might see no resemblence though, and it might just have been my imagination.
However, I can't recommend this book enough! Go read it now!
June 27, 2015
Pleasant surprise....recommended by my dad...Glastonbury, yes, where that music festival is...involves the resting place of the Holy Grail or is it? Young protoganists who are well drawn and jump off the page. The author keeps it real and fun. No over the top crazy stuff, some good history and the nature of progress...and it is an easy read, good pace and thanks, dad :-D
September 13, 2015
I don't see the point of YA as a category and I am sorry to read Phil Rickman (aka Thom Madley) pitching it so low to young adults that it was almost a caricature. Quite jolly but came over patronising and waaaay too much leaning on stereotyping so that it became annoying. Pity.
August 16, 2011
A.k.a. Phil Rickman
July 3, 2012
Category, HORROR. The images it created in my head were so frantic, a good book!
December 23, 2014
All the atmosphere of the the Merrily Watkins books, but originally written for younger readers
June 15, 2014
An easy read that has a great plot.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews