The Golden Swan

The Book of Isle #5

by Nancy Springer

The wolf-human Dair struggles to find a way to remove a magical curse from his bond brother, Frain

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult, High Fantasy

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

BIO -- NANCY SPRINGER


Nancy Springer has passed the fifty-book milestone, having written that many novels for adults, young adults and children, in genres including mythic fantasy, contemporary fiction, magical realism, horror, and mystery -- although she did not realize she wrote mystery until she won the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America two years in succession. DARK LIE, recently released from NAL, is her first venture into mass-market psychological suspense.
Born in Montclair, New Jersey, Nancy Springer moved with her family to Gettysburg, of Civil War fame, when she was thirteen. She spent the next forty-six years in Pennsylvania, raising two children (Jonathan, now 38, and Nora, 34), writing, horseback riding, fishing, and birdwatching. In 2007 she surprised her friends and herself by moving with her second husband to an isolated area of the Florida panhandle, where the birdwatching is spectacular and where, when fishing, she occasionally catches an alligator.

Reviews

[SpentCello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, first person got in the way of telling the narrative. Obviously, first person can work well, however, here it just becomes clunky and cumbersome as there's so much time spent explaining how the narrator came by knowledge. Because the narrator changes for each of the three sections of the book but they are all narrating different parts of the story and ultimately the book is just trying to tell a single story (and not trying to explore in depth one single character), it just feels like you're getting a thin, half-baked story from subtly different perspectives.

Despite this, The Golden Swan was better than the last book and it was nice how all four previous books in the series were tied together. The characters were also more believable - although there was a lot of blind following and hoping that things will just somehow work out, which is not a particularly enthralling story-telling device. The Book of Isle series had good moments overall but it didn't really bring anything new and had some narrative and world-building issues, I was also disappointed that Meg never made an appearance (nor was she even mentioned) after the Sable Moon.

[River · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this books genre twice to see if I was secretly reading about two dudes chillin in a hot tub, no feet apart because they're gay (and in denial). The bromance is strong in this one, to the point that I had to read out certain sections to my bestie before saying "just buck already".

Suppressed homosexuality aside, this was a very nice read. It's the kind of fantasy novel that takes you on the journey in mystical lands with mystical people. Never did I think anything terrible would happen to anyone - at least permanently - and the change of perspectives were quite interesting. Having never read any of the other books in this series or from this author, I did come into it quite blind, but this was never much of a problem.

Overall enjoyed the book; got a fun adventure and a bromance to boot.

[X · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It is a sad tale, as are all tales of..." yes, Middle Earth, but also Isle and Vale, apparently. Sad, but also well told and hard to put down. I was a little disappointed that it didn't have a better resolution. It was as though Frain adopted all of Tirrel's problems... but unfortunately, he didn't handle them any better than Tirrel. Still, I cared about the characters, for all their flaws, and if I was sometimes confused about the "prophecy", it didn't effect my enjoyment of the story. The writing was beautiful, and the world has progressed greatly from the "fan-fic" feel of the earlier Isle books.

Trevyn gets points for being the most well-adjusted character in the series and the only one that learned from his travels and mistakes.

[Jimbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Golden Swan was beautifully written. The story tied up a few loose ends from the previous book.

Frain and Dair made two great characters and Springer's bromances, that abound in this series, are always heartfelt and pure in their fated connections.

Dair's mother was a welcome change from her previous storyline with Dair's father Trevyn. She became the mother that Frain needed and who Dair flew with.

The Book of Isle's books still hold up after all these years. Although since their publication, Fantasy has grown into a more adult and darker place, there is a peace and loving calm about the quest fantasy --even if the world is a stack, even if there is real danger, there is the idea that once the quest is complete, things for all will be fine and the world will continue spinning--even in each of the lands of that world.
Hopefulness, inspite of the possibility of evil. Springer doesn't let go of the urgency or the danger, but somehow because of the love of the characters that band together, there is not despair.

Worth reading.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read all of this series in the 80s, so I remembered a fair amount of what went before even though I couldn’t find the other books right now. It’s a haunting, beautiful book, but very melancholy, with the happy-endings so ethereal as to be rather unsatisfying. I loved the characters but wanted better for them—not the sort of crystalline, eternally perfect endings they got, but a more earthy sort of mundane happiness that they were denied.

As a teen, the end of this book and its very gentle Gotterdammerung rather horrified me. Now that I’ve written a little myself I think I can understand the desire to give closure and completion to one’s own world, to fold it all up into an endless apotheosis.

[James]

Some slight spine creasing and edge wear. Back cover has a small top corner crease and front cover has a spine edge creaser. Top edge has a stamp no other marks and intact. Very good reader copy! Ships quickly and packaged carefully!

[Airin Efferin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome ending to an epic series. Loved the changeling Dair!

[Cleokatra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be weaker than the other books in the series. It didn't really provide any sort of closure on the series. It just seemed like a formulaic "hero's journey" type story.

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting conclusion to the series that also answered questions about the previous book.

[Lindsey Duncan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The worlds of Isle and Vale collide as crippled, lovesick prince Frain from the mainland washes up on a beach and is discovered by Dair, the wolf-form son of the King of Isle. The book follows the same format as the previous volume, three (roughly) equal first person sections, with the character who is the driving force (in this case, Frain) taking the final portion. Maybe it's because it was new in the first book but is a deliberate echo here, or maybe it's because the three characters can't freely and mutually communicate for most of the book, but it doesn't work quite as well.

The flaw that plagued the earlier volumes are also in evidence here. Prophecy and destiny are used as motivations and explanations; mysterious, inexplicable events feel less like the markers of an invisible world than randomness or convenience. (This latter is, again, a product of its time. Nowadays, fantasy readers expect more rigorous logic underpinning the worldbuilding.)

I had trouble pushing through this book because none of the main characters really seem to have solid motivations to drive the plot. They are carried along, instead, by the vision of one, to a conclusion that is equal parts sorrow and joy, and could be more poignant and affecting with stronger desires driving it. It feels more like a product of the world and its cosmic forces than the characters' efforts.