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The Gathering: Secretly Saving The World Part One Of The Hedgehog Chronicles
PART ONE OF THE HEDGEHOG CHRONICLES HEDGEHOG The snail moves like a Hovercraft, held up by a Rubber cushion of itself, Sharing its secret With the hedgehog. The hedgehog Shares its secret with no one. We
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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September 21, 2015
This is a five-star review that comes from a place, not of intellectual criticism, but pure emotion.
There are any number of reasons that, from the outside, this book looks kind of ridiculous. Most of the hedgehog characters are actually real hedgehogs that Z.G. Standing Bear kept, meaning that the book is more or less fanfiction about pets. It's an entire novel devoted to exposition and setup for a conflict that never comes -- even though it's labeled as "Book One of the Hedgehog Chronicles," there's no book two, and given that it's been eight years since The Gathering was published, and Mr. Standing Bear is now well into his seventies, I think it's more likely than not that there never will be a Book Two. In places, the prose is more than a little amateurish; the novel was self-published, and it shows.
But somehow...none of that mattered to me as I read it. The author's heart is laid bare here, and what I felt was a sense of loss, of sadness, of mourning for the senseless cruelty humans too often inflict on themselves and the world around them. Yet, there's hope, and the hedgehog heroes of the novel are the embodiment of that hope -- tiny quilled avatars of the spirit of kindness, strength, and love. I loved the way the hedgehogs interacted with each other, and with the other human and animal characters who flicker through the pages.
I wish there were more to the story -- that I got to find out if Trudy and Spikers were ever reunited, if Anthross can be defeated, if there's any redemption for Bowls and Dungaree, if Thelma is ever able to give the Original Instructions to the humans. But, even in the story's unfinished state, it's a beautiful one, and I won't easily forget it.
There are any number of reasons that, from the outside, this book looks kind of ridiculous. Most of the hedgehog characters are actually real hedgehogs that Z.G. Standing Bear kept, meaning that the book is more or less fanfiction about pets. It's an entire novel devoted to exposition and setup for a conflict that never comes -- even though it's labeled as "Book One of the Hedgehog Chronicles," there's no book two, and given that it's been eight years since The Gathering was published, and Mr. Standing Bear is now well into his seventies, I think it's more likely than not that there never will be a Book Two. In places, the prose is more than a little amateurish; the novel was self-published, and it shows.
But somehow...none of that mattered to me as I read it. The author's heart is laid bare here, and what I felt was a sense of loss, of sadness, of mourning for the senseless cruelty humans too often inflict on themselves and the world around them. Yet, there's hope, and the hedgehog heroes of the novel are the embodiment of that hope -- tiny quilled avatars of the spirit of kindness, strength, and love. I loved the way the hedgehogs interacted with each other, and with the other human and animal characters who flicker through the pages.
I wish there were more to the story -- that I got to find out if Trudy and Spikers were ever reunited, if Anthross can be defeated, if there's any redemption for Bowls and Dungaree, if Thelma is ever able to give the Original Instructions to the humans. But, even in the story's unfinished state, it's a beautiful one, and I won't easily forget it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review