Joan Aiken
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
A good quest derailed 3 out of 5 stars.
11 of 14 people found this review helpful.
Joan Delano Aiken is a prolific British author of adult and young adult fantasy, mysteries, and gothic romances. "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase," which won the 1965 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award is probably her best known young adult novel. Regardless of whether her works are intended for adults or for children, they often contain hair-raising adventures that alternate (somewhat oddly, in my opinion) with lighthearted romps.I was uncomfortable with the mixture of comedy and terror in "The Whispering Mountain," a young adult fantasy that takes place in a land resembling eighteenth century Wales. The young hero, Owen Hughes lives with his strict, grumpy grandfather in the small town of Pennygaff. He is on his way home from the Jones Academy for the Sons of Gentlemen and Respectable Tradesman one cold, rainy evening when he is ambushed by the local bullies.
Two gypsies, father and daughter save Owen and take him home to his grandfather. 'Home' also happens to be a museum of curious artifacts, including an old harp.
Grandfather chases the gypsies off of his property then goes to a meeting, leaving his grandson to guard the museum and its ancient harp. Normally Owen doesn't mind staying in the museum, but tonight his encounter with the bullies has made him nervous. Nevertheless, he falls asleep. He doesn't wake up until two rough strangers, speaking London thieves' cant, break into the one-room museum.
(It was hard for me to understand what the thieves were talking about, even though I've read a zillion Regency romances, including the complete works of Georgette Heyer--and one or two of the gothics by Joan Aiken. What does it mean when a character says, "Get a bit o' prog while you're at it," or "...I say that won't happen till Turpentine Sunday, and meanwhile it makes a famous ken, dunnit?" Other characters occasionally lapse into Cymric, so this book isn't a quick read).
At any rate, the two strangers steal the harp and kidnap Owen to make it appear as though he absconded with the harp. The thieves plan to 'finish off the young co' and 'hugger' his body away in one of the region's many caves.
The quest to recover the stolen harp and return it to its true master takes up the rest of the story.
The one element that dissipated the excitement of the quest for me, was the author's introduction of farcical characters or scenes, just as Owen was about to get "five inches of steel in his breadbasket," or was chasing the mad dwarf, Abipaal through the heart of the mountain, or was trapped in a dungeon filled with hungry tiger-snakes, or--
What I'm trying to say is that it detracted from the tension of the story when some oddball character bumbled and babbled into Owen's cliff-hanger, or the tiger-snakes turned out to be sweeties, or the villains got drunk and bawled out ballads like: "Hey-diddle-diddle, my merry men,/ Let's all go to the bousing-ken."
Editorial Review:
Winner of the Guardian Prize for Fiction
In the small town of Pennygaff, where Owen has been sent to live after his mother’s death, a legendary golden harp has been found. Knowing of the prophesy of the Harp of Teirtu, Owen must prevent the magic harp from falling into the evil clutches of its reputed owner, the sinister and diabolical Lord Mayln. But it won’t be easy. Owen and his friend Arabis are plunged into a hair-raising adventure of intrigue, kidnapping, exotic underground worlds, savage beasts...even murder.
For only too late will Owen learn that Lord Mayln will stop at nothing to have the golden harp.
