Lloyd Alexander
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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( A ) -> Alexander, Lloyd
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16
Average rating: 5.0 of 5
The Best of an Excellent Series 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.
While "Westmark" (the previous book) and "The Beggar Queen" (the final book in this trilogy) are excellent books, this is the best, because -- well, because it's the one that has the power to hurt the most as you see what characters you care for are forced into by circumstance, the twists of fate and their own sense of duty. Former Chief Minister Cabbarus, forced into exile in "Westmark" plots with the uncle of the King of neighbouring Regia to invade Westmark and re-establish a "proper" society. Theo wanders the country, trying to get a grip on how he feels about the thought of Mickle, the street urchin he fell in love with in "Westmark" becoming Queen... with himself intended as Prince Consort.
When the invasion begins, Mickle finds herself forced to become a military commander, and Theo finds himself among Florian's "children" again, fighting the Regians as an irregular, eventually rising to the rank of colonel among Florian's forces.
And Alexamder takes the chance -- without seeming preachy or heavy-handed -- to present us with just a bit (PG13 rating or so) of the horror of war and what it does to even good people.
Because "Colonel Kestrel", the brilliant and ruthless revolutionary/guerrilla leader is, also, the gentle Theo, who has never believed in violence as a solution to anything.
Someone has said, more or less, that Alexander is here presenting a parable on the uses and effects of violence, in causes good and not-so-good. He proposes (by example) the question "When -- if ever -- is violence justified in a 'good cause'?", and proceeds to show us (again by example) the answers to that question arrived at by various people of greater or lesser good-will.
And then he hands the reader an even hotter potato to examine than that -- he asks us to consider the after-effects of violence (even "in a good cause") on the people who have found themselves forced into it.
And it hurts -- in a good way -- to see what some people must give up so that others may still have it.
(David Drake presents a much more violent -- and most *definitely* adult -- look at much the same questions in his military SF novel "Redliners".)
In the end, everyone is forced to compromise somewhat, and all *appears* to be well.
On the other hand, this *is* the second olume of a trilogy.
Editorial Review:
Theo is traveling Westmark, learning about the country of which he will soon be Prince Consort. He is not surprised to find great poverty-Mickle (now known as Princess Augusta) could have told him that from her years on the street. His friend Florian could have told him about the aristocracy's graft and corruption. But neither could have foreseen a loaded pistol in the practiced hand of the assassin Skeit. The echoes of that shot ring from the muskets and cannons of a Westmark suddenly at war-a war that turns simple, honest men into cold-blooded killers, Mickle into a military commander, and Theo himself into a stranger. . . .
"The plot is magnificent, the characterizations are excellent, and the issues are compelling." (Children's Literature)
