The Night of the Solstice: Heart of Valour by L J Smith
| The Night of the Solstice: Heart of Valour by L J Smith | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Linda Lawlor
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| Summary: Earthquakes rock California, and open the crossing to the Wildworld. The four Hodges-Bradley children have to once again find and rescue the sorceress Morgana Shee before the earth is taken over by evil. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 352 | Date: January 2011 |
| Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books | |
| ISBN: 978-0857070524 | |
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Heart of Valour is the sequel to The Night of the Solstice, where Alys, Janie, Charles and Claudia discover a strange, enchanting and terrifying world. The Guardian of the mirror-gate between the worlds, Morgana Shee, had been imprisoned by the evil Cadel Forge, and the siblings were called to rescue her. Heart of Valour picks up the story a year later. Morgana has to leave the children to cope alone as she travels north to battle her arch-rival Thia Pendriel, but dangers nearer home send them off on a quest to find her.
Readers would probably get a great deal more from the books by reading them in sequence, because they would then see how much the characters have developed since they were first involved in the struggle. Sufficient details are included in this book, however, to make the back-story clear. Unlike many books for young readers the two books do not concentrate on one single character: they follow the adventures of all four children, and while Claudia is the main interest in the first book, the second one focuses in particular on Alys. She is the oldest, a practical and responsible girl who looks after the family when her parents travel abroad, but in this book, to her astonishment, she is called on to be a hero — a genuine, fight-the-baddies-with-a-magic-sword kind of hero. Her dismay at this, coupled with her gradual acceptance of her role, is one of the most fascinating elements of the story.
The book is a pleasurable mix of wild magic, danger and spells, and the everyday life and squabbles of family life. Anyone who has a brother or sister will identify with the daily rituals of checking the water heater and stopping people adding chocolate chips to their breakfast cereals. These details help to ground the book, allowing readers to identify with the characters and making the magic all the more extraordinary. Alys has to cope with caring for Claudia, the youngest child, who has a tendency to wander off on her own, and the enigmatic and magically gifted Janie, who rarely reveals her thoughts even to her twin brother Charles. Even Morgana herself is not exempt from sibling problems. Her sister Elwyn is a Quislai: utterly vague, whimsical and insouciant, just as capable of cruelty as of kindness, she inspires enormous irritation. Older sisters will know exactly how Morgana feels.
The main theme of this book is the King Arthur legends. The children learn that Morgana is in fact Morgan le Fee, who in all the old legends is the evil sorceress who battled Merlin, but here we see below the surface to discover another truth to the tales. Merlin is a far more complex character than the advisor and magical guardian we are used to hearing about, and the quests and challenges of Camelot gain a new resonance here.
L J Smith is better known as the author of the Vampire Diaries, and while this book for younger readers does not have the darkness to be found in those stories, it does have its fair share of battles, danger and excitement. It will engross many young people, particularly those who already know and love the Arthurian legends.
Many thanks to the publisher for sending Heart of Valour to Bookbag.
Further reading suggestion: Readers who have not yet read it will enjoy The Night of the Solstice, the book which precedes this one. And for another book which blends adventure, magic and copious references to myths and legends, try The Alchemyst by Michael Scott.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Night of the Solstice: Heart of Valour by L J Smith at Amazon.com.
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