Finale volume | where past and present meet and, | maybe, all’s resolved.Young Mitt is from South Dalemark, but when he escapes its politics and intrigues he finds that the North is equally dangerous because he is manoeuvred into an assassination attempt on a pretender to the crown of Dalemark. The plot also turns on a present-day girl, Maewen, who gets propelled into Dalemark’s past to play a role not of her own choosing, in a narrative that is reminiscent of the premise in Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper. And the Crown? That turns out not just to be a metaphor for gaining a throne but also part of a theme that mingles together motifs of modern Tarot imagery and the medieval quest for the Grail.As in the previous titles of the series the reader is treated to extensive exploration of the troubled realm of Dalemark, and key themes as well as characters from The Spellcoats, Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet re-emerge to play crucial parts in the unfolding story. Along with the tying-together of some unresolved threads curiosity grows concerning how characters such as Mitt and Moril, whom we learnt to sympathise with in the intermediate books, will interact with Maewen, especially now that they growing from adolescence in adulthood, and whether they will retain our sympathy.With so many of Jones’ young adult fantasies there, as here, are a few blemishes, inconsistencies, loose ends perhaps, that mar her superb story-telling skills. Endings are so often confusing, eliciting responses along the lines of “Whoa, what just happened here?” when the final resolution involves obscure verbal logic that even several re-readings rarely make clear. She also frequently hints at things without being explicit so that you are left to fill in the gaps without ever being sure that your gut feelings ultimately are correct. This comes largely from her using familiar folk- and fairy-tale types and motifs which raise our expectations, only to have them dashed or circumvented when she subverts the conventional tropes.Having said all that, I must say I really enjoyed The Crown of Dalemark on several levels. I engaged with the main protagonists, Maewen, Mitt and Moril, all three with their very human strengths and failings, as well with most of the rest of the cast of characters, some of whom we have met previously and whose personalities have evolved (not always for the better). I loved the chance to explore the geography of Dalemark and to relate the present-day state of the region with the Late Medieval / Early Modern feel of the chronologically intermediate novels, a modern Dalemark which is both familiar and more magical compared to our own world. I savoured Jones’ usual little wordgames and puns; typical of these is the entity Kankredin (wonderfully but chillingly conjured up in the novel and reminiscent of a malevolent djinn from The Arabian Nights) whose name has echoes of the Middle East (Aladdin, Saladin) combined with ‘canker’, a malign growth. Above all there was a strong sense of a Northern European milieu, from the mix of Scandinavian- and Celtic-influenced names to the physical features of the polities and emerging industrial innovations.For me, one of the proofs of an enjoyable novel is that the answer to “Would I read this again?” is always in the affirmative; on that basis I can confirm that I’m looking forward to revisiting Dalemark in the not too distant future.http://wp.me/p2oNj1-n6
Originally posted at A Novel Idea ReviewsRating: 5/5Modern Dalemark has come a long way from the time of Tanaqui and The Spellcoats. It is now a bustling industrial nation, with north and south united for over 200 years. Maewen Singer, whose parents are divorced, is on her way to visit her father in Kernsburgh for the first time. As the train makes its way through the landscape of Dalemark, which has changed but still possesses the grandeur of ages past, Maewen has no idea what lies in store for her. Because the young man her father hired to guard her on her passage is not who he says he is, and she herself has more of a role in history than she could ever have guessed. Two hundred years ago, a young woman called Noreth Onesdaughter declared herself the rightful Queen of all Dalemark, and embarked upon the Royal Road. However, Noreth disappeared from the pages of history, and Maewen finds herself discovering firsthand exactly what happened. Joining her are Mitt and Moril, whose roles in the tale of Dalemark are far from finished.AJSDHFKSJDHF I LOVED THIS BOOK. I always talk about how much I enjoy meeting characters again, and this book brought all of them back for one last journey together. That cast of characters spanned all three other books in the Dalemark Quartet, which pleased me to no end. I didn’t really realize how absurdly fond I had become of all of them until I saw them all in this final book and found myself so excited that they were all in the story in some shape or form. True sequels bring closure, and this book really tied up all the threads. It gave me a sense of the big, big, big picture that is at the heart of these books. Each individual journey told of in the first three books was a step towards what culminated in the Crown of Dalemark, so that its history unfolded before my eyes. Maewen was a pretty decent heroine, but her faults were more than made up for by HOW MUCH I LOVE MITT. And while the ending was bittersweet, it still had me completely satisfied. In fact, I wish she would write more, even though I know there isn’t really a better way to end the quartet than the way she ended it here. Did I mention my omnibus edition had a glossary/guide to Dalemark in the back? It had little tidbits about what happened to some of the characters even beyond this last chapter of the saga, which really had me thrilled. I was happy with most everyone’s endings, except possibly Hildrida, because I never could decide if she was likeable or not. (DOESN’T MATTER, MITT IS MY FAVORITE)If you have yet to discover for yourself the insanely epic world of Dalemark, I will warn you that it is not always an easy read. It has taken me several re-reads to make sense of a few pieces here and there (Moril’s story in Cart & Cwidder was really very abstract at times, but with good reason), but each one is a worthwhile read. Diana Wynne Jones can certainly do lighthearted fantasy full of dashingly handsome wizards and comical fire demons, but she can also create truly amazing high fantasy that gives even The Prydain Chronicles a run for its money. The world she creates is complete, down to the last detail, and it’s really worth admiring how all her characters (even the ones that aren’t supposed to be all that important) never fail to reach your heart in some way. The series couldn’t get a higher recommendation from me.
What do You think about The Crown Of Dalemark (2001)?
In this last book, many of the elements of ‘The Spellcoats' become more clear, as it is shown that many of the characters and gods mentioned in that story have become part of Dalemark's mythology and legends – it explains why it was decided to print it there, out of chronological order!Here, Maewen, a young girl from ‘modern' Dalemark is convinced/tricked to go 200 years back in time and impersonate a young woman who has disappeared – but who was convinced that gods spoke to her and that she was destined to be Queen of all Dalemark, reuniting the conflict-riven North and South. Maewen has doubts about this, as she meets characters that she was familiar with from paintings that she saw displayed of famous people from Dalemark's history – but she has never heard anything about this supposedly-important young ‘Queen.'Still, she feels she has very little choice but to go along with it, and as time goes on, she finds herself becoming emotionally involved in the situation she finds herself in – one that, for the reader, is yet more entertaining, because it involves characters we've met before in the other novels of the quartet.
—Althea Ann
For that post-Harry, pre-something heavy and involved time.Recommended to me by my genetics prof (who saw me finishing a Harry Potter book one day on campus). The Dalemark Quartet is more advanced reading than the Harry Potter books, but the same type of fanstasy and contains a long and interwoven story line that fully comes together in The Crown of Dalemark. Characters and items in each previous book play a main role in this last installment so the quartet must be read in order and close together (or the reader must have a solid memory).Other books on my list by this author are appropriate for younger audiences.
—Sabrina
This book was much better than the one that preceded it. This one felt like a true Diana Wynne Jones novel. It took all the threads from the previous books and weaved them all together so cleverly. Old characters pop up in unexpected and delightful places. It almost makes me want to go back and reread the previous books so I can fully appreciate this one. I would suggest to people who are venturing to read this series to possibly read "The Spellcoats" last, instead of third, as they are published. It would spoil a few things for that book, but I found it hard to care about the characters and events in "Spellcoats" and having read this one first might have made me more interested in the history of Dalemark.
—Amy
