What do You think about The Riddle (2006)?
I loved The Riddle, Croggon's second in the Pellinor series, even more than the first. For one, she worked through that tricky issue of pacing that plagued her first book. Admittedly, The Riddle is best read and followed in large chunks of time -- it's not the kind of story that's easy to pick up in little 20 page snatches -- but there's still a much steadier, more enjoyable pace happening here. And second, while Croggon convinced me to give Maerad a chance to be enjoyable in the first book, she convinced me to absolutely love her in the second.In this novel, Maerad is separated from her brother Hem and travels with Cadvan far north, in search of the Treesong. Here's where I feared the story would veer off into tedious mysticism, and we all can think of fantasies that have, in our opinions, fallen into that trap (poor Christopher Paolini; talk about your truly fantastic adventure story mired down in hundreds of pages of weird elf lore). But instead, Croggon keeps the story fresh by adding tangible realities to the Treesong quest. The song's secrets are hidden in an actual nomadic people -- as opposed to tapestries woven with gossamer threads, you know what I mean -- that she must travel to and win over enough to gain an audience with their unusual Bard and his wolf den.Also, Maerad does a lot of growing up in this novel that's more tangible than book 1, where she faced such relatable challenges as being instated as a Bard (and I'm still not sure what that meant). Here, she still has to suffer through some of Cadvan's Ben Franklinish pearls of wisdom, but her relationship with him gains a reality and a clarity. They fight; things are awkward, then very painful. The question of her own evil isn't a black and white fantasy thing (fear not, no evil forces possess her), but rather a question of the internal secrets of her mind and her heart, that she has to decide to alternately control or release. In this way, it becomes a sort of coming-of-age story, even if it is complete with Ice Witches and wolf spirits, and Maerad's journey gains a vividness and a poignancy that made this book a wonderful sequel.
—Heather
Tedious. After i finished book one i thought surely things ought to pick up in the next one. Nope. it just drew on forever and then as much as i hate to admit it i skipped ahead. Got to the part where she's separated from Cadvan and is being held prisoner by the Winterking who finally teaches her the rudiments of the missing runes - the tree song which turns out to be etched on her lyre (what are the odds?) She manages to escape, finds Cadvan again they talk about their adventures apart. Then they decide its time they should find her brother Hem.Sense of urgency... nonedanger.... you kinda know she was going to survive and everyone else too. Help is just around the corner as someone always pops up figuratively and sometimes literally out of the woodwork to help them escape.People that have previously reviewed Croggon's book keep referring to her prose as flowery and pretty and poetry like i dont really see it if you want beautiful written works i suggest you try Elizabeth Bear's The Edda of Burdens. Its so beautifully written it sometimes distracts from the actual story.
—Maryam Wakili
Ugh this series is so hard to get through! I like the actual story, and I appreciate the amount of work it must've been for the author to create this world--heck coming up with the names alone must've been exhausting--but gosh! It was ridiculously tedious to read. I thought the second installment would've been easier to get through because by then the author had the background laid out, but...nope. I just can't remember all those names, and the descriptions of every little detail of her surroundings got to be too much. And then --***SPOILERS*** Maerad was going here and then there and then somewhere else and somewhere else again and she's just so cold and then she's captured and then she falls oh so in love--(which was so stupid) and then she realized whoops she doesn't want to be caged but maybe she wants to stay anyway... Ok fine because shes 16 or 17 she can be an angsty girl but i still didn't buy her "love" for the winterking given her mistrustful characteristics. I would've liked a much more stripped down version that focused more on dialogue instead of all the surroundings, but oh well. Oh and her reunion with cadvan left much to be desired. The one person who actually protects her and cares for her doesn't get her Love return--at least not enough. I get that it's building up, but come on. She falls in love with a kidnapper but not the man who is good to her? Lame. A lot of people seem to really like this series but I give up.
—Monica
