Now, part of the reason I haven't blogged so much for the past week, is because I've been reading Stephen Gately's novel (which all over the book, they call 'his first novel'. True, but ... without meaning to sound rude, isn't it his only novel?) and it took me longer than I thought it might. Not to be rude about his writing, but I knew it was a kids book, and they're rarely arduous, except where they might lack in detail.
It reads like they left it as was written. I think he managed to finish the piece, but didn't manage to go through it, make corrections (sometimes a character will move or morph or something and the transition isn't clear, which he most likely would have edited, given the chance).
It's ... young. Very young. But I liked it. It took me some time to make my mind, but I liked the enthusiasm in the writing. His message isn't overly in-your-face, and even if it's unsubtle, it's still pretty life-affirming. Basically, he was saying everyone should appreciate every season, every phase the world goes through, that although most people prefer Summer, for the sun, there's still the wonder of frost and snow in winter, of harvest food and autumn leaves, of new spring flowers ... he attributed each season to a different mythical creature (fairies for summer, elves for spring, goblins for winter and sylphs, which I presume are like nymphs, for autumn and gave them all a section of this magical tree.
Some things go unanswered, which always drives me crazy. Like, humans aren't supposed to see anything related to the inhibitants of the tree, but the three children in the storyline, Josh, Michael and Beth, are all able to interact. I think he says 'the tree chose you' and left it at, but that was sort of unfulfilling.
It has a lot in it, theme-wise. A few people have compared it to The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, which I hate (it's a classic, and there's no God ideology in The Tree Of Seasons) but I can sort of see the parallels, the paranormal, the access to another world, the magic, the evil queen attempting to make all seasons stagnate in one, even the ring thing (if you're not familiar, C.S.Lewis - who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia around the time his good friend and colleague J.R.R.Tolkein wrote The Lord Of The Rings - created two rings to travel between worlds. The yellow left the world you were in to access the world between worlds, the green allowed you access between worlds. Diggory stumbled across Narnia at its birth. He borrowed an apple from Narnia to give to his dying mother, then buried the rings around the apple core in his garden. When the apple tree grew, it was cut down and made into a Wardrobe. The Horse And His Boy was so genius ...) ... in The Tree Of Seasons, Michael is given a ring of truth. Funnily, to me, Josh is given an arrow that never misses the target he imagines, which is a power the Vampyre Stark has in the House Of Night series.
I wish he was still alive. I'd love to have known the other stories in his head. He could have made something phenomenal.
I'm now on to Sex And The City, the book. I'm so excited about the second film ...
It reads like they left it as was written. I think he managed to finish the piece, but didn't manage to go through it, make corrections (sometimes a character will move or morph or something and the transition isn't clear, which he most likely would have edited, given the chance).
It's ... young. Very young. But I liked it. It took me some time to make my mind, but I liked the enthusiasm in the writing. His message isn't overly in-your-face, and even if it's unsubtle, it's still pretty life-affirming. Basically, he was saying everyone should appreciate every season, every phase the world goes through, that although most people prefer Summer, for the sun, there's still the wonder of frost and snow in winter, of harvest food and autumn leaves, of new spring flowers ... he attributed each season to a different mythical creature (fairies for summer, elves for spring, goblins for winter and sylphs, which I presume are like nymphs, for autumn and gave them all a section of this magical tree.
Some things go unanswered, which always drives me crazy. Like, humans aren't supposed to see anything related to the inhibitants of the tree, but the three children in the storyline, Josh, Michael and Beth, are all able to interact. I think he says 'the tree chose you' and left it at, but that was sort of unfulfilling.
It has a lot in it, theme-wise. A few people have compared it to The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, which I hate (it's a classic, and there's no God ideology in The Tree Of Seasons) but I can sort of see the parallels, the paranormal, the access to another world, the magic, the evil queen attempting to make all seasons stagnate in one, even the ring thing (if you're not familiar, C.S.Lewis - who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia around the time his good friend and colleague J.R.R.Tolkein wrote The Lord Of The Rings - created two rings to travel between worlds. The yellow left the world you were in to access the world between worlds, the green allowed you access between worlds. Diggory stumbled across Narnia at its birth. He borrowed an apple from Narnia to give to his dying mother, then buried the rings around the apple core in his garden. When the apple tree grew, it was cut down and made into a Wardrobe. The Horse And His Boy was so genius ...) ... in The Tree Of Seasons, Michael is given a ring of truth. Funnily, to me, Josh is given an arrow that never misses the target he imagines, which is a power the Vampyre Stark has in the House Of Night series.
I wish he was still alive. I'd love to have known the other stories in his head. He could have made something phenomenal.
I'm now on to Sex And The City, the book. I'm so excited about the second film ...
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