Dia CalhounRecensioni

An interesting look at mental illness. I really liked the way it examined bi-polar disorder. The main character suffers from it (as does the author) and the clarity of her descriptions makes this helpful in understanding her. However-- most of the action happens in the last 4 or five chapters. I feel like it could have been better interspersed with the rest of the novel.

Well-written, poorly plotted. The characters, dialog, and descriptions are nicely done - but for the first 2/3rds of the book, by far the largest problem is his parents refusing to talk to him...about stuff that is obviously already a problem (but they _promised_ each other they'd wait until he was 14). Not to mention that if they had (been able to) waited until he was 14 and then shoved him off into the mountains it would have been an utter disaster - with half a year of training he still barely makes it. Except of course, magically, everything comes right, and HEA. One thing that rings really really false, for me, is that a 12- and 13-year old is seriously considering who he's going to marry and being attracted to different women (girls, around his age). And both times, there's a jealous other man (boy) involved which causes more problems...this is just silly. If he'd been 18, or even 16, I might have been able to swallow it, but at 13-year-old boy should not be thinking about this stuff. Even when people married early - a 13-year-old girl might be ready for marriage, a boy would usually marry when he was 20 or older. The obstacles were too contrived, the solutions were too magical and running on rails. The thing with the mute girl was the most realistic part of it (well, that and his grandmother's attitude). Not a winner.

Five-year-old Treewing, a fir tree living on Faith Mountain and waiting for his time to become part of the Christmas magic that returns light to humanity every December, is surprised when the Christmas Deer marks him out for a special destiny. The cervine guardian of Christmas normally doesn't choose trees until they are at least six years old, but sure enough, Treewing is harvested and finds his way to a city Christmas tree lot. Here he waits to be bought by a family, thinking in this way to fulfill his purpose. Instead he finds that he is the only tree in the lot not to be purchased, becoming the favorite of a group of local homeless people. Through his miraculous light, Treewing manages to connect a young homeless boy whose father had recently died, serving in the military with the tree-lot owner's son, who also died. By sharing something of great value to both, the boy also participates in bringing back the light...

Although I am familiar with author Dia Calhoun's longer fantasies for middle-grade readers, I wasn't sure quite what to expect from The Return of Light: A Christmas Tale, a brief sixty-seven-page chapter-book I picked up off my library's holiday display almost on a whim. As I was reading it, I was reminded of the recently published The Christmas Eve Tree by Delia Huddy, which also dealt with a Christmas tree that is not purchased, and which becomes a focal point for a group of homeless people, and then part of a celebration involving the wider community. I was conscious, moreover, of a feeling that there was something sentimental about the story, in a way that felt a little too overt for my tastes. All that said, despite these feelings, I was still quite moved by parts of the story, and even got a little teary-eyed from time to time as I was reading. I appreciated the idea of the light returning being a central part of Christmas, as this ties in to part of what makes the celebration of the holiday so powerful, coinciding as it does with the Winter Solstice here in the northern hemisphere. Recommended to anyone looking for beginning chapter-books about Christmas trees and/or the power of giving and light to heal wounded hearts at this time of year.

Picked this up because it won the Mythopoeic award.
It was OK, but didn't really live up to my expectations - the storyline was just too familiar, and the worldbuilding was only so-so. It's one of those stories where it really didn't even need to be set in a 'fantasy' world; the fantasy aspect is quite beside the point.

It's also very, very message-y. I don't object to the message at all ("follow your own dreams and talents, rather than feeling that you have to live up to others' expectations"), but the attitude of "I will give young girls an important lesson through this book" is a bit overwhelming.

Plot elements follow:

Aria is a poor, small-town girl. She has experience helping her mother with herbs and healing; but she also has a talent for dancing. Her mother dreams of her daughter having the opportunity to go to the big city and study dancing.
When her mother dies, Aria's father does everything he can to facilitate that. Aria goes to the city with him and auditions at the ballet school. Although it's obvious as hell that she's a shoo-in, she believes some nasty bullies' false tale that she's not picked as a student, runs away, and ends up working as a laundress at the school.
However, in an abrupt reversal of fortune, she is re-discovered and enrolled in the school, where she quickly rises to success (to the ongoing dismay of the bullies).
However, she also finds herself drawn to assisting a physician, a role where she can use her other talents. It turns out that Aria blames herself for her mother's death, and has lost confidence in her ability to heal.

As events come to a head, Aria must deal with the bullies, gain confidence in herself, ditch her domineering boyfriend, improve the working conditions of laundresses, and choose between her two talents. The right choice leads to happiness and spiritual fulfillment.


It's a nice, feel-good story, but although the author seems like she's trying very hard to give Aria difficult dilemmas, the "right choice" is always blindingly clear. If only real life were so simple!

I normally find books in verse a struggle but this flowed so beautifully and the poems were wonderful and so visual.

I enjoyed parts of this book. I am familiar with the 12 dancing princesses and I have enjoyed many versions of the story, but I wasn't in love with this version. The author has put bipolar disorder into the story making the main character, Phoenix bipolar and the princesses suffering from a magic version of the disorder. When they dance at night they are in their high or mania, in the morning they are tired, worn out and in their depressed stage. Phoenix is the shoemaker suffering from bipolar or the curse of the two kingdoms light and darkness. I did like the ingenious spin she adds to the story, but I got a little tired of reading when Phoenix was lost in the dark kingdom/depression, it was too much for the type of book I like, but I do understand the author wanted to express the hard and rough times that someone with bipolar disorder will suffer through.
I think this would be a good book for kids who are going through rough times, to learn that things are they way they are and you have to make the best out of what you have.

Wow. A companion book to Firegold. Rose, an ugly girl with a greedy family, is offered to the rich landowner, Mr. Brae, to marry his deformed grandson who is locked in the attic in return for freeing his parents and brother from servitude and bondage and giving them a fully furnished home. Rose dreams of owning the Brae orchard. She wants to be a landowner and to take care of the failing orchards. She successfully can graft different types of apples and raises them. She loves the land. To help her family she agrees to marry the thing. The thing turns out to be a half breed Dalriada and Valley.

WOW. Great book. Very powerful reading. The ending is a cliff hanger with the possibility of a sequel.

After her mother dies, a young girl goes to a fancy dancing school, and she is determined to be the lead dancer in all of her classes. She makes the co-star part of the royal ballet, and an outcome that she never though would happen did.

Firegold by Dia Calhoun belongs to an ever-increasing tradition of what I have begun to call "fantasy without magic". The novels often have the basic elements of fantasy - alien lands, elaborate belief systems, and coming of age. However, they don't have any overt magic. They are not science fantasy as in Silverberg's Maijpoor Chronicles as the world is clearly pre-industrial. In Firegold, people go on quests and see visions, but they don't actually practice magic.

People in fantasy often stand out because of an unusual trait, but Dia Calhoun picks an ordinary one - blue eyes. All the people in the Valley, North and South, have brown or black eyes. Jonathon Brae is thus dubbed a "loony-blue" and is distrusted. It is a given that we will eventually get to find out why he is different and he will come of age. But, despite the familiar storyline, Firegold is a wonderful book. Both the mountains and the orchards of the valley are perfectly detailed, and the people in the book are realistic without being preachy. This book has a lot to say, but leaves most of it up to what happens, and not by moralizing. White Midnight, a prequel to the book, is also much worth reading. Calhoun's Windward books (Aria of the Sea and The Phoenix Dance) are also excellent, although they are much more overt fantasy, with magic.

Firegold is the story of Jonathon Brae. Jonathon is a misfit among the brown eyed valley fold. He has blue eyes which have traditionally been linked to adult insanity. As Jonathon grows toward adulthood he is shunned more and more and is confronted by differences between himself and his family and their neighbours. He finds that he has a connection to the barbarian Dalriada and travels to find out if he has a place among them.

Jonathon learns a lot about the history of the people in both valley and mountains and his own family. Can he find a place for himself in the story?

I recommend this highly! The language is beautiful, the characters are solid, and the story meshes into the scenery.

The Phoenix Dance by Dia Calhoun - I've read five of Dia Calhoun's books in the last few monthes and Phoenix Dance contained some of my favorite characters but I found the theme of bipolar disease overworked. Several descriptive phrases were overused until they lost all impact (other than as irritant) and at several places the disease took over the story where it could have been more subtly engaged. That said, this is a great use for the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses and as always Dia's characters are fully human and feel true.

Avielle, a detested silverskin, is the only survivor of the royal family after terrorists destroy their home. She hides with a weaver and learns to use her magical talents. She also learns to love, to trust and to be brave. A wonderful read!

All the brown eyed boys of the valley gang up against Jonathon, whispering behind his back of how he’s going to be a “loony-blue” when he turns of age. For the thing that separates Jonathon from valley folk are his blue eyes, the eyes of supposedly the barbarian Dalriadas of the Red Mountains. Dia Calhoun creates this young adult piece of fantasy with the message of growing up in between the lines. It is a hard thing to find your place in life, especially when you are separated from the rest of the population because of a certain different characteristic. This theme is conveyed through Jonathon, and it is done with a magnificent twist of magic. This page flipper will bring young adults into Jonathon’s world, and they will come out with hope that they will be able to find themselves in the adult world.

A way cool story of the underdog who succeeds.