Pagina principaleGruppiConversazioniAltroStatistiche
Cerca nel Sito
Questo sito utilizza i cookies per fornire i nostri servizi, per migliorare le prestazioni, per analisi, e (per gli utenti che accedono senza fare login) per la pubblicità. Usando LibraryThing confermi di aver letto e capito le nostre condizioni di servizio e la politica sulla privacy. Il tuo uso del sito e dei servizi è soggetto a tali politiche e condizioni.

Risultati da Google Ricerca Libri

Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.

Sto caricando le informazioni...

The Great and Terrible Quest

di Margaret Lovett

UtentiRecensioniPopolaritàMedia votiConversazioni
535744,886 (4.06)Nessuno
A young boy, beaten and mistreated by his grandfather, befriends an old man who has lost his memory, and together they set off on what they only know is a great and terrible quest, with just a verse and a ring as clues.
Sto caricando le informazioni...

Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro.

Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro.

I first read The Great and Terrible Quest by Margaret Lovett at the age of around 11 or 12, and a friend inspired me to re-read it this month. I remember liking it at that age and being very impressed by the characters, plot, and ending, but I regret that I didn't fully appreciate it back then. I very vaguely but positively remembered the main characters, giant plot twist, and the very beginning and end all these years, but nothing else. But that allowed me to rediscover the book anew as a young adult, knowing effectively nothing of the story - almost as if it was my first time reading it. And what a wonderful experience it was!!

Suffice it to say, I loved the book to no end this time! I was amazed at the masterful characters, plot, writing, themes, and everything else. I became incredibly invested in the story, characters, suspense, and plot goal. I highly enjoyed reading the book, and I immensely looked forward to picking it up each night and rejoining the fascinating and lovable characters on their amazing journey. It's the kind of book that stayed with me all day between chapters, thinking and wondering about the story, plot, and characters. And after I finished the book and read the end, it stayed with me even more afterward. I thought about it that night and woke up the next morning replaying and reconsidering it in my mind - I couldn't help it. It's just so powerful and well-done on so many levels.

On to the details . . . The characters are utterly amazing - so vivid, complex, and unique. Trad and Huon in particular, but the supporting characters are no less quality. Trad is a wonderful protagonist. Sweet, endearing, realistic, relatable, intelligent, and resourceful. And as for Huon . . . I admire him so incredibly much. His awesomeness, strength, drive, wisdom, integrity, formidable skill, and wonderful heart are impressive. "What must be done can be done," says he, and my goodness, does he ever make good on that promise, and then some! Both Trad and Huon are immensely selfless, compassionate, and kind and show incredible and unflinching courage, determination, and heroism - while remaining realistic, real, and believable. I adore them both as characters, am very attached to them, and immensely enjoyed journeying with them. I loved each of their friends and allies as well, especially Marlo and the Wise Woman, and each character was vivid and complex. I also loved the tiny - but oh so beautiful and sweet - recollections and stories of Trad's parents. And Trad's pet dog, Jokey, was very sweet. As for the villains, they were so, so well-done. I'm amazed by them as well as the good characters. The author skillfully wrote multiple terrifying and evil antagonists and kept each complex, vivid, unique, well-developed, non-stereotyped, realistic, and believable. She made each of them human while remaining fearsome, and she used one character in particular to portray the side of the villains as complex, not merely morally black and white. Since I aspire to do all of that in my writing, though I have not a fraction of her skill, there's much I can learn from her.

The plot is utterly masterful - complex, twisty, suspenseful, riveting, and mind-blowing. The author kept me guessing the entire time even as she slowly revealed information. My mind was racing during the whole book as I attempted to figure out the secret of the main conflict and put together the mind-boggling clues as the book went along and as they were uncovered one by one. Vaguely remembering the very, very end helped me notice the foreshadowing for certain things, but I was still kept in the dark and unable to guess exactly right till the author meant for the reader to find out. I didn't guess the big twist until pretty far into the book, and it still surprised and wowed me the entire time. The plot is so skilled that whether the reader guesses the big reveal at the beginning, middle, or end, it's equally impressive and enjoyable. The book also lends itself amazingly to re-reads for that reason, and I can't wait to read it again knowing everything and picking up the clues I missed each time.

Other things:
-The themes are gorgeous, deep, wholesome, pure, and well-written, woven expertly into the story in a way that is seamless and natural yet incredibly powerful and striking. There were so many amazing and profound themes, yet none was shortchanged - courage, determination, friendship, nobility, power, leadership, wisdom, compassion, and so many more.
-I loved the writing style. I suspect the fact that it's older and archaic was a slight struggle for me as a child, but I adore it now. The author's wonderful descriptions are vivid, complex, and beautiful while remaining brief and spare. The only minor things I didn't like about the writing: The author uses different comma rules than I prefer, and I was at first annoyed by what I classify as comma splices when semicolons would work perfectly - but that's just because the author was British and wrote decades ago. Also, the first lines were not extraordinary and consisted of "telling," though there was nothing terribly wrong with them; however, though at first a mite critical, that didn't last past the first page, and I was delighted to find that the writing of the rest of the book was, in fact, outstanding.
-The worldbuilding and rich historical detail were amazing. The story felt so real and vivid despite being set in a fictional kingdom. I loved all the vivid, natural details of the medieval kingdom in which the story takes place - ranging from ordinary cottage life to the machinations of powerful lords. The way the fictional tale and characters were portrayed made me believe it could really have happened, even though it's completely fictional. There was so much timeless truth about life and people and so much actual historical detail included - even though the story is not based on specific historical events. I adore kingdom fantasy that feels richly historical, but it's so rare. I'm always looking for good books in that category but often come up dry, and I'm so glad to have this one.
-There is so much depth of emotion in this book without ever being melodramatic or over-the-top. It consistently and frequently drew me into the emotion in the most beautiful way. The book included great joy, laughter, and humor throughout in addition to portraying suffering, sadness, and tragedy in a way that was realistic and uplifting, never depressing or sappy. I felt for the characters as they walked through hardship, and there were many moments that made me sad or warmed my heart. One representative moment that struck me in particular, out of many such moments that I love, is the line, "Alas, alas, the sorrow of the world," said with weeping by one of the characters. I have wept about that in real life so many times just like the main characters do, and it was sweet and refreshing to see it in that character and from an author. Only a rare person has a heart like the main characters exhibit - and I know the author must have had that kind as well.
-THAT ENDING. It blew my mind. BOTH times I read it. No small feat.
-Speaking of which - I so, so wish there was a sequel! That said, I still consider the ending complete perfection as is. That's the best kind of ending - one that is perfect in itself yet makes me long for a sequel. I want to know what happens to the kingdom and the beloved characters afterward, and whatever does happen is presumably eventful. But at least I can imagine for myself, and it's gorgeous.

I highly recommend this book to all readers of historical fiction, fantasy, or older fiction, as well as anyone who doesn't usually read those sorts of books. It's such a good story no matter one's preference. As to content, I would give it without hesitation to young people ages 10-12 and up, but many families read it aloud much younger than I would with my siblings, younger self, or future kids. The book contains suffering of various kinds and quite a bit of violence and blood, including abuse/beatings mentioned, antagonists being killed, and several major and minor characters sustaining severe wounds and injuries. For those reasons, I wouldn't recommend it for younger children, but many would still be fine with it even at a young age. Also, the older style would be hard for a young children reading on their own if they were not used to that, but I took note while reading that it would be such a fun book to read aloud for many reasons - one being to fix that aspect.

In summary, I'm in awe of the author's skill - and in awe of the character Huon, of course! This utterly amazing book easily earned five full stars and a permanent place among my all-time favorites - and I'd give it many more stars if I could. The story, writing, characters, plot, and twists were so amazing that I wanted a re-read as soon as I finished. I'll definitely be reading it again, and I may even buy a copy. I can't wait to share it with my siblings, friends, and cousins. I've already recommended it to several close friends and family, and I can't wait to share it with my little sister when she's old enough to enjoy it.

4.5 stars ( )
  Aerelien | Mar 23, 2020 |
I loved it as a child, and it's still good - I can't wait to read it aloud to Elayne. ( )
  chriskrycho | Mar 30, 2013 |
Trad, a poor orphan boy, finds himself in the middle of amazing events, as an amnesiac minstrel drags him along on a quest to return the lost king to his throne. ( )
  readinggeek451 | Feb 11, 2011 |
This comes close to being the perfect fantasy. ( )
  kcollett | Aug 6, 2010 |
nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Devi effettuare l'accesso per contribuire alle Informazioni generali.
Per maggiori spiegazioni, vedi la pagina di aiuto delle informazioni generali.
Titolo canonico
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
Titolo originale
Titoli alternativi
Data della prima edizione
Personaggi
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
Luoghi significativi
Eventi significativi
Film correlati
Epigrafe
Dedica
Incipit
Citazioni
Ultime parole
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
(Click per vedere. Attenzione: può contenere anticipazioni.)
Nota di disambiguazione
Redattore editoriale
Elogi
Lingua originale
DDC/MDS Canonico
LCC canonico

Risorse esterne che parlano di questo libro

Wikipedia in inglese

Nessuno

A young boy, beaten and mistreated by his grandfather, befriends an old man who has lost his memory, and together they set off on what they only know is a great and terrible quest, with just a verse and a ring as clues.

Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche

Descrizione del libro
Riassunto haiku

Discussioni correnti

Nessuno

Copertine popolari

Link rapidi

Voto

Media: (4.06)
0.5
1
1.5
2 2
2.5 1
3 5
3.5
4 9
4.5 3
5 11

Sei tu?

Diventa un autore di LibraryThing.

 

A proposito di | Contatto | LibraryThing.com | Privacy/Condizioni d'uso | Guida/FAQ | Blog | Negozio | APIs | TinyCat | Biblioteche di personaggi celebri | Recensori in anteprima | Informazioni generali | 203,207,726 libri! | Barra superiore: Sempre visibile