Monday, October 21, 2013

The Seeing Stone (Kevin Crossley-Holland)


There may be something to this young adult fiction thing.  The Seeing Stone, by Kevin Crossley-Holland, is intended for (and written from the perspective of) a young teenager, and it's fantastic.  It's the story of Arthur- well, two Arthurs.  The "modern" one lives on the England/Wales border in 1199.  He's gifted a seeing stone, through which he sees scenes from the life of the other Arthur- the famous King from the late 500s. "Modern" Arthur is grappling with who he is, and will be, so in many ways, this is a coming-of-age tale.  There's clearly a link between the Arthurs which isn't defined fully in this volume.  The first of a trilogy, its ending clearly leaves you wanting more- good thing I already bought the other books.

It's 277 pages are divided into 100 chapters which fly by- I haven't read this voraciously since Harry Potter.  Crossley-Holland does a good job moving the story along and making you care about the "modern" Arthur.  He can portray dark topics (sex/violence) in a suitably subtle way (a lesson many authors of adult novels need to learn), and there's the occasional profound wisdom that is quite satisfying.  As a final benefit, it gives a little insight into medieval English life, as the author tries to be true to the time period (and succeeds, as far as I can gather).  A worthy effort, indeed.

Rating: A

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