The Gift by Alison Croggon (The Books of Pellinor: Book 1)

7/10

When my girlfriend informed me that I would be reading Alison Croggon’s ‘The Gift’ and subsequent sequels, and would enjoy it, I found myself under a modicum of pressure. What if I weren’t to like it? What if Croggon has the same writing abilities as a cockroach named Paolini (was that too low?). I was a little worried, and the first part of the book didn’t engender me with much confidence.

Thankfully, at the completion of Croggon’s first book in her Pellinor quartet, I can sit here and say that I really rather enjoyed it.

Alison Croggon, a Melbournite like myself, has created a world that – akin to Janny Wurts’ The Wars of Light and Shadow – puts the focus away from simple stereotypical hero-ing. The Gift introduces us to the land of Edil-Amarandh, where Bards are the practitioners of magic and music is the ultimate expression of their talents.

The story focuses on Maerad, a 16 year old slave who is rescued by one of the lands greatest Bards, Cadvan. However it doesn’t take long for Cadvan to realize that Maerad is not just the untrained Bard he had thought he had found, but rather the fulfilment of a long forgotten prophecy.

There isn’t much with which I can find fault with in this book. Croggon does have a tendency to revert to the thesaurus a little too much, but there are those who enjoy the continuing revolution of words.

I mentioned in the intro that the “first part of the book didn’t engender me with much confidence.” Croggon splits The Gift into four “parts”, to help distinguish the storytelling. The first part is smaller than the rest, but also seems very rushed. It appears that Croggon didn’t want to really tell that part of the story, and just wanted to get Maerad to one of the School’s as fast as possible.

And sadly, there are some instances where comparisons to Lord of the Rings are a little too loud too ignore. Thankfully, however, the rest of the book does hold up on its own.

One particular aspect of the book which has provided a great deal of joy to me (and to my girlfriend, the linguistics fanatic) is Croggon’s attention to the language within the book. Unlike some books (which I won’t name, but you can probably guess at), Croggon has actually put a lot of work into the language of the story, and is warranted the small appendices she has at the back to explain. A definite Welsh-ness exudes from the names on the page, and adds great depth to the story that might have otherwise not existed in such quantities.

This is a real gem of a book which deserves to be read by more, and I’m really excited about reading the following three books. Whether your an Australian or just a lover of good fantasy, The Gift by Alison Croggon is definitely a book for you.