The Dalemark Quartet

by Diana Wynne Jones

Book Overview

For centuries, Dalemark has been a land divided by the feuding earldoms of the North and South. Now, with the help of the Undying, the mysterious gods of Dalemark, four extraordinary young people-from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 073943389X
• ISBN13: 9780739433898
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books
• Length: 785 Pages
• Weight: 2.04 lbs.

Customer Reviews

To the Dalemark

Diana Wynne-Jones is best known for her wizards and humorous magic, but in the Dalemark Quartet she takes a trip into more serious fantasy, complete with warring earldoms and strange gods. "The Dalemark Quartet" compiles together the four books of this intriguing, original series. In "Cart and Cwidder," Moril is the dreamy son of a family of wandering minstrels, performing and offering news to various towns. But a mysterious traveller joins them on their journey -- and soon Moril's father is murdered, his brother is jailed, and his sister is enmeshed in a conspiracy involving the Duke's son. Now Moril must find a way to save his family, using a magical cwidder. "In "Drowned Ammet," the impoverished Alhammitt (called "Mitt") has become a radical of sorts, after his father and mother are tossed out because of an evil duke. Later, the Free Holanders also take his father. Mitt is determined to get revenge, but his years of planning go awry, and he ends up desperately fleeing to the North with two captives... only to encounter storms, gods, and much more. "The Spellcoats" is the tale of Tanaqui, centuries before the first two volumes of the quartet. She lives with her family in prehistoric Dalemark, where a battle is being fought between the "Heathens" and their own folk. When her brother returns, insane, she and her family must flee their village. But Tanaqui learns of the existance of Kankredin, a malevolent wizard who is waiting for them. In the final volume, "Crown of Dalemark," a forthright young boy named Mitt is called on to be an assassin. A countess wants him to destroy a young lady, Noreth, who may become the uniting monarch of Dalemark. But Mitt begins to like Noreth, and so joins her supporters. What he doesn't know is that she is actually Maewen, a confused young girl from 200 years in the future... Jones is best known for a sort of wry, amusing, homey fantasy with a distinctly British flavor -- not to mention that they often have dapper wizards and strange multiverses. That sort of stuff is mostly missing in "The Dalemark Quartet." Instead, we get a darker, much more epic story -- there are godlike figures, earldoms, peasants, nobles, and plenty more. Jones' writing is quite detailed in this book, since she not only describes the clothing, woods and people, but also the alternative world of Dalemark. Both stories are connected, but independent, and Jones carefully crafts the politics and conflicts that run under all the magic and the godlike Undying. She even travels back in time. Certainly not many authors can make an invented world that is simple, yet realistic. Her heroes are also very realistic -- Moril is the kid who makes origami cranes instead of doing his math test. Mitt is entirely different, focused on revenge and getting more desperate every day, but learning about himself after he ends up adrift. Tanaqui is not quite as likable, since she is engulfed in a "mythic" story, but Maewen is a mysterious character