Priests of Ferris

by Maurice Gee

Book Overview

In the second volume of Maurice Gee's acclaimed O Trilogy, Susan must stop terrible things being done in her name... Face the High Priest. Face him alone. That was why she was back on O. To end the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 014032061X
• ISBN13: 9780140320619
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Puffin / Penguin Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.1" x 0.6" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

"They're Not My Priests! They Can't Use My Name!"

A year has passed since the events told in The Halfmen of O, and cousins Susan Ferris and Nick Quinn are secretly journeying to the patch of land on the Ferris farm where they planted the magical flower Shy, a gift from their friends in the land of O. The previous book tells of their adventures in another world, in which Susan was chosen to return two Halves of good and evil to the Motherstone, and by doing so, destroy the evil Otis Claw. Having made friends amongst the Woodlanders and the Birdfolk of O, as well as a man from their own world - Jimmy Jaspers - who opted to stay in O, the cousins have come to the flower to reminisce about their adventures. Little do they know, they are about to be flung once more into the world of O. At the flower they find a young boy waiting for them, a boy with a terrible limp who seems oddly fearful of Susan, and yet desperate for her help. Following him back into O, Susan is horrified to discover that one hundred years have passed since she left (much like the Pevensie siblings in The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set discovered they had been gone for over a thousand years when they returned to Narnia in Prince Caspian (Narnia)) and most of her old acquaintances are dead and gone. Worse however, is what has sprung up in her absence: a cult centered around her memory. Calling themselves the Priests of Ferris, a group of men and women have used her name to spread fear and tyranny, as well as annual sacrifices. Horrified at this turn of events, Susan pledges herself to the boy - Limpy's - cause, swearing to tear down the religion built up in her name and save Limpy's sister Soona who has been taken by the priests to be their next sacrifice. Working on a time limit before "the Miracle" at which Soona is scheduled to die, Susan hopes to find their old friend Jimmy (believing that he might still be alive somehow) and gather an army of Birdfolk (hoping to break the restrictions that prevent them from flying beyond their borders) and confront the High Priest himself to restore O once more. My rating for "The Halfmen of O" was four stars, mainly because I knew that "The Priests of Ferris" was even better than its predecessor. Whereas the antagonist of "Halfmen" was the somewhat generic villain Otis Claw, the enemy here is a group of people who have crushed the minds and spirits of people by using a cruel religion to control them. What makes it even more horrifying is that Susan has been exploited and made the centre of this travesty; invoked by corrupt priests and loathed by ordinary people. It is a difficult conundrum for Susan to face, and one cannot help but compare it to real-world situations, in which peace-loving individuals have had the faith they preached twisted by fanatics into something cruel and ugly. There is also the sobering reality in the story that although Susan restored the balance of good and evil in "Halfmen", it was not enough to eradicate mankind's darker tendencies. There is never a conclusiv

Warning of what can happen

The Halfmen of O, The Priests of Ferris and the Motherstone are a trilogy of books about the world of O, where a neglected site is exploited to create a race of halfies, either good or bad but never both. Evil prevails, and so a human child is recruited to amend the situation before all is lost completely.Having completed her mission successfully, Susan Ferris, the human recruit, returns a year later but is horrified to find that a cult has grown up in her name, using a warped version of what she did to remove the evil of Otis Claw and the halfies, so as to terrorise O into their ideas of power, government, law and order. The cult, thus centred around Susan Ferris's legendary deeds, ruthlessly seeks to stifle any dissent or questions from O's humans. Meanwhile the other residents of O are hunted down as enemies and Susan Ferris has to find a way to end the cult.Directed at upper Primary School children, The Priests of Ferris imparts a valuable insight into what can happen when unscrupulous people abuse religion and religious belief to further their own ends.

This book was one of the greatest books ever!!!

There is lots of advenure excitement all through this book with the Woodlanders the Stonemen and of course Nick and Susan I also like that new character Limpy. I havnt completed the book but i am really excited on whats going to happen with the preists trying to hunt down Susan Nick and Limpy im wondering if they r going to believe that Susan is really Susan Ferris. Sorry but this isnt much of a review i just really like the book:)