The Book of Names, by D. Barkley
Briggs, after a slow start, takes off running, full-force, into a fantasy trilogy I'm really excited about.
The story problem is not new--two brothers, Hadyn and Ewan Barlow, are called into another world to fight the evil that has
been rising there and is on the verge of breaking out all over--but the execution was fresh and interesting.
There is much to love about this book. The first thing I noticed was the prose. Here's a random chapter opening:
Silence. A gathering of energy.
Ravens darted and swooped above, offering faraway, throaty cries. A slight breeze swirled seaward, pleating the grass and
heather. Land and water washed together at the shore.
This kind of writing was woven throughout the book--little descriptive gems that made the story sing.
I also loved the author's well-developed world, his villains, his heroes, his valleys and cliffs and cities and abbeys. I loved the
gnome and the bard and the noble monk. All of that appealed to me hugely.
And yet...if I hadn't committed to the blog tour, I'd have set the book down early. Why? The
gnome is adorable, the world is interesting, and this is the kind of story I love. So why didn't I love this book early on? I
didn't engage with the story because I couldn't connect with the boys. I didn't dislike them at all, I simply didn't care what happened to
them.
I suspect that's because I didn't see them setting a goal for me to root for. In the first half of the book the boys are reactive, rather than proactive. Instead of answering the call to adventure, they stumble into adventure, and, once there, they are very slow in deciding to stay and fight. In the first half of the book, they want to go home, and yet they are powerless to reach that goal. They are led around by a monk and a gnome (adorable, lovable characters, but adorable characters are
not enough to keep me in a story). The boys meet opposition and they show some gumption, but they aren't plotting out a
course of action and suffering defeat and laying in a new course. They are, instead, being led around.
What finally made me fall in love with the book, was that I got to a place where I believed the
boys were in real danger. Danger they would not get out of quickly
and I saw them start to fight in a battle that would require skill, wits, and perseverance.
OK why do I tell you all of this?
Because I want to encourage you to buy the book and read it. If you find yourself mildly bored in the beginning, stick with
it. There is a payoff. By the end of the book, I loved three of the brothers, loved the girl, loved the monk, loved the
gnome, loved the bard. I also saw a rich story emerge, full of purpose that adds tremendous depth without preaching. Tension
escalated. I saw evil beaten back, but a greater darkness rising. The rich writing added to the feeling that I was reading
something deep and mysterious and meaningful.
The story world was well-developed. The three abbeys were well thought out and gave the world a meaningful history, while
several people groups, all with different histories, convinced me that Karak Tor is as real as Narnia.
The characters, also, felt real and three-dimensional.
So I'm glad I finished the book. It ended excellently and left me longing for more. I'm looking
forward to the next book and planning on giving the trilogy for birthdays to several teens I know and love. I'm very glad to have
discovered Karak Tor and the Barlow brothers.
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Copyright © 2008 Sally Apokedak