The Light-Bearer's Daughter (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
It seems like there is a derth of books taking place in the land of Faerie recently. When I picked this one up, it was one of at least four new books at the library, all set in the realm of the fey.Our lead character is a girl named Dana, who, like many other heroines, is motherless. She doesn't know what happened to her mother to make her disappear. Her father is Gabe, a musician, who has decided that living in Ireland as a single father is not what he should be doing; he should return to his homeland of Canada, which Dana does not want to do. However, all of Gabe's family are in Canada, he'll have help raising a girlchild, etc. For a sort of a treat, he takes Dana to the local woods where there are eco-warriors living in the trees, trying to protect an ancient forest. Dana decides to go climbing in one of the tree houses and gets betwixt and between, meeting a lady of Fairy. She says she's human, or was, before she drowned, but she has a task for Dana if Dana is willing to take it - go wake the Mountain King, Lugh, as evil has entered the land and he is the only one who can fight it. Honor promises Dana a wish if she accomplishes this task and Dana, having one particular wish in this world, agrees.Honor and Dana make plans to meet on another day to start the journey and we get a little bit more of Dana and Gabe's backstory, including introducing another woman whom it is obvious has a reciprocal crush on Gabe. The trio agree to go out for a picnic and Dana manages to whisk herself away - only to find out that the evil has already risen, is awake, and hunts her in the form of one of the eco-warriors, a man named Murta.Dana has many adventures while trying to reach the mountain king; namely her time with the boggles. There are other characters that come into play - a talking wolf, the shapechanging Mrs. Woodhouse, Honor herself, who sometimes is human and cheerful and playful and sometimes a lady of the fairy court and Ivy, one of the girl boggles who are in charge of keeping Lugh asleep with their voices raised in song. Dana manages to awaken the king, only to have him nearly destroy the land with his anguish - but being a king of fairy, he manages to right it again. Dana accomplishes her task and gets her wish - though not in any way she previously guessed she'd get it.The story is very well written with a lot of interesting characters. It's a very good coming of age book (and yay, look, it's one for GIRLS). While the title states, "The Chronicles of Faerie", this book can be read completely independent of the others in the series.If you're fond of quests, impossible tasks and the like, you might be interested in this one.
I had to finish Melling's trilogy. Of the three, I believe this was my least favorite--largely because the plot was a bit emptier than the other two. Also, I suppose, by book three, one gets a bit incredulous about the fairy world (or, if you prefer, the artier 'realm of faerie') being in crisis *yet again* and finding out that only a young teenage girl can save it. I'm all for female protagonists in young adult/fantasy books, but this seems truly formulaic. I mean, even Harry Potter had Hermione Granger.Looking at the group of three books as a whole, what I find most disappointing is that this is a trilogy only in the loosest sense of the word. In other fantasy series I've read, each book, if it doesn't chronologically follow/continue the next, it at least is contributing to a greater theme. If these three are part of a larger series, then that theme hasn't yet become clear--which is a shame, because there is a great potential in the idea of the faerie trying desperately to survive in a time of modern civilization. Melling loosely makes reference to this in each book, but there is no sense of an epic movement towards some sort of ultimate resolution.
What do You think about The Light-Bearer's Daughter (2007)?
This was actually a 1.5 but I did not have the heart to round it back to a one no matter how bad it was. I was hoping to acquire a new understanding of Irish folklore while reading this book but nothing ever made sense! I was seriously disappointed with this one. It was just a little more horrible that Hunter's Moon. The writing is saddening. I was almost to the point of leaving it halfway. However, I wanted to find out if the end would make much more sense. Turns out, the end is even more painful than its prior pages. This book has a one for probably reaching out more to younger readers. I would recommend this to children ages 8-12 or less for they will not notice the grim truth of the writing style as quickly as some of the older readers have. In addition, another zero point five for TRYING to make sense of the whole matter but failing inevitably. I hope I will not read this book for my pleasure ever again :(
—Melanie
WARNING!!!! ***MINOR SPOILERS***Having read the first two books of the series, I was quite excited to read of the new adventures in the world of faerie in The Light-Bearer's Daughter. However, I found my enthusiasm being destroyed by the plot. Here was my first dilemma: her PETA rant. I love animals, I respect them, however, she makes it seems like anyone (or everyone) who doesn't bend over backwards to protect them is evil. In one part of the book, Dana's ancestor wolf (yes wolf) shows her that those involved in science=evil ( even though, scientist do help discover treatments to deadly diseases), those who work in cosmetics=evil, pharmaceuticals=evil, anyone who isn't in love with nature=evil. Secondly, the faeries are always the good guys,however,forgetting the fact that they're basically kidnapping Dana ( and letting her be pursued by a demon) to get a message to a king (and, i'm guessing that still makes the faeries good huh?) Secondly, the environmental brou-ha-ha getting forced down my throat nearly drove me insane. Again, i'm all for keeping the environment clean but, i'm not going to worship the earth. She basically compares the environmentalists to saints (Saint Kevin I believe she called in him the book) as if environmentalists can do no wrong. There just idealistic saints. I'm sorry, but, on either side of the line (environmentalist or non-environmentalist) neither side is perfect. Thirdly, Dana's mother abandons her daughter (just to go back to faerie) and pretends like everything's okay. she greets Dana again (gives her a crap excuse) and goes off back to fantasy-world. Forgetting about her daughter, and poor Gabe and thus abandons them so she can go play queen. I believe that was the worse part of the book. As much as I love O.R. Melling's books, I believe I'll never read another chronicle of faerie ever again.
—Sarah
With the conclusion of the first 3 books in The Chronicles of Faerie, my feelings remain mixed on the series. I find Melling's writing to be clipped and formal. The stories are heavy handed in their messaging (e.g. alluding to the holocaust when condemning the food industry). The stories are interesting, but I remember them more fondly in general recollection than I enjoyed them when actually reading; I value the imagination and broad tableaus more than the actual writing. I do like that the stories feature female heroines and am intrigued that the fourth book takes place in Canada. I will keep reading, but don't feel any urgency to get to the next book.
—Nancy Dawe
