Kay Harker and Cole Hawlings Picture accessed via BBC There are few things more Christmassy than the opening few bars of the theme tune to The Box of Delights . In fact, the tune is based on Victor Hely-Hutchinson's Carol Symphony and had been used in radio adaptations of the same novel years earlier than the 1984 television series. Clearly, everyone already knew that you just couldn't improve on that sound to evoke the magic of Christmas which - for me and for many - is so wonderfully explored in John Masefield's story. As a viewer, one of the things I enjoy most about the television series of The Box of Delights is the acting. Child actors are precarious things: too sweet and they're almost unbearable to watch, not sweet enough and they're unbelievable. They must walk that fine line between the two, and it is a perilous one! Most young actors fall into the first category, where their on-screen presence is almost dangerously saccharine. Not so the child actors ...
"Only One Death" by Alexander Crow
Book Review
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☆☆☆☆☆
“Only One Death” is an engaging novel, which is quite dark
in places, but creates a sense of urgency for the reader to read on…you need to
find out what’s going to happen next!! As a result, this is a very difficult
book to put down!
It is a fantasy novel and some of the names can be a bit
tricky, especially as it is about a group of 10 people. Three characters, in
particular, are very well developed. As it is a novella, it is quite short, but
you feel like you really know some of the characters by the end.
The book is written by someone who knows how to survive in
the wilderness, and this comes across in the writing. The wilds play an
important role in the story, and is clearly important to the author. The reader
is left pondering on a time when more of Britain was engulfed in wilderness,
rather than the towns and settlements we know today.
I would certainly recommend this book to any lover of
fantasy stories.
Book Blurb (from Goodreads)
“Amongst his people ten was an unlucky number.”
Dhinal is searching for a guide into the high mountains. With his mismatched band of companions, he knows he must find the legendary Red City. Meanwhile, in Eastsea, Kees prepares to leave behind the Talking Races for winter. Both Dhinal and Kees know that nature does not care whether you live, or whether you die. Both Dhinal and Kees know that even the best prepared of expeditions can falter and fail. A journey into the mountains, with winter approaching. A group with secrets to hide. What could possibly go wrong? The novella Only One Death is the first of three introductions to the Isthmus, and both a homage and an alternative approach to the standard fantasy quest. |
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