Celandine

Celandine
Steve Augarde

Celandine has just run away again, but this time she has determined that she will succeed. After fighting with an unpleasant governess, being sent to a horrible boarding school and losing her brother in the war, she has determined that she is no longer going to put up with the chaos of the human world at large. Instead, she will escape in to another world, hidden within but from reality, that she discovered when she was younger. She will escape into the world of the Various, the little people of old, thought only to be myth. What she does not expect is that the peace of even this small sect of life is in grave danger of being shattered.

This book is a pretty, pretty book. I know you're not supposed to do this, but I do often judge a book by the cover. Well, sort of. Let's explain it more accurately by saying that I pick up a book because of the cover. I found Celandine whilst wandering the local library with my roomie. She had somehow coerced me to join her in the venture [I have a stupid habit of being reluctant to restart things from which I have once deserted, though I enjoyed them tremendously in first.] and we were perusing the youth fantasy shelves together [I believe she was looking for Eoin Colfer books or something--I cannot properly recall.]. It was the cover of this story that got me to pick it up, and the bookflap that won me over. I will not promise that, had this been Barnes and Noble, I would have bought it, but for free? Yeah, I figured to give it a go.

I am quite happy that I did.

For the most part.

The reason for my reluctance is that the book is an odd one. It's serious, set at war time and very straight forward. After a fall in her childhood apparently wakens her senses to a supernatural gift, and the strains of childhood and war begin to pull her family to the breaking point, well, things begin to break down. There are very few instances of levity or humour in the book, and much of it ventures into the disturbing. Celandine's peers, for example are almost inhumanly cruel to her and her friend at boarding school. Or, perhaps, the problem is that they are too humanly cruel. Either way, it's pretty dark for a children's book.

And it has to be kids, rather than YA, though any properly inclined age group could enjoy it. The presentation is young and easy to understand, when the Various are not speaking in their thick country accents. [The accents were often obnoxiously thick, to be honest, and were the only pointed source of contention in my mind. Their saving grace is that Augarde is remarkably consistant within their individual linguistic patterns.] Something about the book just feel young--perhaps it is Celandine's youth that does it. I suppose it is just one of those dark children's books.

The most unfortunate thing about my reading Celandine is that it is, irritatingly, the second book in a trilogy. Now, I would swear up one side of the book and down the other that there was no mention of this in the description...but I'm probably wrong. I most likely overlooked it at some point, and found out only at the ver end of the reading experience. Don't get me wrong, though, the book itself can be completely standalone, if all you're interested in is Celandine. From my understanding, the trilogy is actually about the Various and this book serves as a continuation of their legacy through their time with Celandine.

In the end, I'll say it is worth the read, though it may feel somewhat arduous at certain moments. The story is sound, the character is solid [if a bit annoying at times, but hey, she's a kid] and the Various are a very intriguing concept and society.


[Wouldn't you pick up a book that pretty, too?]