Skip to main content.com.au. Eager to graduate from the school on the hill, Phelan Cle chose Bone Plain for his final paper because he thought it would be an easy topic. One of McKillip's best! Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. While Phelan searches through dusty records, a new court bard challenges Beldan's bard. Phelan is an apathetic graduate student at a school for bards; forced into the profession by his unmusical father, Phelan just wants to find … For the first time in his life he saw some use for what he only knew as words in poetry: gold, jewels, treasure. Most of her recent novels have cover paintings by Kinuko Y. The Bards of Bone Plain: Amazon.co.uk: McKillip, Patricia A.: 9780441019571: Books A very fascinating story about the foundations of music and poetry by a story-teller who has a deep sense of the reaches to which art can take its artist. In Beldan's history is the story of a bard cursed to an endless life without music--but events in the modern day intimate a truth behind the legend. Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2012. One author can only write so many stories about bards before it becomes a little embarrassing. must they also be the most beautiful? Phelan and Beatrice get together, and Zoe becomes the royal bard, In Beldan's history is the story of a bard cursed to an endless life without music--but events in the modern day intimate a truth behind the legend. That transformation robs the novel of any villainy - just takes the sting right out of it, along with the impact. Craft. I was swept away soon after and just now returned to reality's shore. Some of the biggest books out this fall promise to be epics full of magic, adventure,... Scholar Phelan Cle is researching Bone Plain-which has been studied for the last 500 years, though no one has been able to locate it as a real place. Bard of Bone Plain alternates between events happening "currently" and those happening so long ago they are legend. Why didn't Phelan fail? Why was the big musical test so different the second time? Instalove - which totally came out of left field, especially since the couple had known each other for years and there were no yearning glances or snarky comments to make me think that either of them was harboring any kind of secret feelings for the other one. I adored. “...No song, no peace, no poetry, no end of days, and no forgetting.”, Locus Award Nominee for Best Fantasy Novel (2011), Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee for Adult Literature (2011), Does this book have witchcraft? Archaeologist Jonah Cle, Phelan's father, is also hunting through time, piecing history together from forgotten trinkets. Drat! I enjoy reading her books I never know where they will take me. Three books would have been a stretch, but a second book (or lengthening this one) would have been nice, if only because all the modern sections take place in one city, as do most of the historical ones, and the slight hinting at the larger world made me want the characters to explore it. He stared at Declan, whose eyes held a pleased, human smile. Another great mind bender from McKillip. It really wasn't. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Refresh and try again. Once I've finished a McKillip book, I remember the prose and I remember the characters, but sometimes I have to think hard to recall the plot. "Reminds me of a ballad my wife sings. ‎ The latest "rich, resonant" ( Publishers Weekly ) fantasy from the World Fantasy Award-winning author of The Bell at Sealey Head . Please try your request again later. . McKillip mixes her own imagery with that of Irish and Welsh legends, particularly the cauldron as the source of poetic inspiration and the dark tower (from that of Cu Roi?). Thea. Declan listened silently, harp on his knee, hands resting upon it. In a vaguely steam-punk fantasy kingdom bards can do...magic? I'm not going to do a plot overview because that is already there in the description of the book. Like “He finally took his harp out of the cobwebs, walked out the door, and admitted who he was: the Unforgiven.” The ancient storyline is preceded in each of its chapters by a few paragraphs that read like some Master's or Doctoral thesis th, Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2016. Only it's a sea-maid, not a princess, and her husband is sea-born as well, but her own true love is a mortal man, drowned by a wave and found in the sand with a black pearl on his throat. Bards of Bone Plain, The - Patricia McKillip. But this didn't quite grab me in the way that some of her other work has, perhaps because of the predictable plot revelation, moreso because the tone of the interpersonal dynamics doesn't mesh smoothly with the gravitas of the magic, nor did it make me invested in the characters. If I take off a star, it's because on occasion the plot can get lost in all that style. Play us something from your world.". Big Planet - Jack Vance. Like the jewels burning on his harp, they lured, teased, challenged. He's heard it all.". $11.99 Free Shipping. His most eager disciple is Princess Beatrice, the king's youngest daughter. The Bards of Bone Plain. Bard of Bone Plain alternates between events happening "currently" and those happening so long ago they are legend. The surprising industrialization of the modern setting is a fun counterpoint to the historical underpinnings; the tone is playful and charming, set against an arcane heart--McKillip has a particular knack for transporting, re. Start by marking “The Bards of Bone Plain” as Want to Read: Error rating book. He heard an ember keen, a twig snap. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. The ending is a bit abrupt and left more questions than answers and I wasn't convinced that the inclusion of motorcars in the modern passages worked alongside the more medieval vibe, but still very enjoyable. Boreal Moon - Julian May. He was hardly moving. To see what your friends thought of this book. Nairn was kind of a self-absorbed douche, and Declan wasn't much better, what with his needless mysteriousness and unexplained motivations. I read this book almost a year ago, and the plot made almost no impact on me. Never anything he wanted, mindlessly, with all his heart: these jewels, useless, brilliant, indolent creatures, doing no one any good, just flaunting their wealth and beauty on the face of a harp whose supple, tender voice would not change so much as a tremor if the jewels vanished. A disappointing McKillip. The Bards of Bone Plain: Amazon.co.uk: McKillip, Patricia A: 9781937007232: Books About The Bards of Bone Plain. The Bards of Bone Plain is very similar to Alphabet of Thorn in the focus on a figure of the past who then becomes legend and that might irritate some people because of those similarities- I personally liked the contrast of the chracter's legend and the character's true story. No one spoke, except the fire, the wind, the sea. He looked down, found the jewels had melted like tears down the harp face, slid to his feet. It wasn't my favorite of McKillip's that I've read, I think because there were too many characters and their endings, in some cases, seemed rushed or contrived. For instance, the characters seemed set up to be used in ways much more dynamically than they were, while others weren't used at all. "He can play anything; he's been everywhere around the Marches. He met Declan's eyes once, above the jewels; they told him nothing more than mist. The feeling echoed oddly in his memories. "Like Nairn. The Bards of Bone Plain (2010) Written by: Patricia A. McKillip Genre: Fantasy Pages: 336 (Hardcover) Publisher: Ace. I never tire of McKillip's worlds, where magic, song and love are intertwined, and the same. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. "You first. But the plot is very thin and the characters were not strong enough to hold my interest. I was slightly amused at the inclusion of lots of steam technology in the modern sections; I guess steampunk trappings are just inescapable in fantasy at this point, although they don't sit well with the author's usual gorgeous medieval settings. Something went wrong. Cart All. It took me a little while to get the hang of how this world works: there’s cars and trams, but also ancient magic, a bit closer to the surface than it is for us. But the writing is amazing and the scenes created are astounding. By Thea. I’ve said it before, but this woman’s prose is magic. The older bard came over to him, sat on the bench beside him. Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2013. Astonished, he recognized it: the other time he had wanted something with all his bones and didn't know what it was. "Another wanderer," one decided. If you love bards and legends, woven together with magic and mystery, you'll love this. Box 371390, CA 94037 © 2021 Kinuko Y. When they unearth a disk ma. Uncut jewels inset deeply into the face of the harp glowed like mermaid's tears, green, blue, red, amber in the firelight. There's a mystery to be solved and a conflict developing, but figuring that out through the clouds of narration is a bit of a task. I just could not get enthused about this book the way I have about other lush volumes she has written. Patricia McKillip almost always tells the same story - a talented, bemused character is mystified by something that may or may not be magic, and tries to understand its heart. . The men shifted, murmuring with wonder, then were dead still as the harper played a slow, rich, elegant ballad the like of which Nairn had never heard. "I offered to come. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! His fingers stilled. "I couldn't. But there were other songs, he realized, other music, maybe even other instruments secreted away where only those who possessed gold, wore jewels, were permitted to go. I love McKillip’s work, now that I’ve got into it; I actually found it a bit difficult to pick which of her books to read last night, and ultimately just went with Lynn‘s recommendation. "Sad," one breathed finally, of the princess who had fled her life on her own bare feet to meet her true love in secret, only to find him dead in their trysting bower with her husband's wedding ring lying in the hollow of his throat. Much of McKillip's descriptions of the fantastic were done with juxtapositioning of otherwise unlike (or opposing) concepts or images, or even the jumbling of phrasing, and was successful with this in representing mystery and danger, but her more run-of-the-mill and daily descriptions were, I felt, somewhat wanting. She basically writes poetry in prose. The ancient storyline is preceded in each of its chapters by a few paragraphs that read like some Master's or Doctoral thesis theorizing on the events that unfold after them. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. ?s story. Overall enjoyable, though, and I would recommend it to friends who hadn't read McKillip and wanted a more straightforward introduction than some of her other books. Except that the knack has been lost through the ages and now all that's left is myth, history, and archeology? But, there is magic in music...and in words, even the everyday variety. Unfortunately, the book itself falls short of what I felt she could achieve, though, strangely, in topographical ways. There was a problem loading your book clubs. The bards of Bone Plain Item Preview > remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. The Bards of Bone Plain is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip. This goes from mythic (the rivalry between Nairn and Declan, and their feuding kingdoms), takes a brief detour as a school story, and becomes almost stiltedly parallel (Nairn and Welkin, Zoe and Kelda) in a way that oversimplifies the story: who and why and the layers of symbolism flatten into a story of present-day redemption. The jewels, fair blue as sky, green as river moss, fire red, teased him, lured his eyes when he ignored them. 4 likes. I started this chart on June 29, 2013. "Some song from the sea. 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