Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
New York: HarperTrophy, 2001, c1975
Pages
289
Description
Tanqui discovers she has the only means to conquer the evil Kankredin who threatens her own people and the Heathens who have invaded prehistoric Dalemark.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1979
Physical description
289 p.; 7.1 inches
ISBN
0064473155 / 9780064473156
Similar in this library
Sorcery and Cecelia, or, The enchanted chocolate pot : being the correspondence of two young ladies of quality regarding various magical scandals in London and the country by Patricia C. Wrede
User reviews
LibraryThing member kaionvin
The Spellcoats stands in contrast to the densely plotted and bitingly humorous style I most associate with Diana Wynne Jones (at its most action-y in Dark Lord of Derkholm). It also, for my vote, is the real standout of the Dalemark quartet--paring down from the background politics of the first two
Tanaqui and her siblings have always lived by the river and --if they're seen as a little eccentric in their habits-- are still entrenched in the village rhythms. But when the Heathens come to invade the land, they find themselves alienated from the village and forced to take to the river. It's a journey that will take them into the heart of the land and position them into deciding the future of Dalemark against the larger darkness that attacks it.
For a "mythic tale", Spellcoats has a very small approach. Limited for a great majority to the perspective of Tanaqui and her family as they drift along, it's the slowness of the setting that works to the narrative's great advantage. The focus on their concerns and squabbles when faced with caring for themselves (and their shell-shocked brother Gull) lends a real heft... while Jones describes the river so beautifully you almost feel like you've lived upon it your whole life as well. It's this smallness, stripped away of the trappings of epic fantasy (maps! and imagined history! and rules!), that allows Dalemark to really finally emerge as a real character in its own right. And I mean so both figuratively and literally, in a crescendo of an ending which lets all the pieces (the history, culture, and magic of Dalemark, and the people) click into place- and brings into focus the real conflict of the series.
Diana Wynne Jones never returned to tell a straightforward story "epic" like the Dalemark Quartet (or at least the first three parts) again, but I would've liked to see how as a mature writer she would lent new twists to the idea. Or I would have at least liked to see more of the continued adventures of Tanaqui (and Duck and Gull, and why the hell not, Hern and Robin as well), which we were teased with mentions of in the other three books.
Show More
books and going back hundreds of years to prehistoric Dalemark results in a smaller, more mythic tale that echoes more loudly for how much more contained it is. Tanaqui and her siblings have always lived by the river and --if they're seen as a little eccentric in their habits-- are still entrenched in the village rhythms. But when the Heathens come to invade the land, they find themselves alienated from the village and forced to take to the river. It's a journey that will take them into the heart of the land and position them into deciding the future of Dalemark against the larger darkness that attacks it.
For a "mythic tale", Spellcoats has a very small approach. Limited for a great majority to the perspective of Tanaqui and her family as they drift along, it's the slowness of the setting that works to the narrative's great advantage. The focus on their concerns and squabbles when faced with caring for themselves (and their shell-shocked brother Gull) lends a real heft... while Jones describes the river so beautifully you almost feel like you've lived upon it your whole life as well. It's this smallness, stripped away of the trappings of epic fantasy (maps! and imagined history! and rules!), that allows Dalemark to really finally emerge as a real character in its own right. And I mean so both figuratively and literally, in a crescendo of an ending which lets all the pieces (the history, culture, and magic of Dalemark, and the people) click into place- and brings into focus the real conflict of the series.
Diana Wynne Jones never returned to tell a straightforward story "epic" like the Dalemark Quartet (or at least the first three parts) again, but I would've liked to see how as a mature writer she would lent new twists to the idea. Or I would have at least liked to see more of the continued adventures of Tanaqui (and Duck and Gull, and why the hell not, Hern and Robin as well), which we were teased with mentions of in the other three books.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ed.pendragon
A young girl, who has little idea that she has a talent for weaving spells into garments, has to abandon home along with her orphan siblings when they are all suspected of colluding with invaders with whom they share physical characteristics. Thus begins a journey downriver to the sea and then back
Spellcoats has a markedly different feel compared to the other Dalemark tales. As well as being set in an earlier period, the story is recounted by the young weaver Tanaqui, unlike the other three books which are third-person narratives. We also find that the story is being told through her weaving of the tale into the titular Spellcoats, a wonderful metaphor for how stories are often described as being told. We finally discover (in both an epilogue and in the helpful glossary that is supplied at the end of the book) that the boundaries between myth and factual truth are not as clearcut as at first seems, a fascinating exercise in the layering of meaning and reality.
Some of the threads are picked up in Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet (published before The Spellcoats) as well as apparently resolved in the concluding The Crown of Dalemark (but don't take that for granted). Typically of the author the climax of the story is all smoke-and-mirrors: does it happen the way Tanaqui's narrative implies, or is it all an illusion, a trick of the light flashing across the material? This is not a cop-out, as some might see it, but rather the mark of a writer who knows that magic should be experienced instead of explained away rationally.
This book comes satisfyingly close to the feeling of a good fable, and stands comparison with some of Ursula Le Guin's similar fantasy writing. In large measure this is down to a general vagueness in geography, with the River running from the mountains in the south to the sea in the north, in contrast with the detailed map that can be (and has been) drawn for the other three titles set in later historical times. Also there is a well thought-through (if at times confusing) theogony of the Undying and their relationships with humankind, matched by an attention to the etymology of names in the author's created world of Dalemark; in this The Spellcoats shares the almost anthropological approach that Ursula Le Guin brings to her created worlds. For me The Spellcoats is very much a tale that works on different levels and which can appeal to both a young adult as well as an older readership.
Show More
again up to its source before the causes of the conflict can start to be addressed.Spellcoats has a markedly different feel compared to the other Dalemark tales. As well as being set in an earlier period, the story is recounted by the young weaver Tanaqui, unlike the other three books which are third-person narratives. We also find that the story is being told through her weaving of the tale into the titular Spellcoats, a wonderful metaphor for how stories are often described as being told. We finally discover (in both an epilogue and in the helpful glossary that is supplied at the end of the book) that the boundaries between myth and factual truth are not as clearcut as at first seems, a fascinating exercise in the layering of meaning and reality.
Some of the threads are picked up in Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet (published before The Spellcoats) as well as apparently resolved in the concluding The Crown of Dalemark (but don't take that for granted). Typically of the author the climax of the story is all smoke-and-mirrors: does it happen the way Tanaqui's narrative implies, or is it all an illusion, a trick of the light flashing across the material? This is not a cop-out, as some might see it, but rather the mark of a writer who knows that magic should be experienced instead of explained away rationally.
This book comes satisfyingly close to the feeling of a good fable, and stands comparison with some of Ursula Le Guin's similar fantasy writing. In large measure this is down to a general vagueness in geography, with the River running from the mountains in the south to the sea in the north, in contrast with the detailed map that can be (and has been) drawn for the other three titles set in later historical times. Also there is a well thought-through (if at times confusing) theogony of the Undying and their relationships with humankind, matched by an attention to the etymology of names in the author's created world of Dalemark; in this The Spellcoats shares the almost anthropological approach that Ursula Le Guin brings to her created worlds. For me The Spellcoats is very much a tale that works on different levels and which can appeal to both a young adult as well as an older readership.
Show Less
LibraryThing member flemmily
Prehistoric people always trigger my imagination, and the people in the Spellcoats are no different, even though it is a fantastical prehistory. Tanaqui, the narrator, is a great character. Telling the story in her voice really pulls the reader into the story. I also love the intersection of
Show More
mythology and mystery in this book - this is a strength of the entire series, but this is the book that anchors the rest. Show Less
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
It didn't feel like fantasy throughout and that's part of the magic of how Diana Wynne Jones writes, it's only when I think back on the story that I realise how much magic there actually was in the story.
The story opens with Tanaqui's father and brother being taken as conscripts for a war, a war
I liked this one, it really felt like there wasn't much magic in it, but then you realise that the magic is all-pervasive, like a world that had magic as normal would be. I liked the characters and how they worked and loved the idea of weaving stories into clothing.
The story opens with Tanaqui's father and brother being taken as conscripts for a war, a war
Show More
that leaves her father dead and her brother broken. Looking like the invaders who won, the villagers turn on them when the river floods catastrophically, saying that they brought evil down upon them, then there follows a trip downriver, a trip that will change their family and the future.I liked this one, it really felt like there wasn't much magic in it, but then you realise that the magic is all-pervasive, like a world that had magic as normal would be. I liked the characters and how they worked and loved the idea of weaving stories into clothing.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Crewman_Number_6
This was my first introduction to Diana Wynne Jones, and it has always been a favorite. I read this as a child and a couple times since then. It always engages me.
LibraryThing member raschneid
This was an enjoyable read and did fun, trippy things with narrative. But I think I would have to reread the book after first rereading the first two Dalemark books to feel satisfied that I understood the plot.
I enjoy that this book is so grounded in its imagined world; the landscape, ecology, and
I enjoy that this book is so grounded in its imagined world; the landscape, ecology, and
Show More
culture feel absolutely authentic. DWJ doesn't write very much set in secondary worlds, but when she does set a book in one, she does it right! Show Less
LibraryThing member SChant
nothing very interesting about his book - of the dalemark quartet only drowned ammet was remotely interesting. I won't bother with the 4th one.
LibraryThing member lquilter
Loved the magic and how the story turned on a story-weaving. I must admit I was sometimes a little confused in this book, but I really enjoyed it anyway. Also, a thumbs-up for DWJ's portrayal of sadness and harsh realities, along with happy times.
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
At first, this story seems to have little relationship to the two before it. It's not till the very end that it's revealed that it takes place in Dalemark – but during near-prehistoric times. The society portrayed is very primitive, perhaps analogous to Bronze Age tribes in Britain. When most of
They escape their threatening neighbors, bringing only their household gods with them in a boat down the river – but these gods turn out to be more than the reader might have assumed, as they embark on a journey of danger and magic, which will lead them not only to the center of the conflict between two tribes, but to the greater threat posed to all by an evil, soul-catching sorcerer.
The narrator is a young woman who tells the story through her complicated weaving, setting her tale down in a textile coat. To her people, these ‘spellcoats' have both traditional and magical powers, and the record of her story will become essential to her story.
Show More
the men of a village go off to fight a war against some blond invaders, the pale, fair looks passed down to one family's children by their mysterious, foreign(?) mother make them a target of fear and superstition.They escape their threatening neighbors, bringing only their household gods with them in a boat down the river – but these gods turn out to be more than the reader might have assumed, as they embark on a journey of danger and magic, which will lead them not only to the center of the conflict between two tribes, but to the greater threat posed to all by an evil, soul-catching sorcerer.
The narrator is a young woman who tells the story through her complicated weaving, setting her tale down in a textile coat. To her people, these ‘spellcoats' have both traditional and magical powers, and the record of her story will become essential to her story.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Ilirwen
Like the first two books in this series, it wasn't quite what I'd expected. That doesn't mean it's not a good book, it's just - not quite my thing. Or at least it reminded me of other writers' work.
LibraryThing member SandyAMcPherson
The Spellcoats happens in pre-historic Dalemark before there's a North and South. it wasn't obvious at first that it was set in the same world as the first 2 books. In 'going with the flow' this is quintessential DWJ. The children in the story are enjyable characterizations and their tale is
Show More
compelling. Show Less