Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Ace Books (2000), Edition: 1st, 294 pages
Description
The acclaimed author of Song for the Basilisk and Winter Rose weaves a beautiful, entrancing fantasy of a powerful knight who must follow the threads of reality and illusion--to the truth...As a loyal knight in service to the king, Cyan Dag is honored to attend the royal wedding--until he receives a strange warning from an old woman. "Watch her dance," she says about the king's beautiful new bride. "She forgets herself in the music and lets her true self show. You will see the sixth finger on her hands, the scales on her feet, her distorted shadow, her terrible eyes..." And so, Cyan is compelled to leave the kingdom on a mission--to learn whether the new queen is truly the king's beloved...or a dangerous, sorcerous imposter.
User reviews
LibraryThing member SophieCale
After having this book and it's gorgeous cover haunt my shelf and memory for years, I finally picked it up and read it all the way through. I won't lie: it was hard going for a while. Its beautiful and haunting but its also very difficult to understand without giving it your undivided attention. It
I think the first time I tried to read this I was too young; the abstractions were too vague for me to harness, and there is a bitterness and maturity to this story that would be lost on youth. Not to say that a child can't read it, but I really think this story would have more power over people who have left magic behind.
In the end, that is what the story is about, returning magic to those who have forgotten it, relearning that there is a power in the world that is so much bigger than ourselves and that we may never fully comprehend. When you're a child you understand in your innocence that you are ignorant and its only when you grow older that you forget that awe and wonder and you believe that you know everything, that the world is as limited as your experience of it.
The Tower of Stony Wood reminds you different.
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forces you to spellbind yourself, because otherwise you can not appreciate it. There is much of it that is straightforward, but then the rest of it is layered in lyrical and abstract magic so that I often found myself wondering if I knew what I was reading/understanding, just like its hapless hero, Cyan Dag. I felt both helpless and awed at the language and even the power of the story. By the end of it, I felt like him, wanting to cry for no reason, so glad it was all over, but afraid of its ending. I think the first time I tried to read this I was too young; the abstractions were too vague for me to harness, and there is a bitterness and maturity to this story that would be lost on youth. Not to say that a child can't read it, but I really think this story would have more power over people who have left magic behind.
In the end, that is what the story is about, returning magic to those who have forgotten it, relearning that there is a power in the world that is so much bigger than ourselves and that we may never fully comprehend. When you're a child you understand in your innocence that you are ignorant and its only when you grow older that you forget that awe and wonder and you believe that you know everything, that the world is as limited as your experience of it.
The Tower of Stony Wood reminds you different.
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LibraryThing member phoebesmum
A much denser read than some of McKillip's work; it collects together strands from a wide assortment of fantasy tropes – there are assorted towers, one containing the Lady of Shallot, another a dragon, another a young woman and her selkie mother who weave the myths together, there's an
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Arthurian-style court, a disaffected subject nation, a mysterious bard … it's actually a fascinating read, and would make for even more fascinating discussion with someone better versed in mythology than I am, because I'm sure I missed a lot. Show Less
LibraryThing member amaraduende
Interesting, but bordering on that feeling McKillip gives me that I don't really "get it." Not as worrisome this time since the main character shared my predicament for basically the whole book.
LibraryThing member Snukes
I was entranced by the cover, but the story was only so-so.
LibraryThing member SandyAMcPherson
I always want to ♡ love ♡ McKillip's books because some of them have enchanted and enthralled. This one was too confusing and like the hero (Cyan Dag), I was pushed and pulled through a murky tale that never sorted itself out. Why the lady in the tower ever needed rescuing and who she really
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was remained something of a mystery. It was like being on a switchback road up the mountain, only I remained in the trees the whole time, even at the top. The cover art is luscious and I happen to have a large framed print of this illustration. I think the mystery was best represented there. Show Less
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
I had a difficult time with this one. As much as I liked the idea of the story, the characters seemed to bleed together, and McKillip's style was--for me, at least--off-putting. It felt over-wrought and overly detailed, to the extent that it sometimes felt like the writing really hindered the story
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itself. I managed to make my way through the book, but I can't actually say I enjoyed it. There were moments when the story really shined, and when I really got caught up in a character... but, on the whole, I was sorely disappointed. Show Less
LibraryThing member threadnsong
I found it hard to believe, but I'm giving this book by Patricia A. McKillip only 4 stars. It's a re-read for me, and one that includes the intricate, extensive language that she is known for. Like Guy Gavriel Kay, reading a book by Ms. McKillip is like sampling rich chocolate with a fine, deep red
The dedication says it all: "For Dave, who gave me Loreena McKennitt's 'The Visit,' an album that includes the song "The Lady of Shalott" based on the poem by Longfellow. So not only is there a king's champion in quest of the lady trapped in a tower, there is also the king's son of a neighboring (and warring) kingdom who is in quest for the tower of gold guarded by the dragon. And then there are the women we get to know, who are in their own tower near the sea, watching the trapped woman at her needlework and sewing their own scenes of embroidery.
I just love the descriptions of embroidery: the threads, the colors, choosing a color and letting it guide one's stitching, the revealing of the picture color by color on linen. They give the reader a viewpoint of why we who do needlework are so drawn to it, and there is a delightful scene where the bard corrects a questing knight about the difference between "weaving" and "embroidery."
But at some point the story becomes convoluted. I like the tale within a tale, the mirror within a mirror, but when Thayne of Ysse begins to fight with Cyan Dag in the tower of the dragon, Thayne shifts into something of light. Part of the dragon? A separate entity? The story of mother Sel, who remains drawn to the sea and embroiders a cloak of browns and greys that look like the sea, is a well-known shape-shifting motif. But in an effort to bring the mountains called The Three Sisters into the story of three towers, the story shifts into the un-reality of fantasy.
Still, it is a glorious book for all of its constant shifting, and probably reading the last hundred pages helped clear up a lot that would otherwise have been too confusing.
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wine. And because this was a re-read challenge for me, I read through it more quickly than I have read her books in the past. And that's still all good.The dedication says it all: "For Dave, who gave me Loreena McKennitt's 'The Visit,' an album that includes the song "The Lady of Shalott" based on the poem by Longfellow. So not only is there a king's champion in quest of the lady trapped in a tower, there is also the king's son of a neighboring (and warring) kingdom who is in quest for the tower of gold guarded by the dragon. And then there are the women we get to know, who are in their own tower near the sea, watching the trapped woman at her needlework and sewing their own scenes of embroidery.
I just love the descriptions of embroidery: the threads, the colors, choosing a color and letting it guide one's stitching, the revealing of the picture color by color on linen. They give the reader a viewpoint of why we who do needlework are so drawn to it, and there is a delightful scene where the bard corrects a questing knight about the difference between "weaving" and "embroidery."
But at some point the story becomes convoluted. I like the tale within a tale, the mirror within a mirror, but when Thayne of Ysse begins to fight with Cyan Dag in the tower of the dragon, Thayne shifts into something of light. Part of the dragon? A separate entity? The story of mother Sel, who remains drawn to the sea and embroiders a cloak of browns and greys that look like the sea, is a well-known shape-shifting motif. But in an effort to bring the mountains called The Three Sisters into the story of three towers, the story shifts into the un-reality of fantasy.
Still, it is a glorious book for all of its constant shifting, and probably reading the last hundred pages helped clear up a lot that would otherwise have been too confusing.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Karlstar
In a classic McKillip style tale, a knight chases all over Skye, a part of the kingdom where magic still happens, while multiple magical women either observe the plot, stir the plot, or are trapped in it. Mythic and magical, this reminds me more of the Harper books than some of her others. As is
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typical with McKillip, this is strong on magic and character and not dependent on action. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 2001)
Locus Recommended Reading (2000)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2000
ISBN
0441007333 / 9780441007332
Local notes
Invited to wedding of his king, Cyan Dag, a loyal knight, is warned by a mysterious old woman about the true nature of the king's beautiful new bride and embarks on a perilous quest into the unknown in order to discover if the new queen is the king's true love, or a dangerous, sorcerous imposter.