Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Oxford University Press (2000), Edition: New edition, Paperback, 192 pages
Description
When their father, a traveling minstrel, is killed, three children involved in rebellion and intrigue inherit a lute-like cwidder with more than musical powers.
User reviews
LibraryThing member kaionvin
I remembered loving Cart and Cwidder when I was a kid and basically new to Diana Wynne Jones. So was afraid it wouldn't really stand up to adult levels of scrutiny... or worse, I'd become one of those adults she talks about who need everything explained twice!
I still don't know which better
Moril and his family are traveling musicians, who bring not only entertainment, but also important news and messages to the towns they frequent throughout divided Dalemark. Moril can't remember any other life and his only foreseeable future involves better learning to play the cwidder-- that is, until his father comes under the suspicion of being a spy and his family is thrown into the conflict between squabbling earldoms.
Jones starts off all her plots vaguely. But Cart is even vague when I expected the story to 'go in for the kill'. Though her protagonist Moril is very nicely drawn, other characters vary from quickly-sketched to mostly inscrutable-- subsequently detaching me from the book's many emotional shifts even while I intellectually admired their complexities. The character that most suffers from this is Dalemark itself, and while some of this is probably intentional, the history of Dalemark is not rich enough to provide context for all the political intrigues.
Don't get my wrong, I still enjoyed the better part of Cart. The narrative just isn't quite able to zero in on the story at the same time as the characters are (discovering the nature of the conflict). Ultimately, what is meant to be open-ended, really seems to be punctuated by a giant question mark.
I still don't know which better
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explains my lukewarm reaction on my reread. I can only state my general complaint is its unformed-ness, perhaps attributable to the fact that the first three books of the Dalemark Quartet were completely early in her career (Cart being her first foray into 'high' fantasy).Moril and his family are traveling musicians, who bring not only entertainment, but also important news and messages to the towns they frequent throughout divided Dalemark. Moril can't remember any other life and his only foreseeable future involves better learning to play the cwidder-- that is, until his father comes under the suspicion of being a spy and his family is thrown into the conflict between squabbling earldoms.
Jones starts off all her plots vaguely. But Cart is even vague when I expected the story to 'go in for the kill'. Though her protagonist Moril is very nicely drawn, other characters vary from quickly-sketched to mostly inscrutable-- subsequently detaching me from the book's many emotional shifts even while I intellectually admired their complexities. The character that most suffers from this is Dalemark itself, and while some of this is probably intentional, the history of Dalemark is not rich enough to provide context for all the political intrigues.
Don't get my wrong, I still enjoyed the better part of Cart. The narrative just isn't quite able to zero in on the story at the same time as the characters are (discovering the nature of the conflict). Ultimately, what is meant to be open-ended, really seems to be punctuated by a giant question mark.
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LibraryThing member MyopicBookworm
I enjoyed this one, and I entirely agree with what wisewoman says about it. I liked the "Ruritanian" setting of quarrelsome earls and travelling minstrels, but I too felt that the death of Clennen made startlingly little impact on the other characters. Also, for a world in which such powerful magic
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could on occasion be exercised, it seemed strange that the culture made such scant acknowledgement of its existence: but perhaps it was presumed to be very rare or merely a matter of legend. But the characters and the setting are nicely drawn. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the set eventually. MB 25-i-10 Show Less
LibraryThing member Elferkid
Moril and his family are traveling singer. They are traveling north with a passenger named Kilan. On the familys way from the south to the north, Clennen, Morils father is killed. Lenina marrys a earl in the south dales. It is up to Brid, Moril, and Dagner to return Kilan a northerner to safty.
I like this book because Moril goes through life and expierences problems that I don’t have to face and enjoy learning about
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Dagner get put in jail for passing information because Clennen was a porter. Brid Moril and Kilan must carry on. With the help of Moril’s magic Cwidder they just might be able to do it.I like this book because Moril goes through life and expierences problems that I don’t have to face and enjoy learning about
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LibraryThing member flemmily
I like everything Diana Wynne Jones has written. The reason I like this book in particular is because I love the fact that it is about a family of singers who travel in a cart. I also like the way DWJ builds the mythology of the world - things that happened 200 years before the time of the book are
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vibrant stories. I like the characters, but it is the world and the mythology which is truly special in Cart and Cwidder. Show Less
LibraryThing member lithicbee
This book is a quick read, so any problems I might have had with it are mitigated by that fact. The characters, especially Brid and Moril, move about the story in a sort of matter-of-fact way no matter what happens, from the death of a loved one to the conducting of great magical feats. It all
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seems to be the same to them. But this is what it is, not a 1,000-page world-building epic, just the story of some kids making their way through the dangerous world around them. It keeps you reading and the end promises more adventures to come. Show Less
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Almost a 4 star story, but there were moments when things jumped suddenly breaking the flow of the story, but it was quite a good story about a group of musicians who travel Dalemark passing on information, however they're about to come up against the authorities and their choices are about to
The Story centers around Moril, the youngest son of the family, who has untapped potential tied to magic and he will change the world.
The guide to Dalemark has some spoilery stuff for later in the series.
It's not a bad read, I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
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change.The Story centers around Moril, the youngest son of the family, who has untapped potential tied to magic and he will change the world.
The guide to Dalemark has some spoilery stuff for later in the series.
It's not a bad read, I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
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LibraryThing member RBeffa
Cart and Cwidder is a quick read and one of Diana's earliest works, and at the start I found it to be pretty bland light fantasy with a few problems. By midway, however, some intrigue came in and the story picked up the pace and became a lot more interesting. Still, the dull parts bogged this down
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a bit for me as an overall impression. I intend to read more in this series as they are rumored to be better and I certainly liked the world of Dalemark that the four part series is set in. Show Less
LibraryThing member raschneid
Man, was this ever dark and tense. I really liked it, though, and expect to enjoy the rest of the series! I enjoyed reading a DWJ novel with a slightly different worldbuilding style than her usual - vaguely like the Ingary books, but not quite.
I liked how the storytelling and musical aesthetic was
I liked how the storytelling and musical aesthetic was
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very Celtic, specifically Welsh (the "branches" of the Adon's tale was a fun allusion to the branches of the Mabinogi.) Show Less
LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
I love Ms. Jones with all of my heart, and that is why it pains me to admit that I didn't really enjoy these stories. There was no connection between the stories (although the first two novels are set during the same period, they concern two completely different cultures and geographic areas--the
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difference between A Horse and His Boy and Prince Caspian for instance), so there's really no point at having them all part of the same "quartet." Moreover, the stories just didn't grab me. I don't know why not, but these are probably her least-enjoyable works. Show Less
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
Originally published in 1975. I really wish I had read this short novel as a kid. I still enjoyed reading it now, but I think it would have been one of my favorite books if I had read it at a younger age.
Although a YA novel, with a fun and fast-moving, adventurous tone, this book doesn't shy away
The feudal land of Dalemark is divided, and the South is extremely politically repressive. But people depend on traveling minstrels for not only entertainment but news and mail delivery – so entertainers have a more free rein than most. Moril has spent his whole life traveling and performing with his family from a horse-drawn cart, singing and playing the cwidder across the land.
But when his father is murdered by a group of richly-dressed men, his mother immediately chooses to return to the stable, well-to-do suitor that she left for a musician years before. Moril and his brother and sister, driven both by suspicions that their mother's new beau had something to do with the murder, and a lack of enthusiasm for a bourgeois lifestyle, take the cart and strike out on their own, agreeing to take the young man who had been their family's passenger to his destination in the North.
More trouble awaits than they had bargained on however, as secrets regarding an underground political movement are revealed, and the children realize that their life was not all the happy-go-lucky glamour that it seemed. Soon they're well in over their heads – which makes it convenient that Moril's inherited cwidder, reputed to have belonged to the legendary bard Osfameron, may have more-than-simply-musical powers.
Although a YA novel, with a fun and fast-moving, adventurous tone, this book doesn't shy away
Show More
from ‘heavier' emotional issues and political situations.The feudal land of Dalemark is divided, and the South is extremely politically repressive. But people depend on traveling minstrels for not only entertainment but news and mail delivery – so entertainers have a more free rein than most. Moril has spent his whole life traveling and performing with his family from a horse-drawn cart, singing and playing the cwidder across the land.
But when his father is murdered by a group of richly-dressed men, his mother immediately chooses to return to the stable, well-to-do suitor that she left for a musician years before. Moril and his brother and sister, driven both by suspicions that their mother's new beau had something to do with the murder, and a lack of enthusiasm for a bourgeois lifestyle, take the cart and strike out on their own, agreeing to take the young man who had been their family's passenger to his destination in the North.
More trouble awaits than they had bargained on however, as secrets regarding an underground political movement are revealed, and the children realize that their life was not all the happy-go-lucky glamour that it seemed. Soon they're well in over their heads – which makes it convenient that Moril's inherited cwidder, reputed to have belonged to the legendary bard Osfameron, may have more-than-simply-musical powers.
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LibraryThing member Ilirwen
This took a little getting used to. It wasn't quite what I'd expected, though well written as everything by DWJ. I can't say it's among my favorites, but parts of it were interesting.
LibraryThing member SandyAMcPherson
The Dalemark tales draw somewhat from old myths which I originally read ~ 20 years ago. My re-reading (always a danger with nostalgic books) still scores 3-4 stars. This book tells about Moril Clennensson and his family of travelling Singers. Moril sees more than 'meets the eye' and the lives of
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itinerant musicians presents an early glimpse of the world of Dalemark. Show Less
LibraryThing member ashleytylerjohn
So close to 5 stars from me (Diana Wynne Jones is a wonderful, wonderful writer), but I had some trouble accepting that the characters would be so chill about the astonishing life events befalling them—the mother, in particular, didn't ring true to me. Sorry, Ms. Jones. Otherwise it's the usual
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, I'm a bit more ruthless.
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melange of likable viewpoint character, distinctive supporting cast, slightly tricksy plot, the occasional unexpected reveal, and a lot of frustration—I'm reading a collection of her short stories at the same time, and it seems like frustrated exasperation is the main mental state of most of her protagonists, you expect them to walk around going "urgh!" all the time (and then after venting, getting down to business, of course).(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, I'm a bit more ruthless.
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Language
Original publication date
1975
Physical description
192 p.; 8.35 inches
ISBN
0192718320 / 9780192718327
Local notes
Moril and his brother and sister are travelling musicians journeying through Dalemark, until one day they pick up a mysterious passenger and are bound together in terror, flight, and music.