From inside the cauldron arose a crumbling beast of earth and bone. It was man-shaped, but faceless, bulging with nondescript features. It had a rough outline of head, torso, arms, legs. A cavity of ribs was clearly visible along its midsection. Lurching to its feet, dripping mud, it showed a gaping maw and a jagged mess of copper nails for teeth. A noise came from its mouth, a sound like the movement of wind through winter-crusted leaves – a gasping, nothing sound. The beast stood eight feet tall, looked as thick as a tree. It had no eyes. (Corus the Champion, page 15).
picture by Kinuko Craft |
The other fascinating creatures and characters of Karac Tor that we do not have time to explore include the gnomes, bird men, and the horrendously evil Horned Lord. To find out more about them, I suppose you will have to read the book!
Charley R says
I'm a great lover of the Prydain stories, but those Goths (I had momentary images of them being covered in thick makeup and the typical "goth" clothing there xD) sound terrifying! Enough to have me running away at very high speed anyway, hee hee!
Personally, I'm a huge fan of the fey as malicious critters – personal preference, but they seem more lifelike and believable that way. C'mon, if you had that much magic, wouldn't you get bored of helping little girls meet their princes?
Fab post – you really are selling this series to me!
Rebecca LuElla Miller says
Interesting that you saw the similarity to Lloyd Alexander's work too. When I reviewed the first one, I inadvertently called it The Book of Three at one point instead of The Book of Names. I also thought Fleuduer Flam (with the violin that would break a sting when he lied) was much like one of Dean's characters, though more so in the first one than in book two.
So happy the synopsis helped. I wish his publisher would include it in later printings because even if you've read the first book, there are so many details that are easy to forget.
I think it's a great story of epic scope and I applaud Dean for his accomplishment.
Becky
Gillian Adams says
@ Charley – Haha. I like both kind and malicious depictions of fairies, but I thought that latter version of the fey fit very well into the story – especially since much of the story draws upon ancient legend.
@ Becky – Oh, that's so funny! I love the Chronicles of Prydain. Definitely some of my favorite fantasy novels. Hmm, funny that you mention dear Fflewddur Fflam because I'm actually planning a post on that very subject for tomorrow…
Sarah Sawyer says
What a fun exploration of the creatures of Karac Tor and the mythology behind them (I included a link to it in my post today.)
I haven't read the Chronicles of Prydain, but the Goths also reminded me somewhat of the way Tolkien's orcs were depicted in the films (though of course orcs have eyes). They're certainly formidable foes.
Gillian Adams says
Thank you Sarah! Yes, reminiscent of the movie depiction of orcs too – though much harder to kill!