Book Review- Alison Croggon's "The Crow"

The third book of the Pellinor series was far from what I expected. For this novel, we follow the story of Hem after he separates with Maerad. In this book, Ms Croggon explores her dark side, creating beings that are repulsive and their qualities horrifying. A writer who can make you fall in love with the hero is normal, but a writer who can make you feel the repulsion of the antagonists and their goals is beautiful. Ms. Croggon eloquent writing skills give her readers the desire to jump into the book, become a Bard, and fight for the Light. Her story wraps its tendrils around a person's soul and brings them on an emotional rollercoaster of fear, longing, loss, love, and loneliness.

Much like the first two novels in the series, this story has so many parts. The action is constantly moving and changing like a chameleon. I find it amazing how in all three of her novels there is a lot of time spent traveling from one spot to another, and yet it never gets boring. It's also amazing how Hem and Maerad's stories are so different, yet share a cohesion and parallel structure to one another. Through these similarities, part of her story is clarified through the things he goes through, yet it is obvious still that guessing what will come next is a moot point.

The Crow to me was really one large, tangled up love story. Yes, there is fighting and death and gore, but I think the relationships were what really drove the story. The first love story is that of Saliman and Hem. The admiration for Saliman bordered on an almost homosexual tension. Whenever they admit their devotion to one another I wondered if there was not something sexual about it. At the same time though, these tensions could be due to the fact that Bards are people all about love and helping one another. Hem, on the other hand, was raised in a savage orphanage and then placed in a house of evil Hulls, forcing him to grow up without the concept of what caring and loving another person really is. His incredible love for Saliman, whom he looks at as a friend but also a father figure, may be so intense because he has never been allowed to love before and therefore he is going at it with full force. A different love eventually pops up when he realizes that his friend Zelika means more to him than just a friend. This passion may also be displaced emotion though. She was the first girl he really got to know, his desire to marry her towards the end of the book may simply be because he missed her so much and was idolizing his memories of her. It could also be, that maybe he was trying to repress his homosexual desires by going after a girl (since the story has had no male-male partners, one must assume that in Pellinor there is the same stigma about gays as there is in our present day). Both relationships that Hem develops in this book are exciting and engaging.

My final critique of this book is that, while it is a great read, it is not as strong as the first two were. I would highly recommend reading it still though, because it is a phenomenal book.