Tag Archives: Jute

Adventure, Children, Fantasy

Bunn, Christopher: The Wicked Day (The Tormay Trilogy) (2011)

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Cover art by Alexey Aparin

The Wicked Day is Christopher Bunn‘s conclusion to The Tormay Trilogy. As this trilogy is a serial it would be wise to read The Hawk and His Boy first, then The Shadow at the Gate and finally The Wicked Day.

There are times when I find myself wholeheartedly able to recommend books for children. There are a couple of criteria I feel they need to fulfill. Violence and love stories have to be within certain parameters. Morals and ethics should be discussed without the discussion being obvious. (I like that in adult novels as well) Preachy authors are a pain. The flow of the written language should be such that I like the feel of reading to a child. I realise not every person in the world understands what I mean by that, but I would assume that a fellow autistically traited person would. It is all about word-texture.

Bunn fulfills all of these criteria in his Tormay Trilogy. The plot itself is pretty basic – light battles darkness/light almost loses/light prevails. I guess when life is boiled down to its most basic ingredients, life for humans is pretty much about the battle between light and darkness. One of the things I liked about this trilogy is Bunn letting us see that a person can contain both light and dark. We are not wholly one or the other.

Bunn’s characters are likeable. The story of Jute and his companions is continued. Not everything that happens in the novel is happy but there is an ending that brings the story to a conclusion. I have enjoyed my experience with the world of Christopher Bunn.

Adventure, Children, Fantasy

Bunn, Christopher: The Shadow at the Gate (The Tormay Trilogy) (2010)

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Cover art by Alexey Aparin

Once again Christopher Bunn manages to catch my interest with his characters in The Tormay Trilogy. In The Shadow at the Gate the battle between dark and light continues. As this is a serial, you will have to read The Hawk and His Boy first to make sense of the story. Ronan and Jute had their incident during a break-in in The Hawk and His Boy. Unexpectedly, the robbery goes awry for both Ronan and Jute. The intention behind using Ronan (the Knife) was to prevent Jute from ever talking about the job. But both Ronan and Jute had their lives turned upside-down during that robbery.

In The Shadow at the Gate Ronan is commanded by the Silentman to get Jute back, or else. Ronan goes after Jute. But Jute is not easy to find. He has hidden well realising his precarious position. The kid wants to live, voice in his head notwithstanding.

Levoreth Callas arrives at the castle with her aunt and uncle. She is slowly waking to the necessity of battling the Shadow. But discovering where the Shadow resides, and in whom it is residing, is going to take all she has.

All three characters have allies/helpers that both hinder and aid them in their quests. Dunn keeps a nice pace in his story and manages to make the novel interesting for both young and old. I have forgotten what it is to be ten years old. It would be interesting to hear what a ten-year-old would take from the story of young Jute and the rest of the gang.