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The Owl Service
The Owl Service
Author: Alan Garner
Something is scratching around in the attic above Alison’s room. Yet the only thing up there is a stack of grimy old plates. Alison and her stepbrother, Roger, discover that the flowery patterns on the plates, when traced onto paper, can be fitted together to create owls -- owls that disappear when no one is watching. With each vanished ow...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780345290441
ISBN-10: 0345290445
Publication Date: 6/12/1981
Pages: 192
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 3

4 stars, based on 3 ratings
Publisher: Del Rey
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Owl Service on + 48 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is supposedly viewed as a 'classic' among children's fantasy books, but it has to be one of the most confusing books I've ever read. I don't understand what happened, and the dialogue seemed so random and as if there were sentences not being spoken. No descriptions or character development. It's supposed to be based on the tale of Blodeuwedd from the Mabinogion, but I didn't get the connection. The whole thing just left me perplexed, which is unfortunate because the description made it sound like something I'd really enjoy.
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reviewed The Owl Service on + 1568 more book reviews
Students of Welsh mythology will recognize some of the tales adapted from The Mabinogean . . .
The valley of myth and power . . . where magic made a woman out of flowers, where a doomed warrior won vengeance from beyond the grave, where the power of sorcery built and built and sought release.
Then Alison found plates with owl patterns that vanished; Roger felt screams near an ancient stone, and Gwyn touched the force of a tragic Celtic legend - unknowing, they broke the seals that bound the sorcery. Mythic forces, of love and damnation, lived again. The magic was loose...
reviewed The Owl Service on + 296 more book reviews
The valley of myth and power... where magic made a woman out of flowers, where a doomed warrior won vengeance from beyond the grave, where the power of sorcery built and built and sought release.

Then Alison found plates with owl patterns that vanished; Roger felt screams near an ancient stone, and Gwyn touched the force of a tragic Celtic legend - unknowing, they broke the seals that bound the sorcery. Mythic forces, of love and damnation, lived again. The magic was loose...
Bellbird avatar reviewed The Owl Service on + 106 more book reviews
This edition is published by Del Rey as a classic fantasy, but I read this first in junior high when it was children's fiction. It's more Welsh mythology agonizing the lives of young Brits.


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