Sequel to Wise child and Juniper. ( )

LibraryThing is the greatest thing ever for so many reasons, and not the least is finding books in a series one read as a child that one wasn't aware existed. I adored Juniper and Wise Child as a kid and read those books over and over. In 2003, Colman was published, just after the death of author Monica Furlong, and I am so pleased to have been able to find out about it and finish the story of these amazing characters.
(SPOILERS for the previous 2 books in the series)
Wise Child and Juniper have escaped from Wise Child's village along with her cousin, Colman. They retreat with Finbar to hopefully find succor in Juniper's home country of Cornwall. Unfortunately Juniper's Aunt Meroot and her consort have sacked the kingdom and kidnapped Juniper's brother in another attempt to seize power. Working together, the group must rescue Brangwyn and restore the kingdom.
This story isn't quite as strong as the previous two, but I am grateful for the opportunity to revisit these great characters and put a cap on their tale. ( )

Published posthumously, this is the sequel to [book: Wise Child]. When Wise Child and Juniper are accused of witchcraft by their village, they escape with Finbar, Cormac and Colman and travel to Juniper’s homeland, where she lived first as a spoiled princess and then as an apprentice under Euny. Juniper’s previously happy country suffers under the rule of Meroot and the Grey Knight. Juniper and her friends join her countrymen in overthrowing the tyrannical rule. Unlike the first two books in the series, [book: Colman] suffers from stilted, stiff dialog and a plot that feels like its going through the motions. In fact, I found it unreadable. ( )

Summary: Juniper, the wise woman, Wise Child, her protégé, and Colman, Wise Child's best friend, have all fled their small English village in the face of accusations of witchcraft and threats of persecution. They've returned to Cornwall, where Juniper's father is king, only to find Juniper's parents dead and the lands surrounding Castle Dore under the thumb of Juniper's evil Aunt Meroot. Meroot and her husband, the Gray Knight, have kidnapped Juniper's younger brother, and have set him up as a figurehead while they rule over a populace terrified by their dark sorcery and brutal tactics. It's up to Colman and Wise Child to save Juniper's brother and liberate the kingdom, but what hope do two children have against two powerful sorcerers?

Review: Furlong completed Colman just before she died in 2003, and it was in fact published posthumously. However, "completed" doesn't necessarily mean "finished"; Colman is easily the roughest of Furlong's three Doran books, and I'd like to believe that if Furlong had had more time to work on it, she would have polished it up and fleshed it out a bit more. As it is, though, it reads like a middle draft - all of the basic ideas are there, and there's a complete story, but the emphasis is not always in the right places.

There were elements throughout the book that just didn't feel like enough. Colman has some of the powers of a doran (scrying, etc.), but he rejects further training, and for most of the book, his potential powers are completely ignored - which is a shame, since Juniper's and Wise Child's doran training were the most interesting parts of the previous two books. Similarly, while Meroot and the Gray Knight were excellently terrifying villains in Juniper, in Colman they've largely lost their teeth, and the plan to defeat them comes together way too easily and conveniently to be really compelling. Indeed, for part of the climax, our protagonists are not actually doing anything, but simply watching things unfold from a hidden room. Where's the excitement in that?

Overall, while this was an easy read, it was ultimately kind of disappointing. The potential is certainly there, but I'm sad that we'll never get to see how good it could have been if Furlong had been able to spend a little more time with it. 3 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Not as good as the rest of the series, for sure. Since it's currently out of print, I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to find it, but if you like Juniper or Wise Child and a copy happens to drop in your lap, it's not a terrible way to spend the afternoon. ( )

http://bookchronicle.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/fiction-colman-by-monica-furlong/ ( )