The Naming (UK title: The Gift) by Alison Croggon
Publication: Candlewick (May 10, 2005), Hardback, 466pp / ISBN 0763626392
Genre: Fantasy, YA/Teen
Rating: 
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Read: October 2009
Source: Library
I found this mis-shelved at the library when I was looking for more Kevin Crossley-Holland books, and as soon as I saw “Pellinor” I thought “it’s an Arthurian thing!” So I grabbed it (along with a KC-H book). But no, it’s not an Arthurian thing. Instead, it’s a high fantasy in the vein of Lord of the Rings, with bards and magic and an entirely alternate world with monsters and magic and sword fights and really awesome female leads. But no elves.
Summary from Amazon:
Maerad is a slave in a desperate and unforgiving settlement, taken there as a child when her family is destroyed in war. She doesn’t yet know she has inherited a powerful gift, one that marks her as a member of the noble School of Pellinor and enables her to see the world as no other can. It is only when she is discovered by Cadvan, one of the great Bards of Lirigon, that her true identity and extraordinary destiny unfold. Now, she and her mysterious teacher must embark on a treacherous, uncertain journey through a time and place where the forces of darkness wield an otherworldly terror.
My favorite part of The Naming by far is Maerad. She’s surly, and disagreeable, and she doesn’t want to be a hero– pretty much your typical anti-hero except maybe a little bit less capable. She has her nice moments, of course, and she isn’t completely devoid of emotions like a lot of anti-heroes seem to be. She cares about people, once she gets used to the idea that they care about her. She cries. She laughs. It’s just a little more awkward than a non-anti-hero hero would be, I think. Anyway, she spent so long as a slave and because she a) has a tragic past, b) is constantly on the run from baddies who want to kill her, and c) isn’t sure who she can trust, like, ever, yeah, I can understand why she wouldn’t immediately be excited about her supposed “destiny” re:saving the world. And if she wants to be surly? Totally fine with me.
Plus there’s enough growth in her character in this book that makes me think she won’t always be so opposed to being a hero, later.
I really liked how Maerad asked the questions I always want to ask people in high fantasies. She constantly bugs Cadvan about where they’re going, what they’re going to do, what something means. I like that she doesn’t just quietly sit back and let him call all the shots without talking to her about them– after all, she’s the super-duper special girl, isn’t she? Shouldn’t she get a say, too? (The answer is “duh.”) It always bugged me when the chosen-whatever just dutifully tagged along behind whoever was sent to fetch them and nothing is told to them until page 50, or something. Like, I don’t know. Harry Potter, maybe? Anyway, moving on.
Besides Maerad, I actually really liked Cadvan, who’s quite a decent fellow, and another character that shows up in the second half of the book that I can’t tell you about because of spoilers. But he’s just as delightful as Maerad, and I’m looking forward to reading more about him in later books.
The plot was good. A bit slow sometimes, but I always find some part of a high fantasy slow. I’m always waiting for the next sword fight, the next mad dash across a deadly marsh, etc. There’s plenty of fights and mad dashes in The Naming, luckily, so I never found the slow parts so slow that I wanted to stop. Some parts, in fact, where so exciting I had to take a break and read something else until I had calmed down enough to continue!
The writing varies between extremely poetic and pretty standard. The poetry bits come out most in the description of places or people (especially the state of someone’s soul), and the more regular bits are mostly when people are talking. Which for me is a good thing; I’m not overly fond of the near-Shakespearean way of talking a lot of characters in high fantasies speak. Here’s an example of the poetry-ish bits, from page 2 of the US hardback edition, right when Maerad is being introduced in the cot where she’s a slave:
Maerad was still too young to have given up hope of escape, although as she approached adulthood and began better to understand her own limitations, she understood it to be a childish dream. Freedom was a fantasy she gnawed at obsessively in her few moments of leisure, like an old bone with just a trace of meat, and like all illusions, it left her hungrier than before, only more keenly aware of how her soul starved within her, its wings wasting with the despair of disuse.
I really liked The Naming. At over 400 pages in hardback it’s pretty hefty, but I don’t think I noticed it until Maerad and Cadvan started the second part of their journey. I could feel that they were going to be on the road for a while, and just thinking of how long it’d take was making me tired. However, it wasn’t as bad as all that, and I fairly flew through the last 200 pages. If I was to describe The Naming in a phrase it’d be “intense action muffled by a layer of inaction.” Sometimes that inaction can be a bit grating, and it’s not for everyone– it’s not even for me most of the time (which is why I never made it past The Hobbit)– but if you can be patient through the slow bits The Naming is extremely enjoyable. (And the action-packed bits more than make up for the other parts.) I can’t wait to read the rest of the series, actually!
Other reviews: A Book A Week | Reading is My Superpower | Jenny’s Books
I’ve also read and reviewed book number two!
I’ve completed yet another challenge, this time the 
Library Loot is a weekly meme hosted by 
Thursday Tea is a weekly meme hosted by yours truly. To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the answers to these questions: what tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together.
The tea: My campus has their own deli/grocery store thing that’s horribly expensive but very convenient, and they have packets of tea you can buy. Sort of like how Starbucks has individual packets of Tazo tea? My campus has individual packets of 
The Feng Shui Detective’s Casebook by 
Book Trailer Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by me, Anastasia. It’s very simple to play along: find a particularly awesome book trailer, embed it in a post, then proceed to coo all over it. Or, y’know, talk about whatever you want to talk about. Why did this book trailer catch your eye? Why do you want to share it with people? Did it make you want to read the book? Why was it effective (or not)?
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