What a delightful adventure. Touching. Fun. Humorous. Beautiful. Wry commentary on life in general and idealistic young lovers in particular. Very reminiscent of Terry Pratchett.
Tristran Thorn is in love and makes audacious promises to the girl he wants to marry -- and then has to follow through, when he promises to bring her the star they just saw fall from the sky. He goes through a gap in the wall for which his village is named, in search of that star. Problem: on the other side of the wall isn't just a meadow that NO ONE goes into except for one week every nine years. It's an opening into a world of magic and danger. Like all good faerie tales, Tristran doesn't know some important details about his own heritage -- and this ends up benefiting him. Like all the best faerie tale heroes, he doesn't know his own gifts and potential until he faces the test.
I adored every minute of listening to this book -- and not just because of the narrator's accent. Or the way he changed his voice just slightly for different characters. Or the simple beauty of how he put the words together. Or the fact that the author was the narrator. (How else can you be sure that the words are spoken exactly as the author heard them when he wrote the story?) It was all those details, and more.
What was really fun was the interview with the author at the end of the book, where he talked about how the book came about -- how all the different pieces came to him, the ideas, the questions, the process of writing the book. I cannot believe I didn't hear about this treasure years ago. Lovely, delicious fun. Read it or listen to it. Whatever format you prefer, just dive into the story. You'll be glad you did.
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