Product Description

This is the tale of the young heroine Dakin, who sets out on a terrifying journey through wicked woods and haunted mountain paths to find the farthest-away mountain and break the spell by which it's been bound for two hundred years.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2809120 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 151 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-- Dakin, 15, is pretty, talented, and has a mind of her own. At age ten, she had set herself three goals: to go to the farthest-away mountain, to see a gargoyle, and to marry a prince. When she hears a voice from the mountain calling her, she responds at once. She is to free the mountain from the evil that has controlled it for 200 years , find the missing Ring of Kings before the evil Master does, and return it to the Prince. Dakin charges ahead and does what must be done, mostly using her own courage but with some help from enchanted beings. In completing her quest, she also accomplishes her own goals, including getting her prince, although not a royal one. This book is less engrossing than Banks's very successful Indian in the Cupboard (Avon, 1982). Dakin is too good, and the outcome too predictable (her prince is an enchanted frog at the story's beginning). The ending rambles on too long after the destruction of the evil, and the message--that evil can take over if good people are afraid to stand up to it--is stated too often and obviously. Also, the text is condescendingly riddled with italicized words that detract from the flow of the story. (And laughter does not "peel . ") For fantasy that holds the attention, it is hard to beat Lloyd Alexander's The High King (Holt, 1968) and Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising (McElderry, 1973). --Virginia Golodetz, St. Michael's College, Winooski, VT
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
?The strength of Banks? fantasy-writing abilities really comes through. . . . Dakin?s courage and determination strengthen a good fantasy probing the nature of good and evil.?
?The Midwest Book Review


From the Hardcover Library Binding edition. -- Review

Review
“The strength of Banks’ fantasy-writing abilities really comes through. . . . Dakin’s courage and determination strengthen a good fantasy probing the nature of good and evil.”
–The Midwest Book Review


From the Hardcover Library Binding edition.

Customer Reviews

Magic...
I picked this book up at our elementary school book fair, at random ... I'm so glad I did! I had to write this review because of the Horn Book review, which is right up at the top of the page, and so out of touch with what works for kids. "Slight?" The illustrations "contrived?" Couldn't be more wrong. I was in the fourth or fifth grade, maybe, when I read this book, and I'm twenty now, and looking back, this book just utterly captured me. Completely consumed me, in that amazing way that books can when you're that age. I was in the story, and magic was real, and I hurt for the gargoyles, and I cheered for Dakin ... I don't know, I think you have to be a childhood book-devourer to understand what that perfect book can be to a kid. Books like that are why I want to be a writer, so that people can get lost in my worlds like I got lost in that one. And the illustrations were part of the magic. In this case, "melodramatic" worked. Kids (well, kids like me, at least) like fantasy. Honestly, I suppose if I'd read this book for the first time as a twenty year old, I might have been passive about it ... but I remember what it was to be a kid, and so open to magic and wonder and so able to lose myself in other worlds and other circumstances. I'm so glad to have picked it up and experienced it ... give yourself the opportunity, whether you're a kid or an adult (in which case, maybe you'll get to feel like a kid for a little while).

Amazing!! What a treasure!!
I discovered this book when I was in the Fourth grade and have read it about 5-6 times a year since then! Now that I am in my early 20's Dakin and her hopeful attitude and her high spirits always bring me comfort and courage through tough times in my life. I have shared this book with children I have met and every one of them discovered the same magic and mystery I did when I was a little girl! Lynne Reid Banks is an amazing author who puts all the hopes and fears any 15 year old girl experiences into the heart and mind of Dakin, a heroine we all truly fall in love with! This is my favorite book of all time and I will cherish it always!

One of my most memorable and happy part of my childhood
I remember my mother reading this book to my twin sister and me. It was a hard back copy that she had gotten from the Library. My sister and I would come down out of our bunk beds and sit on the floor with my mother as we were enthralled to listen to her read this story. I loved the colored snow and the gargoyals. When I was married and had my first child I desired to read this book to my son and I did but it was mostly for me since he was only a few months old at the time. I will read it to him again. But I love this book. This story is a great treasure to me that I will always remember.