Branch and Crown: Book III of Water!

Gael Baudino's Water trilogy is by far the best she's wrtten, and yet, it is also the trilogy with the most disappointing ending. Her characters are wonderful, her story is funny, her writing in general is, well, interesting in how it switches writing styles frequently, and yet, the final chapter is such an anticlimax. This series is definitely well worth reading, despite that, however.

That's how I usually end up describing how I believe people will feel about Baudino's "Water!" trilogy. Either you love it, or you hate it...and ne'er...well, you get it.So why did I love it? Mostly it was the challenge. There's *so* much going on in these books that sometimes I just had to sit passive and let the stream of her words carry me on. Other times I was an active participant in the adventure able to use the very simple formula needed for the exact length of swinging rope (this never failed to make me chuckle).I loved that she kept to her style throughout the whole trilogy, and didn't just dump it in the end of a more conventional style. I think in the end the reason I loved these books is because they were so *interesting*...something to see and think about on nearly every page.For those that enjoy a good, active read where the author challenges you in many ways, I would certainly recomend this and the rest of the series.

I enjoyed this series thoroughly. I recommended it to a friend who reads fantasy (a la Charles de Lint) and she hated the series. I happen to agree that this is not a fantasy series for the faint of heart. The other two books in the series ("O Greenest Branch" and "The Dove Looked In") are necessary for the reader in order to "get" this title. I really hope that somehow these books end up back in print because they are a wonderful example of a writer having a great time writing for themselves.

I give all three of the novels in this series my highest recommendation. These are intelligent, humorous reads. Baudino manages to maintain a breakneck pace throughout _without losing the reader_! Anyone who has read Mercedes Lackey and longed for something a bit more literate, or Douglas Adams and longed for something a bit more feminist, or James Joyce and longed for something a bit more fun, will find this a wonderful read. Baudino skewers the New Age community, sexist males, patriarchy, and pretentious would-be writers while providing us with characters like Bakbuk, the King's sworder, who can't decide if he is a she or not, and Kuz Aswani, ferret or man--not even he knows for sure. All this plus a wandering penis--surely there's something here for everyone