Celandine

When I started "The Various" (on the recommendation of a friend), I was a bit skeptical. Let's face it, there comes an age in MOST people's lives when fairies just don't make for interesting reading material anymore. That is until Steve Augarde took up their cause. After the first 50 pages of "The Various" I was hooked. And by the end of the book, I was dying to know what happened next. Well, rest assured; Augarde has done it again! "Celandine" is even MORE captivating than "The Various" (which I didn't think possible).This owes very much to the strength of Celandine herself. While I admired Midge's tenacity, Celandine's had me laughing out loud. Part historical fiction, part fairy story and - yes - part "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (much of the book takes place in a girls' school), this book will keep your eyeballs busy! But be warned: the third book has not yet been written, so be certain that you can survive the wait. I read "Celandine" over a year ago, and I'm almost a nervous wreck in anticipation of the final installment! Bravo, Mr. Augarde.

It's a shame Steven's trilogy is hard to find Stateside. His trilogy, beginning with The Various and now complete after this years publication of Winter Wood, is a must for every child's collection of 'Most Loved Books. No spoliers here....just buy them all. You'll be reading them to your own kids, and their kids too.

'I don't make a practice of reviewing complete trilogies. However, once in a while a reviewer finds something so wonderful that he/she must read them all. That is the case with The Various Trilogy. I simply could not resist them. Creativity, fast pace, unexpected plot twists and a surprise ending make this second volume, Celandine, very exciting to read. I declare that someday this trilogy will be recognized as a classic for young adult readers. I give this second installment high marks, and recommend it to readers young and old. Dan Shade, young adult reviewer, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.

Hello! I am eleven years old and I am a homeschooled kid. I like to read books with my dad and we are always on the lookout for things we can read together. I found The Various in a bookstore last fall. I showed it to my dad and he said, "Let's try it!" We had no idea how good it was going to be and that when we finished it we would order Celandine right away. Celandine is a prequel to The Various and these are the first two books in a trilogy but the third book hasn't been published yet. I enjoyed both of these books because they are about imagining a world and a place beyond what we know and what we normally think about. In The Various you will be introduced to a race of little people organized into "various" tribes that don't always get along. One thing they do agree on though is that they want to stay hidden from the world of humans but are accidentally discovered by a young girl named Midge who is the main character in the first book. As the story unfolds Midge experiences a strange connection with another girl named Celandine who lived in the past and turns out to be the main character in the second book. Both girls find their worlds connected with the world of the Various in mysterious ways that will make you want to keep reading about their adventures. The Various possess highly individual characteristics just like humans but there also is a magical dimension to their existence. Some of them can fly and others have special ways of communicating. They believe in a destiny that connects their past and future with a place called Elysse I am so excited to read the third book because when I read the first book I thought the storyline was so interesting and then when my dad and I started reading the second book it just kept getting better. I have a feeling that the third book is going to explain how the world of the Various and the world of humans is the same world after all.

Most, if not all of the previous reviews I see here are actually for The Various. Celandine has to be special ordered or bought on-line. This is a shame for readers, who can't see this book on a bookstore shelf in the US. I found Celandine to be wonderfully written. As with The Various, I found myself reading ahead of my daughter to see what happened next. Celandine follows the misadventures of Celandine Howard, Midge's great-great-aunt, and the Various on Howard's Hill. Most of the action takes place in 1914 and 1915, so the fantastic runs in parallel with the historical events of the first year of the Great War. In the fantastic realm, the Ickri return from the north of Britain to Somerset to rejoin the rest of the Various. They arrive to find that Celandine has taken refuge with the Various. This return of the Ickri leads to multiple conflicts. I particularly liked Celandine's departure from her boarding school. I enjoy the juxtaposition of the everyday with the fantastic. Perhaps that doesn't appeal as much as pure fantasy does to young readers. Go figure. Given the basic premise of the book (5 tribes of people 15 inches tall or less, with virtues and faults much like those of the rest of the world), the problems of the Various seem real-world.