After 12 pages or so, I was in love with Morgon, Tristan, and Eliard. I felt that I’d happily read a book about their domestic life and sibling bickering. Who needs fantasy adventures? :))) Well, this was not to be, of course.

The writing was beautiful, there was a dreamlike quality to it that tasted of magic. (It made me wonder why I hadn’t read anything by Patricia A. McKillip before.)

“…questions he could not ask struggled like trapped birds in the back of his throat.”

“Above them the sky, deep flaming blue during the day, began to stain with night. Their fire flickered back at the huge stars like a reflection.”

The magic of this world is strange, often dark, hidden, deadly, incomprehensible. I liked that, yet I wasn’t lost enough in the fairy tale - I wanted more world building, further explanations (maybe that will come in the rest of the trilogy).

The Chosen One’s destiny is done subtly and deftly enough for you not to think “not again”. I did grow tired of Morgon’s indecisiveness after a while.

There were so many characters I wanted to see more of, they were left behind too fast. (Especially the badass warrior Lyra, I wanted her to talk to Morgon more.)

The ending was very unexpected :) ( )

Morgon is the prince of Hed, a small farming island. He's also a riddle-master, acknowledged for his ability to ask and answer questions since the wizards have disappeared. He only wants to stay on Hed immersed in his land rule, but the three stars on his forehead and the crown of Aum that he won in a riddle contest force him into the outer world. Shapeshifters chase him, and danger lurks as he travels to find the answers to his riddles.
This is a classic fantasy book based on Celtic mythology by the marvelous Patricia McKillip. Her books should be mentioned more and be more widely read as her writing is lyrical and descriptive. I read this a long time ago, and I'm happy to reread it once again. ( )

I remember reading this for the first time: I was fascinated and told a friend, who also read it, and then we had to wait an entire year for the second book-- it seemed an impossibly long time! We discussed details and moaned to each other at intervals, seized the next when it arrived -- and then we had to do the same thing waiting for the third. I tried so hard to figure out clues to the next books that I even very lightly underlined possibly significant phrases. ( )

En una tierra donde los hechiceros desaparecieron hace mucho tiempo, la sabiduría se conserva en enigmas. Morgon, príncipe de Hed y maestro de enigmas, se enfrenta a un desafío como nunca han conocido los pacíficos gobernantes de su reino: acosado por cambiaformas que salen del mar y suplantan a amigos y enemigos, se ve forzado a buscar el destino que le han otorgado las estrellas que lleva en la frente. En su búsqueda vagará por lejanas y exóticas tierras plagadas de magia salvaje, espectros que plantean enigmas, arpistas que proponen misterios, coronas que prometen la felicidad y espadas encantadas que le urgen a empuñarlas. Sus viajes desvelarán la historia oculta de un mundo que oscila entre el cambio y la destrucción a manos del Portador de Estrellas.

I'll definitely continue on to the rest of the trilogy eventually, but I was slightly disappointed. I'd heard it was something of a classic (at least by 70s fantasy standards) and while it had some unique parts, others were very typical.

My main complaint was that it was confusing. I would get lost occasionally, as important things were described quickly while descriptions of nature, etc, went on for quite awhile. ( )