Had Colin and Susan known that the Eve of Gomrath is the time of the year at which the Old Magic is most likely to be aroused, they would never have lit a fire on the Beacon. The realisation that their blaze is giving off no heat is only the last in a line of eerie discoveries, for already Susan has suffered strangely at the hands of a black and formless evil and rumour has it that the hideous Morrigan has left her haunts in the bleak northern waters to bring death and destruction to pleasanter lands. As the elves and dwarfs come swiftly to the caves of Fundindelve, home of the wizard Cadellin Silverbrow, to seek council for the coming struggle, more fearsome forces are gathering in the woods on Alderley Edge, and they, too, are preparing for battle. "Weird and marvellously evocative tale of Celtic mysteries, elves, spirits and strange presences felt, mingled to make high adventure for Colin and Susan - and peril for Susan. It is a timeless story, full of wonder and magic, terror and beauty. A fine author indeed, and perhaps one of a new generation of classics." - "Books and Bookmen".
"Although the story leaps and flashes along with the poetic authority of genuine folklore, the thoughtful reader could find in it a fable of our time." - "The Teacher". "It is not only powerful but remarkably sophisticated." - John R. Townsend, "Guardian". "For fantasy and excitement and vivid imagination that seems so perfectly natural and right, "The Moon of Gomrath" is truly a 'find'." - "Methodist Recorder". "In this saga of wild magic, Alan Garner achieves really powerful effects of beauty and terror that hold a reader well beyond the close." - "The Listener". ""The Moon of Gomrath" is not only powerful but full of wild and whirling adventure! The reader is drawn right into the midst of it all." - "The Guardian".
Industry Reviews
For Alan Garner, the power of Celtic myth is inseparable from the power of magic; as he renews the one he frees the other in a remarkable interpretation that leaves the reader wondering. Colin and Susan are already living in two worlds (introduced in The Weirdstone, established concisely here) when the enterprises of men unlooses the formless, speechless Brolligan, blacker than the blackest night, to join the Morrigan or witch-queen, and when the children's own carelessness releases the Einhariar, the Wild Hunters and their antlered leader Garanhir. Ranged against them are the spirits withdrawn from mankind since the Age of Reason: Cadellin the wizard, Uthecar the dwarf, and Atlendor the elf-lord (whose lios-alfar are retreating from the dirt and foul air of men). To wizards and their High Magic of thoughts and spells, the Old Magic is a hindrance, a power without shape or order; they have tried to destroy it before but it would only sleep. Now it threatens the children, especially Susan because she wears the bracelet of ancient silver, the Mark of Fohla. Susan is almost lost, and Colin is captured, before the Old Magic is dispersed but not destroyed in a harrowing confrontation. The words of the hunters trail behind: "Leave her....It will be. But not yet." This exists on a more mythic plane than William Mayne's Earthfasts; both take simultaneity for granted, but here the interest is primarily in the inhabitants of "the world of magic that lies near and unknown to us as the back of a shadow." In a reluctant afterward, Mr. Garner identifies his sources; he has already transcended them in a story that requires but repays close attention. (Kirkus Reviews)
