G.L. Giles's Review of The Necklace of Terrersylvanous by John Holland

     Although this book is rightly categorized as both fiction and fantasy, it's also a bildungsroman of sorts as it follows the development of the young protagonist, Clara, from her somewhat erroneous and mainstream exoteric ideas and adventures to a more accepting and loving mature character.  Though the story centers around Clara, there are other characters that the reader may identify with more due to their lack of rigidity and non-judgmental positions.  One such character is seen in the one portrayed by Alexcia, who Clara clearly and frequently holds in complete contempt as seen by her scurrilous remarks.  Many readers may forge more of a mental bond with Alexcia because of this fact.  Or perhaps because Clara has her facts wrong in some cases.  With some sort of seemingly high-brow morality in tow, she frequently comes across as being dogmatically right.  Even though the reader may know she's not.  One such example is seen on page nine when Clara asks herself, regarding the triquetra symbol, why the Pagans would display it when it was a symbol of the trinity?  It's true that many Neo-Pagans have popularized it to gain its association with the Triple Goddess (Maiden, Mother and Crone), but Early Christianity was guilty of the same thing or worse, for they took the symbol for their own purposes of conversion.  It was only then that it became associated with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  Truth be told, it was a Celtic symbol pre-dating Christianity and may have been a knotted variation of the Hermetic/Judaic triangle.  Also, it was believed to be a version of the Celtic triskele which became the triskelion knot.  So, somewhat more esoteric knowledge eludes Clara at times.  And Clara makes the lesser characters, like Alexcia, though somewhat lascivious, seem more likeable because they aren't professing to be right.  This book reminds me a great deal of some of the books in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.  I probably read each of the books in Lewis's series at least twenty times throughout my own childhood.  For example, like C.S. Lewis, Holland has a good storytelling style in his book; it was, therefore, easy to read in just one sitting.  And, also like C.S. Lewis's books, Holland's book clearly has Christian undertones.  It's interesting to me that Tal's Son (representing the Christ figure in The Necklace of Terrersylvanous) even sounds a bit like Aslan (the Christ figure in The Chronicles of Narnia).  The illustrations generally added to the storyline, and the "Glossary of Being and Places" is a great addition, for it enables an easy understanding of the book.  The colloquial language brought a smile to my face and added to the depth of the tale.  All in all, it was an enjoyable read, and I look forward to the books to come!

G.L. Giles

Copyright 2008