George MacDonald Resident Scholar Profiles TOP SCHOLAR: Joe SCHOLARS:
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Review Summaries
"Mr. Vane has just graduated from Oxford University, and has just inherited the family fortune and his father's residence which has been in his family for many centuries. But certain memories or properties of the place prevent him from settling down into a life of ease in his beautiful house. A librarian clad in black appears who claims to have not only known his father but his ancestors long before him. He leads our young adventurer into the little-explored attic of the house and there, with certain preparations, Mr Vane is led to discover that the librarian has the power to take form of a raven and that he can access another world via a very unusual mirror. His science (which deals with temporal things only) will be of no use to him in mastering the mirror or the place to which he is going.
In this other-world the rules of space and time do not apply in the usual way, and visions and realities multiply until he is hard put to distinguish between them. The characters and creatures in the mirror-world all have special meanings and powers, but they are no mere one-to-one allegories (as in 'Pilgrim's Progress'), as they have layers and resonances which are discernable only with some insight. Vane wants to save the clever and kind tribe of pygmy children who are preyed upon by the stupid and brutal giant adult tribe, but his plans have very mixed effects. Then he meets the central figure, the beautiful femme fatale Lilith, whom he saves from death, but later he realizes his mistake as her hidden powers and other forms are feared by all in that world. He comes to regret his mistake all the more when she hunts him down in his own world, and even the powers of the Raven are barely enough to save them."
Michael JR Jose, Resident George MacDonald Scholar
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Overall Review
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Plot
Composition of Book Descript. of chases or violence - 20% planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30% Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%
Tone of book
- sensitive (sigh....)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- part earth & part fantasy world
Mental/magical powers focus
Yes
magical powers:
- bad magical powers hunting non/weaker magical(s) (fantasy)
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- wealthy
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- magical being
Age:
- long-lived adults
Profession/status:
- religious figure
Has magical powers?
Yes
Magical/mental powers of main antagonist:
- can change shapes
- mind control
Eccentric:
Yes
- deluded
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- physically sick
Setting
Terrain
- Forests
Earth setting:
- 19th century
- during "Tolkien" (fairytime) times
Takes place on Earth?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How much dialogue?
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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