Elidor

4 siblings, Enid Blyton kids in mildly mean streets of post war bombed-out Manchester. Filling time with a walk into a demolition area before the train home, they encounter a pied piper (fiddler). He is a presentiment of strange places and events. A booted football taken from the street, a broken window in a church, angry demo workmen. Alan Garner starts his story as slowly as the children walking. A simple telling leads us into a new world linked to, evidenced by and then emerging in our ordinary one. Apparent casual normalcy obscures the continual magic of events. At first we hardly notice, as it gradually builds to a mythic crescendo. When it bursts upon us, our eyes open. In "Elidor", Alan Garner has written a unique book. It is for children or adults, a quick easy read. The writer's deep knowledge of story, legend and place barely show, yet they are the deep foundation on which the story is built. Though I didn't realise it until the book neared its end, this is one of the finest imaginative novels I've read. I strongly recommend it and Alan Garner's work.

I read this as a 10 year old in primary school and re-read it recently. It is suspenseful, creepy in parts and realistically portrays the 4 children. I found it interesting from a historical perspective too, with the descriptions of old Manchester. My 9 year old tried it, but it does not translate easily to an american audience in his age group. He may have to watch some BBC first.

I knew this book during my childhood (over 45 years ago). It is still a good read, even for us older types.

Okay, Garner lacks the modern sensibility of Rowlings, but this is great stuff. A bit darker than Narnia, easier to grasp than Middle Earth, this is thrilling stuff-- I can still remember tha chills I got during the climactic scenes of this book long ago. A great read from a terribly under-appreciated author...

This is among the best I've ever read, the spectacular part is that the 'magic' happens early on, and in an obscured way, without as much detail as you'd expect, but what happens after really shows ordinary life collide, with a window in the psychological state of kids moving to a new home. Colloquial English prose is delightful and seldom inscrutable.

"Roland shivered with the effort of looking. He wanted to fix every detail in his mind for ever, so that no matter what else happened there would always be this." It's been a number of years since I read Garner's books. I pulled them out and started into ELIDOR. Turns out - I didn't remember any details of this book in the series, so it truly was a new reading to me. Like so many of my favorite writers, Garner fits enough plot and character into 145 pages whereas many writers can't make a clean work in 500 pages. Written in the late '60's and my copy a reprint from the early '80's - it has a definite Narnia plot running - thin walls between our world and another that is being swallowed by darkness and needs the help of four siblings (David, Nicholas, Helen & Roland). A shift between the two worlds - a hunt for magical treasures is followed by a return to normal life at home and the slipping away of whether it ever happened at all. Similarities - but this story runs darker than Narnia. And the reminders of their adventure keep jabbing at these kids - bursts of static electricity, phantom silhouettes in the rose garden, some serious harassment of these folks front door and mail slot and even a handful plastic prizes: "Are you saying Malebron's sending us souvenirs from Hong Kong?") While the kids turn skeptic, Roland alone packs enough faith to keep the whole bunch on the right track and the story takes some clean, sharp turns - before clipping off abruptly. Geek notes: Had to go online and look-up a few things (dolmen - [...] and even found their old house address at 20 Fog Lane, Manchester: mappable). I'll be on into reading the next book in the series and see if it keeps me guessing, too.

Siblings Roland, Helen, David, and Nicholas are exploring an area of Manchester when they are transported to Elidor. With help from Malebron they retrieve four treasures and must take them back to their own world to guard them. The children bury the treasures in the garden. But as time passes they realize that evil forces from Elidor are searching for them. The children must find a way to protect both Elidor and their own world. The spooky manifestations of the evil from Elidor are very well done and the folklore references are effective, but the story is strangely lacking in action, leaving the reader wanting more. Nonetheless, an intriguing read.

<mild spoiler warning>Reading the other reviews for this book, the main criticism seems to be its story arc. The book has a complete arc, but it's not the one most fantasy readers expect.A lot of readers I think, are being miscued by the standard fantasy tropes (a lost King, a faceless evil being) to expect a quest tale, but this isn't Lord of the Rings. It's "The Door in the Wall". Garner gives the reader a few tantalizing glimpses into Elidor. He introduces those elements into our world and grounds them with details that are so specific and realistic, you almost believe it. Then once you've seen it, enough to believe in it and want more of it, he shuts the door and throws away the key.The reader is not meant to feel closure. You are meant to close the book and feel uneasy and want more. That's the magic of it.

I have walked every step the children did.As a sociological document it is outstanding. Also.It meant I didn't have to be some upper class country child to find a mystic land of my own. Add to the mix the silver thread of ancient British legend that hovered in my memory as a child it was a deep, elusive magical book when I first read it. I went back to it again and again,dug out the legends of Childe Roland ,the silver branch and the science of parallel universes.For a shortish book it packs an almighty punch. I will say nothing of the plot or characters,the delight is in finding out but I think it's a book you must read and if you read it once, you'll read it again.

I first read Elidor in about 1975. I had previously read The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and this one did not let me down. Alan Garner has a way of mixing up fantasy and reality in a way which seems natural and unforced. Elidor tells the tale of four children who find themselves tangled up in a battle to save Elidor, but they find that once they get back to their Manchester home, the evil forces follow them through.This is one of Alan Garner's more accessible stories, and is a perfect introduction to fantasy, and a sense that what we see around us is not all there is to know.As children grow, they might move on to The aforementioned Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. And eventually on to Red Shift and finally Boneland.Highly recommended.

Bought this as was a book read in school, still gave me goosebumps reading as a adult

I read this first as a youngster about 11 or 12. It was for sale in my school as part of a book fair. I couldn't put it down and was there all lunchtime reading and went to finish it the following day. My mother made the brave decision to buy the book for me as we couldn't afford books and always went to the library. It opened a whole new world for me in that there is more than we can see in the universe. Extraordinary book! I am really looking forward to reading it again.

Clearly this is for children. I am a big kid but once I'd read it I gave it away to a charity shop. Not worthy of staying in my collection. I have now read 2 of his books and I just don't like them. His stories are all about getting to the destination rather than the destination itself! So it left me feeling let down. I'd invested my time reading his story going on a long winded journey only to get to the key part of the story which then vapourizes into end of the ruddy book! Not happy. Over rated.