The Weirdstone of Brisingamen

A spooky short novel about a pair of children who turn out to have an ancient, magical stone that holds the key to the freedom and happiness of the world. It has themes of sacrifice and bravery, and also of people being connected to their place in the world through generations. It was reminiscent of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings for me, but with a different flavor that I identify with Alan Garner.

A girl and her brother are pursued by a sorceress and an evil wizard when it is learned that the girl possesses a stone of great power. The children travel through tunnels and mountains and come up against some horribly scary creatures.

I felt much better about my meh attitude toward this book when I read that the author himself became bored with the characters and delayed writing a planned third book in the series and called the novel “a fairly bad book.”