The Books of Pellinor is a translation of the Naraudh Lar-Chane (The
Riddle of the Treesong), an ancient but undateable document which is
one of the classics of Annaren literature. The Gift consists of Books 1
and 2 of the Naraudh Lar-Chane
and tells the story of Maerad of
Pellinor's coming into her Gift as a Bard. Part 2, The Riddle, is Books
3-6, and continues the story of Maerad's adventures. Part 3, The Crow,
which is largely concerned with the doings in the South and with the
story of Hem, Maerad's brother, is Books 6-9. Part 4, The Singing,
consists of Books 9-12. It concludes the story, and will be released
in Australia, the UK and the US in 2008.
You can find more details, including pronunciation guides and character descriptions, at Candlewick Books's Pellinor website.
The story is set in the world of Edil-Amarandh, a large landmass which was home to a wide diversity of cultures. The action in the Naraudh Lar-Chane begins in Annar, the largest realm of this legendary land, and moves to the glacial wildernesses of the North to the tropics and deserts of the South, revealing the fascinating history and culture of the Bards.
Nobody has been able to date or place the lost civilisations of Edil-Amarandh, despite the wealth of material available since the astounding discovery of the Annaren Scrolls in Morroco in 1991. As it says in the appendices of The Gift:
"The difficulties of dating the extraordinary civilisation of Edil-Amarandh, or even of pinpointing its exact geographic location, are well known. Estimates vary wildly, dating its mysterious disappearance from 10,000 to 150,000 years before the beginning of the last Ice Age. Initial theories which saw the Annar Scripts as confirmation of the persistent accounts in Plato, the Mabinogion and elsewhere of an Atlantean nation overwhelmed by flood have generally been discredited, since Edil-Amarandh appears to be far older than these texts suggest and has sharply divergent cultural differences. Some people, however, have suggested that the continent of Edil-Amarandh may be sunk beneath the Atlantic, West of the African and European coasts, as was theorised of Atlantis. However, despite these arguments, the voluminous records available make it possible to elucidate a detailed history of Annar and the Seven Kingdoms."
Author Note: By the way, over the past few years, so many people have asked me where they can read the Annaren Scripts that I feel obliged to confess that it is a fiction. So my apologies to anyone who has spent their time looking for books which don't exist outside my imagination! (If you have a close look at the footnotes, you will notice that all the authors have names beginning with A, J or C - which not uncoincidentally are my initials. Any book by someone with other initials is an actual book.) However, this doesn't mean that the books aren't real. As every reader knows in his or her heart, there is much more to truth than mere fact.
You can find more details, including pronunciation guides and character descriptions, at Candlewick Books's Pellinor website.
The story is set in the world of Edil-Amarandh, a large landmass which was home to a wide diversity of cultures. The action in the Naraudh Lar-Chane begins in Annar, the largest realm of this legendary land, and moves to the glacial wildernesses of the North to the tropics and deserts of the South, revealing the fascinating history and culture of the Bards.
Nobody has been able to date or place the lost civilisations of Edil-Amarandh, despite the wealth of material available since the astounding discovery of the Annaren Scrolls in Morroco in 1991. As it says in the appendices of The Gift:
"The difficulties of dating the extraordinary civilisation of Edil-Amarandh, or even of pinpointing its exact geographic location, are well known. Estimates vary wildly, dating its mysterious disappearance from 10,000 to 150,000 years before the beginning of the last Ice Age. Initial theories which saw the Annar Scripts as confirmation of the persistent accounts in Plato, the Mabinogion and elsewhere of an Atlantean nation overwhelmed by flood have generally been discredited, since Edil-Amarandh appears to be far older than these texts suggest and has sharply divergent cultural differences. Some people, however, have suggested that the continent of Edil-Amarandh may be sunk beneath the Atlantic, West of the African and European coasts, as was theorised of Atlantis. However, despite these arguments, the voluminous records available make it possible to elucidate a detailed history of Annar and the Seven Kingdoms."
Author Note: By the way, over the past few years, so many people have asked me where they can read the Annaren Scripts that I feel obliged to confess that it is a fiction. So my apologies to anyone who has spent their time looking for books which don't exist outside my imagination! (If you have a close look at the footnotes, you will notice that all the authors have names beginning with A, J or C - which not uncoincidentally are my initials. Any book by someone with other initials is an actual book.) However, this doesn't mean that the books aren't real. As every reader knows in his or her heart, there is much more to truth than mere fact.