Westmark
Westmark was published in 1981, but it’s a new Lloyd Alexander find for me. I’ve read the Prydain Chronicles, but hadn’t ever delved into this author’s other books. There are quite a few, and perhaps I didn’t know where to begin.
Westmark has some of the same qualities I loved about the Prydain Chronicles:
- a flawed but true boy/young man for its main character
- a quest for identity
- fast-paced adventure
- a fictional realm that (apparently) gets developed in the rest of the series
- exuberance and wit at every turn
I found Westmark more philosophical, though. The effects of propoganda, war, and corrupt governance all figure into the story, as does the question of whether killing is ever justified or right.
The king of Westmark, grieving the mysterious loss of his only daughter, is all too willing to surrender the bulk of kingdom-running to his scheming chief minister Cabbarus. (I quoted him here.) Theo, an apprentice to a printer who has been destroyed by Cabbarus’ oppressive policies, is left to fend for himself. In his travels he meets a good-natured con-man and his dwarf assistant, an orphaned street girl, and a band of high-minded rebels led by a disillusioned aristocrat named Florian who thinks the monarchy should be abolished entirely.
Theo, especially, wrestles with moral questions. He asks Florian,
I have to understand… Killing is wrong. I believed that. I still do. But now I wonder. Do I believe it because I want to be a decent man? Or — because I’m a coward?… Who decides what’s right?
Which group of seemingly good people should he ally himself with, and to what extent? In the moment of crisis, what should be his response to an evil person? How responsible is he for his friends? Some of these types of questions, as I recall, are raised in Taran’s adventures in Prydain. But there’s something, not less lively, but less quirky, about their treatment in Westmark. I think I liked it a little better, much though I like Prydain. It’s one of those “children’s books” that packs a punch for readers of all ages.
I’m glad Sherry mentioned this title in her recognition of Lloyd Alexander’s birthday, and I may go back and pick up the others in the series.
