Three days later a funeral was held and many people from the other walled cities came to Bridewell during those days to mourn Warvold's passing. Alexa then opens his secret locket and takes a silver key, thinking it could be of some use, and returns to the Lodge with the news of Warvold's death. That night, Warvold takes Alexa to the wall and tells her a fable about the six blind men and the elephant before dying. He threatens to tell her father if Alexa does anything reckless while she's here and makes her hand over the spyglass before being driven off by Warvold. Alexa is then rudely greeted by Pervis Kotcher, a man who fears the outside world and captain of the Turlock guards. Upon arriving in Bridewell and at Renny Lodge, they are immediately greeted by their friends, Ganesh, the mayor of Turlock, and Thomas Warvold, the mayor of Lunenburg, who wants Alexa to walk with him tonight. ![]() ![]() During the trip, Alexa asks her father to tell her the legend of the building of the wall, where its creation was to keep out an unnamed evil that lurks in the forests and The Dark Hills. Armed with unexpected new power, Alexa exposes a danger that could destroy everything she holds dear - and change The Land of Elyon forever."Īlexa Daley and her father, James Daley, are traveling to Bridewell from their hometown of Lathbury. She's also eager to finally solve the mystery of what lies beyond the immense walls that were built to keep out an unnamed evil that lurks in The Dark Hills - an evil the townspeople are still afraid of.Īs Alexa begins to unravel the truth about what lies outside the protective barrier she's lived behind all her life, she discovers a strange and ancient enchantment. She looks forward to exploring the old lodge where she stays each year, with its cozy library and maze of passages and rooms. Twelve-year-old Alexa Daley is spending another summer in the walled town of Bridewell with her father. That said, The Land of Elyon clearly presents the battle between good and evil as well as the importance each individual plays in that conflict.The Dark Hills Divide is the first book in The Land of Elyon series. ![]() Alexa is an admirable heroine who cannot seem to make a mistake. Many loose ends are quickly and unbelievably resolved. Beaver’s line, “Aslan is on the move,” into the mouth of Ander the bear who states that, “Elyon is on the move…”) However Carman’s writing does not have Lewis’ level of sophistication. The series has parallels with Scripture and the Narnia series. Throughout the series, the ability to communicate with animals is viewed as both a gift from Elyon and a sign that a person has a special mission in Elyon’s plan to save his world and bring everyone home to him. ![]() Yipes leads Alexa to a pool where she finds a “jocasta”, a special stone that allows its bearer to understand animal language. She meets a variety of personages in the countryside, most notably Yipes, a dwarf who becomes her best friend, and Murphy the squirrel. (We learn in the second book of the series that he is still alive.) Alexa takes a key from around Warvold’s neck that enables her to leave the confines of those walls. At age twelve, she witnesses what she believes to be the death of Thomas Warvold, a family friend and the leader who built the extensive walls around the land’s cities. Elyon has chosen the Warvold family to defeat Abaddon and calls specifically on Alexa Daley to confront this evil being.Īlexa is a non-conventional “messiah figure” in this series. Abaddon has a henchman among mortals, Grindall, who has an army of giants working for him. His plans to maintain a land of peace have been thwarted by Abaddon, the brightest of Elyon’s Seraphs, who has revolted against his maker and seeks to destroy Elyon and all of humanity. Similar to Lewis’ Narnia series, (though lacking Lewis’ exceptional literary style), the series takes the reader to the land of Elyon, a loving and omniscient supernatural being. Fantasy and allegory fans alike will enjoy Patrick Carman’s simple story about a magical land of talking animals and giants.
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