Cart and Cwidder is the first book of the Jones' Dalemark Quartet, and though it's quite good I think the others are better. It tells the story of Moril, the son of the bard Clennen. Clennen and his family live in a gaudy pink cart and travel from town to town singing and bringing news. The country of Dalemark is ruled by powerful earls, and is divided by north and south. The North is free, but the South is not, and the bards have to be careful what songs they play in the South for fear of being taken as insurrectionists. Occasionally Clennen's family will take on a passenger of sorts, and as this story opens they have agreed to take a young boy named Kialan to the North.

Clennen has an old cwidder, a stringed instrument of some kind, that has a special power, and eleven-year-old Moril is learning to play it. But the power of the ancient cwidder will only work under certain conditions, and before Moril can get very far in his lessons, Clennen is murdered before his family's eyes. This plunges Moril, his brother Dagner, and his sister Brid into a dangerous journey involving far more than minstrelsy.

I love how Jones delineates the characters and their relationships. No one is perfect; even big, expansive Clennen has his imperfections, and it is a mark of Moril's emerging maturity that he is able to perceive them. Clennen's relationship with his wife Lenina is also very interesting. She was a lord's daughter who was witched away from her betrothed by the magic of Clennen's cwidder. She hates the life in the cart, but remains with Clennen from a sense of duty.

Moril's older brother Dagner is an artist with true genius, despite his lack of Clennen's jolly showmanship skills. Brid is like her father in her love for an audience, but she lacks her father's musical skills. Moril is dreamy and detached, but with an acute ability to observe those around him. These distinct personalities come together to create a very believable and compelling family.

The only issue I had with the book was that it didn't seem the children dealt with their father's murder very realistically. There wasn't much mourning about it, even though they had loved him a great deal. I know they had other things happening in a hurry right after his death, but I felt there wasn't enough disorientation and shock. It was a little too businesslike.

Jones' writing is very sharp and crisp, without making too much fuss about itself. The story and characters are the focus, and they are well worth it. I read Cart and Cwidder as a young teen and was not overly impressed with it — deeming it, if I remember correctly, as passable fantasy with nothing terribly compelling about it. I was certainly never seized with a desire to reread. But I'm glad I picked it up again. Dalemark feels real and the story is really quite well-written. And yet the next two in the series are better yet. Recommended! ( )

I absolutely love this book. I wasn't really expecting to, since the first chapter had so many weird names and so many people being introduced that I couldn't keep them straight (and I still had trouble with that even after half of them exited the main story). By the time I got to the second chapter, however, I was fully entrenched into the world of Cart and Cwidder.

So, yeah, the beginning was a little tough to get past. I actually tried reading this in January but couldn't continue because of the name-dumping, but I got over it and kept reading (obviously). I'm so glad I did! This is such an awesome book, and I can't wait to read the next three. I love the setting, the characters, the writing, the plot! Everything! Yay!

It's such a quiet, nearly subdued story for about, what, half of it? And then things start happening and it all picks up 'til the crescendo at the end. Then it gets a little quiet again, but the kind of quiet that's just before a storm hits. Unfortunately that storm is put off until the next book, Wikipedia this is the first book written for the quartet but the third book chronologically? That has the potential to be confusing, but then maybe it'll be like the Chrestomanci series, where the books don't necessarily have to be read in internal chronological order to be enjoyed (plus DWJ recommends reading them in published order, anyway). Guess I'll find out later, eh?

Anyway, Cart and Cwidder is highly recommended! ( )

Moril and his family are traveling singer. They are traveling north with a passenger named Kilan. On the familys way from the south to the north, Clennen, Morils father is killed. Lenina marrys a earl in the south dales. It is up to Brid, Moril, and Dagner to return Kilan a northerner to safty. Dagner get put in jail for passing information because Clennen was a porter. Brid Moril and Kilan must carry on. With the help of Moril’s magic Cwidder they just might be able to do it.
I like this book because Moril goes through life and expierences problems that I don’t have to face and enjoy learning about

Basic Reason for Beginning: Long story. Short version? Potential for a BA thesis, and it's an author whose books haven't let me down yet.
Basic Reason for Finishing: Quite enjoyable. Lacks the sparkle of her later works, but still well-worth reading.

Full review here. ( )