The Blue Hawk

I read this little book as a child of seven or eight years old and remembered liking it. Having just read it again thirty years I realise that it would be a crime to characterise this as juvenile fiction. Like much of the work of Rosemary Sutcliff, Ronald Welch or Alan Garner, this may be ostensibly aimed at children but it is worthy of adult attention. This is part "historical" novel grounded in Egyptian mythology, part coming of age story, written with a kind of strong-limbed delicacy. I'm amazed that this is no longer in print. If you have a bright and thoughtful child, buy it read it, then pass it on to them.

A review prior to mine gives five stars to this novel, calling it the best of Peter Dickinson Juveniles, saying that it sounds like the standard fantasy, but is more subtle and less predictable, as well as being very well written. I feel that this review actually sells the novel short! This is an underappreciated Classic! It is not, in my opinion, a juvenile: the book makes believable the existence of gods (as of ancient Egypt, but different - 'O' for the sun, "Aa" for the moon (and Death), and "Gdu" for the Blue Hawk (and healing), an avatar of which the title character Tron finds he is able to tame (or...make his friend), and creates an explanation of why these gods came to be, unimaginable powers that The Wise (obviously, modern humanity) found among the stars and then bound on Earth, and how at the end of the novel the gods have escaped their bondage, leaving humans free to become wise again. Thus it has aspects of "The Magic Goes Away" which is one of the best Niven concepts and aspects of Ursula LeGuin, in the sense that it is beautifully written and moving in a way that few other authors can achieve. I do not wish to imply that a brilliant and moving work can't be a juvenile -- I was a bright child, and "Lord of the Rings" and "The Lay of Beren and Luthien" are counter-examples -- but "The Blue Hawk" so surpasses these in sophistication that I feel a young person who would appreciate all of it would be very rare indeed. Compare it rather to Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness", John Crowley's "The Translator", and Tennyson's "Mortre D'Arthur".

This is the best of the Peter Dickinson juveniles: in a kingdom somewhat like ancient Egypt, with failing harvests and contracting horizons, a young man has adventures. He winds up participating in the rescue of the whole land, joined by the new young king and an exiled priest.While the above sounds like the standard fantasy, the book is both more subtle and less predictable. It is also very well written. The description of the hero's journey down the pseudo-Nile while hidden in the coffin of the old king is a high point.