Where it's weaker than "Weirdstone" is that it all feels more contrived. Some of the dangers and solutions that face Colin and Susan - especially early on - are the result of unfortunately combining events. For example the Elves ask for something Susan has at the same time as something else happens, and Susan ends up in danger from event two only because she's given the thing in question to the Elves. In "Weirdstone" the coincidences felt like the hand of fate guiding things - in "Moon" it's less so - though by the end you wonder, because it does all wrap up well. It's cetainly not a deal breaker. In the 2011 BBC Radio 4 adaptation Robert Powell played the narrator; he has known Garner since he was a schoolboy at Manchester Grammar School. Struan Rodger, who played the dwarf Durathror, was in a radio production of another Garner story, Elidor, when he was thirteen years old. [29] This adaptation was broadcast again in November 2012.

Garner faced several life-threatening childhood illnesses, which left him bed ridden for much of the time. [8] He attended a local village school, where he found that, despite being praised for his intelligence, he was punished for speaking in his native Cheshire dialect; [2] for instance, when he was six his primary school teacher washed his mouth out with soapy water. [9] Garner then won a place at Manchester Grammar School, where he received his secondary education; entry was means-tested, resulting in his school fees being waived. [8] Rather than focusing his interest on creative writing, it was here that he excelled at sprinting. [10] He used to go jogging along the highway, and later claimed that in doing so he was sometimes accompanied by the mathematician Alan Turing, who shared his fascination for the Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. [11] Garner was then conscripted into national service, serving for a time with the Royal Artillery while posted to Woolwich in Southeast London. [12]At the climax of the story a great battle takes place on a hill near Alderley during which the children and their companions make a desperate last stand to protect the Weirdstone. However the enemy forces prove too strong and Durathror is mortally wounded. Grimnir takes the Weirdstone for himself and, in the ensuing chaos, Nastrond sends the great wolf Fenrir (in some editions Managarm) to destroy his enemies. As the remaining companions begin to despair, Cadellin appears and slays Grimnir, whom he reveals to be his own brother and who in the final moment accepts defeat and drops the stone into Cadellin's hand. The Morrigan flees in terror while Cadellin uses the power of the Weirdstone to subdue once again the forces of darkness. It took Garner six years to write his next novel, Red Shift. [23] The book centres on three intertwined love stories, one set in the present, another during the English Civil War, and the third in the second century CE. [24] Philip referred to it as "a complex book but not a complicated one: the bare lines of story and emotion stand clear". [24] Colin – Susan's twin brother who shares in her adventures (the fact that they are twins is not explicit until Boneland was published, although this is hinted at in the passage through the Earldelving, where Colin is described as being "an inch taller than his sister" [p. 141]) However, her sojourn to other levels of existence has sensitised her to the powers with which she and her brother have been coming to associate and the story takes a new dramatic turn. On walking home across the Edge on dusk, they are inspired to build a fire to keep warm, Susan almost manically so. This fire includes rowan and pine which unintendedly act as a wendfire, which on this night of the year has the power to call ancient spirits from their mounds. Colin and Susan release the Wild Hunt, which return several times during the course of the novel.

Philip offered the opinion that the "essence of his work" was "the struggle to render the complex in simple, bare terms; to couch the abstract in the concrete and communicate it directly to the reader". [27] He added that Garner's work is "intensely autobiographical, in both obvious and subtle ways". [27] Highlighting Garner's use of mythological and folkloric sources, Philip stated that his work explores "the disjointed and troubled psychological and emotional landscape of the twentieth century through the symbolism of myth and folklore." [35] He also expressed the opinion that "Time is Garner's most consistent theme". [24] More ambiguous in nature are members of the Wild Hunt. Garner draws in names and traditions from Scandinavia, England, France and Wales to create his huntsmen: the Einheriar, Scandinavian bodyguards to the gods who are also the horsemen of the Welsh deity Donn; the English Herlathing (similar to the French Harlequin) who accompany the ancient British king Herla across the land and through the centuries; and their leader the Hunter, a horned deity who goes by the name Garanhir, in Welsh 'tall crane' or perhaps 'longshanks' from his sheer height and stride. Why such a complicated cast list with borrowed names from every which where? In a note Garner tell us that he re-used existing ones simply because to him 'a made-up name feels wrong'. Nastrond – The great spirit of darkness who was defeated by the King in Fundindelve, but is ever waiting to return and conquer the mortal world. He is mentioned in the book but never appears firsthand. Pullman, Philip; Gaiman, Neil; Cooper, Susan; Nix, Garth; Almond, David; Faber, Michael (2010). "Praise for Garner". The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (50th Anniversaryed.). London: HarperCollins Children's Books. pp.1–2.The Svart-Alfar, although the name actually means 'dark elves' (but the Norse version from whom they take their name are more like goblins). The mythology in this one was interesting, anyway. I'm amused at how often the concept of the Wild Magic and the Wild Hunt comes up in fantasy books -- here, in The Fionavar Tapestry, in The Dark Is Rising... I like it. The descriptions of Susan riding with them, and the way she gets left behind and feels both joy and anguish, are lovely. Wakeful are the sons of Argatron! Wakeful Ulmrig, Ulmor, Ulmbeg! Ride Einheriar of the Herlathing.’