[Alan Garner's] books, though few, have had an extraordinarily powerful impact; they have been felt and not forgotten. (p. 108)
Because Garner's four novels came out at intervals of two and three years, they show their differences—and the author's development—more clearly than do the works of more prolific writers. Alan Garner has never stood still. His stories have become less complicated but more complex, less crowded but more intricately ramified. Action has become less crude but more significant. The later books are finer. Admittedly, even fineness has its price. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (1960) was Garner's first book; it is complicated, crowded, full of crude action; and of its kind it still seems to me to be excellent. The author was hard on himself when he described it as 'a fairly bad book'. The Owl Service (1967) is complex and intricate, its action more restrained and much more meaningful. It has not the same brute vitality. But although an overall comparison between two such different books is hardly possible, it seems fair to say that The Owl Service is by far the more notable achievement.
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