[From Radio Saturday] – The review in question, which appeared at the usually dignified MercatorNet, is of my favorite series of children’s books — and, indeed, favorite books in general — The Westmark Trilogy, by the late, great Lloyd Alexander. The series, although a trilogy, is brief:  All three of the books (Westmark, The Kestrel and The Beggar Queen) put together would be only a little longer than any given volume of The Lord of the Rings. However, in spite of their brevity, the books undertake a very ambitious task. They are, in essence, a complex, delicately-handled look at the effect of political turmoil in the lives of human beings. This topic is examined with Alexander’s characteristic turns-of-phrase, but also with sympathy and even-handedness: Although the trilogy deals with a pseudo-historical event not unlike the French Revolution, it eschews the narrative typical of American views of that event (revolutionaries = good; royalty = bad) and is sympathetic towards both its revolutionaries and its royals. The plot itself follows the life of Theo, a young man who goes from printer’s devil to revolutionary leader to prince consort to, eventually, exile over the course of the books. Along the way, he encounters a variety of characters, espousing equally various views (or, in the case of the mountebank “Count” Las Bombas, lack of views) on politics.

Unlike other fantasy trilogies — and Westmark is, like almost all of Alexander’s works, a fantasy, albeit one that lacks “magic” in the typical sense — the books are not given to the endless world-building and encyclopedic exposition favored by Tolkien and poorly imitated since. The Westmark books are about characters, about humans, and that is their primary value. They do not ignore the plight of others for the sake of the central characters’ political and personal fulfillment, and side characters are, despite the less-than-200-page count of each book, every bit as bright and clear as the protagonists. In a singular tour-de-force in the third book, for example, the moment of the cataclysmic event in the revolution the books charter, a number of unnamed third-person narratives are created and discarded, showing the reactions — and actions — of random civilians, hitherto unconcerned with the fight that has raged since the very first page of book one. Each of these characters is a perfectly-drawn vignette, each one a singular cameo as memorable as the similar passages in Malcolm Muggeridge’s Winter in Moscow, and used to as great an effect. Alexander has long displayed the ability to create a character in a single sentence; he uses this throughout Westmark (which is also the name of the first book) and its sequels — to heartbreaking and thoughtful effect.

Apparently, Ms. Jennifer Minicus, the author of MercatorNet’s review, missed all of this.

Continued at Radio Saturday | More Chronicle & Notices.