Now for auction on eBay:
The World And Thorinn by Damon Knight HB/DJ ILLUSTRATED
Item # 3504216280
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Hardback with dust jacket. 181 pages. Illustrated with 12 full page
illustrations by Val Lakey. Book club edition, copyright 1980. Originally
appeared in Galaxy magazine in 1968. Very Fine condition book in Fine
dust-jacket with several slight stains on back cover.
I'll say right off my favorite authors are C.S. Lewis, Terry Brooks, and
Robert A. Heinlein - so I compare anything else I read to their work; this
fascinating tale by Damon Knight certainly measures up. Young Thorinn is
cast into a well as a sacrifice to appease an angry "god" by his
simple-minded stepfather. But Thorinn doesn't perish there. Digging his
way
out into a cavern beneath the well, Thorinn explores the "underworld" in
his
almost fairytale-like quest to return to the surface. He finds numerous
caverns, some populated by creatures both friendly and treacherous.
Thorinn
must survive by his own ingenuity, resourcefulness, and courage, and the
reader gradually learns with him the true nature of the fascinating
"world"
Knight so deftly reveals.
Excerpts
.. . . At last Goryat spoke. "The well is broken."
"Did you call me down here to tell me that?" asked Thorinn in honest
surprise.
"Hold your tongue and listen," said Goryat. "It is in my mind that the
well
may be mended. Therefore, jump into it and see."
Thorinn hopped to the well-curb and looked down. The deep shaft receded
into
darkness, past the leather thong and the dim round shape of the bucket; he
could not see the bottom . . .
.. . . At once he was surrounded by children with alert and curious faces;
they squatted to watch him as he worked, reached out now and then to
finger
the leather of breeks or wallet, chattered and piped among themselves.
Thorinn did not hinder them, except to keep them from prying into his
wallet; but one boy, bolder than the rest, plucked up the sword before
Thorinn could stop him and drew it half out of the scabbard. Alarmed and
angered, Thorinn sprang at him, pushed him roughly, and snatched the sword
back.
The boy lay sprawled on the grass, his head half lifted, his mouth an O.
The
other children had fallen silent and were staring at Thorinn. The boy's
eyes
slowly filled with tears. While the others made mournful noises and wrung
their hands, he got to his feet. With dragging steps he moved away toward
the shrubbery. Thorinn called after him, but he did not turn. He went to
the
pod-vines, stood a moment with hanging head before an empty pod, then
climbed in and lay down inside. The pod slowly closed around him . . .
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