The rest of the Wolves Chronicles

 ...and wow, there are a lot of them!  Since Witch Week, I've been indulging in reading the entirety of the Wolves Chronicles, for a total of 12 (13?) titles (nine for this post).  I tried to read them pretty much chronologically, that is, in some sort of publishing order.  I didn't totally succeed and almost missed one (Midwinter Nightingale) so that happened nearly at the end.  Aiken sometimes went back and slotted a story into a previous storyline, so for example, Dido eventually has two adventures on her way back from Nantucket to England, but those were written later.

I've been highly entertained by how Aiken gets more and more fanciful the further she goes.  By the end, England is divided into several small countries(?), Jamie Three's father was named Angus the Silent, and genealogy goes absolutely wild, as does world geography.  I would love to see a map!

The Stolen Lake:  Dido takes a detour to Hy Brasil, where Queen Guinevere has been waiting for centuries for King Arthur to return, as the legend foretells.  He needs to come back across the waters of Avalon, so she took them.  And just how has she survived for the past several hundred years....

Dangerous Games (aka Limbo Lodge);  After that, Dido's ship receives orders to hunt down Lord Herodsfoot, who has been roaming the world to find new and interesting games for the ailing King James III.  They fetch up on the remote island of Aratu, where the ship's doctor was born.  The Angrian settlers are a dour people, oppressed by the king's brother, the king himself is ailing, and the forest people just want to be left alone.  Dido and Doc Talisman, along with new friends, try to free the island from tyranny.

Dido and Pa:  Back in England, Dido plans to settle in with Simon and Sophie, but runs into her father and is promptly dragged off to be held prisoner with him under a landlady, a tiny and neglected girl named Is, and a mysterious Dutch man with his face bandaged.  It's Dido's job to teach him to talk just like King Richard.  The thousands of homeless London children, the lollpoops, play a large part in saving Richard from yet another dastardly Hanoverian plot...and throughout, Dido wrestles with the question of how her Pa can be such a horrible person and also produce such beautiful music.

Is Underground:  Is, now a bit larger, is recruited to find out what's happening to the children of London, especially her own cousin Arun and Davie, the king's son.  They're all disappearing, and where do they go?  Plus, up north in Blastburn, they've declared their own country, run by Gold Kingy.  He's moved the whole city underground, and all children are enslaved, to work in factories or worse -- in the mines that dig right out under the sea.  Is discovers that she can hear their voices and together, maybe they can escape?

Cold Shoulder Road:  Is wants to go home, but first she and Arun must find his mother, who has disappeared from the house where she used to live.  And she was painting pictures?  And people keep muttering about the Handsel Child, but they won't say any more.  Perhaps Admiral Fishkin knows.  Pretty soon Is and Arun are trapped in a cave, avoiding vicious smugglers, and even living in a ship that landed in a tree. 

Midwinter Nightingale:  Dido is looking for her friend Simon, who has disappeared, along with the sad and sick King Richard.  She's not allowed to look long, because she's nobbled herself and questioned by a werewolfian baron and a Burgundian duchess, who have no mercy at all.

The Witch of Clatteringshaws:  Simon is now king, and he hates it.  Isn't there anyone else interested in the job?  Dido hears of a possible lost heir up in Scotland, so off she sets to ask the Witch.  She finds a specialist in facial surgery, a monster in the loch, and plenty of adventure.  (And I have to say, The Witch of Clatteringshaws is a marvelous title!)  This is the last official Wolves title, but there are still two more set in the same world.

The Whispering Mountain: stars Owen Hughes, son of the Captain Hughes that Dido sails the world with.  Father and son each think the other is dead, and Owen lives with his grandfather in the tiny Welsh village of Pennygaff, where he's miserable.  He decides to run away, but the same night, thieves break into Grandfather's museum and steal the probable Harp of Tiertu -- an artifact that several people suddenly want badly.  Owen is kidnapped by the thieves, and he's off on an adventure featuring his friend Arabis, The Prince of Wales, the village boys who have been bullying him, an entire secret society of people inside a mountain, and lots more.  Very fun.

Midnight is a Place:  Such a great title.  Lucas lives on an estate near Blastburn, where his guardian owns a carpet factory -- the most brutal place to work in the brutal city.  Sir Randolph Grimsby squeezes every penny out of his property for gambling, and the smash is imminent.  And here's where I stopped; the story was just too dark for me to continue right now.  Usually Aiken throws a lot of comedy and adventure in to leaven the child labor and whatnot, but this one has been relentless and I had to quit.

And that's the Wolves Chronicles, plus 1.5 bonus titles!  I really did have a great time reading these all in order, together.  It was a very worthwhile project that helped my slump a lot.  (More on that in the next post.)