After I finished reading every installment in the Prydain Chronicles, I began hunting down everything else Lloyd Alexander had ever written. I enjoyed the Westmark series nearly as much as I did the Prydain.
“Westmark” is, appropriately, the first book of the series. Our hero is Theo, an orphan who has found an occupation as a printer’s devil. King Augustine, ruler of Westmark, is sick with grief over the death of his daughter and has essentially left the running of the kingdom to his right-hand man, the evil Cabbarus, who has made strict laws governing the press. Theo and his master have to apply for a printing license for everything they produce, or face the penalty of the law. When a large order comes in late one night, with an anticipated pick-up time of the next morning, Theo knows there isn’t time to apply for the license, and they can’t afford to lose the job. Working late into the night, they set the type and get things ready to roll.
As dawn approaches, soldiers burst into the shop and start breaking up the press. Theo picks up a heavy metal frame in self-defense, but it comes down on the head of one of the soldiers, leaving him in a puddle of blood. His master tells him to run, and so he does, to find out later that the master has been shot, and there is a warrant out on his own head.
Seeking a way to flee the town, Theo joins up with the very man who had placed the print order the night before. A self-proclaimed doctor, Count La Bombas is actually a swindler and a con artist, peddling his fake potions and conjuring up spirits. His driver is a pint-sized fellow named Musket, and along the way they pick up a girl named Mickle, a street urchin. This unlikely group meets up with a band of revolutionaries, and together, they bring down Cabbarus in a very unexpected way.
A quick and entertaining read, I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story, and not just to young adults, although it is billed as a young adult novel. I will be reviewing the next book in the series in a few days.
(This book was published by Penguin Putnam in 1981.)
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