The Gift
core novel 2002 The Books of Pellinor
Record
| First published | 2002 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.04 (27,946 ratings, collected 2026-09-05) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781742281940 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Gift, also published as The Naming, is the first novel of Alison Croggon's Pellinor quartet. Maerad is a slave in a bleak, isolated settlement, her family and former home having been destroyed by war years before, when she is discovered by the wandering Bard Cadvan, who recognizes in her an extraordinary and previously unsuspected gift for magic. Cadvan believes she may be connected to an ancient prophecy concerning a figure destined to oppose the Nameless One, a great evil threatening the Seven Kingdoms. The two flee the settlement together and travel toward Norloch, seat of the Bardic order, but find danger even there when the First Bard, meant to guide and protect Bards like Maerad, proves to have been corrupted, forcing Cadvan and Maerad to escape once again and continue their journey into the unknown.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Books of Pellinor
- Series: The Books of Pellinor core; position 1 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Alison Croggon
Awards (verified)
- Aurealis Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2002: nominated
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2003: nominated; As 'The Gift'; nominated in the year following its 2002 Australian release.
Notes
- From the series record (The Books of Pellinor): Original Australian first editions, published by Penguin Books Australia; US editions from Candlewick Press retitled the first volume 'The Naming' and released each book roughly a year after its original Australian edition.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Books of Pellinor: position 1 of 4: next The Riddle (2004)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Pellinor
- Wikipedia: The Gift (Croggon novel)
- Wikipedia: The Singing
- Wikipedia: The Crow (novel)
- Alison Croggon: About
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