Review by Donna Schaer 

Miscommunication and misunderstandings abound in Diana Wynne Jones's novel, The Power of Three, along with large amounts of self-doubt, nasty, ill-tempered relative, and culture clashes.    

When one of the "people" kills a Dorig and steals its gold torque, the "creature's" dying curse sets in motion a series of disasters that affect three distinct groups living in the same rural area.  Once again, it is the children of each society who reach out to bridge the ensuing dissension and build a cooperative future.      

With distinctly detailed characterizations, her trademark humor, and a great deal of suspense, DWJ has created a story that is worth chasing down via the out of print bookstores.  This is a memorable read and a terrific story as a "read aloud" for an elementary class!

Description from book
This is the story of Ayna and Ceri, who both had Gifts, and of Gair, who thought he was ordinary.  Their father was Gest, the Chief of Garholt, and the life they led, like those of all the other mound-dwellers on the Moor, was a rigorous and testing one.  The three children had to learn early how to make water safe from the Dorig - those strange, scaly, cold-blooded creatures which could shift shape and lurked underwater waiting to pull you down. 

The Moor was truly full of perils, but once inside the mound, and the right words spoken to close the doors, they were safe in their own world.  Or so, for a long time, the mound-dwellers thought. 

Gair used to spend a lot of time gazing out onto the Moor and brooding.  Ayna could answer questions about the future, Ceri could find things which were lost.  Giar seemed to have no Gift and knew he was a disappointment to his jovial, heroic father.  Perhaps his feelings of not fitting in was what made him so curious about these other different sorts of beings, Giants and Dorig.  Certainly it was because he believed he was ordinary that he did his best to become wise, and to learn as much as he could abou the three great Powers of Sun, Moon and Earth.  And when the crisis came, Gair found the knowledge he had gained was to help save not only his own life but those of all his people. 

Diana Wynne Jones has a unique way of making magic seem as natural as breathing, and as always she has created an enthralling tale around people we become totally involved with.  But who are the real people in this story, what makes a hero heroic or an ordinary person special - and what, after all, is magic?  In this author's world, nothing can ever be taken for granted.

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