What was this fantasy book about fixing the sun?
May 21, 2019 2:44 PM Subscribe
This book was probably more in the YA range. I definitely read it before 2002 but it could be much older, maybe from the 80s. It involved a quest by an elf-like person to fix the dimming sun.
What I remember:
- The cover looked very Brian Froud-like, maybe even painted by Brian Froud himself.
- The story was set in a world that didn't rotate and have regular day and night, but instead it was always brighter if you traveled a certain direction and darker if you went the opposite way, so that you could walk into eternal night if you went far enough in that direction.
- The main character and his species live in the twilight section and are menaced by creatures who come out of the dark.
- The light starts to fade and more of the twilight lands start being dark enough for the creatures to reach them, so he must go on a quest to find the sun and fix it.
- He's afraid to go out into the daylight land because he thinks he will go blind.
- When he eventually finds the sun it's a huge wheel half buried in the ground that casts light. I think it was jammed or not turning, and that's why the light is fading? It's set in a hill that is somehow living on a faster time than normal, so that as he watches plants sprout from seeds, grow into huge trees, and then die within minutes.
It definitely ends with him fixing the sun somehow, and maybe dying or going blind? You'd think I'm remembering enough details to google this somehow but I'm just not coming up with the right keywords. I almost want to say it's an alternative script for the Dark Crystal or something but I just can't quite recall.
What I remember:
- The cover looked very Brian Froud-like, maybe even painted by Brian Froud himself.
- The story was set in a world that didn't rotate and have regular day and night, but instead it was always brighter if you traveled a certain direction and darker if you went the opposite way, so that you could walk into eternal night if you went far enough in that direction.
- The main character and his species live in the twilight section and are menaced by creatures who come out of the dark.
- The light starts to fade and more of the twilight lands start being dark enough for the creatures to reach them, so he must go on a quest to find the sun and fix it.
- He's afraid to go out into the daylight land because he thinks he will go blind.
- When he eventually finds the sun it's a huge wheel half buried in the ground that casts light. I think it was jammed or not turning, and that's why the light is fading? It's set in a hill that is somehow living on a faster time than normal, so that as he watches plants sprout from seeds, grow into huge trees, and then die within minutes.
It definitely ends with him fixing the sun somehow, and maybe dying or going blind? You'd think I'm remembering enough details to google this somehow but I'm just not coming up with the right keywords. I almost want to say it's an alternative script for the Dark Crystal or something but I just can't quite recall.
Response by poster: Yesssss! Brog the Stoop! Thank you so much!
I'm also amazed at how many similar-but-not-quite-right details match up with Jack of Shadows.
posted by DSime at 7:57 PM on May 21, 2019
I'm also amazed at how many similar-but-not-quite-right details match up with Jack of Shadows.
posted by DSime at 7:57 PM on May 21, 2019
I was intrigued enough by this question to look the author up on Goodreads and apparently there's a sequel now...
posted by Chairboy at 4:11 PM on May 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Chairboy at 4:11 PM on May 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by yhlee at 3:04 PM on May 21, 2019 [3 favorites]