#d'or

The second book of the Deltora Quest series, the book of Soldeen and of the ruby. And also the second book I read in chronological order.

SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS AHEAD!

This book is the one that made me a Deltora fan. This is the book that kicked in my obsession. It is still my favorite book of the first series. 

I love everything in this book. Ogres that use illusions. Riddles and games. A wicked witch. A mother of monsters. It’s all so simple, but so efficient. The classical ideas and archetypes reused in a fresh way. This book felt much more like a fairy tale than a fantasy book, and that’s actually something I love with the Deltora books - the constant shifting between the fairy tale and the fantasy styles. The two naturally feed from each other, so it’s not a surprise that both meddle in such a wonderful way. 

Of course, Thaegan and her children are my favorites villains of the Deltora first series. I wish we knew Thaegan more in-series, but at the same time the fact that she is always talked about and rarely seen just makes her more threatening, in the same way that the Shadow Lord. 

Same thing for her monstruous children: I wish we saw more of them. Jin and Jod have settled and put in place their very clever and twisted trap to eat travellers - I can’t help but wonder what kind of life their siblings led. What kind of trap they used to gather their food, where did they live, what was their occupation? Seriously, I want more of them!

I can’t help but note that the Ralad seem like the prototype for the Pirra people of the second series. Marvelous pipe players that live hidden underground, and whose music is nearly magic in itself? Come on, Rodda clearly had something already. 

Also, for the first time I wondered about the D’Or people. I mean, the Ralad are the ruby tribe, of the ruby territory. But then what of the people D’Or, who are also a very specific ethny/tribe in themselves, and also live on the ruby territory? I did a bit of research and apparently it’s explained in additional series that the D’Or people are not originally from Deltora.

(I’ll have to read the additional series at one point. I want to read the Three Doors, but they don’t have it at my library, or my book shops… And I shouldn’t start buying everything online, the bills can easily pay and I can barely afford one book per three months)

Edit: Funny thing, the English noticed that “D’Or” means “golden” in French, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. You see, the adjective “golden” in French is “doré”. But here we have “d’or”, which literaly means “of gold”. So the city of D’Or literaly means “The city of gold”. But the French translators, understanding that D’Or was treated as a full name, had to use it in a very specific way. You see when you want to translate the “city of Del” you say “La cité de Del”. And when you say the “Del city”, you also have to translate it as “La cité de Del”. As a result, the city of D’Or has to be translated as “La cité de D’Or”, which literaly means “The city of Of Gold”. Which is kind of weird. 

But it gets easy if you forget the literal reading and interpret the “d’” as a nasal consonant used as a prefixe, like the “N’” and “M’” in many languages from the African continent. (M’Badon, N’Dakpé, N’Guessan…)

Edit 2: Forgot to mention, but I just realized that each book reflects the value of the stone it is all about. Here we have the Ruby, symbol of happiness. And of course, Thaegan, the villain here, is all about despair. Her purpose is to destroy beauty, crush hopes, and bring sadness and misery to everything. The Lake of Tears itself is described as filling the air with sadness and misery, bringing everyone to tears. 

Interestingly, some people like to interpret the whole Deltora Quest and the fight against the Shadow Lord as a metaphor for fighting against depression. 

Edit 3: I also forgot to mention, but it was funny to see that the Os-Mine Hills were mentionned as early as this book. 

Zulado will do anything for love c: <3 

Sometimes, it’s the warrior that needs protection.