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description: Even the monks of the Cattail Abbey the youngest of which was over three hundred years old could not say when The War had begun. If you asked the eldest of them Brother Bernard if he remembered the beginning of The War he would say yes but since Brother Bernard said yes to every question he was asked except whether he would like some more mole pudding and never said anything else his testimony was regarded as neither reliable nor helpful.The payoff to this opening of Goff's only published novel is that we never get another word about the monks of Cattail Abbey. The War started a long time ago; that's the point. Touches like this are found throughout the tale creating an immersive sense of a wholly imagined world. Though claimed as a minor influence on Tolkien this high-fantasy epic was an abject failure upon initial publication and has never really undergone a major critical reassessment.The War is a centuries-long siege with the forces of King Corambis permanently encamped around the walled city of Lowgrippe ruled by King Lannius. The title character is One-Hip a street urchin chosen because he's so skinny to slip through a newly-discovered catacomb into Lowgrippe and steal the magic stone that will allow Corambis to take the city. Once inside One-Hip is captured and imprisoned. Falling in with fellow prisoners Stekli a Dionysian priest who has his own agenda for the stone as well as Stekli's beautiful young apprentice ZuZu One-Hip is soon tempted to change his plans...
language: None
title: The Stone Thief
publisher: None