Queste
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| Queste | |
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| Author | Angie Sage |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Mark Zug (illustrator) |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Series | Septimus Heap (Book 4) |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Publication date | 5 May 2008 (for UK) |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 608 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 9780060882075 (US hardcover edition), ISBN 0747589038 (UK hardcover) |
| Preceded by | Physik |
Queste is a fantasy novel by Angie Sage. It is the fourth book in the Septimus Heap series. The book was released on 16 April in the United States. The title was announced by the author.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
In the fourth book, Septimus goes on a perilous quest to the House of Foryx to find Nicko and Snorri, who have been trapped back in time. Everyone at the Castle is slowly beginning to realize that their chances of coming back are slim. Septimus, aided by ancient alchemist Marcellus Pye, learns of a place where all time meets: the House of Foryx. But how does he get there? Jenna and Septimus find Nicko's notes from the past and discover that he knows of the House of Foryx as well and has been creating a map to plot the house's hidden location.Even with the help of the Questing Stone and Nicko's faded maps, will Septimus be able to find the House of Foryx and save Nicko and Snorri? Meanwhile, Simon Heap has taken on Merrin Meredith, former apprentice to DomDaniel, as his own apprentice, giving Merrin an opportunity he has been waiting years for. With the help of a frightening creature called a Thing, Merrin plans to reclaim the identity he used to have - Septimus Heap.
[edit] Back Cover
There’s trouble in the Palace, and it’s all because Merrin Meredith has returned. Escaping when Simon Heap and Lucy Gringe leave to the portand brings the Darke Magyk with him. More trouble arrives when Merrin meets Tertius Fume, the ghost of the first Chief Hermetic Scribe {and former best friend of Hotep Ra}, who is determined to send Septimus on a deadly Queste. Terius fume puts Siege on the tower, and Marcia sends her apprentice away, assuming that he does not have the Questing stone. The adventures continues in going through a forest way, a tollman, a bottomless pit and a Questing stone to find the mythical house of Foryx.
[edit] Summary
Septimus, Beetle, Ullr and Jenna go on a Queste to find Nicko and Snorri, after finding a map given to them by Marcellus, a five hundred year old alchemist to find a way to The house of Foryx, a place where all times do meet. When Merrin Meredith comes back to the palace to darken Septimus's destiny, he gets a job at the Manuscriptorium as Daneil Huter. There he meets Terius Fume, who agrees to help him darken Septimus's destiny. He arranged the Draw for the Questing stone to be years earlier than it was traditionally supposed to {the Questing is to be held on the day an apprentice finishes his apprenticeship, and is cursed for all the previous Questors who had gone on it}.
After a failed attempt to make Septimus to draw the stone, he uses a Thing to inhabit Hildegarde, and she gives the stone to Septimus. Meanwhile Jenna, Septimus, and Beetle try to go to Morwenna for help. Morwenna askes for something in return and they agree, not knowing that what Morwenna is going to ask for. After overhearing a converstion that Morwenna is going to ask for Jenna to get to the palace, they escape and ask Sam where the Forest Way to Nicko is. Sam takes them to the Frozen Forest to find the way. After using Milo's compass, the group find a refuge hut on Snorri's map, and stay there for the night.
They do not know that the Thing is following them to kill Septimus and now inhabited Ephaniah to get close to the group. Realizing the Thing had inhabited Ephaniah, Septimus, Jenna and Beetle go to the bridge. They run into the inhabited Tollman, and after sending him down to the bottomless pit, start to go to the House of Foryx. Then Septimus tells them that he has the Questing stone, but everyone decides to go to Nicko and Snorri first. After crossing the bridge, Septimus shows the stone and, after answering the Doorkeeper's riddles, goes through. Beetle acciddently goes into the door, traping them in the House of Foryx. There, Septimus completes his Queste by meeting Hotep Ra and tells him about Terius fume darkening the Queste.
Meanwhile Jenna and Beetle find Snorri and Nicko who are relieved to see them and they set off to find Septimus. After running into Septimus, the group get into trouble with the Guardian of the house and decided to leave, even if it was another time. Suddenly, there came furious knocking behind the door and Spetimus, knowing only one person who would ingore a doorbell and attack a doorknocker like that, threw open the door and came face to face with Marcia Overstrand. Then, after enveloping Marcia with hugs, Nicko notices a figure standing be Spit Fyre (a dragon Septimus got in Flyte} and sees his mum. Queste, like all of the books in the Septimus Heap series, is filled with non-stop action, humor, and fantastical adventure, as Septimus continues his journey of Magykal self-discovery.
[edit] Characters
- Septimus Heap: the protagonist to the story, supposedly died in birth, but was recognized at the end of Book 1: Magyk. He is apprenticed to Marcia Overstrand, the Extra-Ordinary Wizard
- Jenna Heap: Septimus' adopted sister, daughter to the Last Queen
- Silas Heap: Septimus' Father
- Simon Heap: Septimus' oldest brother who is reforming from his evil ways
- Nicko Heap: Septimus' brother was perviously apprenticed to the Boatyard, before getting trapped in Physik along with Snorri.
- Merrin Meredith: Former apprentice to Simon Heap, enemy of Septimus, and formerly DomDaniel's apprentice.
- Marcia Overstrand: Current Extra-Ordinary Wizard
- Snorri: Daughter of a Northern Trader, she was trapped in the past with Nicko during the events from Physik
- Alther Mella : The Ghost of an Extraordinary Wizard, who aids Jenna and Septimus
- Tertius Fume : The Ghost of the first Chief Hermetic Scribe.
- Ephaniah Grebe: Friendly worker at the Manuscriptorium who stays in the basement due to a very odd hex that two books placed on him. He was saved by the Witch Mother, though the hex left him with some very peculiar deformities.
- Morweena : Witch mother
[edit] Included CD-ROM
Some editions of the book include a "Magykal CD". The disk included is actually a CD-ROM, not a CD, which led to some confusion and complaints among customers who tried to play the disk in a CD player. Also, the CD-ROM contains exclusively Windows executables, and non-standard files with "pdf" and "swf" extensions, rendering the entire CD unusable to anyone without a Windows machine to run the executable files that decode the fake PDFs and Flash files. This has also been tested, and failed to function, with Wine on Linux.
