Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
When I was a kid, I loved George MacDonald's two children's books about Princess Irene (The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie). My first reading of Lilith, a fantasy written for adults was over 45 years ago, when I was around 19. During the intervening years, I had forgotten that it is a bit of a tough read. The book is episodic and dreamlike but often the dialogue makes you feel like you are being forced to navigate through a series of riddles written in an archaic language. Prepare yourself for lots of out-of-fashion words - words like whence, descried, and plenty of thees and thous. Some of the book is quite imaginative and atmospheric, but I found it a bit of a slog to get through and I was happy when I came to the end. After finishing it, I wondered how I ever managed to get through it when I was in my late teens.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I absolutely loved this mind bending book about an alternate reality and the tale it tells of good and evil.
I did not know that George MacDonald was a Universalist. I can see how CS Lewis fashioned the evil witch I the Narnia books after Lilith though. This book was a very interesting look into that school of belief. God’s mercies reign until the very end of end itself.
The book was confusing at first as George was lining up all of his characters, but came together in the end. This book was also like slogging through molasses. I think people were probably much more patient in the late 1800s for a plot to develop.
The book was confusing at first as George was lining up all of his characters, but came together in the end. This book was also like slogging through molasses. I think people were probably much more patient in the late 1800s for a plot to develop.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Čtivé vyprávění plné křesťanské mystiky, ideální knížka na podzimní večery. Asi si začnu dávat pozor na havrany.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this book where Vane discovers a whole new world through various locations across his newly inherited house and garden. On doing so he steps into a world, which appears to be somewhat different from our own with strange and mystical creatures from the Little Ones to the Giants and a princess that becomes a spotted leopard. But as Vane continues on his journey through this world the religious aspect of MacDonald's work gradually becomes overbearing and takes over what could otherwise have been an amazing story. By the final part of the book the 'other world' seems more like a religious retreat where Vane learns the ways of the lord through quest set by Adam (evidently the actual Adam too). Although MacDonald's writing is vivid and creative and his imagination is limitless and set out for the reader in the most amazing way, for me the religious element did not stay enough of an element and it ended up hijaking the entire story. Worth a read but not MacDonald's best work.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lilith by George MacDonald was republished in 1969 with a cover by Gervasio Gallardo as the fifth volume in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series edited by Lin Carter. The book was first published in 1895, and Carter claims that MacDonald was one of the founders of the fantasy genre.
MacDonald was a Christian minister by vocation, and Lilith reads as a religious allegory. Lilith is actually a figure of Jewish mythology, the wife of Adam before Eve. In MacDonald's interpretation, she is the consort of Satan and the demon Queen of Hell. Other significant characters in Lilith are the biblical Adam and Eve themselves.
The content of the book is faith based, although MacDonald has clothed it in fantastical imagery. Carter's view in the introduction is that the reader can appreciate the fantastic elements without needing to interpret the allegory. I suppose this is possible, but then we are ignoring MacDonald's point. The book is about salvation, and eventual salvation for all. Even the demonic Lilith herself is redeemed.
The book is good for what it does, although it's primary classification should be religious allegory rather than fantasy, in my view. MacDonald was a mentor for Lewis Carroll and encouraged publication of Alice in Wonderland—indeed, for Lilith MaDonald borrowed from Lewis Carroll the device of entering a fantastical world through a mirror. The Alice stories, by contrast to Lilith, are almost pure fantasy without any philosophical baggage, as far as I can tell. Lilith might go well in Sunday School, which is something we cannot say of Alice in Wonderland. Nevertheless, MacDonald is a good writer, and Lilith has some fun elements.
MacDonald was a Christian minister by vocation, and Lilith reads as a religious allegory. Lilith is actually a figure of Jewish mythology, the wife of Adam before Eve. In MacDonald's interpretation, she is the consort of Satan and the demon Queen of Hell. Other significant characters in Lilith are the biblical Adam and Eve themselves.
The content of the book is faith based, although MacDonald has clothed it in fantastical imagery. Carter's view in the introduction is that the reader can appreciate the fantastic elements without needing to interpret the allegory. I suppose this is possible, but then we are ignoring MacDonald's point. The book is about salvation, and eventual salvation for all. Even the demonic Lilith herself is redeemed.
The book is good for what it does, although it's primary classification should be religious allegory rather than fantasy, in my view. MacDonald was a mentor for Lewis Carroll and encouraged publication of Alice in Wonderland—indeed, for Lilith MaDonald borrowed from Lewis Carroll the device of entering a fantastical world through a mirror. The Alice stories, by contrast to Lilith, are almost pure fantasy without any philosophical baggage, as far as I can tell. Lilith might go well in Sunday School, which is something we cannot say of Alice in Wonderland. Nevertheless, MacDonald is a good writer, and Lilith has some fun elements.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death
Moderate: Body horror, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Re-reading Mere Christianity made me realize how many of Lewis' ideas about life, death, sanctification, and worlds behind worlds actually came from GMD.
And what a strange and lovely book this still is.
And what a strange and lovely book this still is.