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sandygx260's review against another edition
4.0
What a haunting little novella, actually more like a long short story. Not a book to be read with breakfast, unless you want to feel sad for the next few hours.
I am reading entirely too much this weekend. It's time to weed.
I am reading entirely too much this weekend. It's time to weed.
beastreader's review against another edition
3.0
The Villier family’s homestead is situated right near a burial ground. There is an old legend regarding The Tombs or as it is also known as the “Isle of Apples”. A maiden who had lost her lover, traveled down to the tombs. She returned with her lover in tow and refusing to let him return to the underworld.
Iris Catherine Villiers is the younger sister to twin brothers, Harvey and Spence. Though, Harvey and Spence could not be more different from each other than night and day. Harvey is the sweet one and Spence is the evil one. Iris and Harvey get along with each other. They are very close.
One day a tragic accident befalls Harvey and Iris, leaving Harvey dead and Iris gaining the ability to communicate with the dead. Iris longs to bring Harvey back from the dead but is she willing to pay the price?
While the story had some paranormal elements to it, I was hoping for more. I found the characters were interesting. This is a quick read, which I actually wished had lasted a bit longer. The illustrations in this book are detailed and wonderful. I would have liked to seen Iris use her new learned ability more. It was like she had it, used it and that was it. Overall, a pretty good book.
Iris Catherine Villiers is the younger sister to twin brothers, Harvey and Spence. Though, Harvey and Spence could not be more different from each other than night and day. Harvey is the sweet one and Spence is the evil one. Iris and Harvey get along with each other. They are very close.
One day a tragic accident befalls Harvey and Iris, leaving Harvey dead and Iris gaining the ability to communicate with the dead. Iris longs to bring Harvey back from the dead but is she willing to pay the price?
While the story had some paranormal elements to it, I was hoping for more. I found the characters were interesting. This is a quick read, which I actually wished had lasted a bit longer. The illustrations in this book are detailed and wonderful. I would have liked to seen Iris use her new learned ability more. It was like she had it, used it and that was it. Overall, a pretty good book.
bahoulie's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed the writing, but the supernatural part of the story, which is the point of the story, was not done well enough.
zarco_j's review against another edition
5.0
Deliciously dark and haunting, this short story has all the ingredients to enable it to stand the test of time. Intriguing, engrossing and one to be savoured over and over.
fallingletters's review against another edition
3.0
Quick review originally posted on 5 May 2013 at Falling Letters.
I read this book around 11PM during the Spring 2013 Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-thon, after I came home from a going away party. It turned out to be a great way to cap off the event! Really a short novella, it's a creepy little tale told in what I consider to be a traditional storytelling style, just the kind of story I adore - I loved how it got darker and darker, and how the relationship between the brother and sister was always a little unnerving, bordering on incest but not quite.
The illustrations are also really lovely! Some repetition throughout the book (I've never understood why repeating an image is a thing :/) but very pretty all the same.
I read this book around 11PM during the Spring 2013 Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-thon, after I came home from a going away party. It turned out to be a great way to cap off the event! Really a short novella, it's a creepy little tale told in what I consider to be a traditional storytelling style, just the kind of story I adore - I loved how it got darker and darker, and how the relationship between the brother and sister was always a little unnerving, bordering on incest but not quite.
The illustrations are also really lovely! Some repetition throughout the book (I've never understood why repeating an image is a thing :/) but very pretty all the same.
batbones's review against another edition
3.0
A short yet satisfying read. I won't deny I enjoyed the innocent though salient hints of incestuous affection (which though present did not amount to much more than their emotional intensity - best to keep the...purity of a classic horror story, one possible told to children). Hints of romance if one squints. Its simple vocabulary and style fits pleasantly with the type of before-the-hearth tale one might tell on a quintessential stormy night.
jayfr's review against another edition
5.0
Deliciously dark and haunting, this short story has all the ingredients to enable it to stand the test of time. Intriguing, engrossing and one to be savoured over and over.
erin_oriordan_is_reading_again's review against another edition
5.0
I don't know much about the personal religious beliefs of Douglas Clegg, but if he's not a Pagan, he sure does a good impression of one. The last book I read by this author was [b:Mordred: Bastard Son|23854|Mordred Bastard Son|Douglas Clegg|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167462983s/23854.jpg|24791], and I was impressed by the poetic retelling of Arthurian legend. He breathes life and poetry into age-old Celtic legends.
Clegg revisits one of the old Arthurian stomping grounds, Cornwall, in more modern times in Isis. The novella centers on Iris, the daughter of an American actress/singer mother and a British father. Iris and her three brothers, including twins Spence and (Iris' favorite) Harvey, were raised on Long Island before their father moved them to Cornwall to be near his own aging father. Through groundskeeper Old Marsh, Iris learns the ancient legends of her seaside home. From her grandfather's library, she learns an ancient spell for bringing the dead back to life. She never thinks to use it until the thoughtlessness of Spence and an evil governess causes a terrible accident. Harvey falls from a window and is killed. At that moment, a "window" opens up inside Iris, and she is linked to the world of the dead. Clegg incorporates the ancient Egyptian myth of Isis, who resurrected her brother (and lover) Osiris from the dead after their other brother Set killed him. The most beautiful part of this eerie tale, though, is Clegg's description, via a resurrected Harvey, of what the Cornish call the Isle of Apples (Avalon), the land of the dead. But just as J.K. Rowling warned in "The Deathly Hallows" in [b:The Tales of Beedle the Bard|4020390|The Tales of Beedle the Bard|J.K. Rowling|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255628345s/4020390.jpg|3007490], those brought from the land of the dead do not belong in this world. Iris should have listened to the old legends.
Clegg revisits one of the old Arthurian stomping grounds, Cornwall, in more modern times in Isis. The novella centers on Iris, the daughter of an American actress/singer mother and a British father. Iris and her three brothers, including twins Spence and (Iris' favorite) Harvey, were raised on Long Island before their father moved them to Cornwall to be near his own aging father. Through groundskeeper Old Marsh, Iris learns the ancient legends of her seaside home. From her grandfather's library, she learns an ancient spell for bringing the dead back to life. She never thinks to use it until the thoughtlessness of Spence and an evil governess causes a terrible accident. Harvey falls from a window and is killed. At that moment, a "window" opens up inside Iris, and she is linked to the world of the dead. Clegg incorporates the ancient Egyptian myth of Isis, who resurrected her brother (and lover) Osiris from the dead after their other brother Set killed him. The most beautiful part of this eerie tale, though, is Clegg's description, via a resurrected Harvey, of what the Cornish call the Isle of Apples (Avalon), the land of the dead. But just as J.K. Rowling warned in "The Deathly Hallows" in [b:The Tales of Beedle the Bard|4020390|The Tales of Beedle the Bard|J.K. Rowling|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255628345s/4020390.jpg|3007490], those brought from the land of the dead do not belong in this world. Iris should have listened to the old legends.
grimondgalgmod's review against another edition
3.0
World's okayest gothic horror. The illustrations were cool but it's just a slightly expanded version of Jacobs's The Monkey's Paw.