Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Forgotten Beasts of Eld

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The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip

8 reviews

notthatlibrarian's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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sarrie's review

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dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

TL;DR: A OG Romantasy in my opinion. A fantasy that focuses on the idea of love, in it’s myriad of forms, and a powerful woman. Loved this one.

In full transparency, I vaguely remember reading this bad boy as a teenager. That doesn’t mean much (as I have memory issues), but it could have influenced how much I loved this.

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a classic fantasy about the wizard Sybel and her Beasts as she learns about love, man, war, and what the costs of those things are. A young man brings a baby to Sybel at the beginning of the novel and begs her to keep him and raise him. Begrudgingly she agrees, and she raises the boy. Some years later the boys family and the wars that they are involved in rise up on her doorstep. Sybel falls in love, and she most come to terms with those wars, her love and being caught between them.

There are moments of darkness in this, and it’s very much a denser fantasy, spending a lot of time in Sybel’s mind or wandering along her world and various quests. But it’s all so beautifully told that I ate it up. Sybel grows in her power, and as a person. She goes from a cold wizard in her palace to a feeling person who makes big mistakes and must make up for them.

There is a reason this is a classic in the genre, and I genuinely can’t recommend it enough. It’s a rich and beautiful story about love and hope.

5 out of 5 powerful beasts

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roseleebooks's review

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was one that I read for the first time in high school. At that time it was solidified as a story that I've reread multiple times. I loved having an introduction from two authors who gave such beautiful insight and reflection on the book, and the artwork is stunning.

The twist of the damsel/wizard/witch in a tower is one I've never seen done quite this way by anyone else. Its tale of revenge, possession, love, and forgiveness is always beautiful to read. McKillip writes in a way that feels dreamlike, with long fantastical descriptions of even simple events.

There is one particular moment in this book that makes me uncomfortable, and it has to do with a character striking another. In the moment it seems out of character and is never directly addressed afterward.

Aside from this, the story continues to be one that invokes reflection on life, what it means to be part of the world, and ultimately love. I will continue to reread this and take something new away every time.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tachyon publications for an eARC of this book.

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onthesamepage's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"I may be ignorant in your world, but here you are in my world and you are a fool."

This was an interesting reading experience, for a lot of reasons. Foremost is the sheer talent that McKillip had, to spin up an entire, interesting world, with fascinating creatures and complex characters in a mere 200 pages. Not a single word feels wasted, and yet her writing is still beautiful to me.

"How did your blood run, Coren? Thick and hot in your heart? How did you hate? Did you nurse revenge from a tiny, moon-pale seedling in the night places in your heart, watch it grow and flower and bear dark fruit that hung ripe - ripe for the plucking? It becomes a great, twisted thing of dark leaves and thick, winding vines that chokes and withers whatever good things grow in your heart; it feeds on all the hatred your heart can bear— That is what is in me, Coren. Not all the wondrous joy and love of you can wither that night plant in me."

The second part has to do with the themes she chose to tackle, which revolve around consent. Sybel, our main character, possesses the power to go into the minds of creatures and people and then influence them. Like her father and grandfather before her, she has bound some of these creatures to her so that they can do her bidding. Her mother was similarly called to her father, stayed with him and bore him a child, even though she was unwilling and unhappy. And when we first encounter Sybel, it's clear she doesn't see that there's anything wrong with this. She has lived alone with just her father for company for most of her life, in a remote place in the woods, with nobody else around to teach her otherwise.

That changes when a man named Coren brings a baby to her doorstep. Sybel finds herself caring deeply for Tamlorn, which is the spark that starts her on a journey of self-realization. Tamlorn is the son of a king, and she worries that he will grow hungry for power once he gets a taste of it. But she doesn't realize her own taste for it until she runs into someone who is stronger than her.

Sybel grows a lot throughout this book, but even by the end she's not without faults. There are no perfect characters here, nobody who is purely good or purely bad, but rather a lot of shades of gray, some darker than others. This story explores power and control, and what it means to have, abuse, or lose them, but it's also an exploration of what it means to love someone, and how that can help draw people out of dark places.

"I do not understand you. I am angry with you. I am hurt and helpless, but nothing would fill the ache of the hollowness in me where your name would echo if I lost you."

I would say the story is pretty dark thematically, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its bright spots. For one, even though Coren feels a bit underdeveloped, I did grow to like the romance between him and Sybel. The relationship grows with the characters, which was nice to see. I also really liked all the beasts surrounding Sybel, and getting to read about a dragon who carries people and books on his back just suffused me with a quiet moment of joy.

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gertsie's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

A surprisingly complex novel.

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alba's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

No sabía muy bien que esperar de este libro y me ha gustado mucho. Ha sido un viaje muy bonito desde el inicio, y la escritura de McKillip (así como el trabajo de traducción) es preciosa.
Los personajes (Sybel, Coren, Tamlorn o Maelga) son también muy agradables, y se hace muy fácil llegar a quererlos a lo largo de la historia. Para mí ha sido una delicia leerlo.
Ahora, no es un libro para todo el mundo. El lenguaje que se utiliza es bastante simbólico y no es una novela de fantasía al uso con grandes batallas y héroes. El título puede resultar engañoso, por que las bestias son solo una herramienta en el camino de Sybel. Mientras no se esté buscando eso, creo que es un libro a tener en cuenta.

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tea_overload's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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eileenmarie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is amazing! It has definitely become one of my favorite books of all time

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