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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
The King of Elfland's Daughter is considered a classic fantasy novel, and at least one essay describes it as one of the founding novels of modern fantasy. I don't know what that means, exactly, but it's clear that the type of fantasy being published today owes a lot to this novel. If nothing else, the narrative style seems to have inspired a lot of the fantasy writers who followed.
The very narrative dates this book, as it's peppered with "whither"s and "goodly"s, it has a tendency to speak to the reader directly, and the sentence structure is so correct that it's awkward. Plus, Dunsany has a bad habit of repeating certain things, and those certain things are repeated a lot. He speaks often of the "fields we know," and of the palace that are "only spoken of in song." I mean, every time he references those things, that's how he refers to them, even in passing. It's a little grating.
Despite that, though, the story reads very well. It's not an easy read -- it lacks the kind of compelling pull that I expect from fiction -- but it's a good story that's poetically told. Though the narrative was sometimes frustrating, Dunsany managed to tell the story with prose that was vivid, and managed to make the world of Erl light and airy. Some of the descriptions felt like they could float away with his descriptions, but not to the point where you couldn't get a sense of what he was trying to tell. It was an odd style, one that I haven't seen in other fiction.
The story does have a plot of sorts, centered on the main character, Alveric, who woos the king of Elfland's daughter, their son, Orion, and the daughter herself, Lirazel. A human man and elfin woman aren't going to have an easy relationship, and the novel tells the story of this star-crossed family. It's engaging enough to keep you reading (and I'll be honest here; sometimes I really needed something to keep me reading), and the way the story ends will keep you going until the last page.
This is another print-on-demand book, and it's unfortunate that the people who typeset the novel and no idea what they were doing. There are missing periods, extraneous words, and a horrendous paragraph formatting. Online, it's fine to set apart paragraphs with empty lines and not indent each one; in a novel, it's somewhat frustrating to read that way. Even e-books maintain that sort of formatting, and it's unfortunate that this book wasn't formatted that way. There's another edition of this book with traditional formatting and a foreword by Neil Gaiman that's still in print, and I'm disappointed that I didn't get that one instead. This was the only one available at the store, and I figured it was all that was in print.
Fantasy readers should read this, since it forms part of the foundation of the entire genre. Other readers, though, might have some trouble getting into (and staying with) the story.
The very narrative dates this book, as it's peppered with "whither"s and "goodly"s, it has a tendency to speak to the reader directly, and the sentence structure is so correct that it's awkward. Plus, Dunsany has a bad habit of repeating certain things, and those certain things are repeated a lot. He speaks often of the "fields we know," and of the palace that are "only spoken of in song." I mean, every time he references those things, that's how he refers to them, even in passing. It's a little grating.
Despite that, though, the story reads very well. It's not an easy read -- it lacks the kind of compelling pull that I expect from fiction -- but it's a good story that's poetically told. Though the narrative was sometimes frustrating, Dunsany managed to tell the story with prose that was vivid, and managed to make the world of Erl light and airy. Some of the descriptions felt like they could float away with his descriptions, but not to the point where you couldn't get a sense of what he was trying to tell. It was an odd style, one that I haven't seen in other fiction.
The story does have a plot of sorts, centered on the main character, Alveric, who woos the king of Elfland's daughter, their son, Orion, and the daughter herself, Lirazel. A human man and elfin woman aren't going to have an easy relationship, and the novel tells the story of this star-crossed family. It's engaging enough to keep you reading (and I'll be honest here; sometimes I really needed something to keep me reading), and the way the story ends will keep you going until the last page.
This is another print-on-demand book, and it's unfortunate that the people who typeset the novel and no idea what they were doing. There are missing periods, extraneous words, and a horrendous paragraph formatting. Online, it's fine to set apart paragraphs with empty lines and not indent each one; in a novel, it's somewhat frustrating to read that way. Even e-books maintain that sort of formatting, and it's unfortunate that this book wasn't formatted that way. There's another edition of this book with traditional formatting and a foreword by Neil Gaiman that's still in print, and I'm disappointed that I didn't get that one instead. This was the only one available at the store, and I figured it was all that was in print.
Fantasy readers should read this, since it forms part of the foundation of the entire genre. Other readers, though, might have some trouble getting into (and staying with) the story.
mysterious
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Just a little more focus and I would have loved it. It is beautiful, but blurry, and I can't help but feel like there is something just out of peripheral view that I missed. Plus, that dude hunted and killed unicorns, and that is just wrong. Worse than Voldemort, that is.
adventurous
I solely read this book because of the Gaiman's introduction. It's not a bad story to be honest. The prose is lyrical and you totally understand that Lord Dunsany was a poet.
But you might be wondering, why only two stars then? Well what I strongly feel is that it would have been a very good story had it been at a length of 100 odd pages. It's the case of not knowing when to stop. It's like 'the hounds hunted the unicorn but they missed it, they hunted the unicorn but they missed it and they again hunted the unicorn but they missed it and oh now they got it'. The added blurb is not for character development. Alveric is just always on his quest. What are more details about his character, we know not. Content shouldn't be to describe clip-clop-clips of the horse hooves. They can if they bring something vital to the story to signal the impending danger or war or something like that, but not just for the sake of clip-clop-clips. Like in the case of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, despite 1000+ pages not one line feels wasted.
Maybe such books were more appreciated when the book was first published, 1924, but now an abridged version fares much better in my honest opinion.
But you might be wondering, why only two stars then? Well what I strongly feel is that it would have been a very good story had it been at a length of 100 odd pages. It's the case of not knowing when to stop. It's like 'the hounds hunted the unicorn but they missed it, they hunted the unicorn but they missed it and they again hunted the unicorn but they missed it and oh now they got it'. The added blurb is not for character development. Alveric is just always on his quest. What are more details about his character, we know not. Content shouldn't be to describe clip-clop-clips of the horse hooves. They can if they bring something vital to the story to signal the impending danger or war or something like that, but not just for the sake of clip-clop-clips. Like in the case of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, despite 1000+ pages not one line feels wasted.
Maybe such books were more appreciated when the book was first published, 1924, but now an abridged version fares much better in my honest opinion.
On a chance, I happened to see The King of Elfland's Daughter and immediately became enchanted with the description. It sounded like the perfect classic fantasy that had been slightly forgotten to the ravages of time but served as an influential work to many modern classics. Several months ago, I was browsing the regular fiction shelves at a local bookstore and stumbled upon a copy to my utter delight. However, it took a while for me to finally read it.
The King of Elfland's Daughter is about the ill-fated match between a mortal man, Alveric, and the ethereal daughter of the King of Elfland, Lirazal. In his youth, Alveric ventured into Elfland with an otherworldly sword and swept away Lirazal away from the majestic Elfland court. The two settled into their life within the fields of men, but Lirazal never eased into the role. Instead, Alveric and Lirazal have an argument about her failure to assimilate and she leaves behind her husband and their young son. The story unfolds as Alveric searches for Elfland again and his son, Orion, grows into a fine hunter.
It was utterly delightful to read this book as Lord Dunsany's writing style and descriptions are unlike any modern works. There is a poetic essence to his world-building and how he differentiates the mortal world from Elfland. I was lulled by the rhythm of the words and felt transported to another world because they so artfully captured the strangeness and ethereal quality of Elfland, as well as, the simple joys of the mortal fields. Not to mention that I love the use of 'fields' in this book as it really conveys a sense of the landscape and its boundaries. Lord Dunsany truly excelled was turning poetic images and turning it into prose. Nowadays, this is a rare character and I wish that more fantasy books attempted the same poetic style.
Despite Lord Dunsay's way with words and imagery, his story and character choices are lacking and somewhat are a product of its time. While Lord Dunsany's examination of the relationship between a mortal man and a woman from another realm and what happens afterward is quite fascinating—it fails to truly delve into the nature of the relationship and the feelings of the characters beyond flowery language. It is also more about the story and the quest of Alveric and Orion than the relationship between Alveric and Lirazal. Of course, the other problem is that Lirazal is only a prize to be won by the mortal man. While I applaud Lord Dunsany for giving her agency and the gall to leave, she fails to be more than a beautiful exotic princess to be won.
The King of Elfland's Daughter is about the ill-fated match between a mortal man, Alveric, and the ethereal daughter of the King of Elfland, Lirazal. In his youth, Alveric ventured into Elfland with an otherworldly sword and swept away Lirazal away from the majestic Elfland court. The two settled into their life within the fields of men, but Lirazal never eased into the role. Instead, Alveric and Lirazal have an argument about her failure to assimilate and she leaves behind her husband and their young son. The story unfolds as Alveric searches for Elfland again and his son, Orion, grows into a fine hunter.
It was utterly delightful to read this book as Lord Dunsany's writing style and descriptions are unlike any modern works. There is a poetic essence to his world-building and how he differentiates the mortal world from Elfland. I was lulled by the rhythm of the words and felt transported to another world because they so artfully captured the strangeness and ethereal quality of Elfland, as well as, the simple joys of the mortal fields. Not to mention that I love the use of 'fields' in this book as it really conveys a sense of the landscape and its boundaries. Lord Dunsany truly excelled was turning poetic images and turning it into prose. Nowadays, this is a rare character and I wish that more fantasy books attempted the same poetic style.
Despite Lord Dunsay's way with words and imagery, his story and character choices are lacking and somewhat are a product of its time. While Lord Dunsany's examination of the relationship between a mortal man and a woman from another realm and what happens afterward is quite fascinating—it fails to truly delve into the nature of the relationship and the feelings of the characters beyond flowery language. It is also more about the story and the quest of Alveric and Orion than the relationship between Alveric and Lirazal. Of course, the other problem is that Lirazal is only a prize to be won by the mortal man. While I applaud Lord Dunsany for giving her agency and the gall to leave, she fails to be more than a beautiful exotic princess to be won.