Rating: 
Summary: The Book that Makes an Impact
Review: I have to say, I am not much of a reader and I find it very hard to get a hold of a book that I like and stick with it. I am very picky and I have a short attention span. With that said, I have found that The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany is the perfect combination of elements looked for in a fantasy story. Once you open the book, it is hard to stop reading it and once you stop reading, it is hard to stop thinking about it. The story is a wild fantasy featuring lords, fairies, elves, and the boarder between magic and human lands. Dunsany writes each page like a poem, while being careful to make it a comprehendible story. He also includes just enough reality to keep the reader hanging on every written word, but at the same time, blends in so much fantasy you cannot help but to read on. After reading this book, I can definitely see how it has been credited to making an impact on and inspiring some of the most famous writers to date.
Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous, but...
Review: I heartily give five stars to this enchanting work, but I understand the readers who complained about the lack of characters and story. The main characters are not depicted in emotional depth, and the overall story is quite simple with only a few major events occurring. The pacing is also very slow (it took me 3-5 minutes per page). Yet I loved this book for its intricate, detailed, finely crafted descriptions that include (for example) sentences as long as a paragraph and paragraphs as long as a page; and for its subtle evocation of some very big issues. We enter a conflict between a magic land and our own land, and we find ourselves drawn to both. I found it to be an unforgettable reading experience, but I would not recommend this book to someone looking for action, quickness, and conventional happy endings.
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Summary: fantasy Classic in turn of the Century style
Review: I liked it. Not just "and they lived happily ever after" and even mentioned in other Fantasy novels as character reading - Mercedes Lackey's "Fire Rose" springing into mind. Good Book!
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Summary: Beyond The Fields We Know
Review: I remember reading this in 1978. I was a teenage boy of 18. I remember going beyond the fields we know, and to this day I have never returned. I was profoundly moved and found myself weeping. Even then I knew: this was the poetry of dreams. How does one describe the dream worlds of Lord Dunsany? This is heady stuff: a strange intoxication of beautiful prose that has to be experienced with an open heart and mind. This is some of the literature that inspired me as a boy to write and illustrate my own dreams. Wonderful, that this is back in print. DO NOT pass up THE CHARWOMAN'S SHADOW, or anything by this cerebral master. I hope someone reprints BEYOND THE FIELDS WE KNOW and OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. DO NOT LET THESE CLASSICS OF LITERATURE DIE!
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Summary: you owe it to yourself to read this one
Review: i...wow. wow. this book is amazing. why did i have to go thru almost 25 years of literacy before finding this book? i think every modern writer in the fantasy/sci-fi genre should read this book every single year of their careers. it is *so* refreshing to read a book that's not stretched out into a seven-part series involving some sort of quest for the "ultimate artifact of power and destruction." lord dunsany's words almost seem alive on the page...i sometimes swore i could see elfland out of the corner of my eye while i was reading this. the book doesn't insult your intelligence, nor does it pander to prurient interests, nor does it have a completely unbelievable villain who is "the essence of pure evil, the dark shadownightlorddemon guy" you find in most modern fantasy. no, all the characters here have believable motivations and longings, and some of the scenes are touching and funny. without this book, we wouldn't have gaiman, rowling, or tolkien. read it. read it to your kids, give it to your lover, treasure it always and keep elfland in your heart.
Rating:
Summary: Dreamlike and Classic
Review: It can be said that most fantasy written after Tolkien is stricken with comparisons to the world of hobbits. So many of the genre's works tout "for readers who love Tolkien..." How refreshing to go back in time and read such a lovely work from the early days when everything was not so defined by convention, when stunning sentences were weaved together with mastery more in the tradition of fairy tales and mythology than swords and sorcery. A beautiful story written by a master of language, this memorable tale is not bogged down by inevitable events. You won't know how the story ends until you read through to the last chapter. Now how much fantasy can say that?
Rating: 
Summary: I am new to the fantasy genre - how to rate it??!!
Review: Like many of my book purchases, I acquired this from the invaluable discounter Daedalus. It must be some thirty years since I've read anything in the fantasy genre, so I don't review this as a "fan" or someone with a lot of experience in it. KOED both provoked my curiosity and frustrated me, taking me awhile to finish it. Dunsany's success is in convincingly creating his dreamy worlds, the literary ploy in his dichotomy between "the fields we know," Erl, and the shimmering, elusive region of Elfland. In his story they are first held in their own mutually respected regions, then violated by Prince Alveric's incursion, which results in the apparent waning (protective consolidation) of Elfland. As the book closes Elfland returns, a reverse incursion that gives it sway over the mortal Erl. All of this gave me a feeling akin to watching a mural or mosaic in a Medieval church set in motion, or a tapestry with secular subject matter undergoing animation - albeit two-diminsional. While his prose is vivid and innovative on its own terms, it is here and there so dreamy and hallucinatory that I found myself thrown off the page, and needed to return to it by an extra force of mental will. All of which is to say, I just may be better suited to "the BOOKS we know," the legacy and continuity of the Western novel since Don Quixote. In the best of novels in this tradition, we become invested in the characters, identify with them, experiencing their physical presence and psyches/intellects as the story unfolds and culminates. By contrast, Dunsany never lets us inside his characters. They remain animate AND flat types for our view, and are overall nearly indistinguishable from the fields and farmhouses of Erl, or the shimmering, perpetual hyper-summer glades of Elfland. For me, Dunsany did succeed in gaining my reader's allegiance to the authorial integrity of his created magical realm, but in the end, the place just gave me the creeps.
Rating:
Summary: I am new to the fantasy genre - how to rate it??!!
Review: Like many of my book purchases, I acquired this from the invaluable discounter Daedalus. It must be some thirty years since I've read anything in the fantasy genre, so I don't review this as a "fan" or someone with a lot of experience in it. KOED both provoked my curiosity and frustrated me, taking me awhile to finish it. Dunsany's success is in convincingly creating his dreamy worlds, the literary ploy in his dichotomy between "the fields we know," Erl, and the shimmering, elusive region of Elfland. In his story they are first held in their own mutually respected regions, then violated by Prince Alveric's incursion, which results in the apparent waning (protective consolidation) of Elfland. As the book closes Elfland returns, a reverse incursion that gives it sway over the mortal Erl. All of this gave me a feeling akin to watching a mural or mosaic in a Medieval church set in motion, or a tapestry with secular subject matter undergoing animation - albeit two-diminsional. While his prose is vivid and innovative on its own terms, it is here and there so dreamy and hallucinatory that I found myself thrown off the page, and needed to return to it by an extra force of mental will. All of which is to say, I just may be better suited to "the BOOKS we know," the legacy and continuity of the Western novel since Don Quixote. In the best of novels in this tradition, we become invested in the characters, identify with them, experiencing their physical presence and psyches/intellects as the story unfolds and culminates. By contrast, Dunsany never lets us inside his characters. They remain animate AND flat types for our view, and are overall nearly indistinguishable from the fields and farmhouses of Erl, or the shimmering, perpetual hyper-summer glades of Elfland. For me, Dunsany did succeed in gaining my reader's allegiance to the authorial integrity of his created magical realm, but in the end, the place just gave me the creeps.
Rating:
Summary: A truly wonderful book - one of the greats of fantasy
Review: Lord Dunsany is acknowledged by many, including leading authors (from W.B. Yeats and Lovecraft to top writers of today) as one of the greatest contributors to the field of modern fantasy. Sadly, many of his works have been allowed by publishers to slip out of print and many readers today have never had the chance... This book is one of his best and anyone who enjoys fantastic fiction, myth or legend should try it. The story has such power, is written so lyrically, is woven so richly, that there can be few comparisons. You care about the people, you can see the realms before you. There is depth and complexity, joy and heartbreak, detail and sweeping vision, and a leavening of humour (some supplied by the people of the land but especially by the troll... and no, this is not some stereotypical "bad guy on a bridge"). For style and reach, few can touch Dunsany. Don't miss out - and when you've read this book, try "The Charwoman's Shadow", also reprinted. For something different, there's a whole alternate mythology in "The Complete Pegana" and some truly outstanding short stories in "The Hashish Man" - and keep an eye out for any other Dunsany works. Maybe even write or e-mail a publisher or two to look for more...
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Summary: THE KING OF ELFLAND'S DAUGHTER
Review: Lord Dunsany's beautiful prose poem The King of Elfland's Daughter is one of the seminal novels of fantasy literature and offers everything such a book should. One the hand, it is a dream offering escape from sordid reality; on the other, a mirror in whose misty depths we find what matters most in our lives reflected back at us. Dunsany's writing is classy and very Old World, so devotees of modern cyclical fantasy may not find what they're looking for here. But those with broader tastes or who are simply looking for something new will find this book a refreshing getaway Beyond the Fields We Know. Incorporating many archtypical motifs--the Prince in search of his elfin love; the magic sword; the enigma of magic; and the Quest theme--The King of Elfland's Daughter is a genuine masterpiece that deserves a wider contemporary following. The only part of the book that left this reviewer with reservations is the finale--I'm just not sure it works. Even so, this is a novel for the ages.
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