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Summary: How did I miss this one?
Review: Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter, first published in England in 1924, is a rare thing: both a literary classic and a highly influential fantasy novel. Primarily concerned with maintaining its remarkable and subtle mood, the book's action is largely painted in broadly-drawn strokes which may be too slow to meet the expectations of most genre fans. However, The King of Elfland's Daughter regally demands its readers proceed at its own careful tempo; drowsy, somnolent, and poetic, its prose works quietly but confidently on the reader until he or she is pleasantly intoxicated and emotionally malleable. Since the quickening and halting of time is one of the book's central motifs, Dunsany doubly ensnares his audience, affording the even initially hesitant reader full entre into his moody twin worlds of Erl and Elfland. The king of Erl's son, Alveric, is sent by his father to Elfland to seize the Elf King's daughter and ask that she become his bride. Only a day's journey from the king's castle, Elfland is literally fairyland, a radiantly stark and shifting kingdom existing in full sight of humanity, but protected by a perpetually twilit borderland above which only the pale blue elvish mountains can be glimpsed. Dunsany's unmatched descriptions of Elfland's interior are extraordinarily beautiful and otherworldly; by cleverly tying the reality of Elfland to the reader's initial childhood perceptions and memories, Dunsany creates a fairyland which we've all known and participated in but have lost and only very vaguely remember. One of the constants of the book and its rightful theme is the perpetual lack of significant, emotionally meaningful verbal communication between the characters. The people of Erl and Elfland seem to speak as infrequently to one another as possible, and, unknowingly, always at rather than to one another when they do. Often, even the simplest words which could forestall tragedy go unspoken among the verbally discouraged inhabitants. Thus periods of personal happiness are dream states which have not as yet been shattered by knowledge; and dismay, regret, and melancholy inevitably arrive in the wake of brusque, honest communication, which is all the more brutal for having been so long delayed. The isolation and emotional solitude which surrounds everyone in both kingdoms is what gives the novel its poignancy. Only blunt, self-centered and happy-go-lucky border-jumping troll Lurulu, the novel's comic relief, seems free of sadness. There is very little evil in either Erl or Elfland; there are no villains, only conflicts between those who do not understand one another, hear only themselves, and thus fall to cross purposes. Except for the wise witch who lives high on the hill among the cabbages, all of the characters in The King of Elfland's Daughter are a combination of naivete and self-concern for whom objectivity is impossible. Dunsany illustrates clashes between male and female temperaments, Christianity and paganism, tradition and originality, Erl and Elfland, hunter and hunted. In each case, neither is entirely in the wrong; but each lacks the ability to see as the other sees. Thus another of the book's themes is an appeal for tolerance, empathy, clarity, and expanded individual perspective. In spite of a visceral, unexpected, and unusually specific scene involving the hunting of a unicorn, The King of Elfland's Daughter is much closer in tone and scope to Ursula K. LeGuin's masterful A Wizard Of Earthsea and its sequels than it is to Tolkien's coarser epic. However, readers can expect to find themselves immersed to the full in questors, witches, elfin knights, magic runes, moving trees, barren wastelands, disappearing kingdoms, strangling vines, enchanted farmers, talking animals and courtly love. Though the overall tone of the book suggests early Winter, there are also glorious Springs in first flower, golden early-Autumn afternoons in the harvest fields, and, in Elfland, the eternal and unchanging face of magic, beyond all seasons, time, influence, and fluctuation. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Where Fantasy Could Have Gone
Review: Okay, let me say right off that I've been a Dunsany fan for about 15 years, having acquired "A Dreamer's Tales" back then and never having seen anything else by the fellow. The man had a way with words that is just amazing. And I'd heard that this was his best work. I don't know if that's true, it being a somewhat subjetive and my exposure being limited. (I personally think some of the short stories in Dreamer's Tales might be better, but that's a different thing.) So forget everything Tolkien has taught you about elves and the way magic works. This book predates Tolkien and is a completely different view. The closest I have seen is some of Neil Gaiman's work, specifically Stardust, but I will give Gaiman credit there and say that while he sometimes borrows Dunsany's voice or pieces of his worlds much of it is his own creation. And yet, I think that Gaiman's faeries would not feel too out of place in Dunsany's Elfland and Dunsany's King of Elfland would happily host dinners for the Endless. (Conveniently enough, the edition I picked up has an introduction by Gaiman...) This is a book about wishing for outrageous things, and getting them, and thinking better of it once you have it. The men of Erl take a petition to their king: They want to have a magical king, so Erl can be famous. So the king sends his son Averil to Elfland to wed the King of Elfland's daughter, Lirazel. On his way, one of what should have been the best scenes in the book was ruined for me by ever-so-many bad horror flicks. Averil fights his way through a magical forest (with a magical sword that is unlike any magical sword you have ever seen) wherein he is attacked by ivy and pine trees. Unfortunately, there are just too many bad special-effects ivy-attacking-guy scenes out there now, so the effect was mostly wasted on me. But I will point out that the book, having been published in 1922, predates them all. Anyway, when Averil brings Lirazel back and marries her, everyone is happy for a while. But there's a big difference between wanting wonderful, magical things and actually having them. It's a fun little book, a different sort of fantasy, and I think I've given away as much of the plot as I'm willing too.
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Summary: If you want to read the King of all fantasy novels...
Review: Read "The King of Elfland's Daughter". I first read this in grad school 15 years ago in an old Ballantine Adult Fantasy series version, and thought at the time that everything else I had ever read was simply garbage in comparison, Tolkien included! (well, maybe not Tolkien :-) I've been waiting for it to be reprinted ever since. I will probably look for an original first edition hardcover to fully immerse myself in the beauty of this book. The writing is truly prose poetry, lovingly woven of complex grammar and perfectly selected words that evoke magic and beauty. Read it and be enraptured...
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Summary: Beautiful and Moving -- A Timeless Fantasy
Review: Reading this short, powerful novel is like falling into a dream from which it is hard to awaken. Dunsany's prose is deliciously rich, and he moves through this tale of love and loss and strange longing with infinite grace, never laboring over a point or rushing the majestic pace. Those who are too entrenched in modern prose styles certainly might find the work lacking in the kind of day-to-day detail of the characters' lives, but readers should approach this work with more of a sense of the classic fairy tale or perhaps the biblical parable. I intend to pass this book along to everyone I know who enjoys a good story, and I hope to read it again many times myself!
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Summary: Not a Very Exciting Story!
Review: Save your money! This got good reviews, so I decided to tryit. And I'm sorry I did. The story is not very exciting, doesn't make you want to turn to the next page & continue reading & its just, well...dull. None of the characters are particularly interesting either, the author doesnt tell nearly enough about them to make you care what they do. So save your money. If you think you might be interested in reading it...get it from a friend, the library or a used bookstore first. Spend your money on something really good like Stardust by Neil Gaiman or any Piers Anthony novel.
Rating:
Summary: boring
Review: This book is BORING! I finished it out of my own stubborness but for the last half of the book I was just scanning through to see what happens. As stated by others Lord Dunsay writes good prose but he does little else. The story is stupid and the characters are one-dimensional. And the elegant prose can get irritating because much of it is just repeated over and over and over some more. For example, his description of Elfland is poetic - the first time you hear it! but every few chapters he has to repeat it (and it is a page long description). Anyone who says they enjoyed this book is just trying to be impressive and show that they can read 'high-level' fantasy. I am not sure if the other works of Dunsay will be any better but I suspect that his short stories might have a better chance since he would not run out of material and have to repeat himself. Better books to read : Dark Tower series, Silmarillion, Lyonesse series by Jack Vance.
Rating:
Summary: boring
Review: This book is BORING! I finished it out of my own stubborness but for the last half of the book I was just scanning through to see what happens. As stated by others Lord Dunsay writes good prose but he does little else. The story is stupid and the characters are one-dimensional. And the elegant prose can get irritating because much of it is just repeated over and over and over some more. For example, his description of Elfland is poetic - the first time you hear it! but every few chapters he has to repeat it (and it is a page long description). Anyone who says they enjoyed this book is just trying to be impressive and show that they can read 'high-level' fantasy. I am not sure if the other works of Dunsay will be any better but I suspect that his short stories might have a better chance since he would not run out of material and have to repeat himself. Better books to read : Dark Tower series, Silmarillion, Lyonesse series by Jack Vance.
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Summary: Dunsany's King of Elfland's Daughter
Review: This book, alkthough highly influential in the world of fantasy is more of a fairy-tale than anything else. It does have some similiar relationships between itself and works influenced by it. Chief amongst these being: J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Triology. These include forbidden woods, deserted lands and characters such as goblins, trolls and elves. Trolls in Dunsay's world are more of a lark than a thing of great fear as they are in other classic works. Elves in his work are also more supsicious of mankind than they are in Tolkien's world too. This is especially the case in Tolkien's prequel to the Lord of the Rings triology, the Simallarion, where they eagerly anticipated the arrival of mankind. Bottom line is, if you want to see where Tolkien derove some of his ideas from, read this book. However, it is best to read other contemporary sources of influence too, including the works of E.R. Eddison.
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Summary: went wind and leaves togeather.........
Review: This classic work is written so fluid and fantastical that it would be a shame for any who enjoy fictional (mostly turn of the century)literature to skip it. I have only read 2 novels and few short plays/stories by Dunsany but i am in love. Poety, inspiration, and beauty. Not only a brilliant user of words but mastermind of tales from Alchemy to Chivalry. Read this. You will love it.
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Summary: The king of Elfland's Daughter
Review: This is a more than magical tale, it can be fitted to all modern day situations. A tale of lost and found love, race against race, and good and bad rulers. Family intrigue, and magic,magic magic. If this is indeed a fairy tale, then it should be on your shelf with Grimm.
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