Rating: 
Summary: An Inspired Vision
Review: This is a novel of immense beauty, by any literary standard. In his unparalleled use of language and lyricism, Dunsany as a stylist surpasses any other fantasy writer I have encountered. Like several of the characters I too was lured into Dunsany's Magical Kingdom. This work unveils the inherent tensions between reason and passion, the realm of science and the realm of magic, dreams and reality. Dunsany, by bringing his characters from the mundane world to the unreal convincingly shows that art is often truer than life, and beauty more important than truth.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic and beautiful
Review: This is in a league beyond any of the modern fantasy novel's I've read, both in the fact that the story is original and unpredictable, and also that the writing is simply outstanding. Much of it is like poetry. I would recommend it to any who enjoys fantasy or mythology.
Rating:
Summary: A classic of Fantasy going "Beyond the fields we know."
Review: This is one of the classics of early 20th Century fantasy. A visually beautiful love story about traveling back and forth between a mysterious fantasy world right next to our own. The only drawback is excessive discussion about British-style noblemen going off on hunting expeditions. A must read for fans of high fantasy.
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Summary: A wonderful & different take on the fantasy story - a must !
Review: This must be one of the really great books of the modern fantasy field. Related to the traditional fairy tale but with a very different slant, it is easy to see how this book has captivated so many who have read (and probably re-read) it. The vision and imagination, the feeling, language and description - there have been few to match it (in their own, different, ways.. try McKillip, Tolkien, Gaiman). Read it, immerse yourself in it - the images will remain in memory long after.
Rating:
Summary: "A Burning Pungent Flavour of Enchantment"
Review: This phrase, used by Lord Dunsany to describe the scent of a unicorn to a hound's nose, describes his own novel just as aptly. Or, as Neil Gaiman writes in his introduction, the novel is "a rich red wine, which may come as a shock if all one has had so far has been cola." This novel must be savoured, not rapidly devoured, as I find myself doing with so many contemporary science fiction and fantasy novels these days. Dunsany truly had a gift with words, and his descriptions, while seemingly vague, are beautiful; he knew just how much to leave to the reader's imagination. For example, what exactly does the King of Elfland's throne room look like? It is "the throne-room of which only song may tell." That doesn't say much, but at the same time, it says enough. The tone of this novel reminded me quite a bit of William Goldman's retelling of "The Princess Bride" -- Dunsany's narrator reminds me of a father (or grandfather, for those familiar with the film version) telling his son a bedtime story, or of the village storyteller holding sway over a captive audience. I can already tell that this will be a story I will enjoy sharing with my children, as it holds appeal for children of all ages, much like Neil Gaiman's "Stardust." I am thankful to Del Rey for bringing this novel back into print, and I look forward to reading more from Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Lord Dunsany.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful tale, I truly loved it!
Review: This was a wonderful story. The bond between Lirazel andOrion, the descriptive passages, all of the "magic"was here. Tragic at times, funny, and wondrous. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: This was one of those books that I knew was good from the moment I read the first line. If you enjoy the stories of Michael Moorcock or Neil Gaiman--in short, if you are a fan of quality fantasy fiction--then you will likely enjoy "The King of Elfland's Daughter." Don't allow yourself to be put off by the fairy tale title. This is a novel deep in imagination and rich of language, expansive and wonderful in its vision.
Rating:
Summary: There was fantasy before Tolkein
Review: When I was in middle school I recieved a book for Christmas of short fantasy stories that had The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth by Lord Dunsany in it. This story blew my mind, it was so imaginative and exciting and written so beautifully and I looked everywhere for some of his books and couldn't find them. Luckily, Del Ray has put them back into print. The King of Elflands Daughter is a wonderful novel, very beautiful and dreamy. Lord Dunsany had a large imagination and it shows. His writing is like reading poetry and his descriptions are very vivid. I loved the way Elfland was described, I recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy and is sick of pale Tolkein imitations.
Rating:
Summary: One of the true classic writers
Review: When Terry Goodkind's "Soul of the Fire" - part of one of those multi-volume "epic" fantasy series so popular these days - was not yet released, Amazon readers had already posted a few hundred reviews of the book, almost all of which rated it at 5 stars. None of them had read a word of what they were reviewing, but that didn't stop them.At the time of writing this, there are just a handful of reviews of Dunsany's "The King of Elfland's Daughter", which was first published in 1924 and which is one of the true classic fantasies of all time. And I doubt a great number will follow. That's fashion for you. Still, in about twenty or thirty years from now, I very much doubt if a lot of fantasy afficianados will be able to remember Terry Goodkind at all (let alone "Soul of the Fire"). But I do know that they'll remember Dunsany. As they will William Morris, E.R. Eddison, C.S. Lewis, and - of course - J.R.R. Tolkien. You see, these are the original masters of fantasy. A lot of good - at times great - fantasy has been written since then (writers like Patricia McKillip, Stephen Donaldson, Ursula LeGuin, Guy Gavriel Kay come to mind), but these are the Old Ones. The ones, if you like, Who Knew What They Were Talking About. To explain (in the case of Dunsany): a few years back, when in Ireland, I tried to visit the Dunsany ancestral home (yes, this is real aristocracy). I remember asking a local farmer for directions; then, after a little searching, I found a secluded gateway. I drove up the lane, crowded with trees, turned right - and there it was. One of the most beautiful and hospitable - and very real - castles you could imagine. And it suddenly dawned on me: if you lived in such a place - if your family had, for generations, lived in such a place, in such a troubled country, with so much pain and turmoil - you probably couldn't help but turn to some sort of fantasy. And that fantasy couldn't help but be more true than what all of us could come up with, munching our microwaved Internet dinners before flickering monitors and filing billion dollar law suits against any company that produces potentially harmful products. Not knowing where it came from, it's easy for us to try to decide what good fantasy is - it seems we don't even need to read to book to review it - but we might do well do realise, every now and then, that some of it was written with a far greater perspective than we could aspire to. In the end, "The King of Elfland's Daughter" is one of the masterpieces of early fantasy. It takes a little getting used to - like Henry James, for example - but if you like fantasy fiction at all, you must read this book. It is one of the very few fantasy books that if worth just about any price you pay for it. One final remark: an absolutely excellent collection of Dunsany's shorter fiction was recently published by Victor Gollancz under the title "Time And The Gods" (Fantasy Masterworks Series). As far as I know, this has not been published in the US, but you should be able to get it from Amazon.co.uk. Buy it immediately; these stories will probably be out of print again very soon.
Rating:
Summary: One of the true classic writers
Review: When Terry Goodkind's "Soul of the Fire" - part of one of those multi-volume "epic" fantasy series so popular these days - was not yet released, Amazon readers had already posted a few hundred reviews of the book, almost all of which rated it at 5 stars. None of them had read a word of what they were reviewing, but that didn't stop them. At the time of writing this, there are just a handful of reviews of Dunsany's "The King of Elfland's Daughter", which was first published in 1924 and which is one of the true classic fantasies of all time. And I doubt a great number will follow. That's fashion for you. Still, in about twenty or thirty years from now, I very much doubt if a lot of fantasy afficianados will be able to remember Terry Goodkind at all (let alone "Soul of the Fire"). But I do know that they'll remember Dunsany. As they will William Morris, E.R. Eddison, C.S. Lewis, and - of course - J.R.R. Tolkien. You see, these are the original masters of fantasy. A lot of good - at times great - fantasy has been written since then (writers like Patricia McKillip, Stephen Donaldson, Ursula LeGuin, Guy Gavriel Kay come to mind), but these are the Old Ones. The ones, if you like, Who Knew What They Were Talking About. To explain (in the case of Dunsany): a few years back, when in Ireland, I tried to visit the Dunsany ancestral home (yes, this is real aristocracy). I remember asking a local farmer for directions; then, after a little searching, I found a secluded gateway. I drove up the lane, crowded with trees, turned right - and there it was. One of the most beautiful and hospitable - and very real - castles you could imagine. And it suddenly dawned on me: if you lived in such a place - if your family had, for generations, lived in such a place, in such a troubled country, with so much pain and turmoil - you probably couldn't help but turn to some sort of fantasy. And that fantasy couldn't help but be more true than what all of us could come up with, munching our microwaved Internet dinners before flickering monitors and filing billion dollar law suits against any company that produces potentially harmful products. Not knowing where it came from, it's easy for us to try to decide what good fantasy is - it seems we don't even need to read to book to review it - but we might do well do realise, every now and then, that some of it was written with a far greater perspective than we could aspire to. In the end, "The King of Elfland's Daughter" is one of the masterpieces of early fantasy. It takes a little getting used to - like Henry James, for example - but if you like fantasy fiction at all, you must read this book. It is one of the very few fantasy books that if worth just about any price you pay for it. One final remark: an absolutely excellent collection of Dunsany's shorter fiction was recently published by Victor Gollancz under the title "Time And The Gods" (Fantasy Masterworks Series). As far as I know, this has not been published in the US, but you should be able to get it from Amazon.co.uk. Buy it immediately; these stories will probably be out of print again very soon.
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