In the Forests of Serre

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable fantasy/fairy tale
Review: Although the Forests of Serre is not my favorite McKillip book, her stories are always a pleasure to read, and this is no exception. Her lyrical prose creates vivid pictures (I love the image of the witch running off with her house of bones!) and the story is beautiful and wonderfully strange, bringing to mind a fairy tale by the Grimms. I was a little disappointed, however, by the lack of intensity in the story and felt that characterization was sacrificed for story development. The characters don't seem fully realized and Sidonie especially seems like a caricature, as the beautiful, golden princess. Still, definitely worth reading for McKillip and fairy tale fans!

Rating:
Summary: The Heart of Serre
Review: Do you know the value your heart? If you think you do, do you know yourself that well? Dive in the magical tale weaved by the firebird that reflected each one's heart desire.

Serre, a mighty kingdom, with its dense and enchanted forest. Dacia, a small but wealthy kingdom, with infamous magical veined kings, except its latest one. To prevent magical war between them, Sidonie, Princess of Dacia, and Ronan, Prince of Serre, were trapped in royal marriage plan although both of them tried to flee from it. And a young wizard, tried to find and encapture his heart's true desire but attracted to dangerous side of himself that he didn't know instead. Each lost their heart and each found them again, guided by the magic of Serre in the form of firebird.

Discover yourself and your heart through the tangling beauty and ugliness, light and dark, good and evil, enchanting of the heart of The Forrest of Serre, where fairytale came to life till it brought you to satisfying conclusion.

Rating:
Summary: McKillip keeps out-doing herself
Review: Each novel is more incredible than the last; this one shimmers with stories--with the tales, the need to tell them, and the unexpected ways they come true.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful prose,but...
Review: I had high hopes for this book after thoroughly enjoying the Riddlemaster books. Those combined McKillip's wonderful prose with fully developed characters with whom the reader becomes deeply involved. This book had the wonderful prose, but the characters were flat and I simply never got to the point of really caring what happened.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful prose,but...
Review: I had high hopes for this book after thoroughly enjoying the Riddlemaster books. Those combined McKillip's wonderful prose with fully developed characters with whom the reader becomes deeply involved. This book had the wonderful prose, but the characters were flat and I simply never got to the point of really caring what happened.

Rating:
Summary: Reads like a fairy tale
Review: I liked this tale. It was a fairy tale with fairy tales from different worlds interwoven within the story. Not to mention the fantasy world the story takes place in. The cover art is beautiful and sort of alludes to the wonderful make-believe land inside. A lovelost prince, a determined princess, ogres, one-eyed kings, dragons, aged wizards, etc. all lead you on a merry odessey of the human heart.

Rating:
Summary: The Prince and the Firebird
Review: In the Forests of Serre is a fantasy novel with a Slavic style. Prince Ronan has lost his wife and child and, after burning their bodies on the funeral byre and scattering their ashes in the river, he has ridden away to war with rebels in southern Serre, hoping to die in battle. His father, King Fergus, sends a messenger and a troop of soldiers to order him to come home. Ronan obeys his father, returning with the wounded warriors and escorted by the troop of soldiers. As he crosses a wasteland, his horse steps on a white hen. Ronan is soon made aware by the witch Brume that the crushed bird is hers and she bids him to pluck the chicken for her pot and invites him and his companion to enter her house and drink the broth. Ronan refuses her bidding and invitation three times and is then informed that he will have a bad day.

When Ronan reaches his home, the king wastes no time telling him that he will marry Princess Sidonie in four days. Although Ronan tries to demur from this wedding, saying that he is still grieving his lost wife and child, the king refuses to delay the wedding and, when Ronan continues to deny his command, the king puts Ronan under guard prior to the ceremony. Ronan's mother is sympathetic but is powerless to change the king's plans.

While Ronan is in his guarded room, he sees the Firebird in the forest and hears her singing. Ronan leaves his room, walks down the staircase and, while the guards are following him at a slower pace, slips out of the castle gates and down the cliff to the forest. There he follows the Firebird, running and running, then standing still to watch and listen, and then running again. He is soon lost in the woods, enthralled by the beauty and song of the Firebird. As he follows, the prince is asked by various distressed animals to help them with their troubles, which he does in an absent-minded way.

In Dacia, Princess Sidonie is told of the impending marriage and runs to Unciel, a formerly powerful wizard, to convince him to urge her father to change his mind. The king is relentless, however, and soon persuades Sidonie and Unciel that the marriage must occur to preclude an invasion of Dacia by King Fergus. Unciel suggests that a wizard should accompany the marriage party to protect against the wild magic of Serre. He is still too weak and powerless from a long and strenuous battle against a mighty foe to provide such protection, but he calls upon the wizard Gyre, who owes him a favor, to accompany Sidonie's party.

After many long and hard weeks of travel, Princess Sidonie and her escorts finally enter the forests of Serre. While playing with her bow and arrows in the forest, Sidonie comes upon a wild and ragged looking man following the Firebird. She talks to the confused and somewhat incoherent man for a while and gives her bow to him as he starts to run after the Firebird. When they reach the Castle in Serre, Sidonie soon determines that the deshelved man must have been Prince Ronan.

This novel is a story of wizards and witches, princes and princesses, kindness and cruelty, and warm passion versus cold intellect. The witch Brume is devious, but can sometimes be fooled. King Fergus is powerful and determined, but has only limited perception. The story is full of light and mystery and ends with a hint of still other secrets not quite seen.

Highly recommended for McKillip fans and anyone else who enjoys adult fairy tales written with a light and fanciful touch.

Rating:
Summary: The Prince and the Firebird
Review: In the Forests of Serre is a fantasy novel with a Slavic style. Prince Ronan has lost his wife and child and, after burning their bodies on the funeral byre and scattering their ashes in the river, he has ridden away to war with rebels in southern Serre, hoping to die in battle. His father, King Fergus, sends a messenger and a troop of soldiers to order him to come home. Ronan obeys his father, returning with the wounded warriors and escorted by the troop of soldiers. As he crosses a wasteland, his horse steps on a white hen. Ronan is soon made aware by the witch Brume that the crushed bird is hers and she bids him to pluck the chicken for her pot and invites him and his companion to enter her house and drink the broth. Ronan refuses her bidding and invitation three times and is then informed that he will have a bad day.

When Ronan reaches his home, the king wastes no time telling him that he will marry Princess Sidonie in four days. Although Ronan tries to demur from this wedding, saying that he is still grieving his lost wife and child, the king refuses to delay the wedding and, when Ronan continues to deny his command, the king puts Ronan under guard prior to the ceremony. Ronan's mother is sympathetic but is powerless to change the king's plans.

While Ronan is in his guarded room, he sees the Firebird in the forest and hears her singing. Ronan leaves his room, walks down the staircase and, while the guards are following him at a slower pace, slips out of the castle gates and down the cliff to the forest. There he follows the Firebird, running and running, then standing still to watch and listen, and then running again. He is soon lost in the woods, enthralled by the beauty and song of the Firebird. As he follows, the prince is asked by various distressed animals to help them with their troubles, which he does in an absent-minded way.

In Dacia, Princess Sidonie is told of the impending marriage and runs to Unciel, a formerly powerful wizard, to convince him to urge her father to change his mind. The king is relentless, however, and soon persuades Sidonie and Unciel that the marriage must occur to preclude an invasion of Dacia by King Fergus. Unciel suggests that a wizard should accompany the marriage party to protect against the wild magic of Serre. He is still too weak and powerless from a long and strenuous battle against a mighty foe to provide such protection, but he calls upon the wizard Gyre, who owes him a favor, to accompany Sidonie's party.

After many long and hard weeks of travel, Princess Sidonie and her escorts finally enter the forests of Serre. While playing with her bow and arrows in the forest, Sidonie comes upon a wild and ragged looking man following the Firebird. She talks to the confused and somewhat incoherent man for a while and gives her bow to him as he starts to run after the Firebird. When they reach the Castle in Serre, Sidonie soon determines that the deshelved man must have been Prince Ronan.

This novel is a story of wizards and witches, princes and princesses, kindness and cruelty, and warm passion versus cold intellect. The witch Brume is devious, but can sometimes be fooled. King Fergus is powerful and determined, but has only limited perception. The story is full of light and mystery and ends with a hint of still other secrets not quite seen.

Highly recommended for McKillip fans and anyone else who enjoys adult fairy tales written with a light and fanciful touch.

Rating:
Summary: An absorbing jewel of a tale
Review: In The Forests of Serre, McKillip has released yet another beautifully crafted story. I love her work so well, that I simply buy whatever she puts out immediately. Again, I was not dissapointed. Drawing me in swiftly, I would argue that this is one of her best so far. "Ombria in Shadow" left me desiring something, though it too was a lovely tale, but Forests has more than made up for it. Deceptively simple, her work will leave you pondering afterward. In a class far above most fantasy, I could argue that it be sold in the Literature section, rather than fastasy, as it is fantastic in more than genre.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic fairy tale fabulation, with a Russianesque flavor
Review: Never exactly borrowing her plot elements and characters from Russian and Slavic myth and legend (but oh! so closely sometimes!), McKillip is the absolute mistress of her literate, adult, and realistic style. There are the usual wonderful extended metaphors, the droll, yet humane humor, and the rich characterizations that pervade her growing oeurve. While readers would also enjoy the Adult Fairy Tale series, edited by Terri Windling, and the Fairy Tales for Adults anthologies from Windling and Datlow (to which I believe McKillip contributes), no other author does it as well at McKillip. Virtuoso reading!