Rating: 
Summary: Seminal heroic fantasy
Review: Morris is the early master of "modern" heroic fantasy.
At the same time, Morris was a socialist and there are many political overtones to his last prose romances. These subthemes are subtle but elevate him above most others in genre. Tolkien and his one-dimensional, and somewhat puerile characters are a far cry from Morris, his literary grandfather.Check out his other prose romances if you can find them esp. "The Water of the Wondrous Isles"
Rating:
Summary: Seminal heroic fantasy
Review: Morris is the early master of "modern" heroic fantasy.
At the same time, Morris was a socialist and there are many political overtones to his last prose romances. These subthemes are subtle but elevate him above most others in genre. Tolkien and his one-dimensional, and somewhat puerile characters are a far cry from Morris, his literary grandfather. Check out his other prose romances if you can find them esp. "The Water of the Wondrous Isles"
Rating:
Summary: Undiluted Enchantment
Review: Morris' calm mastery of invention is like a slow intoxication, lifting you up one deceptively simple phrase at a time (the Medievel archaisms become second-nature in no time), until you are passed through his stained glass window of clear prose and a fresh new world is revealed, full of bloodshed and beauty. One comes to realize this book was not meant as mere allegory or escapist adventure, but as a True Quest, with nuggets of eternity scattered throughout, and a great Sunrise welling up in the near distance.
Rating:
Summary: Undiluted Enchantment
Review: Morris' calm mastery of invention is like a slow intoxication, lifting you up one deceptively simple phrase at a time (the Medievel archaisms become second-nature in no time), until you are passed through his stained glass window of clear prose and a fresh new world is revealed, full of bloodshed and beauty. One comes to realize this book was not meant as mere allegory or escapist adventure, but as a True Quest, with nuggets of eternity scattered throughout, and a great Sunrise welling up in the near distance.
Rating:
Summary: A classic, must read book for fantasy buffs
Review: This is a classic story, which ranks with 'Lilith' and other great fantasy stories. I loved the old English text, and found myself speaking it after reading the story. This is an excellent addition to your library. Don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: The Well from Which Modern Fantasy Has Flowed
Review: William Morris may have been the last Renaissance Man. Artist, philosopher, politician, utopian and, as this marvelous book demonstrates, epic romanticist. The Well at the World's End was very nearly the first of its kind, an epic romance filled with magic, intrigue, guile, love, sex and long journeys to strange places. Plainly, these are the elements of three-quarters of modern fantasy. But Morris did it first, and he did it very, very well (sorry). Ralph of Upmeads is the youngest son of a king. The king of a very small, but very real kingdom. He runs away, but as he runs away his godmother gives him a simple necklace with a bead on it. And, all unknowingly, his path is then destined to the Well at the World's End. Along the way he has adventures that have since been copied or simply stolen by Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, Mercedes Lackey and most everyone else. But Morris did it first. Joseph Campbell, who wrote about and understood heroic fantasy very well, to my knowledge never mentioned Morris, but he would recognize Ralph of Upmeads at once. Ralph overcomes tragedy ("He must needs bend the bow") and the loss of his first true love, to triumph in the spirit, in love, and in military heroics. Morris affects a kind of Old English language style, very archaic even when he wrote it, but after a few pages it becomes part of the tone of the story and lends greatly to the atmosphere that Morris was trying to create. There are truly harrowing scenes in this book, but Morris's writing carries them off very well and, perhaps, even more effectively because of the language he uses. The inventiveness is wonderful - superior to the majority of what you can find today - and the plotting is intricate without being confusing. Some of the characters are archetypes, but others are simply delightful. Bull Nosy and Ursula, in particular, are memorable and exceptionally well developed. And the protagonist, Ralph, a lad that all women must look upon with love, is one of the great characters in fantasy. This book and one or two others Morris wrote have had an indelible and profound impact on the fantasy genre. If you want to escape the formulaic fantasy writing the fills the shelves today, join Ralph on his quest for the Well at the World's End. Drink, with Ralph, from one of the seminal books in Anglo-American literature.
Rating:
Summary: Back to the Basics
Review: You've got to wonder why people fall all over themselves in slavish imitation of Lovecraft and his "mythos" and yet nobody seems to have planned any literary adventures in William Morris' world of Upmeads. I've been interested in fantasy literature and its history for a while, and a week ago I finally sat down and read this book. I was expecting it to be better than Lord of the Rings, and it was. I've always preferred Lewis' Narnia to Tolkien's Middle-Earth, and Morris gives me another alternative (albeit the alternative that actually spawned both Narnia AND Middle Earth). Ralph and Ursula make one of the most affectionate, lovable couples to be found in fantasy literature, the physical descriptions of landscapes and clothing and people are all the more gorgeous for their archaic nature, and you even get as an occasional bonus William Morris inserting his pre-Fabian socialist ideas into people's mouths. If people are going to write imitative fantasy novels, they should start with THIS, and not Tolkien or Lovecraft.
| 
