Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic
Review: This is one of my comfort books...I must have read it a hundred times by now...definitely a favorite.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read...
Review: Pamela Dean weaves together a beautiful narrative of college life and the mysterious ballad of Tam Lin, crafting a book that is full of infinite delight. If obscure English Literature references annoy you, this book is not for you. However, if you are instead intrigued by oblique Shakespearean references, as I am, then definitely READ this book! Pamela Dean contrives to build a wonderfully suspenseful and ethereal atmosphere, and sustains it throughout the book, immersing her readers in the mystery that is present in both folklore and college life.
Rating:
Summary: Questions to be answered
Review: Basically I agree with everyone else who's given it 5 stars. It is an alltime favourite of both me and my sister. Its intricacy and magic is enchanting, and the literary refernces are great fun to follow up. I was wondering though if any of you other fans could help me with some difficult questions. 1.The Keats thing - was he a tiend to Hell? I've never been able to figure it out. 2.Peg - what's her connection with Margaret Roxburgh and Victoria Thompson? - what's her connection with the rest of the Classics department? Is she one of them or not? 3.What are the meanings of the Melinda Wolfe things? 4. Do Victoria Thompson and Margaret Roxburgh save their lovers before killing themselves? I have half formed theories on all these questions, but it'd be good to have them confirmed. Email me if you're interested in discussing it at all.
Rating:
Summary: Layered and intelligent fantasy
Review: A friend of mine made me read this book. I loved it. Every time I read it, I caught new allusions and inside jokes. I understand that not everyone will enjoy a book about English Lit. as much as I did, so I won't recomend it to EVERYONE. Just those people who grew up quoting Shakespeare (yes, they do exeist in the real world) or who read just about everything they can get their hands on... Read this book. It's lovely, and elegantly written, and a great deal of fun besides. I also recomend Diana Wynne Jones' _Fire and Hemlock_ and Patricia McKillip's _Winter Rose_ Happy Reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Yuck
Review: I wouldn't even give this book one star, but the guidelines won't let me keep the rating slot blank. Yes, the writing is good and the characters realistic, in a sense, but ultimately I found the whole exercise tiring. The entire novel seems to be one long list of references and allusions to poetry, novels, plays, etc. While I almost always enjoy it when an author alludes to other works, it seemed to me here that in Pamela Dean's case, she was just being facetious, showing off, flaunting her lofty high-minded literary knowledge. Like she's alluding for allusion's sake. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Also, none of the characters in the novel seemed truly... well, NICE. They weren't mean, but they weren't wise; they were somehow very irritating to me. I don't know. I think the novel has a certain style and type of characters that many will find easily entertaining, realistic, insightful, and wise. Myself, I couldn't stomach it.
Rating:
Summary: ne plus ultra
Review: The first time I read this book, I was in high school. The book was ok. I thought the author was being terribly self-indulgent in expanding a nice shortballad to a 500-page epic. Since I really didn't understand many of the literary allusions, the only part of it that really drew me in was the plot which developed in the last hundred pages. The second time I read Tam Lin, I was in college. All of a sudden the things Dean had written about had frightening relevance and similarity to my life. I enjoyed the literary allusions more this time, but it was the way in which Dean captured the college experience as a whole that really drew me in. In very general terms, the book is 4/5 about being a literate woman in college, and 1/5 about re-working the fairy tale. Those who are interested solely in the fairy-tale plot may be disappointed. Others, like me, may find themselves one day in graduate school (why not be paid to keep reading?) rereading Tam Lin for the 30th time--because somehow Tam Lin captures, along with the mystery of the original ballad, the essence of "College", which is, in itself, a fairy- tale-land worth revisiting. I'm at amazon.com today to send a copy of the book to a friend, with the caveat that it may take a while, and a couple of close readings, for the book to reach full potency. Do you read it. It may capture you the second time around.
Rating:
Summary: The sheer joy of language
Review: As an English major, and avid and passionate reader, and a lover of all that language has to offer, it's no small matter for me to select a favorite book- but I can, and that book is Tam Lin. And if you don't derive pleasure from reading incredible prose, this isn't really the book for you- and it definitely isn't the book for you if you don't want to take the time to reread, to search for the hidden gems. Many reviewers complained that it didn't focus enough on the ballad- and it's true that she didn't write a direct translation. What Pamela Dean did do, however, is create a masterpiece that captures the original ballad's essence and meaning, and gave it a unique spin of its own. That is no small feat, and I am eternally grateful to Ms. Dean for writing this book; it is frequently honest and insightful; it has the most realistically drawn characters I've ever seen in a novel of its kind. It's perfect for anyone who loves literature, for it's jam-packed with allusions that never seem forced, but rather carefully selected to enhance some element of the story. I recommend this book to everyone, even though I realize many won't appreciate it for all that it is. And I, too, would love to see a sequel- I spend enough time making one up in my head.
Rating:
Summary: One of my very favorites
Review: This book is so lovely and haunting. It is what I wanted college to be like. I am transported everytime I read it (and read it and read it.) There is much room for a sequel. I have asked Ms. Dean what happened in the next seven years? Who were the two dearer? And what about Robin and Janet's room mate, much mention was made of Robin finally finding the one who understood him? Are Janet's baby and Thomas the next intended sacrifices? She says she is thinking about it, but it's not in the works yet. In the meantime, try Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent on its own merits...
Review: A lot of the other reviews that I've read have criticized this book as not devoting enough of it's time to the retelling of the old ballad. That may or may not be true for a person that reads it for that aspect. I came to Dean's _Tam Lin_ through the recommendations of multiple friends, so all I expected was a good read. I found it. In fact, I almost felt that her marvelous characters and setting were wasted on a story that didn't leave much room for a sequel. I liked the slow set up that allowed us to get to know the characters and the way the relationships grew and changed over time. While the big jumps through time were a little jolting, I can't imgaine how long this book would have had to have been to describe all four years with the detail spent on the first year, or on the last two months. This is one of the few books that really stuck with me for days after I read it, and one that I definitely want to read again.
Rating: 
Summary: Tam Lin? Where are you? Come here, boy!
Review: I picked up this book because I was already familiar with the Fairy Tale Series, and especially with the ballad of Tam Lin. So here's my major complaint: Where is the legend? For 75 % of the book, there is almost no resemblence between the detailed lives of the students and the dark, exciting legend. Oh, you can pick up a few tidbits here and there: the names Janet and Thomas are the same as in the legend, and sure enough, Thomas has grey eyes, but most of the connections the reader is expected to make are reaching. The book would have done better to give more information about the twisted world of the Classics department - especially after hours. The setting - a college in the early 70's, is not particularly well-suited to the legend. I was hoping for a more original blending of the two settings (college and that of Tam Lin) because I have read another of the series - Briar Rose - which blended the two so well it was sickening and beautiful. If you like English or have been to college (in any year - the descriptions are timeless) you will enjoy the apt, witty, and all-too-real representations of class, annoying roommates, dorm food, etc. But the descriptions get tedious - especially the unending stream of allusions we are supposed to get to romantic English. This story could have been made 200 pages shorter and lost nothing. Characterizations are sound and believable. But still, the legends are incomplete. Just when the author begins to get into a scene in which we think we will FINALLY learn some dark important information, some clues to the puzzle, she cuts it off short, and forgets it for another fifty pages. The one exception is the play the students put on in the middle of the book - that scene really delievers metaphorically. But that's about all we see of that. Then at the climax, the author seems to remember that "Oh yeah, this is supposed be about Tam Lin and the Queen of the Faeries," and she crams an almost direct copy of the ballad into the last fifteen pages. Is this book bad? - No. It just left me wanting something more. What we have here is a portrait of college life and relationships, and not the entrancing, wrenching retelling of Tam Lim.
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