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Rating: 
Summary: A fantasy world for the grown up thinking reader
Review: If you tire of Lord of the Rings or endless triologies then Mistress of Mistresses is for you. It is set in a fantasy world similar to 16th Century Europe. The book demands concentration, a knowledge of philosophy and poetry. But beware. It will send you off on a lifelong hunt into these fields. You may end up learning Ancient Greek or Latin. You will fall in love with the women and follow the heroes blindly. Read, enjoy and return to. Like a good wine it matures well.
Rating:
Summary: Perfection in romantic fantasy
Review: This is a book of unearthly beauty. While I felt that Eddison's THE WORM OUROBOROS was somewhat on the light side, MISTRESS OF MISTRESSES captures the vision of romantic heroism, both in its peaks of joyful experience and its dark ambiguity. It is almost impossible to describe rapture in such a way as to actually evoke it in the reader---Eddison does this not once but several times. Yet looming behind the pleasures of flesh and spirit is a wintry grandeur, a coldness of sheer height and a thanatosis that makes one shiver. The book begins and ends with death and the plot is standard. There is no character development---the characters are (sometimes literally) archetypes. It is not really a story. It is a vision---a painting that one would gaze at for hours. The value of this book lies in the strength of that vision and the beauty with which it is portrayed.
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