Home :: Books :: Teens  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens

Travel
Women's Fiction
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld

List Price: $6.95
Your Price: $6.26
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 .. 9 >>

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Entertaining Fairy Tale for All Ages
Review: Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Right up front: I'm not a big fan of female heroines in my fantasy, nor of talking animals and dragons. Forgotten Beasts of Eld contained all three. This being the case, I had prepared myself for a whimsical fairy-tale aimed at sixth grade girls. As it turns out, I really enjoyed it. The dialogue was very well done, and, for the most part, characters spoke and acted like real people. There were several complex situations that were handled with style. Overall, the story was driven by dialogue. Narration, when used was terse and direct, wasting no time bringing the reader into more dialogue. My only real problem with FBoE was the oversimplification of events. If the book had been longer, allowing McKillip more space to flesh out her characters, events and situations, it would have been a more seriously engrossing read. Even so, McKillip packs a surprising amount of fleshed-out characters into such a small book. As is, it stands as an entertaining fairy-tale story fit for all ages.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: beautiful work of ethics
Review: This is a beautiful work of fantasy, but I think it can only be fully appreciated by those 13 and up. An intricate tale of love, hate and fear. Not only is it beautiful, it's true.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Book Set Apart
Review: I've read a lot of books, but few can come close to this one. It is the first McKillip book I have ever read, and I am very impressed. The book is written in a very factual, almost impersonal style, but it manages to convey great emotion and feeling. It's a masterpiece. Like reading good poetry or a dream. I can hardly wait to read more by this author.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amaing! Simply the best!
Review: I'm an avid reader of fantasy, sci-fi books. My dad gave it to me as a present. I decide to read it, It didn't seem like much though. It took me only a day to read. Now if you ask anyone who knows me en they'll tell you it takes alo to make me cry. I cryd 4 times while reading this book. It would appeal to any reader of any age group, The lesson and ideals this book brings up are truly wonderful...we as a human race would learn alot by simply reading his book. Yes, I think its that good. The author takes you on a wonderful quest into the mind and the forces that work there, you will find yourself realting to aspects of sybil in the most mystifing(sp) ways. Read it.....It won't do any harm.
~Andraste Luna Midnight, Reader

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Timeless and masterful
Review: The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is classed as a young adult novel - inasmuch as its writing may not strain the vocabulary like Donaldson can, or invite scholastic deconstruction like Papa Tolkien's world building, this can certainly apply. It is, however, a book which can be readily enjoyed by a broad audience - and strikes at our understanding of our own humanity with wyrd precision.

The book is written with the dreamily ethereal yet gripping style for which I appreciate McKillip's authorship: setting the book down is like waking up. Her characters are heroically human - which is to say, she expresses through tone and atmosphere a cast of persons who could easily ride from her fantasy to the court of Helfdene (of Beowulf) and be accepted. The sorcery of Eld dwells in the realm of the mind and our understanding of Self, and how this can be abrogated to another. Indeed, through her sorcery and the pale sorceress who wields it, McKillip's dream leads us not just through a compelling and delicious tale, but a solemn look at what drives us.

It has been my favourite stand-alone novel for many years now. My battered and bruised copy has survived housefires, burglaries, countless moves and far more numerous re-readings. When asked for just one (!) story I'd refer another person to read, this is it.

'The giant Grol was struck once in the eye by a stone, so that it turned and looked into his mind, and he died of what he saw there.'

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Well done!
Review: I'm a newbie to McKillip's work--having read only Eld and the Riddlemaster trilogy--but am now an avid fan of hers--she is wonderful. Superb writing, beyond-average fantasy. Perfect!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This was so beautiful
Review: I read this book about four years ago and i still read it all the time. It was so beautifully written and every word was in the write place. My heart was broken and healed when i read this book and you could literally see Sybil's cold heart turning warm. At the beginning of the book, she didn't mind hurting coren, but by the end it hurt her so deeply that you knew she loved him. I dont know how anyone could not like this book and i'm so glad i have my own copy as it is now out of print. Its priceless.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: wonderful for adults too
Review: The beauty of this book lies not only in the beautiful language, as so many have mentioned of McKillop's books, but also in its child-like simplicity. It's the classic child fantasy: to do magic, surrounded by wonderful and benevolent creatures who understand human thought. But The Forgotten Beasts of Eld departs from a children's story in that it is an experience in human emotion, set in this fantastic world of wizards and enchantresses. For Sybel, for all her dispassionate coldness and power, is still human, and it is the discovery of her emotions and vulnerability that captures your heart. McKillop deals with the incomprehensible, with the intangible. Her prose invokes human experience without over-description.

This is a beautifully crafted jewel of a book. For adults tired of the monolithic fluff of most fantasy stories today, this book is wonderfully refreshing.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: why does everyone like this?
Review: I absolutely HATED this book. None of the characters were realistic, the writing style really annoyed me, and nothing really happened.

I didn't like Sybil. She was cold and uncaring, but that's not my problem with her-I read The Brothers War by Jeff Grubb and liked Ashnod the Uncaring, who makes Sybil look like a kind, sympathetic person-it was that she was cold and uncaring in a very unrealistic manner. I mean, a complete stranger shows up at her door and tells her to take care of a baby she has no reason to take care of, and she says yes? and even comes to love the baby? Come on. I also thought the way she treated Coren was disgusting.

Coren also disturbed me. He forgave Sybil, time and time again. He says he loves her, she laughs at him, he forgives her. Sybil uses him just to get revenge-MARRIES him just to get revenge-and he not only forgives her for this, he still loves her. Can you say unrealistic?

I thought the whole part about the Liralen was confusing and unnecessary, too. Also, most of the book was just description, during which nothing actually happens. And when things do happen, they aren't written in a style that makes them particularly exciting, and the characters never talk like real people. Yes, this book was written a while ago, but so were the Chronicles of Narnia and they sound MUCH more realistic than these characters do.

Don't waste your money on this book. Buy The Brothers War or anything by Garth Nix or Tamora Pierce instead.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Do you believe in magic?
Review: This is a great book, combining mystical/magical animals with the all-too-human struggles and politics. The link between the 2 worlds is Sybil, a powerful wizard who, when a baby is brought to her, learns that dealing with humans can require a stronger will than dealing with powerful and dangerous animals.

If you've ever dreamed of dragons and magic or wondered about the potential costs associated with pursuing dreams, this book will be right up your alley.


<< 1 2 3 4 5 .. 9 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates