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Summary: Love
Review: One day I was looking through a book store and found Forgotten Beasts of Eld. I bought it and took it home. I was around 10 at the time and started to read it and it just didn't click. I re-read it a few years later and I loved it. Patricia sucks you into a world of magic and fantasy. Her word play is wonderful and it ended perfectly. I suggest this book highly along with all of her other books.
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Summary: Should be required reading for all fantasy lovers
Review: Enter a land where wise old boars speak, as well as falcons, lions and cats. A land filled with sorcery, beauty and evil . . . Known as the ice white lady, Sybil was raised to live to care only for the mythical beasts under her control - powerful, beautiful and wise, and feared by man - she knows none of the ways of men and prefers to keep it that way. Until one day, when a young babe is left in her arms, and she learns to love, and gets entangled in a War she wants no part of. THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD is a treasure worth seeking out. It's an imaginative story of love, betrayal and forgiveness, filled with intriguing characters you won't soon forget. The dialogue is sparse and the tale is short but there is an abundant amount of character growth and plenty of plot points to ponder. There's also enough magic and surprises to keep those pages turning. I never knew quite where the story was going to lead. I'm now on the hunt for her other work. This book is a World Fantasy Award winning novel for a good reason.
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Summary: Oh my!
Review: I'm pleasantly surprised to find this book in print. I read it over and over again when I was young (and when it was marketed for adults). It's a strong, exciting story and well marked for a young audience. It's a good book to have in the inbetween years. It made me feel like an adult without compromising my childhood.
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Summary: Wonderful,adventurous, and all around a spectacular book!
Review: This is one of my favorite books in the whole world! i just love it and i think it's just a wonderful book about how sybil finds the love she never thought she'd find!
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Summary: A Crystalline Fantasy
Review: Twenty years ago I was recuperating from the flu, still too sick to read anything challenging, but too bored to reread something. My eyes lit upon The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. I had recently devoured the Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy and had been saving Forgotten Beasts for just the right moment. It was perfect. It whisked me away to a world of magical beasts and interesting people, and I have been recommending it to people ever since. However, I had not reread it until today (recuperating once again from the flu). I was delighted to find that it was still charming, and lyrical, and interesting, and complex. While reading a bit like a tale told by a bard, its people are real: they struggle with love and hate, and loyalties to friends, family and country. The magic is rare and awesome; the magical animals have both personality and power. Although classified as a Young Adult novel, I doubt there is an adult who cannot enjoy it. The writing is clear and jewel-like. As the tale weaves toward its climax, you will be surprised with the result. I had tears in my eyes when I finished. This is a beauty that has withstood the test of time and should be read by all lovers of fantasy.
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Summary: Enchantress on the Mountain
Review: For many years there has been a wizard in residence atop Eld Mountain, living in peaceful contemplation with a group of magical heraldic animals. The last one called a reluctant princess to him with a spell, just as he called the animals, and before she died of loneliness and sorrow she bore a daughter. This daughter, named Sybel, becomes the wizard-in-residence, spending her long days conversing with the wise Beasts and never missing the company of humans. One day a handsome prince brings her a child; her nephew, in danger from political maneuvering. Sybel comes to love little Tam, but as he grows he draws her into the world that she has always ignored. There is danger there; Sybel is lovely and powerful and men covet both attributes. She loves Tam enough to release him to his destiny as Prince Tamlorn; in Coren she finds not only love but acceptance into a family. But across her new life falls the shadow of hate and revenge. Sybel finds no amount of power can spare you from your own humanity. As you might suspect, many readers have treasured copies of this book for years, and I suspect Stephen R. Donaldson of being one of them. Could WHITE GOLD WIELDER or DAUGHTER OF REGALS have existed without this book? It's a seminal work, a book of wonder that has inspired and taught all its readers. On one level, a fairy tale; beneath the surface, a story of choices and ethics. If you turned your eye inward, would you like what you saw inside your mind? Even atop the loneliest mountain in the farthest land, your own humanity will seek you out one day and demand an accounting.
Rating: 
Summary: Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Review: I did not like this book whatsoever. I am a 15 year old girl and we had to read this book for an English assignment, and I cannot say I enjoyed it in the slightest. It is difficult to understand, what with a myriad of talking animals and numerous undefined or undeveloped characters. It is about a woman, Sybel, and her sturggle living with many speaking animals on top of a mountain, and the various people who come into her life. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
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Summary: Begs to be read aloud!
Review: I first read this beautiful book when I was 12. I am now 36 & can attest this book is even richer & more resonant as an adult. The underlying themes of love, intimacy, & abuse of power are issues in everyone's life, whether you are a witch who must learn to love a human or an everyday millenial! The language is so lovely, so entrancing, you will find yourself reading aloud even if alone. If you're shopping for a favorite pubescent, BUY THIS. If you're shopping for yourself BUY THIS! And if you've ever read any fantasy at all BUY THIS!
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Summary: I searched years for this book...
Review: My grandmother is an old Hungarian woman with a number tattood onto her arm. When I was little I spent a lot of time at her house. I have never watched much TV, it bores and annoys me for the most part. My grandmother's house smelled comforting, and the basement was full of old things, old clothes, old string and yarn and buttons and bits of fabric, and even a few old books. I'd scour her house for books to feed my addiction, I loved (and still love) the smell of old books. Once upon a time and long, long ago I found a copy of The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. It still sends shivers down my spine whenever I re-read it. I loved it, then. It was sacred to me, it shaped who I am... true books you read when very young tend to do that. And then I lost it, and grew up, and the buttons and string are old and dusty, and my grandmother's house is visited less and less often. Years later I vaguely remembered the book, recalled bits and pieces and the feeling that finding it and reading it was Most Important. I couldn't even remember the title or the author. I hunted through her house, and through mine, and could not find it. My grandmother and parents didn't know what I was talking about it. It was out of print for quite a while, I believe. I scoured all the old used bookstores of New York City, and found nothing. Until one of my many trips to Strand, when I went to the fantasy/science fiction section, and the first title to hit my eye was the right one. Absolute child-like wonder. I payed for it and took it home in a sort of daze, and read it, and it was as important and true and beautiful as I remembered. It's still the book I read quietly aloud when the real world is too... well, too real for me to deal with. The only other book this has happened to me with was The Golden Key by George MacDonald. It just took me so long to figure out which books I was half-remembering, and whether or not I had merely dreamed them. ::small smile:: I just had to share that with you. I think you might understand.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Reccomended
Review: Don't be deterred by the Children/Young Adult classification; this is one of those books that transcends age levels and has appeal for anyone, even those who aren't into the fantasy genre. "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld" is a multi-layered story about love, revenge, hatred, and what it means to be human. Sybel is an engaging character, though the reader may not always agree with her actions. She, like the rest of the characters, is well-drawn and complex. McKillip has a simple yet beautiful and eloquent style that will keep the reader spellbound to the final sentence.
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