I'd heard good things about McKillip, so I picked this up at the library. Those who aren't into typical fantasy settings might enjoy this, since most of the story takes place in a non-fantasy world, but there are interesting ties and glimpses to another world. I really enjoyed the characters in t...
McKillip's use of language is amazing but the story and the characters are not very interesting. I like how past and present come together at some point but the plot is rather weak and much of the story is bland, and the twists that do add some excitement, you can see coming from miles away. Havi...
Originally reviewed on The Book SmugglersIn a small fishing village on the coast of the wide, stormy sea, a bright-eyed young woman named Periwinkle makes her home. After her father, a fisherman, rows out his ship and never returns, Peri's mother lapses into quiet despair, forgetting to talk and ...
This is the third McKillip book I’ve read, and my clear favorite so far. The spare, detached style puts one in mind of a fairy tale, but the story works because it’s a very human and emotional one; in the end the narrative detachment doesn’t distance the reader from the tale so much as prevent al...
This omnibus edition combines the acclaimed Patricia A. McKillip's two science-fiction novels, Moon-Flash and The Moon and the Face. Kyreol's small world begins at the Face, a high rock cliff, and ends at Fourteen Falls, a series of rapids. Each year, her people celebrate Moon-Flash—a spark of li...
An omnibus of fairy tales given a twist by McKillip. In general, I find McKillip's writing to be lyric poetry. In this group of tales, she seems to be more musical. Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath was a very frustrating tale of a dragon fighter taking on a dragon whose only fault…so far…i...
I've only read one other book by Patricia A. McKillip, though I wished I could remember the name of it, but she now has a fan for life. She is such a lyrically beautiful writer, every word is sacred and every scene in the book is lovingly set for the reader to enjoy. This is a haunting book of ...
This book was a bit of a weird one, and not in a particularly good way. I was confused and turned off by how muddled the message of this book was. So, the basic premise of the book is that the King (named Galen) is a man who is scared of wizardry (because he "is scared of power, of which he has n...
ONCE UPON A TIME there was a girl named Frances, an "army brat," who lived in a world of make believe where cactuses were a giant's green fingers, the hills were full of unicorns, and the great antlered Stagman hid in the churchyard shadows. And then Frances grew up. But the Stagman wouldn't go...
This book does have a plot, but I think it's more effective to just lay the pieces out: Terra killed over a thousand people seven years ago, and now she's locked in her strange, inexpressible visions on a prison colony; a musician who reads minds sometimes; a cop looking for someone who can expla...
"Firebirds Rising: An Anthology of Original Science Fiction and Fantasy" is an engaging mix of SF and Fantasy stories aimed at a young adult audience, though quite enjoyable for adults as well. This collection as a whole is definitely worth reading, and many of the stories deserves rereading as w...
Once upon a time, fairy tales were for children... But no longer.You hold in your hands a volume of wonders -- magical tales of trolls and ogres, of bewitched princesses and kingdoms accursed, penned by some of the most acclaimed fantasists of our day. But these are not bedtime stories designed t...
This book reminded me of Maggie Prince's "The House on Hound Hill" and Penelope Lively's "The Ghost of Thomas Kempe" because of the similarity in plot and atmosphere, and also the historical period of the respective ghosts. One of the things that stood out for me was how independent the children ...
I wanted to like this book, and I tried so hard to, but I just couldn't. It's not bad: I'd call it good, actually. If it had been written by anyone else, I'd give it three stars. But I expect more of McKillip, who usually doesn't waste words.The Book of Atrix Wolfe has a great premise: a powerful...
Most reviews that I've read of Patricia McKillip's Cygnet duology seem to express a strong preference for either The Sorceress and the Cygnet or the The Cygnet and the Firebird. This should not be surprising. Despite sharing characters and a fantasy world, they have separate plot lines and widely...
Kyreol's mission to another planet and Terje's trip to observe their old river home both meet with unexpected dangers and an eventual melding of very different cultures.
Mid-range McKillip, I'd say.The first chapter features some of the author's most poetic writing, as she introduces Corleu, a young man out of place among the restless Wayfolk who, his great-grandmother tells him, long ago wandered out of the stars. Corleu is a "child of the horned moon," white-ha...
The Throme of the Erril of Sherill is perhaps one of the oddest titles I've ever come across, and the cover for my edition features typically ugly eighties fantasy cover art. I'm sure I would never have picked it up if I weren't such a fan of the author, Patricia McKillip. But oh, I am so glad I ...
Review below.The book description that I get for this book goes to a different McKillip novel. Amazon's description:"As a child, Rook had been taken in by the bards of Luly, and raised as one of their own. Of his past he knew nothing--except faint memories of fire and death that he'd do anything...
A beautiful but frustrating book.I will give Ombria this: it features one of McKillip's best openings, of the Prince of Ombria's mistress and young son playing with hand puppets, while awaiting news of their lord's demise. Soon it comes, and with it the rise of the evil Domina Pearl to power, for...
Yes,I'm a McKillip fan--I've read almost everything she's ever written. Yes, I've read "The Lady of Shalott" by Tennyson long ago and am familiar with the Pre-Raphaelite paintings about it. Yes, I know Loreena McKinnitt's version. Yes, I like textiles--I sew, quilt, knit. Yes, I sometimes get...
[9/10]How do you put together a book of thorns, a three thousand years old emperor, an orphaned transcriptor, a passage through time, and swaths of ancient poetry into simple language? The answer is to let Patricia McKillip do it, with her deft hand at infusing each phrase with beauty, mystery an...
3.5 stars!First and foremost, McKillips books have THE best covers. You can always get a glimpse of what the story inside will hold just by searching the cover. The artwork is just beautiful in every way.The Forests of Serre is a retelling of the tale of "The Firebird". Having read this book firs...
What does it mean to give love, and to receive it? No one can answer. For the answer can only be lived. And sometimes, the living takes sharp and unexpected turns. It seemed so simple to Barbara, Joslyn and Claudia -- the idea that they would make beautiful a room in an old abandoned house for J...
Eleven years in this floating pretzel and you’re still trapped in the same damn mirror. When are you going to break out of here, Klyos? When? He touched a com-light beside the mirror and ordered, “Coffee. Hot and fast.” “Yes, sir.” He leaned closer ...
Corleu demanded. “She stood in front of me with her eyes the only color in the world. She came out of nowhere to the top of that mountain like she knew I would be there, on that one day of all days in the year, she knew I would step across time from Delta to Berg Hold, and she came to meet me. I ...
One morning the first golden leaves appeared among the green. Then a tree flamed into crimson. The fields were stubbled gold, morning mists hanging over them, burned away slowly by the sun. Hot, blue summer sky slowly turned the deeper blue of autumn, as if it reflected, from another country, col...
I have more sisters than I can count, and they’ve all had more husbands than they can count. It’s easy, they told me. And when you get tired of them you just let them go. Sometimes they find their way back to their world, where they sit around a lot with a gaffed look in their eyes, their mouths ...
It was so thick, the world vanished. Pierce could not see so much as a weed in a ditch beside the road. He could not, he realized, see the road. Even the little wyvern ornamenting the long hood of the limo wavered in and out of the sluggishly drifting fog. The driver slowed to a sudden caterpilla...