What do You think about The Forgotten Beasts Of Eld (2006)?
One of the pleasures of young adult fantasy literature is that often the best of it will a subtle, insightful, and very much approachable exploration of life's themes and humanity through whimsical and alluring metaphor. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld does not quite accomplish this, but the rhythmic pace and language McKillip chooses is as much to blame for this as to credit for a final product that feels like a modern legend of yore. If one were to translate a minstrel's tale into common speech this could be what it would sound like. And there is a desirable, very pleasurable effect in that which allows a smooth read from cover to cover.That smoothness sometimes becomes an enemy of the storytelling, however. When McKillip sculpts her tale to reveal some truly aching insight into human nature the effect is dulled around the edges by constant distance from the characters. With a character often referred to as "Ice Lady" as the protagonist whose journey it is to find her humanity, it makes sense that sometimes the empathy between her and reader may be vague. But when the reader seeks out the comfort of those supporting characters whose gradual accomplishment is to help her find it, they are as those of the legend McKillip's style echoes: far away.From this far away place, that style does manage to bring to fancy the forgotten beasts of the title. The mythology of the story is modestly enchanting with a quiet individuality. The world McKillip creates is alive and a pretty place to be for 343 large print pages.One final side note: I was a bit disturbed by how the heroine is constantly described as "beautiful": "slender," "thin," and always "forgetting to eat." I've never minded an attractive protagonist but, after the eighth mention of her starved allure, I lost my appetite.
—H.
My first encounter with Patricia A. McKillip, and I enjoyed every moment of it. Told in the style of a myth or fairytale, this is the story of Sybel, a young and very powerful sorceress (more of a conjurer, really) who has a very traumatic encounter with another wizard that starts her down a path of vengeance that takes her to places she was never previously interested in going and exposes her to emotions she had never previously felt.This is, primarily, a story about an emotional journey, but it maintains a poise and dignity that belies the melodrama inherent in the phrase "emotional journey." A big part of the gravitas of the book is achieved by the consistently mythic tone that McKillip uses in her prose. It's not written like a myth is written, though; this is no Le Morte d'Arthur, no dry telling of noble deeds and base villainy. The prose itself is actually quite beautiful, and the mythic quality adds a thin layer of separation between the reader and the raw emotions of the characters. The intensity of the interpersonal relationships is therefore somewhat, but not entirely restrained, enabling the reader to get what they want out of the love story aspect of the tale while still being able to take the story seriously in a literary sense. This would be quite the juggling act for most authors, but McKillip makes it look easy.The characters were great, too. The human characters were very well-realized, and were delightfully complex and believable in their reactions and motivations. No bad guys or good guys here, just various people with differing points of view. The Beasts themselves were incredibly interesting, as well, especially the riddling boar, Cyrin. Parsing the meaning from his sometimes opaque riddles was very enjoyable for me.In short, a terrific tale told terrifically. Highly recommended to anyone who's tired of the same old trope-filled epic fantasy stories, and who wants to read a fantasy novel with depth and meaning as well as creatures and magic.
—Bryan
I first read this book probably 20 years ago, and was a little leery of re-reading it, since I had remembered loving it, but worried that I wouldn't like it so much anymore. Fortunately, I ended up loving it as much as the first time. It is a short book, but the plot is tight, and weaves an enchanting mood throughout. There is no time to develop a vast, detailed world such as Middle Earth, but McKillip manages to give her small world as real a feel as any other. I also appreciated that this is world of good acts, bad, acts, and questionable acts, but not one with a rigid good vs. evil found in so many fantasy tales.
—Henry
