Reviews

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip

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beartix's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

amysmithlinton's review against another edition

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4.0

I reread my aging, brown-edged copy of this fantasy novel. It's got a goofy cover, which embarrassed me when I bought it, even as I carried it around and re-read it time and again way back before college. I hadn't thought about it for years, but the book was McKillip's first (at age 26?!) and an award-winner, so it seemed worth a revisit.

Dang! It's still just as engaging to me: a solitary wizard-woman lives with her magical beasts peacefully until a soldier appears carrying a newborn baby for her to adopt. McKillip sets a poetic tone, but it's relatable. Sybel, the wizard, has to learn, essentially, to be human. It's an adventure fantasy candy-coating a love story, and I gobbled it right up again. What a pleasure to rediscover this book!

I thought The Changeling Sea was my favorite McKillip novel, but this one has climbed back into first place.

marialy's review against another edition

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5.0

Un libro maravilloso y sorprendente que me recordó a los cuentos clásicos de mi infancia. Desde que comencé a leerlo me traslado a ese mundo cargado de magia, hechicería, criaturas poderosas, príncipes, reyes, batallas, naturaleza. Este libro es especial.
Los personajes están muy bien construidos, en pocas paginas se puede ver su evolución. Es el viaje del héroe pero enfocado en una mujer, Sybel. Eso es lo que logra conquistar a esta novela. Poder ver el crecimiento de esta hechicera sin lo que se espera normalmente de una mujer para la época. Sus poderes, sus decisiones, como se construye así mismas, el camino que recorre para descubrirse sin verse opacada por hombres, pero sin dejarlos a un lado, con el balance perfecto de amor, no solo romántico sino por los demás.
Además las bestias me encantaron.

allaboutfrodo's review against another edition

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5.0

The Forgotten Beasts is a bit forgotten itself now. It won the inaugural World Fantasy Award in 1975. It is not wholly original, but it is certainly not mainly derivative. The author spins fantasy elements into her own original story.

Sybel, the main character, is proud, independent, stubborn, and flawed. About the only real negative I could accuse the author of is that the man who loves Sybel is basically perfect, but I forgive the author for that all the same.

I could not predict where the plot was going, and it did surprise me. This is just a lovely little gem of a novel. I'm going to buy it, reread it, and add it to my personal library. Someone needs to make it into a movie or short mini series. (And I'm going to add other titles by Patricia McKillip to my to read list.)