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.)