A little while I go I was immeasurably honored to be asked to write the foreword for the recent re-release of Patricia McKillip’s remarkable Forgotten Beasts of Eld.
This is one of my favorite books of all time. The re-release is now available, and because it is also finally in ebook form (also in audio), I’ve chosen it for our book group read along.
The edition I had as a child.
I thought instead of the usual “I chose this why” post for this book pick, I’d present the forward for you.
I can’t say it better than I already said it.
As it were.
Foreword
Gail Carriger
When I was much younger, my friends and I would challenge ourselves with the hardest question ever asked of any avid reader:
Which book would you want with you if you were stranded on a desert island?
There were a lot of books I loved back then, and a lot of new books have been added to that list-of-adored over the years. But after the first time I read The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, it became the answer to this question, always and forever. Thirty years later, it’s still the answer.
So now I am left with a very difficult task. How do I explain my love for this perfect desert-island book?
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is like no fantasy novel you have ever read before, and yet it is a touchstone for all of them. It’s not just that the story is magic — it’s that the prose itself is magical and heart-wrenching. Not only will you become immersed in plot and character but also sentence structure. McKillip forms a stunning union of what is told and what is portrayed, and how a writer can transcribe both. It’s like fractal mathematics: beautiful, impossible for an ordinary human to quite understand, and yet hypnotic. Just the opening paragraph is chilling, and thrilling, and all sort of other trilling llls in a row. I can’t describe this book, because it is better than that. It’s better than my capacity for description. It’s not funny, or cute, or silly — it is a work of pure lyrical genius.
This book is the Arthurian legend for an alternate human timeline. It is a riddle teasing you to understand power—in sorcery, in arms, in passion, in knowledge. It is a philosophical treatise on the petty wars of man and how they spin and weave their own magic over intellect and desire. It is about the price of forgiveness, the cost of revenge, and gentle, tentative, nurturing love in all its varied forms.
McKillip explores what it means to be a woman with power beyond the world of men, and then within it. In doing so, she illuminates how we turn ourselves into weapons — not so much how the act of being a weapon is flawed but how in choosing to become one, we risk losing our true selves.
And she does all this while still entertaining.
If you are about to read The Forgotten Beasts of Eld for the first time, I envy you. If this is a reread for you, as it is for me, I know without a shadow of a doubt you will find something new in its pages. I always do.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is not just a book about magic — it is magic.
{Coop de Book: Gail’s monthly read along for September is The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip.}
BOOK DE JOUR!
The Sumage Solution: San Andreas Shifters #1 by G. L. Carriger, now in all editions.
Contemporary m/m paranormal romance featuring a snarky mage and a gruff werewolf. Hella raunchy. Super dirty. Very very fun. Spin off of Marine Biology.
Can a gentle werewolf heal the heart of a smart-mouthed mage?
GAIL’S DAILY DOSE
Your Moment of Parasol . . .
Your Infusion of Cute . . .
Your Tisane of Smart . . .
How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs That Will Peel, Damn It
Your Writerly Tinctures . . .
How to Add Google Analytics to WordPress in 5 Minutes or Less
Book News:
BJ’s Reviews says of Poison or Protect audiobook:
“Suzanne Lavington narrated Poison or Protect. This was my first experience with Ms. Lavington and I generally enjoyed her pleasing voice. She also did a good job with varying her pitch to provide differentiation among the characters, including by producing deep enough sounding voices to convincingly sound male, a trait which can be a difficult feat for some female narrators. Ms. Lavington also did a good job with creating accents as both British and Scottish sounding accents are necessary for this story.”
Quote of the Day:
“Bingo uttered a stricken woofle like a bull-dog that has been refused cake.”
~ P.G. Wodehouse
Tags: Coop de Book
I have read The Court of Five on your advice and I didn’t regret it. So I will absolutely read this one!
Do you know The Seven Realms? This is my book (serie) on a desert island.
Oh I am so glad you enjoyed it! I don’t know The Seven Realms. And it’s rare for me to be entirely ignorant. Who’s the author?
Cinda Williams Chima
To me it’s a great epic full of war and death but also life and a (impossible of course) beautiful romance.
(Sorry for the style, I’m not fluent in English)
Thank you!
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The dear cat’s expression is marvellous. Simply marvellous, my darling squash blossom! (insert own italics)