( 10 reviews )
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Posted: Jul 17 2009
I am not usually a fantasy reader but I had read other books by Matt Ruff and enjoyed them, so I thought I give this a shot. So glad I did. Its not really "fantasy" in the strictest sense, though there is magic, sprites and a dragon. Highly entertaining! Great tension, great characters, and a great love story to boot. Definitely recommend this book to anyone who just wants to get lost in a great book.
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Posted: Mar 29 2009
I find it hard to bear when a novel starts to comment on its own plot and writing. Here, there is a whole plot sideline devoted to this, the all-knowing Mr. Sunshine commenting on the story and announcing when and how new characters are introduced and eliminated. There is not a single death that goes unannounced. The hero writer S. T. George eventually recognizes he's just a character in a novel, and that he must behave according to the "fairy tale" genre rules if he wants to succeed. Even with such commenting going on, I still hoped the novel might climb to the level of humour and wittiness of e.g. Goldman's "Princess Bride". However, this is undercut by the sheer number of subplots that make it difficult for the reader to remain spellbound, and for the author to develop his characters: there are at least three sprites plots, the Luther-and-Manx plot, the Bohemians plot and a few other minor plotlines. The postmodernism of it all: cut a campus novel into small slices (cut off all parts related to actual studying and teaching), add a cup of Shakespearian sprites, a good measure of talking animals, an ounce of Tolkien, three branches of philosophy and a bit of weed, flavor with a few pinches of horror and romance, stir well and let it simmer - it makes a dish that I found hard to enjoy. In the end, it took me almost six weeks to finish the book. To do the novel justice, it was written at the eve of what we today know as fantastic realism (Harry Potter, Bartimaeus etc.), and the idea to take a real life setting and inject it with fantastical elements wasn't that common and might have provided some novelty when it appeared. From today's perspective, it would have been desirable to flesh out the characters more, and find tragedy and comedy not so much in externally tweaked plots, but through the choices of believable characters. Still, I might pick up one of the novels the author has written since, and see what his ambition has led him to.
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Posted: Dec 13 2008
Ok, while the reviews are overwhelmingly positive - and I'm firmly in that camp - it's also clear that some people don't like this book. Fair enough, different strokes for different folks, as it were. So who are the people that will like this book? Those who like writers like Tolkein, George R.R. Martin, Tom Robbins, Roger Zelazny, et al. This is high fantasy meets the "real world", after a fashion. It's not a morality tale, there isn't anything you can really learn from this book. It is, very simply, a wonderful story. Life, love, high - and low - adventure, a cast full of memorable characters. This isn't a book you read expecting all the classic literary conventions, of rising and falling action with the denoument, but all those things exist here and more. And given the fact that Ruff wrote this when he was, what? All of twenty-two years of age? I doff my proverbial hat to the man. And as those who love this book have pointed out, this is something you will re-read over the years, loan out, give away, and purchase for people you think worthy of it. Much like the Princess Bride, it's just a rollicking good tale that - if you're the type that enjoys these sorts of things - will make you smile at the end of the day. So, to clasp on to a much used cliche, I laughed, I cried, I though it was utter brilliance! I only hope that you're the type of person that can find the magic in this story that so many of us already have. Go in with an open heart and open mind and you may just find something wonderful with this little gem of a book. Cheers Cutter
