![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
2013 Book Review #123: Thomas the Rhymer
Title: Thomas the Rhymer
Author: Ellen Kushner
Genre: High fantasy
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: A bard spends seven years in Elfland, comes back changed.
Thingummies: More than enough has been written about bards and elves (although not as much back when this book was written). The two have always gone together. But this one does stand out. It's an odd book—there's very little in the way of actual plot. It's told in four parts, from four different perspectives. A bard befriends an old couple and falls in love, gets swept away to Elfland for seven years, comes home, and eventually grows old and dies. That's about it. There are no grand quests or major battles, no need to defend humanity or Elfland, no souls to be saved. To some extent, it's a book about how life changes us, and how hard it is to come home changed.
It's a lovely thing, though. Without any strong narrative propelling it forward, it has time to linger on subtleties of character. More like literary fiction than fantasy, in a way. And the lack of driving plot doesn't mean that it's pointless or boring—it's just a story about how to deal with getting your heart's desire. It's bittersweet and beautifully written.
Author: Ellen Kushner
Genre: High fantasy
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: A bard spends seven years in Elfland, comes back changed.
Thingummies: More than enough has been written about bards and elves (although not as much back when this book was written). The two have always gone together. But this one does stand out. It's an odd book—there's very little in the way of actual plot. It's told in four parts, from four different perspectives. A bard befriends an old couple and falls in love, gets swept away to Elfland for seven years, comes home, and eventually grows old and dies. That's about it. There are no grand quests or major battles, no need to defend humanity or Elfland, no souls to be saved. To some extent, it's a book about how life changes us, and how hard it is to come home changed.
It's a lovely thing, though. Without any strong narrative propelling it forward, it has time to linger on subtleties of character. More like literary fiction than fantasy, in a way. And the lack of driving plot doesn't mean that it's pointless or boring—it's just a story about how to deal with getting your heart's desire. It's bittersweet and beautifully written.