Customer Reviews

At the Edge of the World

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For a generation of fantasy readers, this was our introduction to the exquisite short stories of Lord Dunsany, courtesy of editor Lin Carter's wondrous Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series. It includes such essentials as the compact epic "The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth," which accomplishes in a few pages what other writers fail to do half as well with hundreds; the powerful & haunting "Poltarnees, Beholder of Ocean," in which the heroic young suitor of the beautiful princess discovers something far more entrancing, a story ending with bitterly tragic lines; and "Idle Days on the Yann," which contains enough seed material for a dozen novels. But those are merely a few examples. Some of these stories have the ringing, lyric beauty of old myths & legend; others are edged with a satiric, wicked wit. But all champion Beauty, and are shining examples of it.

These stories can easily be found in contemporary reprints & anthologies of Dunsany's work, and any serious reader of fantasy is encouraged to seek them out. But if you should spot a battered paperback copy of this particular volume in a used bookstore or at a rummage sale, pick it up. Carter's notes are an additional treat, and the evocative cover art by Ray Cruz is a reminder of a better day in paperback publishing, before generic fantasy art became so rampant. And of course the stories themselves are treasure indeed!

Most highly recommended!

If I could only keep one collection of the stories of Lord Dunsany it would be this volume. Indeed, it was the volume that I kept when I was faced with thinning my personal library. It is good that this little paperback was so well selected, since for decades it was the only affordably priced example in print.

The editor (Lin Carter) lovingly selected stories from seven of Dunsany's eight volumes of short fantasy written between 1905 and 1919. There are eight tales from TIME AND THE GODS, one from THE SWORD OF WELLERAN, two from FIFTY-ONE TALES, seven from A DREAMER'S TALES, seven from THE BOOK OF WONDER, two from THE LAST BOOK OF WONDER, and three from TALES OF THREE HEMISPHERES. There is also an excellent, informative introduction about the author and his works, plus every section has an short intro telling something of Dunsany's life at the time he wrote the stories.

I won't try to describe Dunsany's writing style here. Some call it fluff, but to me these are somewhere between rare jewels and solidified dreams. No one wrote like this man, for he truly walked the border between the fields we know and the fields we do not.

This is a great book with some excellent storytelling. Lord Dunsany weaves beautiful tales of wonder in this stunning collection. He is truly one of the underappreciated heroes of the fantasy genre, and of the greater body of literature.