Customer Reviews

The Elfin Ship

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As has been mentioned before, the whimsy and fancy of this book should have made it a classic. However, it has been overlooked and nearly forgotten.

As a tale for adults, it stands up well with passages that stimulate the imagination. As a tale for children, it overflows with silliness and fun, but also includes a few moral lessons on the value of work and importance of keeping your word. It is an ideal book for an adult to read to a child. The end veers off into a scene of near Lovecraftian nature, disturbing and frightening in an oddly amusing way. However, the tone quickly returns to light fantasy, and the characters all return home, happier, wiser, and richer. In all, one of my all-time favorite books.

Reading this book has a wonderful effect on a person, and every one I have ever reccomended to was so grateful after reading it. It is charming, lyrical, and full of whimsey... yet it is an adventure first and foremost. Blaycock has a writing style that makes the words sound delicious in your mind, as each carefully chosen word fits together like a song. He is also at his humerous best here, and will have you chuckling along. That is when your mouth is not watering for the food that he describes here as an intregal part of the adventure. He makes the character a part of you by making it very real and not sparing the details that somehow make you experiance the book with all of your senses. That is if you like the sound smell and feel of warm crackly fires on cold nights, hand ground coffee roasted on the fire, cheese from the Master Cheeser, dark nutty beer, thick dark fresh bread, reading books for hours and hours, and the scent of pipe tobacco as much as this character does.
The sequel is called "The Dissapearing Dwarf" but I saw it listed with a typo at this site as "The Dissapearg Dwarf".

Blaylock has a genius for whimsey, as is exemplified perfectly in the Elfin Ship. His worlds are swirling with conspiracy which the characters unwittingly become central to, though generally they just want to enjoy life, make coffee, and fish for squids. Jonathan Bing, a cheeser, must take his cheeses downriver for the annual trade with people on the coast - a task usually done by others who have mysteriously vanished. Delightful adventures ensue. Throughout I was bemused by Blaylock's fanciful notions.

If you like Wind in the Willows or The Hobbit, you will love this book. The author describes well our love and appreciation for the comforts of home, but at the same time our natural desire for adventures and excitement on a fantasy quest. Great fun - over and over again.

The Elfin Ship by James P. Blaylock is one that holds a special place in my personal library. I am currently reading it for the 10th time and enjoy it more every time I read it. A great book to get lost in.

Read this book when I was in High School during the summer. It is still one of my all time favorite books. I wish there where more then 3 in this series.

Put simply, this is the book I can't wait to read to my son (when I have one). The only other book that has inspired me in this fashion is Treasure Island. The Elfin Ship has somehow been overlooked, but in my mind is a classic. Oh, it's a great read for adults too!

Whenever I think of the most enjoyable experiences of my life in regard to reading, The Elfin Ship ranks quite high on my list. With characters like Dooly, The Squire, the Professor, and Ahab keeping Jonathan Bing on his toes, the book is sure to please all ages! I've just had a son and plan to read The Elfin Ship to Aleksandr as soon as he is a little older. The sequel is also great, but also OOP.

I felt like I was reading a grownup version of a Dr. Seusse book... The story was good, but for me there was too much silliness. In fact, I kept expecting ryhmes. If the silliness was removed and a little more hard details added, it would be a fine book. But, I do not think that this is what the author intended.

This is a light hearted look at fantasy/fiction. Easy to read, hard to get lost. Possibly even a fun/funny book...

I am not normally a fantasy reader, but this book has had so many good reviews that I decided to give it a try.

I've been anxious to try Blaylock's work for a while, but this was the only book of his that I found among three bookstores. While not a bad book by any means, it's not terribly good either. It plods. Several sentences jumped out as clunkers. As an adventure story, in fact, I'd rate this pretty low. But, though briefly at first it comes across like a cheap Tolkien knock-off, I consider more of a kind of fantasy character piece than an adventure. There are some interesting moments in the book, almost worthwhile to read the book for. (I really liked the bits about cheese making.) But it was, simply put, a book that failed to keep me wanting to read it. In fact, several times, I put it down to read other books.