Customer Reviews

The Face in the Frost

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My initial reading of this book was when it first came out in paperback in 1978. This isn't by way of bragging, but simply to point out that it impressed me so much that I still have that very copy of the book, despite many relocations and resizings of my own library. For its time it was so unlike any other fantasy book that it made an immediate impression and has continued to do so to this very day.

Written with a deceiving simplicity that, no doubt, owes its origins to Bellairs' many successes as a writer of horror fiction for young adults, 'The Face in the Frost' is the tale of two wizards who must prevent the completion of a spell so awful it would bring the ruin of their world. When Prospero (not the one on the island) finds his comfy and peculiar home under siege by baleful magick he is alarmed. The appearance of his old friend and co-wizard Roger Bacon (the very one) only confirms that ominous portents are about. Faced with giant moths and a force of giant menacing shadows they make their escape, bent on finding the source of the problem.

In short order they realize that someone is in the process of activating a spell inscribed in a legendary tome. They must face illusion, traps, and even death trying to discover the identity of the book's new owner. And then, once the identity is known they must wrest the book from its keeper's grasp and bring it to destruction. In a trick unknown since Aristotle's Cave, Bellairs manages to fit this detailed and wide ranging quest into a novel of less than two hundred pages. For this accomplishment, if no other, Bellairs deserves a great deal of appreciation.

Bellairs characters are gem-like, as is the world in which they move. The tone of the narrative is quite humorous, with Prospero and Bacon getting much of the credit for keeping up a banter full of strange twists that seems to wander at will across time and place without any disastrous side effects. The narrative, in contrast, is quite chilling. Bellairs shows a fine ability to create suspense and horror without having enormous quantities of gore splattered over the pages. On several occasions I found myself unexpectedly spooked by what on the surface was comparative mild-mannered prose.

For all the time I've had this book I have always been surprised that I haven't come across more of Bellairs' work. It is only recently, thanks to the Internet, that I discovered that Bellairs was pre-eminently known as a writer of youthful fiction, and that he died prematurely. In retrospect, it is probably only a fortunate accident that 'The Face in the Frost' crossed over into adult fiction. It certainly could be read with great enjoyment by anyone who can cope with Bellairs clear but literate writing style. Lest I forget, the story is accompanied by many wonderful illustrations from the pen of Marilyn Fitschen, which the reader will find as pleasant as the story.

This is fantasy reduced to its purest form. From a laugh out loud first few pages you are plunged into nightmare and horror through to a purely satisfying ending. In decades of reading fantasy I know of no story that better illustrates the form. Something different than Tolkien's idealized fairy-tale, and something better than mere horror, this is a superb book.

Prospero - and not the one you are thinking of, either - and Roger Bacon must solve the riddle of an unreadable book before that riddle and a more powerful wizard kills them. The threat is all the more real because neither you nor the characters understand it; we understand the side effects well enough. But Bellairs lets you guess what might happen unless Prospero and Bacon act. Nameless horrors can be the most frightening of all.

Bellairs died far too young, leaving only a handful of children's books, outlines for a few more and this tale. We can only wish there were more.

Originally published in paperback by Ace in 1969, that early edition was brilliantly illustrated by Marilyn Fitschen. Her perfectly apt, child-like illustrations didn't make it to this new hardbound edition, so you miss the macabre heraldic device of Melichus, and the spooky illustrations of Bellairs' scenes. It's a loss only partially made up for by the fine Anton Pieck cover drawing, completely appropriate to the story's secret. The paperback was printed, unhappily, on typical Ace cheap paper, and is now browned and brittle. Finding it isn't easy and may no longer be worth the effort.

Still, despite the missing drawings, it is wonderful to have The Face in the Frost back in print. This should be on your short list of the best fantasy stories written. It's a story you will read again and again Highly recommended; simply superb.

This is a fantasy novel that rejects all the cliches that have plagued the genre over the years. It starts innocently enough, with a good natured Wizard by the name of Prospero starting what looks like simply another day. Incidents shortly take a sharp turn after that, as he finds himself the focus of supernatural events that are beyond his powers.

From there, the tone alternates from humor to mystery to horror as Prospero and his friend, Roger Bacon, strive to unravel the mystery behind a supernatural force threatening not only themselves, but the world itself.

This is an intelligent book, and makes no attempt to talk down to its audiance. The humor serves to underline the tension, rather than belittle it. Another pleasent surprise, is that the horror and suspense of this story is not immersed in blood and gore, which is all too frequently found in most horror attempts.

I would recommend "The Face in the Frost" to anyone appreciating horror or Fantasy. Even those who do not care for the Fantasy genre should still appreciate this story, as it serves more as a backdrop than as a main element of the story itself

This splendid little fantasy gem, the only adult-oriented fiction by children's author John Bellairs, mixes two rare moods. Bellairs's genial and charismatic protagonists, wizards Prospero (no, not that one) and Roger Bacon, contribute warmth and wit to the novel, while the nameless horror that begins to stalk Prospero is every bit as creepy as anything H.P. Lovecraft or W.H. Hodgson ever dreamed up.

As it turns out, the kind and simple heroes and the vile and alien villain are two great tastes that taste great together. The delightful characters involved me in the story in a way the flat ciphers who generally inhabited Lovecraft's stuff never did, enhancing the eerieness. And the fact that these lovely characters were battling such disturbing phenomena increased my respect for them, enhancing their charisma.

Bellairs also has a terrific writing style -- simple, spare, yet highly evocative, and with an unsurpassed eye for detail. And the book features cute illustrations by Marilyn Fitschen (the one of Prospero's house is worth the price of admission all by itself). The Face in the Frost is either a minor classic or a major one -- I'm just sorry it took me this long to get around to reading it.

This is a world class fantasy novel with elements of horror in it. Super good. I read it as a kid and it transported me. I can read it as an adult and it transports me both within the book and back to my childhood.

This book is every bit as good as the classics like Wizard of earthsea, the last unicorn, tolkien books, seriously. It's that good.

Not only is it fantasy, it's scary. Sneaks right up and scares the crap out of you.

"The Face In The Frost" is a richly imaginative tale of two wizards, Prospero (not the one you're thinking of) and Roger Bacon, who must overcome a third wizard, the evil Melichus before he destroys them, and a lot of other folks as well.

Even if you think you've heard this story before, you've never come across a variation like this one. The closest analogue that I can come up with is "Howl's Moving Castle" for its eccentricity, but `Face' outdoes `Howl' is this respect as well as in its fear quotient. The scary scenes approach M.R. James in intensity, and they are always preceded by migraine-like aura. Prospero senses that something is slightly off about the inn where he is staying. He is still trying to figure out what is bothering him at four in the morning:

"Strange thoughts began to come to him now: locked boxes and empty rooms. Four dials and a black hole. Four cards and a blank. And a dead sound on the stroke of four. Why did that mirror bother him?

"Quietly, Prospero got dressed, took his staff from the corner, and opened the door of his room. The hall was dark and silent...He lit [a candle] and tiptoed down the stairs to the place where the mirror hung. Prospero stared and felt a chill pass through his body. The mirror showed nothing--not his face, not his candles, not the wall behind him. All he saw was a black glassy surface."

Prospero explores further and finds his landlady standing fully-clothed in her room, with a butcher knife in her hand. "In her slowly rising head were two black holes. Prospero saw in his mind a doll that had terrified him when he was a child. The eyes had rattled in the china skull. Now the woman's voice, mechanical and heavy: "Why don't you sleep? Go to sleep." Her mouth opened wide, impossibly wide, and then the whole face stretched and writhed and yawned in the faint light."

Prospero manages to escape the inn and town that was nothing more than an elaborate trap set up by Melichus to destroy him. He is reunited with his friend, Roger Bacon and they continue on their quest to find and destroy Melichus's evil magic.

There are delightfully eccentric set-pieces in `Face:' a king who builds elaborate clock-works of the universe; a monk who collects strange plants; a talking mirror that divulges scores from a 1943 Cubs-Giants baseball game. I suspect the author wove his fantasy out of migraines, nightmares, and a love of mechanical oddities and spells that turn tomatoes into squishy red carriages. Prospero himself has a "cherrywood beadstead with a bassoon carved into one of the fat headposts, so that it could be played as you lay in bed and meditated...On a shelf over the experiment table was the inevitable skull, which the wizard put there to remind him of death, though it usually reminded him that he needed to go to the dentist."

I'd better put an end to this review before I quote the whole book. It's so good, it sucks me in every time I open it---Enchanting, in the original sense of the word, and frightening, too.

I'm not a huge aficianado of the fantasy genre but I enjoyed this 1969 novella by John Bellairs. The writing is above-average, the principal characters have some personality, and there is some enjoyable chemistry between the characters. (Often the banter between Prospero and Roger Bacon reminded me of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.") Like Lois Lowry's THE GIVER, it is a book that can be enjoyed by adults as well as older children. I'd recommend it to Harry Potter fans as well as to readers who loved The Lord of the Rings. One aspect that I liked was that the scarier parts of the book were written to creep out the adults more than children, as it was mostly the implication of a pervasive, world-altering evil that provided most of the chills, rather than big, scary, nightmare-inducing monsters.

Bellairs himself admitted that he was inspired by The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and wanted to write a book about a character similar to Tolkien's Gandalf but with a little more depth to his personality. I think he succeeded. The wizards in his book, especially Prospero, possess only limited magical powers, and thus have weaknesses, fears and even phobias. They are more like a endearing pair of elderly, absent-minded professors.

Readers who are intrigued by the mysterious, enciphered book of spells featured in THE FACE IN THE FROST may be interested to know that it is based on the real-life Voynich Manuscript. (Bellairs even names one of his characters after a real-life English scholar-monk who has been linked to the Voynich Manuscript, Roger Bacon.) This medieval manuscript, written in an unknown language or ciphertext, has never been decoded despite the efforts of scholars and professional cryptanalysts over several centuries.

If I had to level criticism at THE FACE IN THE FROST it would be that the ending is brought about with a sort of deus-ex-machina plot device. But really I was sorry that the book was so short and over so soon, because it was a fun, stimulating read.

John Bellairs is best known for his juvenile horror novels (best: The House With A Clock In Its Walls); he only wrote two (alas!) adult novels. This one, written in 1969, kicked off the whole humourous sword-and-sorcery genre. It's a counterpoint to the heroic fantasy form: in a world of bumbling monarchs, small farming towns and good beer two whimsical wizards find themselves pitted against an unusual evil power beyond their abilities to match. Luck, imagination and unexpected allies see them through this highly original adventure. A perfect bedtime book, though I wouldn't really recommend it for the under 12 crowd: the scare effects are too imaginative.

"A few centuries (or so) ago there lived a tall, skinny, scraggly-bearded old wizard named Prospero, and not the one you're thinking of, either." John Bellairs' first full-length novel is a tour de force of fantasy--it's fast, funny, and terrifying, all at once. Bellairs' heroes, Prospero and Roger Bacon, must join forces when the evil Melichus begins to assert an uncanny control over the world and its weathers. They go on a serious and yet deranged quest, and in the end there is a memorable confrontation between good magic and wicked wizardry. Fans who know this book are crazy about it; it is not quite like anything else in fantasy, and it deserves to be more widely known (and more often reprinted!)

I first read The Face in the Frost back in 1979 when I was still reading "fantasy" hoping to find something anywhere near as good as Tolkien. This was one of the few offerings that stood out as NOT being YALTK (Yet Another Lousy Tolkien Knockoff.) Many years and many fantasy novels have come and gone since then, and I have frankly given up in disgust on the entire genere, but for some reason I still keep coming back to A Face in the Frost and re-read it every year or so. The story practically reads itself (in all too short a time!) and always remains in my mind like a little light in a distant window. I've worn out two paperback copies and am now back to order the hardcover edition!

It's really hard to put my finger on what's so special about it. As a reviewer stated back when it was published, the author truly knows what Wizardry is all about! The two main characters are goofily lovable, but when it gets down to brass tacks, they are also deadly serious and know exactly when to quit kidding around and call down powers and pricipalities. They don't always succeed, and so know heartbreak and horror, too. There is friendship and loyalty, and there is good ale and cheese. There is a wonderfully obnoxious magic mirror.

The author's take on magic reveals it as something very real, ancient and mysterious - and terrifying, in the wrong hands. But, sorry, definitely no faeries or unicorns here, nor sword-slinging buff (or curvy) barbarians. If you think you'd enjoy reading about two old coots who could probably take down Viggo Mortensen with one hand while tapping a good keg of Snake Year sherry with the other, this is the book for you.