Limits of Enchantment [Import] [Paperback]

Graham Joyce (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: PHOENIX (ORIO) (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575074124
• ISBN-13: 978-0575074125
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Limits of Enchantment, March 28, 2005

By 

K. Freeman (Apple Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Limits of Enchantment: A Novel (Hardcover)

In 1960's Britain, apprentice herb-witch and midwife Fern must deal with her foster mother's illness, hostile landlords, and her own conflicting desires.

This is a sweet, quiet story, told in understated, sophisticated language. The plot -- young person comes of age and joins society by making the right friends -- is familiar, but it is well realized here. Magical elements are vivid but never overexplained, and the subtle characterization works well. To me there's a slight lack of tension and genuine danger, but I still enjoyed the book a lot.

This might appeal to readers of Richard Grant's books about Pippa the witch, and readers of Jonathan Carroll and Gregory Maguire as well as, obviously, those who have enjoyed Joyce's other work.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting, September 3, 2005

By 

Chez "eshem" (Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Limits of Enchantment: A Novel (Hardcover)

At the outset, let me say this: anything written by Graham Joyce is well worth reading.

Having said that, this novel did not invoke the little thrills of supernatural delight that some of his other novels have produced in me - 'Requiem' being by far the best in my opinion. After reading the latter, I immediately procured every available novel written by this author, and in general, have not been disappointed.

With the release of 'Facts of Life', the general ambience of high strangeness common to most of Joyce's works changed - perhaps to suit a wider audience. It obviously worked well, because 'Facts of Life' won the 2003 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and it seems to me that this novel, The Limits of Enchantment, is in the same genre. It is exactly that: enchanting and charming - but lacking the weird magic that so attracted me to Joyce's work in the first place.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joyce is Magic, September 10, 2005

By 

AuthorStore Editors (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Limits of Enchantment: A Novel (Hardcover)

Ever since reading The Tooth Fairy, we have looked forward to releases from Graham Joyce. In book after book, Mr. Joyce has found a way to connect us with a world just beyond our senses, a world that we suspect exists in our most primitive brains but perhaps have become too "civilized" to accept anymore.

In The Limits of Enchantment, Mr. Joyce tells a tale of modern midwifery (circa late 1960's). Fern is a daughter to Mammy, an elderly midwife whom we might consider a witch. There is a warlock too in an old man named John and many other characters dancing about the shadows who appear to possess or at least believe in hedgerow magic.

This isn't a fantasy book though. It's a tale of tough living in small-town England. It's a social tale about class and power and the cycle of life as the reigns are passed down from one generation to the next.

Fern is passing into true adulthood and she is unsure of herself, unsure of the way life seems to be pressing itself in on her. She wants to believe in the old ways but she's not sure. She wants to give in to love with a local man, but again she's unsure. This is a powerful book with a few twists and turns to keep the pages flying.

Try to read it and not come away looking for ravens in the sky and eyes peeping from a hedge. Try to read it and not feel a true sense of humanity when the end comes. These emotions come whether you want them or not, just as life presses in on Fern no matter how much she'd rather run.