The Reefs of Earth [Paperback]

R. A. Lafferty (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: Borgo Press (December 1, 1968)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188044898X
• ISBN-13: 978-1880448984
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,984,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Science Fiction or Fantasy novel in 43 years., July 12, 2001

By 

Kent Paul Dolan (Clovis, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Reefs of Earth (Paperback)

The Reefs of Earth is my favorite SF&F book ever found in 43 years of reading. I buy every copy I find in used book stores, just to be able to give a copy of this book to my best friends, and I long ago read my own two copies until they fell apart. Raphael Aloysius Lafferty, always excellent, outdoes himself in telling the story of "six kids, seven if you count bad John", and their efforts to take over the world from the clueless rednecks, parents, and other riffraff currently in charge. Even the prose is poetry, but the poetry, also part of the book, is excellent, good in the sense of Beowulf and battle poetry, not Shakespeare and romantic poetry. He writes about BIG, *hairy* people, ones who usually don't get along very well with one another, and if you have an ear for language, you'll love it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Weird, weird, weird, weird, WEIRD!!!, November 7, 1998

By 

G. Parks "Thoroghgoing Nostalgist" (Washington NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Reefs of Earth (Paperback)

The story is indescribable; it involves six kids who are aliens from another planet with "Addams Family" tastes but played out realistically. The result is murder, mayhem, and -- strangely -- hilarity too. A VERY weird tale! But the strangest and most memorable part of the book for me was its table of contents -- each chapter title of which formed the line of a POEM! The poem is as weird as the book, and describes the story perfectly:

To slay the folks and cleanse the land
And leave the world a Reeking Roastie:
High Purpose of the Gallant Band
And six were Kids, and one a Ghostie.

A child's a monster still uncurled,
The world's a trap, and none can quit it;
The strife Dulanty with the world,
Was mostly that they didn't fit it.

No setting for the Gallant Brood
In sacred groves of yew or lindens;
They found a hold more near their blood --
A mountainful of murdered Indians!

In brazen clash of Helm and Greave
Fit subject for Heroic Chanty
The battle joined that could but leave
[An]* altered world or dead Dulanty!

*Actually says "Or", but I assume that's a typo.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fiendishly clever!, August 17, 2000

By 

matt (Exeter, RI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Reefs of Earth (Paperback)

This book is a hidden masterpiece. The use of poetry is brilliant - even each of the chapter titles come together to form one poem. The characters are the perfect blend of innocence and wickedness. Like no other book you will read!