Customer Reviews

The Runes of Elfland

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What can I say? On one page I held my breath. On another, I lost it. One page left me in tears, the longing and the recognition were so poignant. When I went to look for that page again, I couldn't find it, like the gold under the rainbow. It will happen to you. At some point you'll discover the page that haunts your dreams, describes your world, or makes you smile.

Ari Berk's exquisitely informed text and Froud's always extraordinary pictures combine to open the world you know is there but have forgotten how to see. The runes, charms, and stories delineate the bargains, the sorrows, and the treasures of the journey.

Get this book. Get copies for your friends. If you've ever heard the voices under your bed and wanted to know their names, or wept at a sunset for no reason, or considered walking through the door at the back of the wardrobe, just in case--get this book. They're playing your song.

The word "rune," once, a long time ago, could refer to anything from a single letter to a whole poem, or to an object inscribed with these letters. Ari Berk knows this, and each elfin letter in this book grows or hatches or blooms or fractals out from a letter to a poem to a legend.

I got this book as a present, on the longest night of the year, and found warmth in those stories, found inspiration and magic, found myself feeling restored and refreshed from watching those stories grow.

The illustrations are wonderful and often reminiscent of art from "Good Faeries/Bad Faeries" or "Faeries" more than "strange stains and mysterious smells," but this is a good thing, as they aren't pictures to accompany silly stories: they're paintings to convey, with the help of Berk's retellings of old legends, the importance of stories, since stories have long been a window to Elfland if not a road.

If you like folklore, buy this book. If you like Brian Froud's art, buy this book. if you like stories that are on par with Neil Gaiman's in terms of creating the sense that these things are going all around us but we generally don't take notice, buy this book.

Let's face it, the majority of stories we tell each other these days is nothing but gossip. Gone are the days of fables and poems and limericks. Stories like this are considered bedtime rituals for kids rather than something important that we can learn from.

Brian Froud and Ari Berk team up in this book to deliver 24 stories (some short, some long) based on ancient culture, each one with a twist in the tale and the meaning of of it laid out afterwards. A runic code is also featured for every one, that takes a few minutes to unravel. But once you get familiar with the Key, it'll be easier for you.

Some of these stories are easy to identify with, but some are really out there. Since Berk has a degree in Modern, Classic and Medieval English Literature you can expect him to have pretty diverse writing skills. All of the stories may be set in the same world but you'll never know where he'll go in the next one.

Froud's paintings are definitely interesting and vivid, but I'd be hard-pushed to call them beautiful. Some are so abstract and weird that I could look at it for ages and still not fully understand it's point.

It took quite a while to get through this book. A lot of patience is needed to decipher the codes and I'm not the kind of guy who can read several different fables in one night. It does make for a good bedtime read for kids and adults though. But I wouldn't expect many children to appreciate the book at all.

Professor Berk writes with wit and a wink. An ancient clay pipe interrupting a wry smile, he sits on a stump at the edge of the village where the old road enters the woods. He tells quiet tales, smooth on the surface but roiling beneath, inviting a listener to step through the nearby trees into a part of the realm few take time to explore anymore. Listen to his tales for a lark. They certainly provide an afternoon's amusement. Or better still, take time to let them work upon your imagination. Soak in their earthiness; understand that they speak of a time before and after the hurly-burly of people, pavement, and traffic you know so well. These are tales about something you've forgotten, or at least something you haven't noticed in a long while. They have a power and playfulness perfectly suited to Mr. Froud's artwork. His color illustrations are weird and wonderful, but they are only part of the pleasing visual texture of this book. Each page offers an invitation: look here, behind the letters, off to the side of the path and behind that moss covered stone. Enjoy the trip, and if you linger in the woods longer than you had intended, good for you.

I don't usually read about mythology, faeries, etc. But a friend had The Runes sitting on her coffee table: I picked it up to take a look, and then I stopped visiting and started reading. It is not a mystery novel, but still I didn't put it down until the last page. I knew nothing about Runes and faeries before I opened this book, and was surprised by how easily and quickly I became involved with each new page. Ari Berk's writing is excellent, smooth enough to keep me interested to the end. He successfully takes an out-of-the-ordinary genre and hooks you in. "The Runes..." is the perfect book for anyone interested in experiencing something new - and those readers who are familiar with this topic will enjoy the writing and Brian Frond's uniquely exquisite illustrations.

In the Age of Technology, it is a testament to myth's eternal power to inspire that a book like "The Runes of Elfland" by Brian Froud and Dr. Ari Berk has come into being. At once whimsical, passionate, solemn, and joyful, each page is a gift, a fresh breeze that blows across the mind and takes the reader to a special place uncorrupted by that which is easily acquired and jealously owned.

Myth and runes are owned by no one; they are tools by which we can escape into the unexplored corners of our minds, and one could want for no better guides than Froud and Berk. The point and counterpoint of the work is exquisitely displayed as you turn each page and presents something certain to affect everyone who looks at the book, if even for a moment.

As always, there is darkness and sensuality in even the most innocent picture, as Froud's faeries peer out from the corners of the pages, yet even the most sinister picture has some measure of beauty. Berk's words are soaring poetry, written with a deft touch that presents a deep scholarship in mythic conventions without being pretentious or pontifical.

While the book claims to be nothing more than, as Berk says, "a process of seeing, listening, and remembering," this is expert and elegant storytelling that respects the reader and the material. In fact, it is even more because through these words and images, we gain (or re-gain) the power to appreciate not only the "landscapes in [our] memory," but the land itself. No matter your spiritual orientation, there is something to be gained and cherished from the journey you take each time you open this wonderful book.

This book is a series of fantastic retellings of old stories of myth that are associated with the runic alphabet of Northern European prehistory. The Rune of Protection, for instance, is a retelling of "The Waking of Angantyr" from the Elder Edda. All these associative stories are incorporated into a mystical world known as "Elf-Land", both illuminated by Dr. Berk and envisioned by the reknowned fantasy artist, Brian Froud (most known for his book "Faeries" and having done conceptual art for the Jim Henson movies "Labyrinth" and "Dark Crystal")

I've had the pleasure of being a student in several of Dr. Berk's classes at Central Michigan University, and I can say that his way of looking at the world through the folklore of generations has profoundly changed my own view. It is great seeing his vision of the world on the printed page, and complimented so beautifully by the illustrations of Mr. Froud, who is a good friend of his and a current collaborator.

This book is a must-have for both lovers of fantasy and of folklore. It has many profound teachings by ways of courtesy in the realm of nature and the invisible world of Faerie, brought forth excellently by Dr. Berk's unique language.

For a closer look at Berk and Froud's somewhat eccentric "academic" relationship, check out "Goblins!" which was released in Nov. 2004. It is a new volume in the Lady Cottington series, under a sort of Faerie ethnological study of those pesky creatures that cause us so much woe.

Wonderful to see, read, and read out loud, this is not only a beautiful book, it's an incredibly timely one. Brian Froud is a beloved artist whose works have offered us glimpses into a mysterious world of mythical beings; Ari Berk has given us stories distilled from a number of ancient traditions to make Froud's images more accessible to an even wider audience. The great thing about basing such tales and images on the runic alphabet is that we learn how the written word was born in the land, and how the land and language continually re-invent one another, even in our high-tech time. In these days, when nature is under seige and we feel ever more isolated from one another, we need a book like this to help us reconnect with both the wondrous and the everyday -- Froud's magical paintings and Berk's warm, witty storytelling offer an experience you can return to again and again.

how could we not love this book?
dear lovers of Elfland,
... We've been reading tarot cards since we were eight years old and love everything having to do with Divination: cards, runes, pendulums, the whole works. And Brian Froud ... how can one not love his faery art? And Elfland, we love everything about elves and faeries that isn't totally corny. So how could we not love a book involving all three of our favorite things? If you love Froud's art, you'll love this book. If you are fascinated by the Norse Runes, here's another interesting interpretation. And if you love all things Elfin, as we do, then here is fine addition to modern Elven Culture. How can you go wrong?
kyela,
the silver elves

Warning! This is not a specifically Heathen runebook. Nevertheless, once you get past that I think you just might like it anyway. First of all, there's the artwork. Brian Froud is the author/illustrator of the well-known and much admired books Faeries and Good Faeries/Bad Faeries. He also collaborated on the films "The Dark Crystal" and "Labyrinth," both of which are favorites of mine. He is a very fine artist, and does particularly well with fantasy, mythological and folklore subjects. When my nephew, who is now twenty, first started learning to read I gave him Faeries to show him there was something out there besides the Southern Baptist fundamentalism he was getting in Sunday School. It worked. He now wears a hammer and is engaged to a young woman who is studying Heathenry, runework, and galdr with me.

The runelore in this book is overall fairly good. Berk stays reasonably close to the historical meanings of the Runes in most cases. The staves are clearly drawn and are the Elder Futhark forms with the occasional use of Anglo-Saxon variants. On the down side, however, he does not present them in the Futhark order and presents the Runes as a sort of code substituting for the letters of the Roman alphabet.

The premise of the book is fascinating. Each Rune has its own section and is treated as a gateway into some aspect of the Elfish realm. Each section consists of a "Charm" to open that Rune's gate, a "Telling" or story, and a "Gift" or lesson from that Rune. This could all be seen as a sort of journeywork, and I have at times used Runes as an accessory for my own journey and Seiğrwork. I have also journeyed to visit areas in the Spae-Realms associated with individual Runes as an internal aspect of my own runework.

It is by no means outside of Heathen belief to think of Elves having access to and using Runes. Hávamál 143 in the Poetic Edda states that after Oğin won the Runes on Yggdrasil, he shared them with representatives of various classes of wights. Among the Alfar, Dáin received the Runes and then presumably passed them on to others of his kind.

Berk makes it clear that the Elfish take on the Runes is not identical to that of human beings. Since each Heathen runester will quite normally develop his or her own slightly different understanding of the Runes, that could certainly be the case when non-human wights work with them.

The lore in The Runes of Elfland is reasonably coherent. Much Heathen religious lore and folklore are included. The bits and pieces brought in from elsewhere are Celtic and occasionally Greco-Roman, which are traditions which were long in contact with Germanic Heathenism and have elements in common, both from borrowing back and forth and from a common Indo-European heritage. Thus, they "clash" far less with our lore than most others would.

Each Rune is accompanied by a lovely drawing of a "faery" or if you will, Alf posed in the stoğur of that particular Rune. Obviously, the author and/or illustrator have read enough of contemporary Heathen runework to be aware of the stoğar. This, for me at least, increases the book's credibility somewhat, which is a good thing since Froud mentions that he considers Ralph Blum's Runebook to be very wise. It may be that, but it isn't much of a runebook in the narrower sense of the word "Rune" (a stave of the Futhark as opposed to a "mystery" in a broader sense). Blum also encouraged him to create artwork inspired by the Runes. At least Blum did one good thing; the resulting works are beautiful!

For the adult Heathen reader, I recommend this book for its artwork. The Heathen who is also a runester and/or a seiğhr and spae worker will find much to stimulate the imagination, to open possible new fields of exploration and new working techniques. These would particularly include initiating contact with Alfar, Landwights and Huldfok. These of course should be checked with and informed by lore studies and due caution should be exercised. Such workings and relationships are not always safe, especially to the ill-informed or inexperienced!

For the young Heathen, Froud's art will also be appealing, as will Berk's stories. There are little messages all through the book written in Runes, and since a transliteration key is also included in it, The Runes of Elfland could be a really fun way to teach runic literacy to a young Heathen.

Unlike many of the books I review, this one is in print and readily available at a reasonable price. If you note and move on from the non-Heathen bits of the book, I think you will enjoy it as much as I did!