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Title: The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip ISBN: 0-441-00361-3 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: September, 1996 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (29 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Fantasy Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!
Comment: What a wonderful book! Weaving, retelling and redefining the classic faerie tale in a style at once simple and elegant, McKillip brings a sense of wonder and magic to every page, creating a world at once familiar yet unlike any other I've encountered. The author has created a haunting fiction in which a thin veil exists between the ordinary and magical, the commonplace, medieval setting of fantasy and the barely perceived kingdom of the Other. This is the realm of Faerie, the closest I have come to it, outside of traditional folklore, since reading Tolkien, yet written with an individual vision that while drawing upon the rich heritage of mythology and legend, such as the Wild Hunt and the Queen of the Wood, breathes new life into the faerie tale, until the story has a character and wonder all its own.
Lovingly and richly detailed, this is not a book to read on an empty stomach. Scenes of feasts and the kitchen abound, delightfully rendered and salivating. The descriptions of the wood captures nature in all its beauty as well as its at times its frightening indifference. The invocation of magic and the spiritual realm are crafted in a way at once wondrous and believable, and for a few hours the reader steps into a world in which he or she wishes they could linger long after the final page reaches its conclusion. Mystery abounds, and it is impossible not to become captured in the author's written spell.
This is not, however, simply a tale of wondrous places and larger than life events. As well as writing lyrically, the author invests her tale with metaphor, and a meditation on words and their relationship to identity. The duality of things perceived is as much a theme throughout the work as is the ostensible tale of magic gone awry, and, as with the characters, one needs to look closely at the nature of what is named. I can think of no other author currently writing fantasy that uses the genre as a means to explore larger existential matters, a reflection upon not only the real world but also the world of myth. This book is truly a feast, not only for the senses but the intellect as well.
One of the best works of fantasy I have ever read, at once richly acknowledging the meditative and figurative themes underlying the best traditional folklore, as well as investing the genre with intentions rarely found today in fantasy fiction, written in a style as magical and beautiful as the tale being told. Beside the wonder of this novel, my praise is but a weak and mute substitute.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not for Me
Comment: Patricia A. McKillip, famed author of The Riddle Master Trilogy, comes into her own in this more mature work. In my opinion, the epic style of Riddle Master didn't mesh well with McKillip's dreamy prose. But here, in Atrix Wolfe, it becomes clear that McKillip has found her niche: the short, modern fairytale. But wait!...I never said I liked it.
First, let me say that this book is simply not my type; it didn't capture my interest. But I still feel obliged to give an opinion because there are undoubtedly others out there who share my own interests. I pretty much agree with the review above entitled "Charming but not engaging." The writing here is top notch and the imagery is evocative, but the whole thing seems a little vacuous. I can't seem to get into the story because when I look behind all of McKillip's beautiful prose there really isn't much there. It's a very nice story about mages and princes and enchanted forests, but when all is said and done I didn't feel any real connection with the characters of Talis, Atrix or anyone else.
When I read a book I want my characters to be grounded in some sort of solid reality. In other words I want the reality-the framework and internal logic of the world-to control the characters, not vice versa. The characters should be at the mercy of their environment (even if fanciful, it still has rules!) and they should react and struggle against it. In Atrix Wolfe (as well as in Riddle Master), however, I find myself in scene after scene where the characters themselves are the center of the universe. They possess magical powers far too immense in comparison to their rather puny environment and they control their surroundings seemingly at will. For an example, see the description on page 217 where Atrix Wolfe (via his shape shifting abilities) goes into a pebble and down into the Earth and into an underground stream and pops out of a tree some distance away in order to avoid the enemy. Now I know this is fantasy and fairytale but doesn't that sound a little ridiculous? When characters start popping out of holes in the ground is when I come to the conclusion that an Earth-like setting is a little too small for these guys: there need to be more restrictions. Toward the end of the book I began to think to myself "Well, since apparently ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING can happen in this book, I really don't care what is going to happen."
Overall, I enjoyed this book more than Riddle Master (I have to admit though, not least of all because it is shorter). But its biggest fault is a lack of logical development. There are too many unexplained magical powers and mystical descriptions. When McKillip is given the opportunity in the story to explain certain developments she invariably resorts to a sort of mystical-psycho-babble answer that sounds nice but leaves me feeling empty inside. At least I can say I've given her books a try. Don't get me wrong, I think she is a fine writer. She's just not quite my style.
Rating: 5
Summary: beautiful story, told in a beautiful way
Comment: you know the feeling, when falling really great fantasy book, when you know that you fall on some true words?! that this is not only a writer throwing up words that don't make sense but a true art of creating some new myth, some new world?! well this book does it, and does it extreamly well.
i enjoied patricia mckillip books befor but there's is this wholeness to this book that i haven't seen in her words befor, the story's charming and the way she's telling it, each chapter from a diffrent charecter point of veiw keeps you curious and interested all the way through, there are no pauses, the story just rushes from begining to end and you get completly obsorved in it.
she still keeps the main motives of her works, like words and their meaning, and those amazing nature description but there's somthing a lot more rich and intence in this book then in other books i've read by her.
i have enjoied this book a lot, as i always do with books that takes me to a diffrent world.
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Title: The Changeling Sea by Patricia A. McKillip ISBN: 0141312629 Publisher: Penguin USA (Juv) Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip ISBN: 0152008691 Publisher: Magic Carpet Books Pub. Date: July, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
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Title: Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip ISBN: 0441010164 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip ISBN: 0441009344 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Tower at Stony Wood by Patricia A. McKillip ISBN: 0441008291 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: May, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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