The Throme of the Erril of Sherill

by Patricia A. McKillip, Judith Mitchell (Illustrator)

The Throme of the Erril of Sherill with The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath.

Damsen longs for the warm light beyond the castle walls. Brave Cnite Caerles seeks her hand, but her father the King has set a price: You want Damsen. I want the Throme of Sherill. Find it for me and I will give you anything you want. And so begins a quest that will wind from the Mirk Well of Morg to the borebel pits to the Floral Wold to the Dolorous House of a dead Dolerman and, finally, to the Western Wellsprings, where the answer to the Everything lies.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novella, Adventure

165 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Patricia Anne McKillip was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. She wrote predominantly standalone fantasy novels and has been called "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre". Her work won many awards, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008.

Reviews

[Kalin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An early yet enchanting glimpse into the wonders wrought by a modern sorceress.

Some sparks:

~ Recently, I've been thinking about relationships. And (but isn't that always the case?) the Cosmos has been watching me thinking. Me thinking, 'Ey winking:

“Who thumped across my drawbridge?”
“It is your Chief Cnite Caerles,” said Damsen, and her voice was like the low, clear ripple of water across stones.
“Ha!” said Magnus Thrall. “I know what he has come for. But he cannot have you because I need you. If you go away, I will be here alone in these dark, dank walls. I need to look at your sad face. It comforts me.”

~ I've been thinking about children too. But maybe I've been missing something ....

“I am not a borebel,” said Caerles. “And that dagon was lent to me by the child of the Erie Merle to protect me from all danger with its swift speed and its flaming tongue, but I do not know what will protect me from a troublesome young Boy.”
“Perhaps I will let you out,” said the voice, “if you give me the dagon. Then I will have someone to sprawl on meadow-grass with, and explore deep caves, and dabble with in the river. If you give me the dagon, I will know you are not a borebel, for a borebel never gives anything to anyone.”
“But I cannot give you Dracoberus because he does not belong to me.”
“Then,” said the voice cheerfully, “you must be a borebel. Do not worry about your dagon. I will love him well.”
The Cnite Caerles sat down on the damp earth of the borebel pit. “Boy,” he said wearily, “I am a Cnite on a quest for the love of a wheat-haired, wine-eyed lady who is waiting with love for me. You will have the dagon to love but who will there be to love that lady if you do not let me out of this pit?”
There was the sound above of shifting leaves. “Well.” said the voice, and again, “Well.” Then it said again cheerfully, “If you are truly a borebel, there is no lady and no love, so I will take your dagon. But do not worry. I will feed you.”

~ The message of "The Throme" resonates with my current quest, too. When you're desperate for something, yet it does not exist, what do you do?

I'll let you find out for yourselves.

~ "The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath" contains an early intimation of what makes the magic in McKillip's stories; the sense of weirdness and wonder that drew me in to the Cygnet duo. Already here, dragons are not what we're used to from fairy tales or generic fantasy. Nor are they Earthsea dragons, Robin Hobb's dragons ... anybody else's dragons. They're McKillip's dragons, but mostly they're their own. And harrowing them begets the question: who harrows whom?

I didn't get the last paragraph of the story, though. What happened? Was that the end?

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Throme of the Erril of Sherill is perhaps one of the oddest titles I've ever come across, and the cover for my edition features typically ugly eighties fantasy cover art. I'm sure I would never have picked it up if I weren't such a fan of the author, Patricia McKillip. But oh, I am so glad I did.

Throme is one of her earliest books, and unlike most of her later works, it's not a novel, but more of a novella or a chapter book. Like the fantasies of George MacDonald (The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie), C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), and J. R. R. Tolkien (The Hobbit, Smith of Wooten Major), it's a book best read aloud to children, something that both the young and the young in heart can enjoy. After making those comparisons, I should hasten to add that McKillip is certainly her own beast, a true original. Of the three authors I mentioned, her style of fantasy most nearly resembles George MacDonald's, although I think McKillip is by far the better writer of the two.

The story of The Throme of the Erril of Sherill is every bit as whimsical as the title. (As are all of the names!) The brave Cnite Caerles seeks to marry Damsen, the beautiful daughter of Magnus Thrall, the King of Everywhere. But the King will not part from hear easily. He is a deeply discontented man and likes having her tears for company. So in return for Damsen's hand, Magnus asks for Caerles to bring him the Throme of the Erril of Sherill. It's never fully explained what a Throme is, but it seems to be a magical songbook of sorts. But Magnus Thrall is the King of Everywhere, so how can there be a Throme and a country outside of his borders? Caerles—and everyone else—insist that the Throme doesn't exist. Still, that is the price that Magnus Thrall demands, so Caerles sets out on his hopeless quest.

The characters that Caerles encounters (especially the young Elfwyth) are quite funny. I am reading the story to my ten year old sister now, and it makes her laugh complacent little laughs—no loud guffaws. At the same time, there is something beautiful and bittersweet about the story too. The illustrations by Judith Mitchell are lovely; I adore the way she draws Damsen especially.

This volume also includes a short story, "The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath," that I'd read before in an anthology. It's manifestly for older readers, and a little closer to the McKillip that most of us know, but I'm afraid I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Throme. The island of Hoarbreath itself is a wonderful creation, and the history of dragons provided is quite involved considering the length of the tale, but there's a serious breach of logic I can't excuse. If the island is surrounded by a dragon for all but Hoarsbreath's one month of summer, and the dragon harrower Ryd Yarrow arrives during winter, wouldn't he have to pass over the dragon's body in order to even get to the island? As much as I like the story in general, this just bugs me.

Kept and treasured for the title story.

[Elentarri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a magical, dreamy, fairy-tale adventure-quest for the Throme of the Erril of Sherill, an object that does not exist, so that the Cnite, with the moon-coloured hair and mouse-coloured boots, riding on a dagon (giant, flame breathing hound) may win the hand of the obsessed King's sad-eyed daughter. Absolutely charming.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have come across this book and asked yourself - what is a Throme? Who is Erril and where is Sherill? - you're not alone. It's also a title that begs to be said allowed a few times - try it, there's something very satisfying about saying The Erril of Sherill. As for the book itself, I think it is a wonderful little book but one that will only work for a particular kind of reader. My 3.5 star rating is more a reflection of me perhaps not quite being the right reader rather than saying this isn't a perfectly nice and quirky book.

First and foremost, McKillip is a fantastic writer. She is one of the few authors I specifically enjoy for her prose. Reading her works always feels like stepping into a fairy tale - old, a little dark but brimming with wondrous magic. You can read her books and fully believe that such places existed somewhere in some time. The Throme of the Erril of Sherill is no exception. But it is also much more a fairy tale than what I would consider a novel (or novella in this case).

We follow Cnite Caerles on his quest to win the hand of the Damsen. She loves him, but her father the king is cold and will not let him have her. To win the Damsen, he must find the Throme of the Erril of Sherill. This quest may prove impossible though, because if there is one thing everyone Caerles meets agrees on, is that the Throme and Sherill, and thus also Erill, do not exist. Nonetheless, Caerles loves Damsen and he will find the Throme, whether it exists or not.

Caerles quest leads him from one place to the next, each a little strange with intriguing characters to provide him with new ideas of where the Throme [which doesn't exist] may be found. His quest may be a little pointless and in vain, but it is so beautifully written. It's as if you are joining Caerles in a magical dream - it doesn't all make much sense, but it's all so fantastical that you can't help but feel it's wonderful despite all.

Another strange quirk of this little story is that it has many made up words that are never truly explained. You may have asked yourself what a Throme is - let it be known that the plot will not reveal what a Throme is. It leaves a lot of room for guess work - is it a poem? A song? A written epic? Damsen may be a word for daughter or princess, for she is no doubt the daughter of the king. In addition to those, there are several words throughout the book, most seem to refer to creatures but it's not always very clear. I don't think one needs to think too hard about what these things are - accept them as they are and read on. It may seem a little frustrating at times, and yet it also adds to this feeling of old magic.

If you are looking for a fantasy quest with a specific direction and plot, character development and world building, this is probably not for you. If you are happy to jump down the rabbit hole and to just let things unfold and appreciate the lovely prose, you may very well enjoy Caerles' tale. It should also be said that there is a second shorter story included at the ending. This one was a little more like your common fantasy story. It was short but the world had more substance and the characters' actions and dialogues were more relatable. That being said, I am not a big fan of short stories and thus this 50-page story didn't mean much to me.

[Thomas Wagner | SFF180 · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5 for main story, 3 for bonus story]

One of Patricia McKillip’s very earliest stories for children, The Throme of the Erril of Sherill is a delightful fractured fairy tale with a sly wit that even adult readers will appreciate. It’s a gentle story about finding your happy place within reasonable goals and your own accomplishments, rather than longing for the impossible.

Magnus Thrall, the King of Everywhere, desperately wishes to possess the titular artifact, “a wild, special, sweet Throme made of the treasure of words…” But the Throme does not exist. Nonetheless, the king will not be persuaded to abandon his folly. His chief Cnite (the story is peppered with these cute plays upon words), Caerles, agrees to go on a quest to locate this mythical item, as Magnus has refused to let Caerles marry his daughter Damsen otherwise. Caerles travels far and wide, encountering a host of curious characters who offer him misdirection and bad advice, in return for which he ends up exchanging his sword for a glowing staff, his shield for a golden harp, his mail shirt for a cloak of leaves, and his horse for a “dagon” (a horse-sized dog that breathes fire, and honestly I think he got the better end of the deal there).

McKillip’s writing evokes classic fairy tales and bedtime stories, her prose full of such lush descriptive passages that the story becomes a visual feast. (Continued...)

[Ezra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Throme of the Erril of Sherril is a title that makes you question your sanity yet at the same time, is quite charming. It is a short fairy tale that is like a combination of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Smith of Wootton Major” and something by Dr. Seuss. It is full of words that are almost normal words, but not quite, some of which mean the same thing as the normal word and some which definitely don’t.

The T. of the E. of S. follows the quest of a knight (or as it is spelled in the book, “cnite”) to find the non-existent (and titular) Throme of the Erril of Sherill. What’s a “throme”, you might ask? Couldn’t tell ya! But it’s all part of the charm! The book is sprinkled with humor, but the writing is also beautiful and very sensorily immersive. It’s truly a delight to the senses!

The book also includes another bonus short fairy tale called The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath. It’s another little beaut, but it doesn’t have the humor of the Throme. However, it is still definitely worth the read!

[Gronicle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess the Throme was the friends we made along the way.

This is one of the first published works of McKillip (the second one if I'm correct) and it shows how much of a knack she has for fairy tales and whimsical fantasy.

It's a short read, sure to light up a dull summer afternoon.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review first published on my blog here.

Unusual, poetic fantasy - the first Patricia A. McKillip which I have read, after many recommendations of her as a fantasy author.

This edition also includes The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath, and is still extremely short as books go: it could fairly easily be read in a single sitting. Of that short length, the title story makes up about two thirds. It is the story of a quest undertaken to win the hand of a King's daughter - the very hackneyed theme of fairy stories. The story is intended for a young adult audience, and could quite easily be read to or by children, though I think it is likely that they would miss a lot of what is really going on. To an adult well read in fantasy, it reads like a cross between Jack Vance and William Morris, with a playfulness with language which may be influenced by Jabberwocky or possibly comes more from Vance.

The language is perhaps the most obvious of The Throme of the Erril of Sherill's unusual qualities. Apart from the title of the story itself, there are made up words (a monstrous "borobel" could be straight from Lewis Carroll), and words which look almost right - perhaps versions from an alternate world where modern English developed slightly differently ("cnite" for knight, "Damsen" for the name of the princess - a damsel, and so on). This could be irritating, but I found it atmospheric.

But strange things also happen in the story itself. The cnite starts with the standard equipment of a knight - horse, sword, shield, armour - and as the quest goes on, he is forced to exchange these for magical items, the horse for a fire-breathing dog, and so on. The people he meets are rarely what you would expect on a quest - he does not slay monsters, rescue innocent maidens. At one point, there is an adventure which made me wonder if the whole story was not meant to be an allegory of aging and death.

The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath is apparently much more straightforward. A strange young man visits a strange island, where winter lasts twice as long as on the mainland, twenty miles away. He claims that this is due to a dragon, which he wishes to remove. This is an action with unforeseen consequences. Though told in a normal narrative form, it still seems that there is more to the story than is visible on the surface; the reader wants to invest it with a hidden meaning. For instance, is it about the unwisdom of making unwanted "improvements" to communities - doing away with tradition in the name of progress?

Altogether, two fascinating pieces of fantasy, well worth reading at any age.

[Valerie]

I don't know where I got hold of a copy of The Throme of The Erril of Sherrill as a standalone. I have seen such, but I think it was in a library.

This version is bound with the Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath: which is not bad in itself, but is not up to the standard of the first story.

The language in this book is full of obsolete and archaic terms (for example, 'norange' is the original form of the name of the fruit. The change came about through the migration of the 'n' to the indefinite article; thus 'a norange' became 'an orange'). This makes it more fun, in my opinion, but may confuse people who don't have a history with such words.

The Cnite Caerles' quest in search of a nonexistent 'Throme' (and it's made clear from the beginning that there IS no such thing) is obviously hopeless: but it does inspire the King's Damsen to free herself, so it's not quite fruitless. And it's an entertaining quest, as well, though the Everywhere Magnus Thrall is King of is somewhat circumscribed. It would make an interesting honeymoon tour for the King's Damsen and the Cnite Caerles to retrace the route of the quest, but take a dawdling time of it, getting to know the places the Cnite only visited in haste.

I'll get to the Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath later. I've read it several times, but I know I remember it imperfectly, so I'll try to read it and then critique it while it's still fresh in my memory.

Okay, I've got it. I understand the female hero (Peka) and her frustration about her kindred dragon-harrower's refusal to listen to her about whether the ancient dragon should just be allowed to doze away its senior years twelve months of thirteen wrapped around Hoarsbreath. Granted, there are risks. But as Peka points out, there are few things with no risks, and the people of Hoarsbreath are reconciled (indeed, quite comfortable) with life in the dragon's proximity.

The harm that Peka and Ryd Yarrow do together (and at least partly accidentally) is essentially unrecoverable. Oh, most of the people will survive. But their way of life is forever destroyed. And Peka argues that whatever the details of the harrowing, this would be the inevitable result of any 'harrowing' of Hoarsbreath's dragon.

She has a point. The very place name ('Hoar' as in hoarfrost, combined with 'breath') implies that the first human settlers of the peak were aware of the ambiguity, and accepted it.

[Althea Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two short but beautiful fairy tales in one volume.

The first is traditional in feel - a young man is in love with the princess, but before he will give his daughter in marriage, the jealous and possessive king sends him on a hopeless quest to find the Throme - a poem of legendary beauty that everyone knows is just that - only a legend.
Simple, but heavy on metaphor (and moral), the tale is perfectly structured, and wonderful to read.
Definitely comes out of the time's "peace and love" philosophy, though!

The second story is very different in feel, set on an island of near-constant winter, where miners live a harsh and difficult life - but one that they seem to love, with its hard but honest labor - and plenty of heavy drinking! A young man returns from study on the mainland, having learned about dragons, and full of the realization that the unusual winter of his homeland is caused by a sleeping dragon... This seems an absurd story, but he recruits a young miner girl to be his guide as he sets out to harrow the dragon (and hopefully, get it to leave peacefully.) But does the girl actually want to possibly bring about the end of the only life she has known?

[Glasdow Teacosy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating more for the peek into McKillip's development as a writer than for the stories themselves. The prose was sometimes so floral that the narrative seemed tangled and hidden. Ofttimes scenes were beautifully painted, but lacking in concrete details—as if the purpose of the story was the words themselves. Yet the scope of imagination revealed in these two tales made them worthy stories to read. Here was a mind at the beginning of its career that was unlike anything that had come before.

[Keri Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 5 star favorite read of the year! I seriously cannot get over how great the cover design of this book is. The version that I read is split into two stories; the first is The Throme of the Erril of Sherril and the second is The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath. They are unrelated to each other, but both feature fantastic black and white illustrations, some of the best I’ve ever seen in a book. While Throme contains a more lighthearted fairytale sort of quest, Hoarsbreath feels more serious and is all about the epic descriptions. Both tales feature some truly beautiful writing from McKillip, but Throme is my favorite.

McKillip’s writing is always very immersive and atmospheric. You can smell, taste, and see what she’s seeing, and the effect (at least on me), is super strong. I even felt like the temperature itself was changing while reading, depending on what setting the characters were in. It’s like she, herself, has magical powers, and is willing to give them to us to borrow while we read!

McKillip uses fantastic terms for things in the story. Instead of knight, she spells it “cnite.” The creature on the cover that the cnite is riding on is called a “dagon” (and it feels like a blend of dog and dragon!). While reading, I discovered that some of the words she’s using that I thought were made up are actually real words, just very archaic! Apparently “oranges” used to actually be called “noranges,” which is so delightful I will most likely never get over it. Highly recommend giving this one a read!

[Steph De Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patricia McKillip is one of my favourite fantasy writers of all time, and I've read (and re-read) nearly all her books. This obscure little volume is one of the few that previously escaped me, and reading it for the first time now, several years after her death, feels both poignant and like a truly precious gift.

No-one else writes quite like McKillip: her ability to cast a spell, and her instinctive understanding of the ways in which wonder and the potential for magic emerge at the intersection of fantasy and medieval chivalry are utterly perfect. The title itself reveals her attention to aural and linguistic pleasures, as well as harking back to the delightful nonsense writing of predecessors like Lear and Carroll. This is ostensibly a children's fairytale, but its rich, subtle writing makes it worthy of an adult reader.

This edition also includes a short story I know and love, and discovering it at the end of this volume was the cherry on top of an excellent reading experience.

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very strange child's fairy tale.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains two short stories:

The Throme of the Erril of Sherill
The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath

Illus. by Judith Mitchell.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had a copy of this book for years, but I had never actually read it. In the "old days" I would discover a new author (I'm sure, like many others, I first discovered McKillip with The Riddle-Master of Hed which I know I got from the library) and then scour second hand bookshops and buy anything I could find of theirs at a price my teenage budget could manage. That meant I collected more books by these authors than I ever managed to keep up with reading, especially since there were always more new authors to discover. This book was one of those. Other, newer McKillips got read but I never quite got to this one.

I haven't been keeping up with my plan (begun a number of years ago now) to read my way through the books of those favourite authors in publication order, whether a reread or a new read. So of course, I kept adding in new authors to that paln, including Patricia McKillip and Robin McKinley, who in my mind will always go together, both due to when I discovered them and the fact they tend to sit side by side on my bookcase when it's in alphabetical order. (M is a good letter; I had Anne McCaffrey, Julian May and L. M. Montgomery there too.)

Finally, I have started on McKillip with this early book. It reads like an early book. That amazing, vivid, almost mystical language is there, but it hasn't yet developed to the level of sophistication it will very soon. Instead, while clever and beautiful, it has a degree of floweriness that hasn't yet become lyrical and dreamlike in the way it will.

I still enjoyed the story very much and the conclusion, while easy to guess, was beautifully done and very satisfying.

This edition also contains the story "The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath", which I read many years ago (hang on while I check my Goodreads - in October 2009, so basically 9 years ago) and didn't remember a thing about beyond the fact it existed and I had read it before. I enjoyed reading it again, but may skip it when I get to the collection I originally read it in (unless another 9 years have gone by and I've forgotten it again).

This edition also has lovely black and white illustrations which match the fairy tale nature of both stories very well.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

McKillip's books are often more like poetry than prose, this one more so than most. The story is more like a fable or fairy tale than a fantasy novel, but none the less enjoyable for that. A brave Cnite goes on a quest for a mythical object (the Throme), the price set by the King for his daughter's hand. En route the Cnite loses his traditional accoutrements (horse, sword, armor) but acquires magical replacements (a dog that breathes fire, a golden harp, a cloak of leaves) and, in a sort of high-fantasy wizard of oz, he reaches the end of the quest only to find himself home again. Although the ending wasn't entirely satisfying -- I would have preferred that the King learn his lesson as well -- I did enjoy the beauty of the story.

The bonus tale of the Ice Dragon of Hoarsbreath was excellent, full of ice and dragons of course, but also fire and gold, and with a more satisfying (though less happy) ending.

[On the Same Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

McKillip's writing always sucks me in so completely. She has such beautiful turns of phrase—not just in the sentences on their own, but also how some paragraphs follow the same rhythm, or how she uses repetition to emphasize something. Sometimes I find myself distracted from the actual story she's telling because I'm too busy admiring the way she tells it.

Despite how short this book is, McKillip still managed to weave a complete story. It follows the standard narrative beats of a quest plotline, with a cnite (the intentional misspellings of words we know takes some getting used to, I'll admit) going on a quest to save a Damsen in distress, but McKillip quickly subverts it. There are no battles, no beasts to be slain, just different characters he encounters on his journey. The conclusion is what I've come to expect from McKillip, and all in all this did not disappoint.

[Deirdre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so grateful for the perpetual booksale in the church basement where we meet!

I had certainly read this at some point before, but it had escaped me and I was glad to re-read it. It's a short gem, bristling with McKillipisms, with a light touch and fairytale logic permeating every part of it. I enjoyed it a lot. It does read more like a children's story than most of her other work, and I think I'll try it on my nephews.

[Brad Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled across this at a used bookstore in it's first edition form and it's a McKillip book I had not heard of. This is a fun read albeit I see it as an allegory to my own life in a way. It's an interesting story of a quest for impossible things, many silly names and oddball quest events. And I want my own Dagon someday.

[Tai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is perfect. It is the tale of how love transforms a knight into a poet. If possible, find an early edition with Julie Noonan's charming illustrations.
I'm looking forward to treasuring this gem with my tree-full of children.

[Rose Paris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written fairy tale for younger readers, reminiscent of Thurber's 13 Clocks. The Cnite Caerles must find the non-extent throme to win the hand of his Damsen from her bitter father Magnus Thrall. On his quest he encounters strange beasts, unruly children and tricksy folk.

[Goran Lowie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing prose, as always.

[Fortluna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just liked it

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A knight goes in quest of the throme of the Erril of Sheril, as the king will not permit his daughter to wed without it.

[Boo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is this a novella or a longish prose poem? No matter. Read it just to be drawn into (for a short time) a world that's beautiful and fey to the point where logic means very little.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming, but possibly too sweet and definitely too short. It's a bit of a throwaway compared to other McKillip novels I have enjoyed.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Welcome to tTotEoS, where the words are made up and spelling doesn't matter. The illustrations were beautiful.

[Stefanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wavering between 3 and 4 here, so probably a 3.5. These two short stories are the first things McKillip wrote and had published, and so as a fan of her work it's fascinating to go back and see how it all began. Certainly the poetic, descriptive writing style is there (sometimes so much so it overwhelms the narrative). These are also closer to fairy tale style of writing than I've ever seen in anything that wasn't explicitly marketed that way, demonstrating McKillip's unique storytelling voice. But the piece that I most treasured discovering was that in both stories, while males were still in the common active-adventurer / rescuer type roles, the female characters (Damsen in Throme and Peka in The Harrowing) were the ones who ended up taking decisive action that changed the outcome of the story. A subtler feminist influence than just giving a female character a sword (though I like that too).

The types of stories also foreshadowed what was to come: the Throme story being quest / adventure similar to the Riddlemaster trilogy, while The Harrowing had a melancholy feel and was more about the interplay between characters, as in The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. For people not as fascinated with McKillip's development as a writer as me, these short stories are good if you want something quick that feels magical and old-style fantasy. But I think they'll be more enjoyable if you already know and like McKillip's style...if you're just interested in reading her best, there are other places to start.

[Rich McAllister · Rating 3 out of 5]

A relic of the past (1973) when fantasy books were sometimes short and did not always come in sets. More of a fairy tale than anything else, and sometimes verges on being a bit twee. But McKillip was already McKillip, and the imagery, mood, and humor carry it along. I was reminded of Lewis Carroll a bit, with the characters often being remorselessly logical and completely mad at the same time: "What better place to find a thing that does not exist" than "a place which is not there?" I would have liked some explicit reassurance at the end that Elfwyth did get her dagon back, though. "Bah!".

Illustrations by Judith Mitchell are entirely fitting; it might be worth seeking out the original hardcover rather than this little Tempo (Ace) paperback. (Jan 2015: I've now seen a copy of the 1973 Atheneum hardcover, and it has completely different illustrations by Julie Noonan which I don't like as well.)