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Tales of Elemental Spirits #3
Earth and Air
In these collection, you will find stories that range from the mythic to contemporary fantasy to science fiction. You will find a troll, gryphons, a beloved dog, the Land of the Dead, an owl, a minotaur, and a very alien Cat. Earth and Air is the third and final book in a trilogy of shared collections connected by the four classical elements. It follows previous volumes Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits and Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits, written by both Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley.
Ridiki is Steff’s beloved dog, named after Eurydice, whom the poet Orpheus tried to bring back from the dead. When, like her namesake, Ridiki is bitten by a snake and dies, Steff decides that he too should journey to the Underworld to ask the King of the Land of the Dead for his dog back.
Mari is the seventh child of a family in which troll blood still runs. When her husband goes missing in a Scottish loch, she must draw upon the power of her blood to rescue him. Sophie, a young girl, fashions a witch’s broomstick out of an ash sapling, and gets more than she bargained for. An escaped slave, Varro, must kill a gryphon, in order to survive. A boy named Yanni allies himself with an owl and a goddess in order to fight an ancient evil. A group of mind-bonded space travelers must face an unknown threat and solve the murder of a companion before time runs out.
All of these stories are about, in one way or another, the contrary and magical pull of two elements, Earth and Air. Each story showcases the manifold talents of a master storyteller and craftsman who has twice won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Award, as well as the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize.
A Junior Library Guild Selection
"These unusual, memorable tales from a much-admired writer should appeal both to teens and Dickinson’s adult fans."—Publishers Weekly
"Strange, sometimes beautiful tales."—Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits
World Fantasy Award finalist
"There is plenty here to excite, enthrall, and move even the pickiest readers."—School Library Journal
"... a collection of enchanting tales."—Publishers Weekly
Praise for Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits
"This collection of beautifully crafted tales will find a warm welcome."—School Library Journal
"Dickinson’s offerings are notable for their sophisticated magical thinking and subtlety of expression."—The Horn Book
"Dickinson’s stories are told with a storyteller’s cadence."—Booklist
“This collection ... offers something for every fantasy fan.”—Library Media Connection
Praise for Peter Dickinson's children's books:
"One of the real masters of children's literature."—Philip Pullman
"Peter Dickinson is a national treasure."—The Guardian
"Magnificent. Peter Dickinson is the past-master story-teller of our day."—The Times Literary Supplement
Peter Dickinson is the author of over fifty books including Eva, Emma Tupper's Dairy, and the Michael L. Printz Honor Book The Ropemaker. He has twice received the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger as well as the Guardian Award and Whitbread Prize. He lives in England and is married to the novelist Robin McKinley.
Ridiki is Steff’s beloved dog, named after Eurydice, whom the poet Orpheus tried to bring back from the dead. When, like her namesake, Ridiki is bitten by a snake and dies, Steff decides that he too should journey to the Underworld to ask the King of the Land of the Dead for his dog back.
Mari is the seventh child of a family in which troll blood still runs. When her husband goes missing in a Scottish loch, she must draw upon the power of her blood to rescue him. Sophie, a young girl, fashions a witch’s broomstick out of an ash sapling, and gets more than she bargained for. An escaped slave, Varro, must kill a gryphon, in order to survive. A boy named Yanni allies himself with an owl and a goddess in order to fight an ancient evil. A group of mind-bonded space travelers must face an unknown threat and solve the murder of a companion before time runs out.
All of these stories are about, in one way or another, the contrary and magical pull of two elements, Earth and Air. Each story showcases the manifold talents of a master storyteller and craftsman who has twice won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Award, as well as the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize.
A Junior Library Guild Selection
"These unusual, memorable tales from a much-admired writer should appeal both to teens and Dickinson’s adult fans."—Publishers Weekly
"Strange, sometimes beautiful tales."—Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits
World Fantasy Award finalist
"There is plenty here to excite, enthrall, and move even the pickiest readers."—School Library Journal
"... a collection of enchanting tales."—Publishers Weekly
Praise for Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits
"This collection of beautifully crafted tales will find a warm welcome."—School Library Journal
"Dickinson’s offerings are notable for their sophisticated magical thinking and subtlety of expression."—The Horn Book
"Dickinson’s stories are told with a storyteller’s cadence."—Booklist
“This collection ... offers something for every fantasy fan.”—Library Media Connection
Praise for Peter Dickinson's children's books:
"One of the real masters of children's literature."—Philip Pullman
"Peter Dickinson is a national treasure."—The Guardian
"Magnificent. Peter Dickinson is the past-master story-teller of our day."—The Times Literary Supplement
Peter Dickinson is the author of over fifty books including Eva, Emma Tupper's Dairy, and the Michael L. Printz Honor Book The Ropemaker. He has twice received the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger as well as the Guardian Award and Whitbread Prize. He lives in England and is married to the novelist Robin McKinley.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
12 people are currently reading
563 people want to read
About the author
Peter Dickinson
141 books156 followersPeter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL was a prolific English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories.
Peter Dickinson lived in Hampshire with his second wife, author Robin McKinley. He wrote more than fifty novels for adults and young readers. He won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Award twice, and his novel The Blue Hawk won The Guardian Award in 1975.
Peter Dickinson lived in Hampshire with his second wife, author Robin McKinley. He wrote more than fifty novels for adults and young readers. He won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Award twice, and his novel The Blue Hawk won The Guardian Award in 1975.
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March 18, 2019More Dickinson! Short stories on the theme of earth and air. Wonderful. Fantasy.
November 11, 2015
Earth and Air: Tales of Elemental Creatures by Peter Dickinson is the third and final collection in a series he and his wife, Robin McKinley, were working on, with Fire and Water individually coming before. Long story short, McKinley got busy with other projects (some of them spurred by her work on the collections) and Dickinson was all, “I’m old! I better finish and publish these stories right quick,” which is why he is the sole author of these short stories, each of which is about 30 pages long. I read Water first, and I wasn’t impressed with the slow pace that caused many of the stories to have rather pathetic payoffs, but I decided to give the series another chance. Earth and Air, despite it being mostly Dickinson’s work that I took umbrage with in Water, is vastly better than its predecessor in that regard.
The first story, “Troll Blood,” by all right belongs in the Water collection, with conflict-central elements all having to do with fishing and swimming and underwater caves. The troll itself is described as amphibian, and the story ends with it impregnating the main character, Mari, by releasing its sperm into the water in the river above her. The multiple implied rapes in this story are never outright addressed, with the consolation prize being that at least the children are biologically the women’s husbands’… sort of, though exactly how is never explained. It is easily my least favorite of all the stories, but even it manages to create a character with connections to her professor and husband that push and pull the story forward by the strength of their bonds and their trust in one another. That doesn’t quite make up for the exceptional reliance on happenstance to make the story work. The one troll left in all the world is the same one from a centuries-old story is the same one who raped Mari’s ancestor is the same one who Mari’s husband is kidnapped by in a completely different country than the one all the previous story took place in? I believe it!
“Ridiki” is the story of a Greek boy, Steff, whose titular dog dies, causing him to take on a quest to set his dog’s spirit to rest. Whether this is an Earth or Air story I’m not sure, with the first half’s trip into a mine symbolic of Tartaros at odds with the later half’s dog-shadow-ghost following our main character around. The heart of the story is Steff’s attachment to Ridiki and his need for closure, and that is what makes this story enjoyable. Unnecessary drama in the form of feuding families and undiscovered silver in the mine, as well as an unprecedented threat of death that amounts to nothing, distract from the literal soul of Steff and Ridiki’s bond. My favorite part of this story is actually the briefest, with Steff exchanging letters with his mother in the city while he lives on the family farm. It’s never stated outright, but you can feel his pain as he writes his mom about the death of his dog and it all comes gushing out of him onto the page despite himself. The absence of loving family and the need for someone to share the burdens of life with is the great understated theme of “Ridiki.”
The third story, “Wizand”, has the most unique approach of all the stories towards its subject matter. It would be easy to say that it’s just about a witch’s broom being passed from one witch to another, but it goes so far beyond that. Instead, the “wizand” is approached scientifically, as a parasitic creature whose life cycle depends on the fiery death of its host in order to begin anew. Whenever the story returns to this analytical narration, the story thrives. It unfortunately shifts its focus to the latest host, Sophie, and tries to make us feel for this poor girl who was chosen by this wizand and is corrupted by it, despite being perfectly content with everything that the wizand has her do. One aspect I wish had gotten more focus was how the wizand was being pressed to change it parasitizing tactics in order to keep up with our constantly changing world, particularly when it depends on religious intolerance but is located in a more and more secular area.
“Talaria” is my second least favorite for a few reasons. I’m going to start with a general series of questions to the universe: Is it not enough that a slave owner be despicable for owning slaves? And if they must sexually abuse their slaves, is it not enough that they’re sexual abusers? Must they be hated not for those things so much, but mainly because they’re raping other men? There’s no reason to bother with making this brief villain homosexual, but the author does, and in a way that we are obviously intended to find disgusting. Another question: If you’re going to have polygamy as part of your story, why automatically focus upon the one husband and none of his wives? Do they lose their individuality amongst the other women? What I will give “Talaria” credit for is the attitude of the main character. When face-to-face with a griffin, when face-to-face with any sort of peril, Varro reacts in the most cynical and unimpressed manner. It is a little at odds with his constant reverence for the god Mercury, but his otherwise refusal to bother with all the hocus pocus foisted upon him is entertaining and makes it all the more fitting when he inextricably becomes part of the supernatural himself.
“Scops” is a story about a boy and his owl being persecuted by a priest and his mob, and it is both predictable and forgettable. I don’t have any problems with digs at Christianity if they’re done well and provide relevant commentary, but the hypocritical and evil priest figure has been done so many times that unless you bring something new to it, you’re just going to repeat an already tired cliché. The boy-hero who sees things differently from the idiot masses through no merit of his own has also been done to death, as has the supportive sister who’s allowed to do nothing but we’re expected to see as useful to the plot and developed as a character. The climax is a confusing blur that relies on the shock value of a plan gone awry, but because the audience was never let in on the plan, it fails to leave its mark.
“The Fifth Element” is the only one in the series that deals with the element of Spirit, which makes me wonder whether or not Dickinson and McKinley had plans to write a fifth collection. I complimented “Wizand” for the scientific approach it took to explore a witch’s broom, but this story is downright sci-fi to the bone. At first, in a collection of fantasy, it’s jarring and seems badly executed, but the final twist and the slow hints running throughout that lead to the final conclusions prove it to be well done indeed. For once the side characters, particularly Hippo, are integral to the story and add dimensions that it would be lost without. The main character, David, is actually the weakest point of the whole story, but even that is partially explained by the ending. You don’t feel for him, per se, but you can understand the final moments of foreshadowed terror and, if you stretch a bit, betrayal.
One of the interesting aspects of this collection with both Earth and Air as its focus is that so often it’s actually hard to determine which element is actually the focus of an individual story. “Ridiki” is most overt in this, but even “Talaria” which is ultimately about a flying mythical beast spends a lot of time focusing on the desert, and the broom of “Wizand” is encased in a tree as the story begins and its enemies come out of their graves in the earth. You can come to an ultimate decision where each story belongs, but there is an interesting dynamic between the two elements that, though perhaps not intentional, makes the collection cohesive and compelling. Even with the flaws in many of the stories, I’m going to recommend the collection Earth and Air, because despite the blandness of “Scops,” the misplacement of “Troll Blood,” and the underdevelopment of “Talaria,” each of the stories still had an idea or theme that will catch your attention, and even if the inconsistencies get in the way, I would argue that they’re interesting in their own right for causing the reader to puzzle the problems out themselves.
Tl;dr: Each of the stories in Earth and Air manages to run with an idea and make it seem real, and even though extraneous themes and characters sometimes get in the way of what could have been exceptionally tight stories, the stories still manage to deliver various atmospheres with an equally diverse number of approaches.
The first story, “Troll Blood,” by all right belongs in the Water collection, with conflict-central elements all having to do with fishing and swimming and underwater caves. The troll itself is described as amphibian, and the story ends with it impregnating the main character, Mari, by releasing its sperm into the water in the river above her. The multiple implied rapes in this story are never outright addressed, with the consolation prize being that at least the children are biologically the women’s husbands’… sort of, though exactly how is never explained. It is easily my least favorite of all the stories, but even it manages to create a character with connections to her professor and husband that push and pull the story forward by the strength of their bonds and their trust in one another. That doesn’t quite make up for the exceptional reliance on happenstance to make the story work. The one troll left in all the world is the same one from a centuries-old story is the same one who raped Mari’s ancestor is the same one who Mari’s husband is kidnapped by in a completely different country than the one all the previous story took place in? I believe it!
“Ridiki” is the story of a Greek boy, Steff, whose titular dog dies, causing him to take on a quest to set his dog’s spirit to rest. Whether this is an Earth or Air story I’m not sure, with the first half’s trip into a mine symbolic of Tartaros at odds with the later half’s dog-shadow-ghost following our main character around. The heart of the story is Steff’s attachment to Ridiki and his need for closure, and that is what makes this story enjoyable. Unnecessary drama in the form of feuding families and undiscovered silver in the mine, as well as an unprecedented threat of death that amounts to nothing, distract from the literal soul of Steff and Ridiki’s bond. My favorite part of this story is actually the briefest, with Steff exchanging letters with his mother in the city while he lives on the family farm. It’s never stated outright, but you can feel his pain as he writes his mom about the death of his dog and it all comes gushing out of him onto the page despite himself. The absence of loving family and the need for someone to share the burdens of life with is the great understated theme of “Ridiki.”
The third story, “Wizand”, has the most unique approach of all the stories towards its subject matter. It would be easy to say that it’s just about a witch’s broom being passed from one witch to another, but it goes so far beyond that. Instead, the “wizand” is approached scientifically, as a parasitic creature whose life cycle depends on the fiery death of its host in order to begin anew. Whenever the story returns to this analytical narration, the story thrives. It unfortunately shifts its focus to the latest host, Sophie, and tries to make us feel for this poor girl who was chosen by this wizand and is corrupted by it, despite being perfectly content with everything that the wizand has her do. One aspect I wish had gotten more focus was how the wizand was being pressed to change it parasitizing tactics in order to keep up with our constantly changing world, particularly when it depends on religious intolerance but is located in a more and more secular area.
“Talaria” is my second least favorite for a few reasons. I’m going to start with a general series of questions to the universe: Is it not enough that a slave owner be despicable for owning slaves? And if they must sexually abuse their slaves, is it not enough that they’re sexual abusers? Must they be hated not for those things so much, but mainly because they’re raping other men? There’s no reason to bother with making this brief villain homosexual, but the author does, and in a way that we are obviously intended to find disgusting. Another question: If you’re going to have polygamy as part of your story, why automatically focus upon the one husband and none of his wives? Do they lose their individuality amongst the other women? What I will give “Talaria” credit for is the attitude of the main character. When face-to-face with a griffin, when face-to-face with any sort of peril, Varro reacts in the most cynical and unimpressed manner. It is a little at odds with his constant reverence for the god Mercury, but his otherwise refusal to bother with all the hocus pocus foisted upon him is entertaining and makes it all the more fitting when he inextricably becomes part of the supernatural himself.
“Scops” is a story about a boy and his owl being persecuted by a priest and his mob, and it is both predictable and forgettable. I don’t have any problems with digs at Christianity if they’re done well and provide relevant commentary, but the hypocritical and evil priest figure has been done so many times that unless you bring something new to it, you’re just going to repeat an already tired cliché. The boy-hero who sees things differently from the idiot masses through no merit of his own has also been done to death, as has the supportive sister who’s allowed to do nothing but we’re expected to see as useful to the plot and developed as a character. The climax is a confusing blur that relies on the shock value of a plan gone awry, but because the audience was never let in on the plan, it fails to leave its mark.
“The Fifth Element” is the only one in the series that deals with the element of Spirit, which makes me wonder whether or not Dickinson and McKinley had plans to write a fifth collection. I complimented “Wizand” for the scientific approach it took to explore a witch’s broom, but this story is downright sci-fi to the bone. At first, in a collection of fantasy, it’s jarring and seems badly executed, but the final twist and the slow hints running throughout that lead to the final conclusions prove it to be well done indeed. For once the side characters, particularly Hippo, are integral to the story and add dimensions that it would be lost without. The main character, David, is actually the weakest point of the whole story, but even that is partially explained by the ending. You don’t feel for him, per se, but you can understand the final moments of foreshadowed terror and, if you stretch a bit, betrayal.
One of the interesting aspects of this collection with both Earth and Air as its focus is that so often it’s actually hard to determine which element is actually the focus of an individual story. “Ridiki” is most overt in this, but even “Talaria” which is ultimately about a flying mythical beast spends a lot of time focusing on the desert, and the broom of “Wizand” is encased in a tree as the story begins and its enemies come out of their graves in the earth. You can come to an ultimate decision where each story belongs, but there is an interesting dynamic between the two elements that, though perhaps not intentional, makes the collection cohesive and compelling. Even with the flaws in many of the stories, I’m going to recommend the collection Earth and Air, because despite the blandness of “Scops,” the misplacement of “Troll Blood,” and the underdevelopment of “Talaria,” each of the stories still had an idea or theme that will catch your attention, and even if the inconsistencies get in the way, I would argue that they’re interesting in their own right for causing the reader to puzzle the problems out themselves.
Tl;dr: Each of the stories in Earth and Air manages to run with an idea and make it seem real, and even though extraneous themes and characters sometimes get in the way of what could have been exceptionally tight stories, the stories still manage to deliver various atmospheres with an equally diverse number of approaches.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 15, 2012
I received Peter Dickinson's Earth and Air book via a goodreads giveaway.
I love collections of short stories because each tale is generally a quick read, easy to fit into a busy schedule. You get nice tasty bites of well written stories and putting a book down to sleep or chase after your toddler is easier if you aren't ripping yourself away from a gripping chapter.
The down side of a really well written collection of short fiction is that when a story is really well told moving onto the next story right away is a bit of a jolt especially if the settings and characters are miles apart. It can take a few pages to become reabsorbed into the next short story.
With this collection this was a big issue for me, each tale in the collection was very well told, the characters were gripping the premises intriguing and in each case I wanted the story to continue, to learn more about the people, get deeper into the action and motives. Sometimes I've found that the fiction in collections of short stories to feel a little unfinished, like the author is using short stories to build his or her voice, I've found this to be true in the case of the short fiction China Mieville and William Gibson for instance, Their short story collections while well written are not as finished as their larger universes. Earth and Air does not have that feel at all; Peter Dickinson has a clear and strong story teller voice and each tale in Earth and Air is well fleshed out.
I'd like to say that there were a few stand out stories in this collection for me and I'm sure with a little distance there will be one or two stories that stay in my brain; but after just finishing the collection they are all lodged in my psyche vying for attention. With tales that run from ancient Beowolf inspired monsters to myth to science fiction this collection is one that I will likely revisit again and again.
I love collections of short stories because each tale is generally a quick read, easy to fit into a busy schedule. You get nice tasty bites of well written stories and putting a book down to sleep or chase after your toddler is easier if you aren't ripping yourself away from a gripping chapter.
The down side of a really well written collection of short fiction is that when a story is really well told moving onto the next story right away is a bit of a jolt especially if the settings and characters are miles apart. It can take a few pages to become reabsorbed into the next short story.
With this collection this was a big issue for me, each tale in the collection was very well told, the characters were gripping the premises intriguing and in each case I wanted the story to continue, to learn more about the people, get deeper into the action and motives. Sometimes I've found that the fiction in collections of short stories to feel a little unfinished, like the author is using short stories to build his or her voice, I've found this to be true in the case of the short fiction China Mieville and William Gibson for instance, Their short story collections while well written are not as finished as their larger universes. Earth and Air does not have that feel at all; Peter Dickinson has a clear and strong story teller voice and each tale in Earth and Air is well fleshed out.
I'd like to say that there were a few stand out stories in this collection for me and I'm sure with a little distance there will be one or two stories that stay in my brain; but after just finishing the collection they are all lodged in my psyche vying for attention. With tales that run from ancient Beowolf inspired monsters to myth to science fiction this collection is one that I will likely revisit again and again.
May 4, 2025
Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits, was one of my unexpected hits of 2024 – a short story collection written by the husband and wife team of Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson, it featured a variety of yarns in a different settings and tones, all themed around the classical element of water and the fantasies that are associated with it. There were mermaids, there were krackans, there were sea serpents, and while it wasn’t perfect, I had a great time and started eagerly awaiting the next installment.
Fire… was not as good. There were still some decent stories in there, but the magic, so to speak, was gone and I was left feeling more than a bit disappointed.
Which brings us to Earth and Air, which features three noticable changes to the series. The first is that the last two elements have been combined into one book, although there are still only six stories included. The reason for this lies in the second major change – only Dickinson is credited as the author of this book. McKinley, the introduction explains, became too busy with other projects and had to bow out, so her husband decided to publish his part solo. The third change, however, I’m still not sure of the explanation for – the subtitle has, for some reason, changed “elemental spirits” to “elemental creatures”.
So what are these elemental creatures we’re dealing with here? Well, I’m not actually sure which of the elements most of the stories were supposed to coordinate with. I can guess, but the connections are far weaker than in previous books.
“Troll Blood” – Mari is the odd one out among her family and they joke that it’s due to her having troll blood. Shortly after her marriage, however, she’ll learn just how true the story is. This one was weird. Obviously a short story won’t dig ultra-deep into a character’s psyche, but I found it very difficult to connect with Mari as a character or to understand why she did things the way she did. Something about the story’s focus on reproduction comes off as oddly skeevy, too, even though I can’t pinpoint why.
“Ridiki” – When Steff’s beloved dog dies young, he sets out to find a door to the underworld so that he can bring her back. Based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, this was probably the best story in the bunch, a sweet exploration of grief and healing that didn’t feel the need to make itself more than it was.
“Wizand” – Details a world in which, rather than simple inanimate objects or focuses of power, witches’ brooms are in fact sentient creatures whose symbiotic bond with a young woman is an essential part of their life cycle. This story had a very creative premise, but never really goes beyond it. Once again, it feels very detached from its subject and its main character and it incorporates sexuality in a way that feels somewhat uncomfortable, despite there being nothing concrete to point to.
“Talaria” – Varro runs away from enslavement and flees across the desert, where he encounters a strange beast that will save his life and change it forever. My second favorite of the stories, this one was a nice, straightforward adventure tale that for some reason reminded me of The Horse and His Boy.
“Scops” – After a drunken misadventure, Yanni finds an orphaned owl in the ruins of an ancient temple and attracts the attention of malevolent forces in his community. This one was just extremely forgettable. The characters were fine, the setup fine, but nothing about it was notable in any way.
“The Fifth Element” – When David finds the ship’s Cat murdered, he and the rest of crew of their starship must piece together clues as to what’s going on before it’s too late. I loved the creative worldbuilding in this one and the resolution was tense and memorable, but in a way the wordbuilding overwhelmed the story, leaving characters buried under a pile of exotic descriptions and the reader distracted from the action in trying to envision such alien beings.
As a whole, Earth and Air is a resounding “meh”. The stories are a mixed bag, but on nearly all of them, I struggled to get emotionally invested. The narration seems too detached from its subjects and so much of the story is summarized or skimmed over that it starts to feel like reading a summary of a novel someone else read. It should, perhaps, be noted that the two stories I liked the best, “Talaria” and “Ridiki”, are the ones that avert this most cleanly.
Despite a strong start to the series, the Tales of Elemental Spirits collection quickly loses steam and as a whole, winds up being simply okay. There are worse series to fill time with and no doubt the premises of some of the shorts will intrigue some enough to pick them up, but in the end Water is the only installment strong enough to recommend on its own.
Warnings: “Troll Blood” and “Talaria” both feature sexual assault, although neither in graphic detail. “Ridiki” deals with grief and the loss of a pet and “Wizand” opens with a character being burned alive.
Additionally, it becomes clear throughout the book that the author has a bit of a bone to pick with organized religion and Christianity in specific, featuring Christians regularly and exclusively as antagonists, which readers of that faith might find annoying or offensive.
Fire… was not as good. There were still some decent stories in there, but the magic, so to speak, was gone and I was left feeling more than a bit disappointed.
Which brings us to Earth and Air, which features three noticable changes to the series. The first is that the last two elements have been combined into one book, although there are still only six stories included. The reason for this lies in the second major change – only Dickinson is credited as the author of this book. McKinley, the introduction explains, became too busy with other projects and had to bow out, so her husband decided to publish his part solo. The third change, however, I’m still not sure of the explanation for – the subtitle has, for some reason, changed “elemental spirits” to “elemental creatures”.
So what are these elemental creatures we’re dealing with here? Well, I’m not actually sure which of the elements most of the stories were supposed to coordinate with. I can guess, but the connections are far weaker than in previous books.
“Troll Blood” – Mari is the odd one out among her family and they joke that it’s due to her having troll blood. Shortly after her marriage, however, she’ll learn just how true the story is. This one was weird. Obviously a short story won’t dig ultra-deep into a character’s psyche, but I found it very difficult to connect with Mari as a character or to understand why she did things the way she did. Something about the story’s focus on reproduction comes off as oddly skeevy, too, even though I can’t pinpoint why.
“Ridiki” – When Steff’s beloved dog dies young, he sets out to find a door to the underworld so that he can bring her back. Based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, this was probably the best story in the bunch, a sweet exploration of grief and healing that didn’t feel the need to make itself more than it was.
“Wizand” – Details a world in which, rather than simple inanimate objects or focuses of power, witches’ brooms are in fact sentient creatures whose symbiotic bond with a young woman is an essential part of their life cycle. This story had a very creative premise, but never really goes beyond it. Once again, it feels very detached from its subject and its main character and it incorporates sexuality in a way that feels somewhat uncomfortable, despite there being nothing concrete to point to.
“Talaria” – Varro runs away from enslavement and flees across the desert, where he encounters a strange beast that will save his life and change it forever. My second favorite of the stories, this one was a nice, straightforward adventure tale that for some reason reminded me of The Horse and His Boy.
“Scops” – After a drunken misadventure, Yanni finds an orphaned owl in the ruins of an ancient temple and attracts the attention of malevolent forces in his community. This one was just extremely forgettable. The characters were fine, the setup fine, but nothing about it was notable in any way.
“The Fifth Element” – When David finds the ship’s Cat murdered, he and the rest of crew of their starship must piece together clues as to what’s going on before it’s too late. I loved the creative worldbuilding in this one and the resolution was tense and memorable, but in a way the wordbuilding overwhelmed the story, leaving characters buried under a pile of exotic descriptions and the reader distracted from the action in trying to envision such alien beings.
As a whole, Earth and Air is a resounding “meh”. The stories are a mixed bag, but on nearly all of them, I struggled to get emotionally invested. The narration seems too detached from its subjects and so much of the story is summarized or skimmed over that it starts to feel like reading a summary of a novel someone else read. It should, perhaps, be noted that the two stories I liked the best, “Talaria” and “Ridiki”, are the ones that avert this most cleanly.
Despite a strong start to the series, the Tales of Elemental Spirits collection quickly loses steam and as a whole, winds up being simply okay. There are worse series to fill time with and no doubt the premises of some of the shorts will intrigue some enough to pick them up, but in the end Water is the only installment strong enough to recommend on its own.
Warnings: “Troll Blood” and “Talaria” both feature sexual assault, although neither in graphic detail. “Ridiki” deals with grief and the loss of a pet and “Wizand” opens with a character being burned alive.
Additionally, it becomes clear throughout the book that the author has a bit of a bone to pick with organized religion and Christianity in specific, featuring Christians regularly and exclusively as antagonists, which readers of that faith might find annoying or offensive.
July 7, 2019
I enjoy Peter Dickinson's stories, but I don't find them comfortable reads. There is often a darkness, and a sort of forbearing stoicism, accepting the harsher happenings of the world. I get the impression of an incisive mind that is firmly realist, despite its fascination with the fantastic and mystical. There is no idealism or romanticism here. His writing is narrated with a kind of emotionless rationality - even when describing characters in the throes of emotion, it feels like the narrator is detached.
I found this book in the middle grade fiction section of my local library, where it has clearly been misplaced because Dickinson is well-known as a children's author. There is nothing of children's literature in this collection - it is a series of stories about adults and for adults.
Troll Blood - a tale of a woman who studies Old Norse and whose family is rumoured to have troll blood.
Ridiki - a tale of a young man whose dog dies. He tries to fetch her back from the underworld.
Wizand - definitely my least favourite of the collection because of the coldness of the characterisation and the fatalism of the events - I particularly didn't think the ending fit.
Talaria - probably my favourite of the collection. A skilled saddler has been kept as a slave in a city in the desert where he tried to trade but was betrayed by a corrupt guild. He escapes and encounters a griffin at an oasis.
Scops - like Ridiki, set on a Greek farm/vineyard. This one was ok. About a young man and his sister who raise a found owl. About the forces of gods and goddesses and light and darkness (more than good and evil).
The Fifth Element - my second favourite. A very interesting science fiction story about the different alien beings making up a crew and how they manage to work together.
I found this book in the middle grade fiction section of my local library, where it has clearly been misplaced because Dickinson is well-known as a children's author. There is nothing of children's literature in this collection - it is a series of stories about adults and for adults.
Troll Blood - a tale of a woman who studies Old Norse and whose family is rumoured to have troll blood.
Ridiki - a tale of a young man whose dog dies. He tries to fetch her back from the underworld.
Wizand - definitely my least favourite of the collection because of the coldness of the characterisation and the fatalism of the events - I particularly didn't think the ending fit.
Talaria - probably my favourite of the collection. A skilled saddler has been kept as a slave in a city in the desert where he tried to trade but was betrayed by a corrupt guild. He escapes and encounters a griffin at an oasis.
Scops - like Ridiki, set on a Greek farm/vineyard. This one was ok. About a young man and his sister who raise a found owl. About the forces of gods and goddesses and light and darkness (more than good and evil).
The Fifth Element - my second favourite. A very interesting science fiction story about the different alien beings making up a crew and how they manage to work together.
February 7, 2017
I think that this book is very alsome because it talks about a lot of stories and tales that you can learn about.
December 27, 2018
Although I was a little disappointed that this wasn't another collaboration with Robin McKinley, the stories were good.
September 5, 2023
Solid collection.
December 21, 2012
I've loved Dickinson and McKinley's short story collections WATER and FIRE, so I jumped at this book as soon as I saw it was out.
Dickinson's writing is masterful as ever. His re-imaginings of basic mythology and folklore elements such as trolls, witches' brooms, gryphons, and gods and goddesses are captivatingly fresh.
I rarely find myself feeling neutral about anything Dickinson writes: I either love it or hate it, and this collection is no different. However, it's a testament to the excellence of the writing that I *can't* be neutral about the stories. This will by no means become one of my favorite story collections, but it was well worth reading the first time, and I have no doubt these stories will be haunting me for years to come.
Dickinson's writing is masterful as ever. His re-imaginings of basic mythology and folklore elements such as trolls, witches' brooms, gryphons, and gods and goddesses are captivatingly fresh.
I rarely find myself feeling neutral about anything Dickinson writes: I either love it or hate it, and this collection is no different. However, it's a testament to the excellence of the writing that I *can't* be neutral about the stories. This will by no means become one of my favorite story collections, but it was well worth reading the first time, and I have no doubt these stories will be haunting me for years to come.
January 7, 2013
Earth and Air is the third and final set of short stories that center around the four elements--water, fire, earth, and air. The first two sets were written by both Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley, and the last was written by Peter Dickinson. These strange stories, part fantasy, Greek myth, and science fiction, are very well-written. However, I only enjoyed two of the six stories, Ridiki and Talaria. Ridiki is a story about a boy who has lost his dog and retrieves it from the underworld. Talaria is about a man who escapes life as a slave and runs into a gryphon, which changes his future.
I think part of the reason I wasn't feeling it is that I can only stand so much description of landscapes...? It just wasn't for me.
I think part of the reason I wasn't feeling it is that I can only stand so much description of landscapes...? It just wasn't for me.
August 2, 2013
This book is the last one in the series, and all six of the stories in this book are based around Earth and Air elements. There is a story about a girl with troll blood in her family history. A dog that dies and goes to the underworld, a witch and a wizard, a slave and a gryphon, a boy and an owl, and some space travelers all make up other stories that will take your imagination on a very descriptive adventure. Sometimes the sentences are worded oddly, but it gives the stories their own special touch.
You can read this review in its entirety at http://www.musingwithcrayolakym.com/3...
You can read this review in its entirety at http://www.musingwithcrayolakym.com/3...
November 17, 2012
I really enjoyed Eva and Emma Tupper's Diary when I was younger, so I'm really looking forward to reading this one. I just won it in a First Reads give away!
This is an interesting collection of short stories taken from a variety of mythologies (Norse, Greek, etc) and one science fiction tale. My favorite story was the first, a woman rescuing her husband from a troll to whom she is distantly related.
This is an interesting collection of short stories taken from a variety of mythologies (Norse, Greek, etc) and one science fiction tale. My favorite story was the first, a woman rescuing her husband from a troll to whom she is distantly related.
December 22, 2013
Favorites were probably "Ridiki" and "The Fifth Element." Excellent writing. Some content not suitable for young readers. I want to write stories with the same sense of magic infused with everyday life, with the same solid narrative arcs. Descriptions of the mountains in "Ridiki" were amazing.
March 19, 2017
This book is delicious. You can read one bite at a time. Savor each one for its beautiful vision. Each of the stories is a polished pearl. I enjoyed reading each one, enchanted by the imagination of the author.
February 4, 2015
A mixed batch: writing of uniformly excellent quality, but some stories appealed to me much more than others. Extended thoughts on my Tumblr (spoilers for the final story).
November 7, 2012
Loved the stories!
October 10, 2012
Interesting, mythological stories, made me think as I read it.
December 13, 2012
Received as a FirstReads giveaway. A fun collection of tales, though decently intense.
November 21, 2012
Shows what a master story-teller can do,,,
March 12, 2013
New modern twist on classical mythology. Loved that I learned about cultures.
July 12, 2013
Interesting short stories about mythical creatures, not much substance though.
June 13, 2014
The last story is really creepy...
August 4, 2022
I especially enjoyed the gryphon story.
And, second time through, I still mostly just like the gryphon story. Ah, well.
And, second time through, I still mostly just like the gryphon story. Ah, well.
Want to read
July 17, 2017Sad Robin didn't write any for this one, but of course I'll still read it.
April 3, 2017
I might bump this up to 4 stars, it'll depend on how it sits with me, I think, but I have to say- this was really quite solid, especially for a short story collection, which I never enjoy as much as I hope to. But this has some great short stories in it!
It's a good addition to the previous Elementals collections, although I was sad Robin McKinley wasn't a part of this one (she's why I picked them up initially). Worth a read for sure, if it interests you, but not necessarily one to reorder your life (or tbr) for :)
It's a good addition to the previous Elementals collections, although I was sad Robin McKinley wasn't a part of this one (she's why I picked them up initially). Worth a read for sure, if it interests you, but not necessarily one to reorder your life (or tbr) for :)
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