Faeryland: The Secret World of the Hidden Ones

by John Matthews

 
The author of Abrams’ How to See Faeries (with Brian Froud) opens the land of faerie to all readers. The book provides a broad overview of faeries, including a Who’s Who of Faeries; Good Faeries vs. Bad Faeries; Faerie Courts; Faerie Spells; and Faerie Sightings. Faeries of the British Isles as well as those of Scandinavia, Germany, North America, and even the Asian, Arabic, and African worlds are discussed. Matt Dangler and other contemporary fantasy artists bring the land of faerie to life alongside such fine artists as William Blake, Henry Fuseli, and J. M. W. Turner. Faeryland contains an envelope of faerie photos to use as postcards; an invitation from Puck to a Faerie Ball; a 19th-century faerie pull-out map (currently housed in the Library of Congress!) and more.


Praise for Faeryland:


“The book revives traditional fairy facts and lore for a new audience.” —GeekMom


“A beautiful book.” —Yahoo! Voices

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Magic, Fae

64 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

John Matthews is an historian, folklorist and author. He has been a full time writer since 1980 and has produced over ninety books on the Arthurian Legends and Grail Studies, as well as short stories and a volume of poetry. He has devoted much of the past thirty years to the study of Arthurian Traditions and myth in general. His best known and most widely read works are ‘Pirates’ (Carlton/Atheneum), No 1 children’s book on the New York Times Review best-seller list for 22 weeks in 2006, ‘The Grail, Quest for Eternal Life’ (Thames & Hudson, 1981) ‘The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom’ (Element, 1994) and ‘The Winter Solstice’ (Quest Books, 1999) which won the Benjamin Franklin Award for that year. His book ‘Celtic Warrior Chiefs’ was a New York Public Library recommended title for young people.

Reviews

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

You might think: another book about fairies? Will you ever have enough?

The answer is “no”, because even if I just look at fairies in Western countries, there’s so much variety that no one book can completely cover the topic. Plus, I don’t have a pretty book about fairies (though I do have that pretty bookazine) so I really, really wanted Faeryland.

As you may expect, Faeryland is an introduction to the world of fairies. The book is divided into twelve sections, covering things like “on faeries”, “faerie courts”, “faerie names”, “household faeries”, “faerie children”, etc. Interspersed between the texts are either original illustrations or historical paintings of fairies (plus the famous Cottingley picture).

For an introductory book to faery, I thought that the book managed to pack quite a lot of information (what with the faerie courts, faerie medicine, etc) through pictures and stories (The MacDonald fairy flag appears, for example). I especially enjoyed the insertion of many poems about fairies, which I thought made it especially charming.

Something else that stood out to me were these envelopes that could be found on three pages. You can open these envelopes to take out a fairy invitation, three reproductions of the Cottingley fairy photos, and a booklet on fairy charms and spells.

As you can probably guess, this book focuses more on Faeries in the West. The book does make an attempt fairly early on to include faeries from around the world, but given that it decided that the Japanese fairy was the “oni” (a being which is more popularly translated as “demon” – for example in the popular anime and manga Demon Slayer), I think it’s a good thing that most of the book focused on Western fairies because I wasn’t too sure if I could trust what it said about fairies from other places!

Overall, this is a pretty book that will charm any fan of fairytales. It didn’t really teach me anything new, but I really like the illustrations and pictures and it makes a great addition to my small collection of books on fairy and folklore.

This review was first posted at Eustea Reads

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty standard book of faerie tidbits. If you're looking for just a brief overview of the different fae legends and stories, this book works just fine, though the information is certainly replicated elsewhere and in more detail. I would have liked to see sources cited, both for info checking and for further reading. The original art is nice, though again most of the rest is easily found elsewhere. The main draw for this edition is the series of little envelopes throughout the book with extras like photos and recipes.

[Henrik Havighorst · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty standard, yet entertaining summary of most things fairy. From their howes, to different types, songs and so forth. It is far from a dialectic cultural analysis, but more like a little encyclopedia about fairies. A lovely read nevertheless. The illustrations are not my cup of tea (computer art), but there are many classic paintings featured as well, which are dauntingly beautiful. All in all, a great coffee table book or starter for your fairy literature journey.

[Lost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generic information of the fae, though the little envelopes were a nice touch. Good if you want an overview on different types of fae and a springboard to go researching from (I definitely found a couple of new terms to research!)

The art style was...bizarre. Computer generated, but not particularly well. All the images of actual paintings were lovely though!

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute. Lovely illustrations. I wouldn't give it to a very young child (under 4) but def an older or more mature child. Adults can love as well if they're fairy fans. (Which I am)

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations with a light dosis of folklore and history, and other cute little surprises!
Sadly it isn’t too detailed and it is quite short.

[A. Kaluza · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an adorable and wonderful book this was! Filled with descriptions, depictions, fun songs and poems - and even a recipe or two! - and of course an assortment of collected knowledge about the mystical and mysterious Fae, I'd recommend this book to any faerie lover. It's blithe and a good sit down book.

[Jocelin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting drawings of fairies, Fae, and other creatures of the magical realm.

[areadersjourney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different and very intriguing point of view :o)

[Olga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book about Faeries, with illustrations and cute inserts/secrets. Books seems to be written for children, but adults will enjoy it as well.

[B. Barron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh!
Nice art, information well covered elsewhere.