Michael’s Reviews > The Curse of the Wise Woman > Status Update

Aw! I have been waiting for you to review this book! :) I can't really make anything of the Goodreads description.

As in, whether or not I should read it. I have never really read horror before, except for Arthur Conan Doyle's Tales of Terror, which I had to stop after the first story, because I was too terrified. Yes, I am a BIG coward! haha

Lol! Scaredy cat! I will review it properly soon so that you have a better idea about it.

Generally, Dunsany is more mystical and weird than horrific, and I expect this one to turn out the same. He's also quite a "descriptive" writer, prone to fairly long narrative pieces with a slow plot development, which is what I'm finding to be the case with "Wise Woman". It's a style that you find either evocative and moody or slow and dull. I tend towards the former.

Haha!! What?!! A one-handed ghost looking for his amputated AND pickled hand is horrific!! :D
About this book, I am really only beginning to get to know other fantasy fiction writers, so I am intrigued and looking for a proper introduction to some of them. I was, until recently, of the opinion that fantasy began and ended with Tolkien.

A good introduction to Dunsanian fantasy would be The King of Elfland's Daughter. It's quite fairy-tailish, but not at all childish.

After Tolkien, I read some of the "Shannara" books by Terry Brooks, but found them to be very pale imitations of the Master. That rather put me off reading any of the more modern fantasy writers, like Feist and Eddings, etc., although I'm probably doing them injustice, having not read a a word.

well, I do have The King of Elfland's Daughter on my 'to-read' list, but so far haven't found a copy. My library has it listed as "in library use only" :(

There some used copies on Amazon from a couple of £s - both UK and US sellers.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-list...

This will be my "currently reading" status this Thursday!

Pallavi wrote: "This will be my "currently reading" status this Thursday!"

:-D

It's been a long time since I read it, so I'll be interested to see what you think of it. I remember KoED very fondly. Dunsany's take on trolls owes much to Scottish folklaore (diminutive "trows") rather than the lumbering beasts of Tolkien and Harry Potter.

I laughed out loud on the bus, when I read the line "the troll skipped nearer....[to the hare]" hahaha..The book is abruptly changing themes, from a more serious tone, to one deserving of a children's book :)

The troll is a whimsical character :-) I have to admit to being slightly hazy on the story details now, it having been many years since I last read the book, but I enjoyed it enough that I managed to persuade my wife to read it (a rare thing as she thinks my book choices are nerdy!) and she enjoyed it, also - one of my few literary successes with her :-)

Haha! I persuaded my boyfriend to read 'The Hobbit', but he got bored midway. He's promised to watch the movie with me though, so yay?

I'm really looking forward to the Hobbit movie, too.