Spun from threads of gold and living dreams of ancient powers, THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD is the story of Sybel, the ivory-haired wizard, who, with a touch of her mind, summons a kingdom of magical beasts – each with a superhuman power. Together they must undertake a wondrous quest across shimmering, fabled Eldwold and beyond, through dynastic was and chilling sorcery, before Sybel learns the power of human love.
This book won the World Fantasy Award.
I love the earnestness of the characters in this book. I think that is what caught at me the most when I read it. Each character is entirely him/herself, even when that character doesn’t know who that might be.
This is the first book I ever read by Patricia McKillip – something about it just speaks to me. I have read it pretty much every year since I first found it in the 1980’s. The language is gorgeous, but it’s the characters and motivation that I love even more – so many books have bad guys being evil just because. She explains her villain so that while I’d never agree with what he does, I actually understand his motivation and why he’s doing it and that just adds so much to this.
And added to that I just really LIKE the characters and love what they do – it’s been my favorite book ever since I first found it.