World Fantasy Award-Winner New print edition / First e-book edition
“Rich and regal.”—New York Times
Young Sybel, the heiress of powerful wizards, needs the company of no one outside her gates. But when she discovers that the world of man and magic is full of love and deceit, Sybel also finds the possibility of more power than she can imagine.
Available Format(s): Trade Paperback and Digital Books
Young Sybel, the heiress of powerful wizards, needs the company of no-one outside her gates. In her exquisite stone mansion, she is attended by exotic, magical beasts: Riddle-master Cyrin the boar; the treasure-starved dragon Gyld; Gules the Lyon, tawny master of the Southern Deserts; Ter, the fiercely vengeful falcon; Moriah, feline Lady of the Night. Sybel only lacks the mysterious Liralen, which continues to elude her most powerful enchantments.
But when a soldier bearing an infant arrives, Sybel discovers that the world of man and magic is full of love and deceit—and the possibility of more power than she can imagine.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is one of the true classics of fantasy.
Praise for The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
“Rich and regal.”
—New York Times
“Before Daenerys was Mother of Dragons, Sybel commanded beasts of all kinds. McKillip offers up a powerful character full of passion, determination, obsession, and love.”
—A. C. Wise, author of The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories
“I admit it: I have been seduced by Patricia A McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld . . . gorgeous, lyrical prose.”
—Guardian
“With its elegant language and lovingly rendered heroine, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld has won the love of readers young and old alike — it’s a book that feels richer with every rereading.”
—Reedsy, The 60 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
“Like the [Lord of the] Rings trilogy or the Earthsea books . . . This magical moonlit fantasy has dignity and romance, heart-stopping suspense, adventure, richness of concept and language and—perhaps rarest of all in romantic fantasy—a sly sense of humor.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This is what great literature looks like: bold, self-incisive, powerfully feminist without drawing attention to anything but the prose, the characters, and the story.”
—Usman T. Malik, author of The Pauper Prince and The Eucalyptus Jinn
“This is my favorite book of all time. If I had to pick a desert island book, it would be this one.”
—Gail Carriger, New York Times bestselling author of the Parasol Protectorate
“Rich and lyric prose.”
—Bruce Coville, author of the Dragon Chronicles
“A truly great, concentrated, thoughtful, vicious, exalted fantasy, and everyone should read it.”
—Max Gladstone, author of the Hugo Award-winning Craft Sequence series
“A stunning masterpiece of fantasy. 10/10 stars.”
—Fantasy Cafe
“Gorgeous, evocative, and fragile.”
—Kirkus
“An extraordinary book, and McKillip deserves all the praise she received for creating such a masterful, brave, intricately crafted universe. 10/10 stars.”
—Starburst
“Intimate, gorgeous, quiet and deep, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld remains as resonant as ever.”
—Tor.com
“Wise and deep and lucid and crisp.”
—Antick Musings
“Fear, hope, love, hatred, and all that makes us human assume magical forms in McKillip’s characteristically gorgeous prose.”
—E. Lily Yu, author of “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”
“In some ways, it feels more like a dream than like a novel, more like a spell cast over the reader than like prose. It is delicious and wise—a true classic.”
—Susan Fletcher, author of Dragon’s Milk and Shadow Spinner
“More than 40 years after it was first published, McKillip’s World Fantasy Award-winner is unquestionably a classic of the genre, and it reads as timelessly as ever in this new print and ebook edition.”
—Barnes & Noble, Week’s New Sci-Fi & Fantasy spotlight
“Soaring prose, lyrics to songs our hearts have forgotten they knew how to sing.”
—Seattle Review of Books
“A remarkable work of literature.”
—The Royal Library
“Whether you read this magical weaving as a straight fantasy or look deeper and call it allegory, I guarantee you will fall under its spell.”
—Fresh Fiction
“McKillip’s strange, enchanting stand-alone fantasy The Forgotten Beasts of Eld has been reissued…the writing is simply beautiful.”
—Washington Post
“A magical reading experience.”
—Foreword Reviews
“Full of magic, wonder and fantastic creatures.”
—Speculative Herald
“This exquisitely written story has something for almost every reader: adventure, romance and a resonant mythology that reveals powerful truths about human nature.”
—Amazon
“It feels ageless, eternal, light and perfect like a star.”
—SF Site
“The best fantasy novel of the year and perhaps of the decade.
—Locus
“Patricia McKillip weaves an incredibly rich, poetic, wise and mystical story, holding her readers spellbound.”
—St. Louis Dispatch-Post
“5/5 stars. This is one of those books that can’t come with enough high recommendation.”
—Seattle Review of Books
“Magical and with very beautiful and powerful writing. It feels like you are reading a fairytale but a modern one.”
—Book Notes
About the Author
Patricia A. McKillip is the beloved author of twenty-seven fantasy novels, including The Riddle-Master of Hed, Harpist in the Wind, Ombria in Shadow, Solstice Wood, and The Sorceress and the Cygnet. She received the inaugural World Fantasy Award for The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, and later received the Word Fantasy lifetime achievement award. She is also a three-time Mythopoeic Award winner. McKillip lives in Oregon.
Praise for Patricia McKillip
“McKillip’s is the first name that comes to mind when I’m asked whom I read myself, whom I’d recommend that others read, and who makes me shake my grizzled head and say, ‘Damn I wish I’d done that.’”
—Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn and Sleight of Hand
“World Fantasy Award winner McKillip can take the most common fantasy elements—dragons and bards, sorcerers and shape-shifters—and reshape them in surprising and resonant ways.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“I read—and reread—McKillip eagerly. She reminds me that fantasy is worth writing.”
—Stephen R. Donaldson, author of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
“Patricia McKillip is the real thing and always has been. She shows the rest of us that magic can be made with words and air; that is it worth doing and worth doing well.”
—Ellen Kushner, author of Swordspoint and Thomas the Rhymer
“McKillip’s rich language conveys real strangeness and power.”
—Starlog
“McKillip skillfully knits disparate threads into a rewardingly rich and satisfying story.”
—Amazon.com
“McKillip’s luminous prose and compelling characters combine to produce a masterwork of style and substance.”
—Library Journal
“McKillip has the true Mythopoeic imagination.”
—P. C. Hodgell, author of the Kencyrath series
“Patricia McKillip is a master.”
—Locus
“McKillip’s ability to convey so much in so few words is impressive, as is her ability with storytelling, characterization, and thematic elements.”
—Fantasy Cafe
“One of the best fantasy writers out there.”
—Green Man Review
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Patricia A. McKillip
World Fantasy Award-Winner
New print edition / First e-book edition
“Rich and regal.”—New York Times
Young Sybel, the heiress of powerful wizards, needs the company of no one outside her gates. But when she discovers that the world of man and magic is full of love and deceit, Sybel also finds the possibility of more power than she can imagine.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
by Patricia A. McKillip
ISBN: Print: 9781616962777 Digital: 9781616962791
Published: September 2017
Available Format(s): Trade Paperback and Digital Books
Young Sybel, the heiress of powerful wizards, needs the company of no-one outside her gates. In her exquisite stone mansion, she is attended by exotic, magical beasts: Riddle-master Cyrin the boar; the treasure-starved dragon Gyld; Gules the Lyon, tawny master of the Southern Deserts; Ter, the fiercely vengeful falcon; Moriah, feline Lady of the Night. Sybel only lacks the mysterious Liralen, which continues to elude her most powerful enchantments.
But when a soldier bearing an infant arrives, Sybel discovers that the world of man and magic is full of love and deceit—and the possibility of more power than she can imagine.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is one of the true classics of fantasy.
Praise for The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
“Rich and regal.”
—New York Times
“Before Daenerys was Mother of Dragons, Sybel commanded beasts of all kinds. McKillip offers up a powerful character full of passion, determination, obsession, and love.”
—A. C. Wise, author of The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories
“I admit it: I have been seduced by Patricia A McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld . . . gorgeous, lyrical prose.”
—Guardian
“With its elegant language and lovingly rendered heroine, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld has won the love of readers young and old alike — it’s a book that feels richer with every rereading.”
—Reedsy, The 60 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
“Like the [Lord of the] Rings trilogy or the Earthsea books . . . This magical moonlit fantasy has dignity and romance, heart-stopping suspense, adventure, richness of concept and language and—perhaps rarest of all in romantic fantasy—a sly sense of humor.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This is what great literature looks like: bold, self-incisive, powerfully feminist without drawing attention to anything but the prose, the characters, and the story.”
—Usman T. Malik, author of The Pauper Prince and The Eucalyptus Jinn
“This is my favorite book of all time. If I had to pick a desert island book, it would be this one.”
—Gail Carriger, New York Times bestselling author of the Parasol Protectorate
“Rich and lyric prose.”
—Bruce Coville, author of the Dragon Chronicles
“A truly great, concentrated, thoughtful, vicious, exalted fantasy, and everyone should read it.”
—Max Gladstone, author of the Hugo Award-winning Craft Sequence series
“A stunning masterpiece of fantasy. 10/10 stars.”
—Fantasy Cafe
“Gorgeous, evocative, and fragile.”
—Kirkus
“An extraordinary book, and McKillip deserves all the praise she received for creating such a masterful, brave, intricately crafted universe. 10/10 stars.”
—Starburst
“Intimate, gorgeous, quiet and deep, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld remains as resonant as ever.”
—Tor.com
“Wise and deep and lucid and crisp.”
—Antick Musings
“Fear, hope, love, hatred, and all that makes us human assume magical forms in McKillip’s characteristically gorgeous prose.”
—E. Lily Yu, author of “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”
“In some ways, it feels more like a dream than like a novel, more like a spell cast over the reader than like prose. It is delicious and wise—a true classic.”
—Susan Fletcher, author of Dragon’s Milk and Shadow Spinner
“More than 40 years after it was first published, McKillip’s World Fantasy Award-winner is unquestionably a classic of the genre, and it reads as timelessly as ever in this new print and ebook edition.”
—Barnes & Noble, Week’s New Sci-Fi & Fantasy spotlight
“Soaring prose, lyrics to songs our hearts have forgotten they knew how to sing.”
—Seattle Review of Books
“A remarkable work of literature.”
—The Royal Library
“Whether you read this magical weaving as a straight fantasy or look deeper and call it allegory, I guarantee you will fall under its spell.”
—Fresh Fiction
“McKillip’s strange, enchanting stand-alone fantasy The Forgotten Beasts of Eld has been reissued…the writing is simply beautiful.”
—Washington Post
“A magical reading experience.”
—Foreword Reviews
“Full of magic, wonder and fantastic creatures.”
—Speculative Herald
“This exquisitely written story has something for almost every reader: adventure, romance and a resonant mythology that reveals powerful truths about human nature.”
—Amazon
“It feels ageless, eternal, light and perfect like a star.”
—SF Site
“The best fantasy novel of the year and perhaps of the decade.
—Locus
“Patricia McKillip weaves an incredibly rich, poetic, wise and mystical story, holding her readers spellbound.”
—St. Louis Dispatch-Post
“5/5 stars. This is one of those books that can’t come with enough high recommendation.”
—Seattle Review of Books
“Magical and with very beautiful and powerful writing. It feels like you are reading a fairytale but a modern one.”
—Book Notes
About the Author
Patricia A. McKillip is the beloved author of twenty-seven fantasy novels, including The Riddle-Master of Hed, Harpist in the Wind, Ombria in Shadow, Solstice Wood, and The Sorceress and the Cygnet. She received the inaugural World Fantasy Award for The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, and later received the Word Fantasy lifetime achievement award. She is also a three-time Mythopoeic Award winner. McKillip lives in Oregon.
Praise for Patricia McKillip
“McKillip’s is the first name that comes to mind when I’m asked whom I read myself, whom I’d recommend that others read, and who makes me shake my grizzled head and say, ‘Damn I wish I’d done that.’”
—Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn and Sleight of Hand
“World Fantasy Award winner McKillip can take the most common fantasy elements—dragons and bards, sorcerers and shape-shifters—and reshape them in surprising and resonant ways.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“I read—and reread—McKillip eagerly. She reminds me that fantasy is worth writing.”
—Stephen R. Donaldson, author of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
“Patricia McKillip is the real thing and always has been. She shows the rest of us that magic can be made with words and air; that is it worth doing and worth doing well.”
—Ellen Kushner, author of Swordspoint and Thomas the Rhymer
“McKillip’s rich language conveys real strangeness and power.”
—Starlog
“McKillip skillfully knits disparate threads into a rewardingly rich and satisfying story.”
—Amazon.com
“McKillip’s luminous prose and compelling characters combine to produce a masterwork of style and substance.”
—Library Journal
“McKillip has the true Mythopoeic imagination.”
—P. C. Hodgell, author of the Kencyrath series
“Patricia McKillip is a master.”
—Locus
“McKillip’s ability to convey so much in so few words is impressive, as is her ability with storytelling, characterization, and thematic elements.”
—Fantasy Cafe
“One of the best fantasy writers out there.”
—Green Man Review
Visit the Patricia A. McKillip website.
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