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
A Paperback Wonderland Best Book of 2017
“Rich and regal.”
—New York Times
“McKillip’s strange, enchanting stand-alone fantasy The Forgotten Beasts of Eld has been reissued. It follows Sybel, a woman with strange powers who collects fabulous beasts, whose power draws the attention of forces battling each other out in the world. Sybel must use her talent — but will she win, or lose, herself? The novel won the World Fantasy Award and the writing is simply beautiful.”
—Washington Post
“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, Go on a Magical Adventure with the 60 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
“Like the Ring 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 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
“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
“Some books stay with you. It’s been over forty years now since I first read The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and succumbed to its enchantments. With its rich and lyric prose, its wondrous mix of characters (beasts included!), and its thoroughly enchanted world it was unlike anything I had read to that point. Forty years later I still cherish the experience. Some books truly do stay with you.”
—Bruce Coville, author of the Dragon Chronicles
“Patricia McKillip’s Forgotten Beasts of Eld is stunning. I grew up in a boarding school, so I can’t say how great it is without profanity. It’s truly great, concentrated, thoughtful, vicious, exalted fantasy, and everyone should read it, and it seems criminal to me that I haven’t until now. Reading Eld felt like finding a missing star: it’s always been there, shaping space, and reading it made so many other books make sense. I read it in a down moment, and it filled me with joy and awe at the power of love, writing, and fantasy.”
—Max Gladstone, author of the Hugo Award-winning Craft Sequence series
“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
“Patricia McKillip creates a world of magic and beauty . . . a wonderful book that is both quiet and powerful.”
—Boxy Robot
“[The] Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a remarkable novel to come from such a young person: wise and deep and lucid and crisp.”
—Antick Musings
“There is a magic and grandeur to McKillip’s focused prose, a kind of resounding clarity that lives and echoes in the mind long after the story is done.”
—Ben Loory, author of Tales of Falling and Flying and Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day
“With elegant, lyrical prose, Patricia A. McKillip creates a timeless fairytale of love, revenge, and the cost of each. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a book I return to, time and again, always finding some new layer to the tale. Like the wondrous beasts within its pages, this book is both beautiful and dangerous; you can’t read it without being changed.”
—Kelly Sandoval
“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
“The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a cold mountain wind that blows through the soul and leaves it cleaner and lighter afterwards. I first read the book twelve or thirteen years ago, and its power has only grown with time, taking on increasing urgency and relevance in these latter days. 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”
“I read The Forgotten Beasts of Eld many years ago and was smitten; it’s part of the reason I became a fantasy writer. 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.”
— B&N 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
“5/5 stars. Myths and legends come alive, riddles abound, and magic seeps through each word. This is an utterly enticing story, with a fascinating heroine”
—Night Owl Reviews
“The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a true genre classic.”
—The Illustrated Page
“This book entails every aspect that fantasy writing is about, and it is truly breathtaking.”
—She’s Going Book Crazy
“The Forgotten Beasts of Eld surpassed all my expectations and reignited my love for fantasy fiction.”
—Sabrina’s Library
“A beautiful wizard, magical, sentient animals, lovely prose, and complex attachments have made The Forgotten Beasts of Eld a classic adored and re-read by those who first discovered it decades ago.”
—A Garden Carried in the Pocket
“Patricia A. McKillip is one of my favorite authors. I never get tired of reading (and rereading) her fantasies. For me, they are all magical reads! She really knows how to create characters that I end up loving. Sybel and Coren are no exception.”
—Lark Writes
“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. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a tapestry woven of beautiful phrases and poetic language, which builds in repeating patterns to form a dazzling whole.”
—A. C. Wise, author of The Kissing Booth Girl
“A remarkable work of literature.”
—The Royal Library
“This book gave me chills . . . It is simply SO GOOD and has a beautiful fluidity to it that makes it so easy to fall into.”
—From Cover to Cover
“5/5 stars. This World Fantasy Award winning novel is a true treasure.”
—Looking Glass Reads
“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
“Exquisitely written and has the feel of an original fairy tale, with all the emotional strength of the very best fables and legends.”
—Tor.com
“If you read this book, you’re in for a treat. Filled with wondrous magical land, weird creatures, unexpected plot with fight for country power, love and revenge.”
—Staree
“McKillip’s elegant prose lends this dark fairytale a dreamy, mythic quality. A fantastic read featuring a fantastic heroine.”
—Best Fantasy Books
“I admit it: I have been seduced by Patricia A McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld . . . gorgeous, lyrical prose.”
—Guardian
“Beautiful and deep. . . this has become a tale I will gladly read again, and shall always have a treasured spot in my library.”
—My Way by Starlight
“A beautiful wizard; magical, sentient animals,; lovely prose; and complex attachments and relationships have made The Forgotten Beasts of Eld a classic adored and re-read by those who first discovered it decades ago.”
—A Garden Carried in the Pocket
“I read [Eld] first when I was a girl, and I still count it as one of my favorite books of all time.”
—Jeffe Kennedy, author of The Shift of the Tide
“McKillip’s world is clear and intricately drawn, with Sybel’s secluded life juxtaposed to the kingdom in turmoil just beyond her reach. The combination makes for a magical reading experience.”
—Foreword Reviews
“The book is full of magic, wonder and fantastic creatures. It tells a heart warming story of an independent woman who grows as a person and learns some important life lessons. This really is a wonderful read, and I fully understand why McKillip is recommended so highly.”
—Speculative Herald
“Almost destroyed because of a man’s fear and greed, Sybel, a beautiful young sorceress, embarks on a quest for revenge that proves equally destructive. Winner of the World Fantasy award, this exquisitely written story has something for almost every reader: adventure, romance and a resonant mythology that reveals powerful truths about human nature.”
—Amazon
“The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a gorgeously told tale of love and the human cost of war and revenge. It has a love of riddles, inventive magical beasts, and a well-drawn cast of believable characters with a strong, engaging female protagonist.”
—Worlds Without End
“It feels ageless, eternal, light and perfect like a star.”
—SF Site
“The best fantasy novel of the year and perhaps of the decade. It’s a mythical kingdom fantasy with a marvelous heroine, satisfying strange beasts, and chilling sorcery.
—Locus
“Patricia McKillip weaves an incredibly rich, poetic, wise and mystical story, holding her readers spellbound.”
—St. Louis Dispatch-Post
“A masterful wordsmith. McKillip has no peer when it comes to incantatory prose, and her wizardry spells you into a waking dream in this breathtaking tale.”
—Black Gate
“McKillip’s prose is utterly enchanting, steeped in a fairytale-like storytelling.”
—Book Beyond
“This novel is a bonafide masterpiece, as well as a modern classic, and one of my all-time favorite novels. Every fantasy fan should read it.”
—John R. Fultz, author of Seven Princes
“The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a stunning masterpiece of fantasy. 10/10 stars.”
—Fantasy Cafe
“A magnetic and magical writer . . . a terrific book.”
—Green Man Review
“5/5 stars. This novel, like so many of McKillip’s stories, reads like a waking dream, one readers will want to escape into again and again. This is one of those books that can’t come with enough high recommendation.”
—Seattle Review of Books
“If you need a book that will help you take a deep breath in the midst of your feverishly-paced life, I heartily recommend a visit to Sybel’s world.”
—Novel Notions
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 Patrica A. 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
“Cool elegance.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“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
“Lush imagery and wry humor…McKillip’s rich language conveys real strangeness and power.”
—Starlog
“McKillip skillfully knits disparate threads into a rewardingly rich and satisfying story.”
—Amazon
“McKillip’s luminous prose and compelling characters combine to produce a masterwork of style and substance.”
—Library Journal
Praise for Dreams of Distant Shores
“Fans of exquisite prose and ethereal fantasy will need to own this.”
—Publishers Weekly
“I love Patricia McKillip’s novels, but even more, I am passionate about her brilliant short stories—those coruscating jewels that are both remarkable for their language, their power, their wit, and their depth.”
—Jane Yolen, author of Briar Rose, Sister Emily’s Lightship, The Devil’s Arithmetic, and Sister Light, Sister Dark
“Ever since finding and loving The Riddle-Master of Hed many years ago, I have read everything Patricia McKillip has written. You should too.”
—Garth Nix, author of Sabriel and the Keys to the Kingdom
“McKillip (Wonders of the Invisible World) once more enchants with this volume, which fantasy readers will devour as they are transported into multiple realities.”
—Library Journal
“This collection of fascinating and haunting tales that will linger with readers is a strong addition to short story and fantasy collections; hand to fans of Holly Black, Robin McKinley, and Donna Jo Napoli.”
—School Library Journal
“Elegant and absorbing, [McKillip’s] work never reads as stiff or formal, as some fantasy stories can lean toward, and the language, while beautiful, never loses the reader, but instead remains both lyrical and deeply visceral.”
—Manhattan Book Review
“Some authors we read for their characters and their plots, others for the beauty of their language. I read Pat McKillip for all three.”
—Charles de Lint, author of The Riddle of the Wren andThe Blue Girl
Praise for Wonders of the Invisible World
“Anybody who loves fantasy—not just for what most fantasy does, but for what the genre is really capable of—should definitely pick this book up. It’s like a perfect encapsulation of fantasy writing at its most brave and beautiful.”
—Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky
“Endlessly astonishing and impressive fantasist McKillip (The Bards of Bone Plain) travels the shadowy twilight realm between worlds and returns with the raw stuff of dreams.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Mesmerizing . . . Any collection of McKillip’s short stories will be a valuable asset to any library and a joy to her many fans.”
—Library Journal, starred review
“This brilliant new collection puts on display the audacity, the warmth, the intelligence, and depth of [McKillip’s] huge and magnificent talent.”
—Peter Straub, author of Ghost Story and A Dark Matter
“The lively and enchanting stories in Wonders of the Invisible World certainly deserve all the accolades I can summon.”
—Paul Goat Allen, Barnes and Noble
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
A Paperback Wonderland Best Book of 2017
“Rich and regal.”
—New York Times
“McKillip’s strange, enchanting stand-alone fantasy The Forgotten Beasts of Eld has been reissued. It follows Sybel, a woman with strange powers who collects fabulous beasts, whose power draws the attention of forces battling each other out in the world. Sybel must use her talent — but will she win, or lose, herself? The novel won the World Fantasy Award and the writing is simply beautiful.”
—Washington Post
“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, Go on a Magical Adventure with the 60 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
“Like the Ring 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 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
“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
“Some books stay with you. It’s been over forty years now since I first read The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and succumbed to its enchantments. With its rich and lyric prose, its wondrous mix of characters (beasts included!), and its thoroughly enchanted world it was unlike anything I had read to that point. Forty years later I still cherish the experience. Some books truly do stay with you.”
—Bruce Coville, author of the Dragon Chronicles
“Patricia McKillip’s Forgotten Beasts of Eld is stunning. I grew up in a boarding school, so I can’t say how great it is without profanity. It’s truly great, concentrated, thoughtful, vicious, exalted fantasy, and everyone should read it, and it seems criminal to me that I haven’t until now. Reading Eld felt like finding a missing star: it’s always been there, shaping space, and reading it made so many other books make sense. I read it in a down moment, and it filled me with joy and awe at the power of love, writing, and fantasy.”
—Max Gladstone, author of the Hugo Award-winning Craft Sequence series
“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
“Patricia McKillip creates a world of magic and beauty . . . a wonderful book that is both quiet and powerful.”
—Boxy Robot
“[The] Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a remarkable novel to come from such a young person: wise and deep and lucid and crisp.”
—Antick Musings
“There is a magic and grandeur to McKillip’s focused prose, a kind of resounding clarity that lives and echoes in the mind long after the story is done.”
—Ben Loory, author of Tales of Falling and Flying and Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day
“With elegant, lyrical prose, Patricia A. McKillip creates a timeless fairytale of love, revenge, and the cost of each. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a book I return to, time and again, always finding some new layer to the tale. Like the wondrous beasts within its pages, this book is both beautiful and dangerous; you can’t read it without being changed.”
—Kelly Sandoval
“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
“The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a cold mountain wind that blows through the soul and leaves it cleaner and lighter afterwards. I first read the book twelve or thirteen years ago, and its power has only grown with time, taking on increasing urgency and relevance in these latter days. 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”
“I read The Forgotten Beasts of Eld many years ago and was smitten; it’s part of the reason I became a fantasy writer. 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.”
— B&N 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
“5/5 stars. Myths and legends come alive, riddles abound, and magic seeps through each word. This is an utterly enticing story, with a fascinating heroine”
—Night Owl Reviews
“The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a true genre classic.”
—The Illustrated Page
“This book entails every aspect that fantasy writing is about, and it is truly breathtaking.”
—She’s Going Book Crazy
“The Forgotten Beasts of Eld surpassed all my expectations and reignited my love for fantasy fiction.”
—Sabrina’s Library
“A beautiful wizard, magical, sentient animals, lovely prose, and complex attachments have made The Forgotten Beasts of Eld a classic adored and re-read by those who first discovered it decades ago.”
—A Garden Carried in the Pocket
“Patricia A. McKillip is one of my favorite authors. I never get tired of reading (and rereading) her fantasies. For me, they are all magical reads! She really knows how to create characters that I end up loving. Sybel and Coren are no exception.”
—Lark Writes
“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. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a tapestry woven of beautiful phrases and poetic language, which builds in repeating patterns to form a dazzling whole.”
—A. C. Wise, author of The Kissing Booth Girl
“A remarkable work of literature.”
—The Royal Library
“This book gave me chills . . . It is simply SO GOOD and has a beautiful fluidity to it that makes it so easy to fall into.”
—From Cover to Cover
“5/5 stars. This World Fantasy Award winning novel is a true treasure.”
—Looking Glass Reads
“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
“Exquisitely written and has the feel of an original fairy tale, with all the emotional strength of the very best fables and legends.”
—Tor.com
“If you read this book, you’re in for a treat. Filled with wondrous magical land, weird creatures, unexpected plot with fight for country power, love and revenge.”
—Staree
“McKillip’s elegant prose lends this dark fairytale a dreamy, mythic quality. A fantastic read featuring a fantastic heroine.”
—Best Fantasy Books
“I admit it: I have been seduced by Patricia A McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld . . . gorgeous, lyrical prose.”
—Guardian
“Beautiful and deep. . . this has become a tale I will gladly read again, and shall always have a treasured spot in my library.”
—My Way by Starlight
“A beautiful wizard; magical, sentient animals,; lovely prose; and complex attachments and relationships have made The Forgotten Beasts of Eld a classic adored and re-read by those who first discovered it decades ago.”
—A Garden Carried in the Pocket
“I read [Eld] first when I was a girl, and I still count it as one of my favorite books of all time.”
—Jeffe Kennedy, author of The Shift of the Tide
“McKillip’s world is clear and intricately drawn, with Sybel’s secluded life juxtaposed to the kingdom in turmoil just beyond her reach. The combination makes for a magical reading experience.”
—Foreword Reviews
“The book is full of magic, wonder and fantastic creatures. It tells a heart warming story of an independent woman who grows as a person and learns some important life lessons. This really is a wonderful read, and I fully understand why McKillip is recommended so highly.”
—Speculative Herald
“Almost destroyed because of a man’s fear and greed, Sybel, a beautiful young sorceress, embarks on a quest for revenge that proves equally destructive. Winner of the World Fantasy award, this exquisitely written story has something for almost every reader: adventure, romance and a resonant mythology that reveals powerful truths about human nature.”
—Amazon
“The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a gorgeously told tale of love and the human cost of war and revenge. It has a love of riddles, inventive magical beasts, and a well-drawn cast of believable characters with a strong, engaging female protagonist.”
—Worlds Without End
“It feels ageless, eternal, light and perfect like a star.”
—SF Site
“The best fantasy novel of the year and perhaps of the decade. It’s a mythical kingdom fantasy with a marvelous heroine, satisfying strange beasts, and chilling sorcery.
—Locus
“Patricia McKillip weaves an incredibly rich, poetic, wise and mystical story, holding her readers spellbound.”
—St. Louis Dispatch-Post
“A masterful wordsmith. McKillip has no peer when it comes to incantatory prose, and her wizardry spells you into a waking dream in this breathtaking tale.”
—Black Gate
“McKillip’s prose is utterly enchanting, steeped in a fairytale-like storytelling.”
—Book Beyond
“This novel is a bonafide masterpiece, as well as a modern classic, and one of my all-time favorite novels. Every fantasy fan should read it.”
—John R. Fultz, author of Seven Princes
“The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a stunning masterpiece of fantasy. 10/10 stars.”
—Fantasy Cafe
“A magnetic and magical writer . . . a terrific book.”
—Green Man Review
“5/5 stars. This novel, like so many of McKillip’s stories, reads like a waking dream, one readers will want to escape into again and again. This is one of those books that can’t come with enough high recommendation.”
—Seattle Review of Books
“If you need a book that will help you take a deep breath in the midst of your feverishly-paced life, I heartily recommend a visit to Sybel’s world.”
—Novel Notions
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 Patrica A. 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
“Cool elegance.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“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
“Lush imagery and wry humor…McKillip’s rich language conveys real strangeness and power.”
—Starlog
“McKillip skillfully knits disparate threads into a rewardingly rich and satisfying story.”
—Amazon
“McKillip’s luminous prose and compelling characters combine to produce a masterwork of style and substance.”
—Library Journal
Praise for Dreams of Distant Shores
“Fans of exquisite prose and ethereal fantasy will need to own this.”
—Publishers Weekly
“I love Patricia McKillip’s novels, but even more, I am passionate about her brilliant short stories—those coruscating jewels that are both remarkable for their language, their power, their wit, and their depth.”
—Jane Yolen, author of Briar Rose, Sister Emily’s Lightship, The Devil’s Arithmetic, and Sister Light, Sister Dark
“Ever since finding and loving The Riddle-Master of Hed many years ago, I have read everything Patricia McKillip has written. You should too.”
—Garth Nix, author of Sabriel and the Keys to the Kingdom
“McKillip (Wonders of the Invisible World) once more enchants with this volume, which fantasy readers will devour as they are transported into multiple realities.”
—Library Journal
“This collection of fascinating and haunting tales that will linger with readers is a strong addition to short story and fantasy collections; hand to fans of Holly Black, Robin McKinley, and Donna Jo Napoli.”
—School Library Journal
“Elegant and absorbing, [McKillip’s] work never reads as stiff or formal, as some fantasy stories can lean toward, and the language, while beautiful, never loses the reader, but instead remains both lyrical and deeply visceral.”
—Manhattan Book Review
“Some authors we read for their characters and their plots, others for the beauty of their language. I read Pat McKillip for all three.”
—Charles de Lint, author of The Riddle of the Wren and The Blue Girl
Praise for Wonders of the Invisible World
“Anybody who loves fantasy—not just for what most fantasy does, but for what the genre is really capable of—should definitely pick this book up. It’s like a perfect encapsulation of fantasy writing at its most brave and beautiful.”
—Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky
“Endlessly astonishing and impressive fantasist McKillip (The Bards of Bone Plain) travels the shadowy twilight realm between worlds and returns with the raw stuff of dreams.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Mesmerizing . . . Any collection of McKillip’s short stories will be a valuable asset to any library and a joy to her many fans.”
—Library Journal, starred review
“This brilliant new collection puts on display the audacity, the warmth, the intelligence, and depth of [McKillip’s] huge and magnificent talent.”
—Peter Straub, author of Ghost Story and A Dark Matter
“The lively and enchanting stories in Wonders of the Invisible World certainly deserve all the accolades I can summon.”
—Paul Goat Allen, Barnes and Noble
Visit the Patricia A. McKillip website.
Other books by this author…
Dreams of Distant Shores
Patricia A. McKillip
$15.95 Select optionsWonders of the Invisible World
Patricia A. McKillip
$14.95 Select optionsThe Karkadann Triangle
Patricia A. McKillip and Peter S. Beagle
$9.95 Select options