May 4, 2021 Sistersong by Lucy Holland Reviewed by Annabel Lucy Holland’s impeccably researched novel combines the story of a 19th Century murder ballad, ‘The Two Sisters’ with Dark Ages post-Arthurian…
April 29, 2021 The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox Reviewed by Max Dunbar In Lords and Ladies, his Faerie novel, Terry Pratchett quotes an old folk rhyme: My mother said I never shouldPlay…
July 14, 2020 The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany Review by Helen Parry I first read The King of Elfland’s Daughter five years ago, but this ‘fine, strange, almost forgotten novel’, as Neil…
January 30, 2020 Of Cats and Elfins by Sylvia Townsend Warner Reviewed by Harriet Just over a year ago I reviewed the newly published Handheld Press edition of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Kingdoms of Elfin, a…
November 20, 2018 Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik Reviewed by David Harris This was the first time I’d read a book by Novik. Her Temeraire series and Uprooted (reviewed for Shiny by Sakura here) have received lots…
June 3, 2016 The Life of Elves by Muriel Barbery Translated by Alison Anderson Reviewed by Annabel If like me, you read and loved Muriel Barbery’s bestselling novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog, which blended…
October 22, 2015 Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell Reviewed by David Harris I’d been eagerly waiting for this book. Cornell has recently published two volumes in an urban fantasy series, The Shadow Police,…
July 31, 2015 Uprooted by Naomi Novik Reviewed by Sakura Gooneratne Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. He doesn’t devour…
April 30, 2015 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke Reviewed by Jane Carter I have a very clear memory of visiting a bookshop, a good few years ago. I had a birthday book…
April 7, 2015 The Vagrant by Peter Newman Reviewed by David Harris ‘The Vagrant is his name’ runs the strapline for this book. ‘He has no other.’ In fact, the titular character…
October 9, 2014 Age of Iron by Angus Watson Reviewed by Kathleen Holly Marsh Age of Iron by Angus Watson is the first book in a trilogy giving an entertaining but gripping account of…
