Review of The Forgotten Beasts of Eld

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia Mckillip

Genre – Fantasy, YA,

Series – Standalone

Rating – PG for thematic elements

Synopsis –

Once Sybel’s father dies, she is left to care for a menagerie of animals. This a relatively easy task as Sybel has the power to talk to these animals from tales long forgotten. To complete her collection, she seeks the Liralen a great white bird. One day amidst her search, a young man appears at her door with a baby. He asks her to raise the child and keep him safe. She reluctantly agrees. After raising the boy for 12 years, he leaves to go live with his father. Sybel faces some hard choices regarding love and hate.

My Thoughts –

I have some conflicting thoughts on this one. Throughout the beginning, I struggled to connect with the characters. The author leaves things for you to figure out, but at first the conversations left me confused. I got used it at the book progressed, but there were points where I felt left in the dark. Then about 40% through things started picking up and it switched from focusing on characters to emotions. I thought the ending made a lot of sense.

Now before I get too far I want to mention that in the fantasy world there are wizards. Honestly, I didn’t know this beforehand. Typically, I do not read book with magic with them. I goes against my religious beliefs. As the Bible says that we are not to use magic. Yes, there is some magic, not a lot though, so I decided to continue. Sybel’s father was a wizard, and she has his gifts. There is an evil wizard who works for the king and they try to brainwash Sybel into marrying the king. Sybel also has a neighbor who has powers, but the author leaves an open interpretation as to whether or not she is a witch. She doesn’t do anything witch like.

Alright, I have a few qualms with Sybel and Coren’s relationship. The first 60% of the book every conversation they had was negative. Sybel hated him. Then all of sudden she switches gears and accepts his marriage proposal. She doesn’t even marry him for love, but due to a hidden agenda. Ugh!! Sybel made me so mad. Corren was my favorite character. Most of the characters had secrets or agendas that drove them, but Corren seemed to truly love Sybel for who she was. The ending ,while sad, made me really happy.

I will say the book had few good points going for it. The word building was excellent. It felt colorful and very imaginative with how the author built her fantasy world. Also, the emotional themes really drove the novel things like love verses hate, and how revenge changes a person. Lastly I will say the book was hard to put down especially as things picked up speed.

Violence – Not much. A few mentions of bodies left by a dragon. Also, there was a war that occurred before start of book. We hear how people miss those who died. Also, characters plot out and plan for a war ( it doesn’t happen though).

Language – None

Innuendo –

A couple kisses between two characters. The king tries to force Sybel to marry him. Two characters talk about having kids. A married couple make up and sleep on floor together – doesn’t go into detail. One reference to a women wearing a revealing shirt.

Conclusion –

I would say I didn’t love this one, but I didn’t truly hate it either. I liked it enough to finish it. The author had some good themes woven throughout, and she knew how to hold the reader’s attention. There were several things I struggled with that I mentioned above. This fantasy novel had a different feel to it then previous books I have read. Glad I finished it, and now I can move on.

Have you read this book or others by this author? If so what are your thoughts? I love hearing from you guys. Please reply in the comment box below.

Anna

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