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duncanshaw's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I thought this book was truly ok.
I must preface this review with the acknowledgment that this is a children's book so is therefore not supposed to be particularly sophisticated and is not written for me per se.
So, the story essentially follows two children from Pevensey in England. They meet the fairy Puck several times, and each time he has with him a person from the past who has a link to the area. This person then tells the children a story of their life. These stories are adventurous and slightly fantastical. You can clearly see whose taste Kipling is catering to here.
However, I like an adventure as much as the next guy, and still, this book lacked something. I think the writing style wasn't quite up my alley. The whole concept of different people telling stories to these kids being the bulk of it didn't feel great for me. It felt clumsy at times and a little unnecessary (and don't get me started on the incessant quotations inside quotations inside quotations). Honestly, although I know it is to add relatability to the target audience, I saw no reason to have the two children characters. They seemed to add nothing but occasional interruptions.
I did like the general concept of stories from throughout history based on a certain local area, but I don't think it was executed as well as it could have been. I felt the stories were slightly inconsistent in quality and entertainment, but that can happen in any book of short stories. This is essentially what this is: a book of short stories interrupted by a random fairy and some children.
The stories were fairly loosely connected, despite being a continuous novel. There were some threads throughout, including a couple of reoccurring characters and, of course, the fact that they have some connection to Pevensey. Although even this geographical thread (which is essentially one of the main points of the book) felt loose sometimes and only added into the stories as a token feature.
Overall, I did enjoy some of the stories, and the addition of related poems was often a nice addition. However, I found myself not enjoying many of the chapters and certain aspects felt like they only added awkwardness to the reading experience. This is a shame, as ultimately it is a good concept for an adventure story compilation.
I must preface this review with the acknowledgment that this is a children's book so is therefore not supposed to be particularly sophisticated and is not written for me per se.
So, the story essentially follows two children from Pevensey in England. They meet the fairy Puck several times, and each time he has with him a person from the past who has a link to the area. This person then tells the children a story of their life. These stories are adventurous and slightly fantastical. You can clearly see whose taste Kipling is catering to here.
However, I like an adventure as much as the next guy, and still, this book lacked something. I think the writing style wasn't quite up my alley. The whole concept of different people telling stories to these kids being the bulk of it didn't feel great for me. It felt clumsy at times and a little unnecessary (and don't get me started on the incessant quotations inside quotations inside quotations). Honestly, although I know it is to add relatability to the target audience, I saw no reason to have the two children characters. They seemed to add nothing but occasional interruptions.
I did like the general concept of stories from throughout history based on a certain local area, but I don't think it was executed as well as it could have been. I felt the stories were slightly inconsistent in quality and entertainment, but that can happen in any book of short stories. This is essentially what this is: a book of short stories interrupted by a random fairy and some children.
The stories were fairly loosely connected, despite being a continuous novel. There were some threads throughout, including a couple of reoccurring characters and, of course, the fact that they have some connection to Pevensey. Although even this geographical thread (which is essentially one of the main points of the book) felt loose sometimes and only added into the stories as a token feature.
Overall, I did enjoy some of the stories, and the addition of related poems was often a nice addition. However, I found myself not enjoying many of the chapters and certain aspects felt like they only added awkwardness to the reading experience. This is a shame, as ultimately it is a good concept for an adventure story compilation.
chrisiant's review against another edition
4.0
Yay Kipling. This is actually the first Kipling besides Just So Stories that I've read through. I have more to say about the format in which I read it (DailyLit) than the actually book, which was quirky and interesting. I'm already familiar with many of Kipling's poems that have been set to music, so it was nice to run across them in context. I'm generally in favor of narratives that are broken up by bits of song and verse (a la Tolkien and others).
I grew quite fond of Sir Richard and Sir Hugh, Parnesius and Pertinax. Dan and Una I appreciated primarily as vehicles for the story and not so much in and of themselves. Puck similarly, was a bit trite, but as a means of knitting together the other stories he functioned just fine.
I will definitely be doing more reading of Kipling - I like the feel of his narrative - it seems concise and feels like it moves along at a good clip, but at the same time it feels rich and textured and pleasantly dense.
I grew quite fond of Sir Richard and Sir Hugh, Parnesius and Pertinax. Dan and Una I appreciated primarily as vehicles for the story and not so much in and of themselves. Puck similarly, was a bit trite, but as a means of knitting together the other stories he functioned just fine.
I will definitely be doing more reading of Kipling - I like the feel of his narrative - it seems concise and feels like it moves along at a good clip, but at the same time it feels rich and textured and pleasantly dense.
bearlienktc's review against another edition
5.0
I listened to the Steven Crossley narration of this over the last week of dog walks. It was so enjoyable I found myself continuing to listen long after coming inside and putting off work until Puck had at least finished the portion of the tale he was then relating to the children, Dan and Una. Beautiful language that's a joy to hear aloud.
bennyowenmc's review against another edition
4.0
Read in school and at home. Found in mum's wardrobe. Pretty good.
Sing oak and ash and thorn, good sirs
All of a midsummer's morn
Surely we'll sing of no little thing
In oak and ash and thorn
Sing oak and ash and thorn, good sirs
All of a midsummer's morn
Surely we'll sing of no little thing
In oak and ash and thorn
lyris51101's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favorite books. Fascinating rendering of British/Celtic/Roman history and myth.
hayesstw's review against another edition
3.0
A very strange book.
We've had a copy on our shelves for years, and I've sometimes tried to read it, but never got beyond the first chapter because it was a hardback copy in poor condition, with the binding coming apart, and I didn't want to damage it further. Then last week I found a cheap paperback copy in a second-hand bookshop and read that.
On one level it is a kind of Edwardian history lesson. Two children, Dan and Una, perform the play within a play from A Midsummer Nights Dream, and Puck himself appears to them and promises to show them things more real than any dream. They are then introduced to characters from various periods of English history who bring that history to life by giving a personal view of it. Perhaps school history in those days must have seemed to many children just a boring catalogue of dates and battles and kings. The stories show that they involved real people, with sometimes real conflicts of loyalties.
The stories seem to have a common theme too, and perhaps one that is worth noting in these days of the UK Independence Party and Brexit, and the preaching of a new version of British exceptionalism. Kipling seems concerned to show that the British are not a unique "pure" race. They are a mixture of Saxons and Normans, Romans and Picts, and many of the stories show people crossing these barriers of ethnicity and race.
Even religion is varied. The book begins with the story of a pagan god Weland, and ends with a Jew. And in between comes the story of the fairies fleeing as refugees to France because they didn't like the conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and the last straw was the iconoclasm of the Puritans.
But for all its good points, the story wasn't very well told. The children are made to forget each incident and story after they have heard it, by the invocation of "oak, ash and thorn", and so one wonders what the point was. A few years ago I read Kipling's Kim for the fifth time (my review here: Kim revisited: imperialism, Russophobia & asceticism | Notes from underground), but I don't think I'll really want to read this one again. It's a fantasy story, but the fantasy doesn't seem to blend very well with the history, and the Puck of the title does little more than introduce the other characters, like a master of ceremonies at a wedding or a funeral.
We've had a copy on our shelves for years, and I've sometimes tried to read it, but never got beyond the first chapter because it was a hardback copy in poor condition, with the binding coming apart, and I didn't want to damage it further. Then last week I found a cheap paperback copy in a second-hand bookshop and read that.
On one level it is a kind of Edwardian history lesson. Two children, Dan and Una, perform the play within a play from A Midsummer Nights Dream, and Puck himself appears to them and promises to show them things more real than any dream. They are then introduced to characters from various periods of English history who bring that history to life by giving a personal view of it. Perhaps school history in those days must have seemed to many children just a boring catalogue of dates and battles and kings. The stories show that they involved real people, with sometimes real conflicts of loyalties.
The stories seem to have a common theme too, and perhaps one that is worth noting in these days of the UK Independence Party and Brexit, and the preaching of a new version of British exceptionalism. Kipling seems concerned to show that the British are not a unique "pure" race. They are a mixture of Saxons and Normans, Romans and Picts, and many of the stories show people crossing these barriers of ethnicity and race.
Even religion is varied. The book begins with the story of a pagan god Weland, and ends with a Jew. And in between comes the story of the fairies fleeing as refugees to France because they didn't like the conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and the last straw was the iconoclasm of the Puritans.
But for all its good points, the story wasn't very well told. The children are made to forget each incident and story after they have heard it, by the invocation of "oak, ash and thorn", and so one wonders what the point was. A few years ago I read Kipling's Kim for the fifth time (my review here: Kim revisited: imperialism, Russophobia & asceticism | Notes from underground), but I don't think I'll really want to read this one again. It's a fantasy story, but the fantasy doesn't seem to blend very well with the history, and the Puck of the title does little more than introduce the other characters, like a master of ceremonies at a wedding or a funeral.
nicohvi's review against another edition
5.0
"A huge grey horse, whose tail-hairs crinkled the glassy water, was drinking in the pool, and the ripples about his muzzle flashed like melted gold."
Try to read that sentence without getting a vivid mental image dancing across your mind. Impossible, I know.
Kipling is a terrific writer, able to communicate more atmosphere in a single sentence than many authors manage in entire books. Additionally, he's that rare strand of author whom can weave historical details into his narratives with a deft hand without it ever feeling strained or unnatural. In this sense he reminds me of Susannah Clarke, though Kipling's writing style is more paternal in nature as compared to Clarke's prevailing witticism.
The various tales of adventure, knights, and piracy are tied together in a frame story that harkens back to traditional Enligsh fairy tales, and it astounds me how well-versed Kipling seems to be not only in the written accounts of British history, but also in the mythical elements therein. Puck genuinely feels like a British elf - not because of how he looks (not exactly Legolas), but because of how he acts. If that isn't a testament to writing ability I don't know what is.
The various stories are all told from the point-of-view of their respective protagonists, whom the children encounter alongside Puck. Each of these characters is sympathetic, interesting, and feel deeply layered. The lives of these characters all intersected with important historical periods which the children explore through their tales of woe and adventure.
Parnesius' tales of Hadrian's Wall was a personal favourite, but the stories involving Sir Richard Dalyngridge were also stellar examples of storytelling. I'll grant that the last story didn't really grip me the same way the previous did, but the preceding tales were of such quality that I didn't really mind.
In addition to the marvelous fairy tales (and frame story) this book also overflows with paternal love for children. It's apparent to me that despite his flaws Kipling seemingly adored and respected children. This book contains, in my opinion, some of the best advise one could hope for at a young age: it extols the importance of honesty, friendship, and character, all explored through interesting stories.
This book is 125 pages long, and that includes plenty of songs that I joyfully skipped past (if songs and poems are your cup of tea then I suppose you'll be delighted), and I'm left with more vivid mental images from the scenes in this short collection of stories than The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear combined (1664 pages).
I mean, just look at this:
"'I sacrifice to my dead youth,' he answered, and, when the flames had consumed the letter, he ground them out with his heel."
Try to read that sentence without getting a vivid mental image dancing across your mind. Impossible, I know.
Kipling is a terrific writer, able to communicate more atmosphere in a single sentence than many authors manage in entire books. Additionally, he's that rare strand of author whom can weave historical details into his narratives with a deft hand without it ever feeling strained or unnatural. In this sense he reminds me of Susannah Clarke, though Kipling's writing style is more paternal in nature as compared to Clarke's prevailing witticism.
The various tales of adventure, knights, and piracy are tied together in a frame story that harkens back to traditional Enligsh fairy tales, and it astounds me how well-versed Kipling seems to be not only in the written accounts of British history, but also in the mythical elements therein. Puck genuinely feels like a British elf - not because of how he looks (not exactly Legolas), but because of how he acts. If that isn't a testament to writing ability I don't know what is.
The various stories are all told from the point-of-view of their respective protagonists, whom the children encounter alongside Puck. Each of these characters is sympathetic, interesting, and feel deeply layered. The lives of these characters all intersected with important historical periods which the children explore through their tales of woe and adventure.
Parnesius' tales of Hadrian's Wall was a personal favourite, but the stories involving Sir Richard Dalyngridge were also stellar examples of storytelling. I'll grant that the last story didn't really grip me the same way the previous did, but the preceding tales were of such quality that I didn't really mind.
In addition to the marvelous fairy tales (and frame story) this book also overflows with paternal love for children. It's apparent to me that despite his flaws Kipling seemingly adored and respected children. This book contains, in my opinion, some of the best advise one could hope for at a young age: it extols the importance of honesty, friendship, and character, all explored through interesting stories.
This book is 125 pages long, and that includes plenty of songs that I joyfully skipped past (if songs and poems are your cup of tea then I suppose you'll be delighted), and I'm left with more vivid mental images from the scenes in this short collection of stories than The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear combined (1664 pages).
I mean, just look at this:
"'I sacrifice to my dead youth,' he answered, and, when the flames had consumed the letter, he ground them out with his heel."
jgkeely's review against another edition
4.0
The more familiar I become with Kipling's many short, fantastical works, the clearer it becomes that almost every fantasy author of the past century owes him a great debt. I have pointed out before that he has written works which lay out whole subgenres--blueprints which later authors like C.S. Lewis, H.P Lovecraft, Neal Gaiman, and Susanna Clarke have expanded upon.
And in this collection, we can see yet another branch of influence. In several stories spanning centuries of English history, Kipling writes of war, politics, and adventure amongst the clash of conquerors and settlers of that island. Each story is full of unusual historical details and characters, woven closely together into a rich and varied tapestry where beauty, comedy, and tragedy are depicted side by side.
It is this vividity of myriad emotions that I have come to see as the mark of a great and exciting tale of adventure. As Howard said of his greatest creation, Conan the Barbarian:
"Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet..."
Of the many authors who have followed after Howard, the great majority are lackluster, for though they all remember the 'gigantic melancholies', none recall the 'gigantic mirth'. And indeed, these tales of Kipling's are immediately reminiscent of the wild, strange adventures penned by Howard and Leiber.
They both learned well the lesson that both magic and realism are dependent on a constant rush of strange yet naturalistic details. Any long-winded explanation is the death of a story, while innumerable implications of the greater world are its life. More than that, they resemble Kipling in form. The sorts of characters, places, events, and twists we see are immediately familiar to the connoisseur of Sword and Sorcery: piracy, doomed battles, monstrous apes, lost treasures, inscrutable foreign allies, mystery cults, ruthless generals, seers, &c.
Tying all these tales together was a frame story taken from the English fairy tale tradition, with the familiar theme of modern children accidentally coming across ancient myths (though in this case, they are only listeners, not participants). Yet what fascinated me was how fantastical the stories themselves felt, despite the fact that they were not overtly magical. Even so, Kipling maintains a consistent tone of wonderment and strangeness, often by representing the world through the eyes of the characters, themselves.
So many authors seem to think that including some elves and dragons will make a story wondrous, but for the most part, they are known quantities, not mysterious entities. We all know what dragons are, so their appearance in fantasy could hardly surprise us. No story will be fantastical if it is fundamentally familiar and predictable. It is not the color of a creature's skin that makes it otherworldly, it is how the creature is personified. It is simply impossible to make something fantastical without a strong sense of tone.
So perhaps I should have been less surprised that I found in the thirty pages of one of these stories more complex characters, emotional depth, and sense of the mystical than I have in most five-hundred page books about yet another dragon war.
Unfortunately, I found the last few stories dragged on a bit, lacking the conciseness and immediacy of the earlier ones. Kipling's attempt to tie all the stories together into a meaningful narrative about English identity was stretched a bit thin. Likewise, there is an uncomfortable implication of 'White Man's Burden' in the way the Romans treat the Picts--but if anything, the fact that he turns the same argument on his own people suggests that it is a comment about international power relations, and not race.
Once more, Kipling shows the breadth of his imagination--the many periods, peoples, and stories he covered--and it's easy to see his influence among the best writers of fantasy and adventure.
My List of Suggested Fantasy Books
And in this collection, we can see yet another branch of influence. In several stories spanning centuries of English history, Kipling writes of war, politics, and adventure amongst the clash of conquerors and settlers of that island. Each story is full of unusual historical details and characters, woven closely together into a rich and varied tapestry where beauty, comedy, and tragedy are depicted side by side.
It is this vividity of myriad emotions that I have come to see as the mark of a great and exciting tale of adventure. As Howard said of his greatest creation, Conan the Barbarian:
"Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet..."
Of the many authors who have followed after Howard, the great majority are lackluster, for though they all remember the 'gigantic melancholies', none recall the 'gigantic mirth'. And indeed, these tales of Kipling's are immediately reminiscent of the wild, strange adventures penned by Howard and Leiber.
They both learned well the lesson that both magic and realism are dependent on a constant rush of strange yet naturalistic details. Any long-winded explanation is the death of a story, while innumerable implications of the greater world are its life. More than that, they resemble Kipling in form. The sorts of characters, places, events, and twists we see are immediately familiar to the connoisseur of Sword and Sorcery: piracy, doomed battles, monstrous apes, lost treasures, inscrutable foreign allies, mystery cults, ruthless generals, seers, &c.
Tying all these tales together was a frame story taken from the English fairy tale tradition, with the familiar theme of modern children accidentally coming across ancient myths (though in this case, they are only listeners, not participants). Yet what fascinated me was how fantastical the stories themselves felt, despite the fact that they were not overtly magical. Even so, Kipling maintains a consistent tone of wonderment and strangeness, often by representing the world through the eyes of the characters, themselves.
So many authors seem to think that including some elves and dragons will make a story wondrous, but for the most part, they are known quantities, not mysterious entities. We all know what dragons are, so their appearance in fantasy could hardly surprise us. No story will be fantastical if it is fundamentally familiar and predictable. It is not the color of a creature's skin that makes it otherworldly, it is how the creature is personified. It is simply impossible to make something fantastical without a strong sense of tone.
So perhaps I should have been less surprised that I found in the thirty pages of one of these stories more complex characters, emotional depth, and sense of the mystical than I have in most five-hundred page books about yet another dragon war.
Unfortunately, I found the last few stories dragged on a bit, lacking the conciseness and immediacy of the earlier ones. Kipling's attempt to tie all the stories together into a meaningful narrative about English identity was stretched a bit thin. Likewise, there is an uncomfortable implication of 'White Man's Burden' in the way the Romans treat the Picts--but if anything, the fact that he turns the same argument on his own people suggests that it is a comment about international power relations, and not race.
Once more, Kipling shows the breadth of his imagination--the many periods, peoples, and stories he covered--and it's easy to see his influence among the best writers of fantasy and adventure.
My List of Suggested Fantasy Books