The Princess and the Goblin

So, I've decided that when I'm not feverishly writing, I would start doing book reviews. So, here's the first.

The Princess and the Goblin
By George MacDonald

When I first heard about George MacDonald, I rolled my eyes. (Come on, anyone who shares their name with a fastfood corporation can't be anything but cheap, stale, and high in trans fat.) However, Mr. MacDonald has done the impossible, that is, proven me wrong.

His style is first and foremost the most conversational I have seen in my reading career. It does not try to draw you in and make you feel like you are there with the characters. Instead, the author himself has become a character, teh grandfather figure sitting you upon his knee and telling you a story. He doesn;t pretend to have it all set, and wll often tell you that he thinks things are a certain way, but is not sure and might even change it a bit in teh next chapter.

The story itself is intresting for two reason. One, even though it was written in modern day times it follows and reads like it came straight from the Borthers Grimm themselves. And second, even though it feels like a traditonal fairy tale, it does a remarkible job of portraying characters and following several storylines at the smae time. Also, it should be noted that what gives it that feeling of times past is the fact that every charcter is static and flat. No one changes, no one really learns a life lesson, instead, characters who have always been and will always be the same are left to interact with each other and the results are amazing.

Truly the man who learned from Dickens and taught Tolkien and Lewis is one of the greatest authors I have ever encountered in literature. It is sad to know that of all teh great writers he is one of the rare stars that fell into obscurity. That his tales, while beautiful and captivating, have now been all but forgotten except for the literature students.

I recommend George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin and give it five stars (out of five). Go look for him at your local Powells or Borders, or online at Project Gutenburg or http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:George_MacDonald. And check out his other, more well known works such as Phantaste or Lilith.