paperback

This is one of the basic books in the library of all historically minded Fantasy fans. Written in the year 1897, there are two fantasies running at the same time in this book. One of them is the idea, there are women who will be loved by all men, at sight. Then we pass to the consistent theme in the genre, that some form or forms of magic works. Now our lovable heroine spends a good deal of time without her clothes on, and while it may add to the likelihood of fantasy #1, it gets a bit repetitive, as a means of requiring our POV character enlisting the aid of others. Morris came late in his corpus to the idea that some crucial plot points require the principal character must be present, even if not a serious actor in the moment. thus, The Water shows a growth in authorial technique over his previous works in the genre. However the book is readable to the modern reader, and, as I said, an artifact of some importance. ( )

2 v.Ex libris F. and M. Weston. Ex-lib. Westminster College Library ( )

A fore runner to many of the modern fantasy books. Beautifully told ( )

I have tried to read this book a couple times and found the language a bit dense and archaic for my tastes. Both Lovecraft and C.S. Lewis give it some praise though so maybe I'll manage to plow through it one day.

- Peter K.