Iain Zaczek

This book isn’t a great example of thoughtful commentary and it doesn’t employ very good design techniques in its page layout, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the crash course in fantastical fairy art between its covers. The author started out strong with a selection of the classically trained artists who popularised the subject of fairies in artwork in the 1800s, which I was just starting to enjoy (barring their slightly repetitive writing style) when they switched tactic show more entirely to discuss a broader range of artists based on themes and inspirations for the artwork. Most of these themes had been discussed in the context of the major fairy artists, so their choice to rehash the details weakened the presentation of the additional artists they chose to feature. Of these selections, they could have also taken more care in grouping them, so that if an artist was featured more than once their images would appear together (once again we were forced to read the same facts) to enhance the visual flow of the slightly arbitrary selection. More than anything, this book served as an introduction to some of the major artists which will hopefully prompt readers to seek out additional material on artists they favour particularly. show less

A good overview of Art Deco across different mediums, from jewelry to advertising posters to architecture. I have always admired Art Deco when I recognized it but didn't know what actually constituted that style of art, what was "in" or "out" of that movement. I was really surprised to see how expansive the style is - many items in the book were well beyond what I would have identified. Now that I have a general grasp of what is and what is not Art Deco, I'd like to read a book that goes show more deeper on the topic. show less

Adequate but not exceptional retellings of: Oenghus, the wooing of Etain, the Children of Tuireann, the Children of Lir, Cú Chulainn and Emer, the Cattle Raid of Cooley, the Boyhood Deeds of Finn, the Hounds of Tuiren, the Quicken Trees, and Oisin in Tir na nÓg. (Actually, I liked this version of Oisin better than some others I've read; no angst, no conversion, just sitting around bitching about how Patrick has ruined everything.) Short, straightforward, would be suitable for reading at show more festivals.

The two-page spreads on various bits of Celtic culture are pretty trivial for anyone who knows their stuff, but the photographs scattered throughout are pretty nice. show less

This is a well laid out book will lovely full page illustrations on every odd-numbered page. The text is interesting and pitches the amount of information just right. It's a dip and browse coffee table book and works very well on that basis.

The irritating thing is that every even numbered page has a smaller image which is sometimes related to the large image, but not always. The small images are almost always images that appear elsewhere as full size images and I often found them show more distracting, especially in the cases where they weren't relevant to the text.

The book is sorted into carpets, textiles, wallpaper, etc, but aren't always in chronological order within sections.

The book irritates me on several levels, but the lovely illustrations make up for a lot of sins. show less