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Fans of classic fantasy will revel in this coming-of-age story from Irish author Lord Dunsany. Set in long-ago Spain, the novel follows the development of Don Rodriguez, a charming young aristocrat who is forced by his family to make his own way in the world. Relying on nothing but his sword, his wit, and his trusty sidekick Morano, Rodriguez sets off on a series of life-or-death adventures.Tags
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in the world before Tolkien, lord Dunsany had a considerable reputation as a learned and witty fantasist. This is his take on the mental world also illuminated by Miguel Cervantes. It is a pleasant fantasy and quite a fun read. the writers in this genre thought it quite fitting that he be included in the Del Rey collection of ancestors of tolkien.
With Lord Dunsany it is all about the *way* he writes - that very ornate British thing. A Sancho Panza tripping through a fantasy Spain, set to accompany a guy on a quest (who has just lost his inheritance).
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Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series
85 works; 8 members
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391+ Works 10,078 Members
Though during his lifetime the Irish nobleman Lord Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, the 18th Baron Dunsany, was perhaps regarded as a minor talent, his somber short fantasies and novels had a significant impact on the development of fantasy and horror fiction. In real life, Dunsany was as interesting and versatile as anyone about whom he wrote. show more He was an African big-game hunter, a soldier in both the Boer War and World War I, and was wounded in the 1916 Irish Easter Rebellion. He was also the national chess champion of Ireland. Dunsany's first short story collection, The Gods of Pegana, was published in 1905 and was soon followed by other fantasy anthologies, including Time and the Gods (1906) and The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories (1908), among others. These stories are distinguished by their elegant, fairy tale settings and Dunsany's unique, macabre sense of humor. Dunsany's novels, such as The King of Elfland's Daughter (1924) and The Charwoman's Shadow (1926), are considered fantasy classics. Although Dunsany wrote prodigiously and with great versatility throughout his life, many regard his early, highly stylized short fiction to be his best work, and his most important. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Don Rodriguez
- Original title
- Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley
- Original publication date
- 1922
- First words
- After long and patient research I am still unable to give the reader of these Chronicles the exact date of the times that they tell of. (Chronology)
Being convinced that his end had nearly come, and having lived long on earth (and all those years in Spain, in the golden time), the Lord of the Valleys of Arguento Harez, whose heights see not Valladolid, called for his elde... (show all)st son. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Of him and Serafina it has been written and sung that they lived happily ever after; and though they are now so many centuries dead, may they have in the memories of such of my readers as will let them linger there, that afterglow of life that remembrance gives, which is all that there is on earth for those that walked it once and that walk the paths of their old haunts no more.
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- Members
- 285
- Popularity
- 112,460
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.78)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, Japanese, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 37
- ASINs
- 15
