The Water of the Wondrous Isles

This is an unbelievably difficult book to read. Morris plainly thought he was creating a modern Patient Griselda, but the crypto-masochism involved is queasily unfun. In the final part of the book it is hard not to see Morris as working out his own situation, viz. his wife and Rossetti

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, show more 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. show less

The second of Morris's pioneering fantasy novels moves beyond the tentative world-making of 'The Wood Beyond The World' and presents a much more expansive milieu of darker magic and more troubled characters.
An unexpected touch is that the main character Birdalone is a somewhat feisty, self-reliant and determined female and this in only the second fantasy novel ever published.
At times erotic, at times dark and troubled, the characters interact in many ways as a love triangle evolves involving Birdalone.
The style of course is typical for Morris, a dense archaic prose with dialogue presented without the benefit of quotation marks or even paragraph breaks much of the time.
Coming only a year after 1894's 'The Wood Beyond The World', this show more second novel would itself be followed a year later by the epic 'The Well At The World's End'. Morris's death shortly afterwards would put an end to this remarkable creative burst.
Not easy to read but rewarding for afficionados of the fantasy genre. show less

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.

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

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