The Five Jars

A very peculiar fantasy story that reminded me a lot of Edward Eager's children's books. The whimsical-yet-creepy atmosphere is similar to books like Eager's "Seven Day Magic." This is not as good, though, because the story doesn't have a strong enough plot to use all the magic to good effect. It ends very abruptly and I was left thinking, "Huh, that's it?" It was engrossing, however, and I was never bored.

I downloaded this enjoyable children's fairy story from Project Gutenberg along with M.R. James' ghost stories.

A man digs up a box containing 5 jars of ointment, and opens one each night, finding that each gives him a different power, including talking to his cat and seeing the fairy village on the lawn outside his window. Being able to communicate with the fairy boys comes in handy, as there are dark forces at work trying to get hold of the jars.

Odd. Not entirely successful, despite the talking cat. The problem, I think, is that difficulties are resolved too quickly.* But the magic ointments are interesting, and their effects, even if the whole finding of the box was too easy. Likely will appeal more to children.

* A problem for me with similar works of the period, such as [b:The Wonderful Wizard of Oz|236093|The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz, #1)|L. Frank Baum|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327894516s/236093.jpg|1993810]; in order not to cause too much fear in young readers, the author solves all the problems for Dorothy. I think it's more interesting if the protagonist has more agency, and has to solve problems herself.

Free download from Kindle store.

Interesting. Not his best work, but a nice deviation somewhat from "straight" horror. I also kind of like how it ended vaguely, without really explaining what the evil thing was.