10/10 stars

My full review on my blog.

McKillip wrote many outstanding fantasy novels, renowned for the skilfully poetic, evocative and yet precise language. Among the most widely known are undoubtedly her early works The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and The Riddle-Master of Hed, both reviewed on my blog – but I’ve also read her newer stuff, like Alphabet of Thorn or Winter Rose, or In the Forests of Serre. I picked up The Book of Atrix Wolfe on a whim, as the new edition had become available on NetGalley – and intriguingly enough, this turned out to be my favorite McKillip book I’ve read to date.

I’d be hard-pressed to explain why this book worked better for me than any of the others – there is still plenty of threads hanging loose, which has bugged me before but, surprisingly, not this time; the trademark bitter-sweet ending of McKillip’s novels somehow feels entirely right where it had not worked for me in her other books; the illogicality of certain choices seems more believable here whereas before it was enough to pull me out of immersion. I could go on trying to justify my delight, but I think you get the gist – The Book of Atrix Wolfe is a typical McKillip novel which nevertheless turned out to be a perfect McKillip novel for me :).

I love how nothing is straightforward in this book – no choice is simple or made in void, everything is interconnected and mediated by things we have no control over. Coincidence, not fate, is what in the end influences the outcomes of our decisions – although there is a bit of fate involved, too, otherwise aligning all those elements together would be near impossible ;). It seems to me McKillip was acutely aware of that, and, tongue-in-cheek, reflected it in the title of the novel – the eponymous book has a mind of its own and it is its behavior that starts the chain of events that form the plot.

[...]

I thoroughly enjoyed this little jewel of a book and it is perhaps the one McKillip novel I will be happy to return to in the future.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.

I read THE BOOK OF ATRIX WOLFE five years ago for the first time, and the thing I remember most about it is McKillip’s amazing prose and imagery—specifically, the image of Saro in the nearly ghibli-esque kitchen full of industry and people, collecting a never-ending pile of pots and climbing under tables to stay out of people’s way. I specifically remember how VIVID everything felt and how concrete and tactile the hustle and bustle and the scent and feel of the world came through the pages.

Rereading it now for the 30th anniversary edition makes it feel even more alive.

THE BOOK OF ATRIX WOLFE is about a magician, the white wolf of Chaumenard, who intervenes in a war with unforeseen consequences. Years later, he is roused again by the queen of the wood to find her daughter, who went missing in all his sorcery years earlier.

I can never predict what happens in a Patricia McKillip book because so much of the story is a fairytale, but in such a way that plot is never the primary concern. Her stories have such an emotional and tangible FEEL to them, but that’s not to say that plot isn’t important. It’s that you get to swept up in her imagery and prose that when things happen, you are taken off guard.

The magic of the book is just as present in this new edition, full of wonder and mystery and life.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC.

Sometimes McKillip's lush, mannered language works for me, and sometimes it doesn't. This was a case of it feeling over the top (for me) and getting in the way of my relating to the characters, who were distanced from me by the elaborate wall of words. I know there are many who love this style unilaterally, so this is merely my opinion.

On the plus side, I have never seen a cover illustrator write an introduction before, and I think it's a marvelous idea. I would like to hear more from illustrators about their experience of the books they work on.

I love Patricia McKillip's writing. Love love love. It's always so lovely, and brings me into worlds of whimsy and magic.

The Book of Atrix Wolfe is the story of, among other people... Atrix Wolfe (gasp!)... He is a legendary mage in these lands. Twenty years previously, he used some powerful magic to end a war between kingdoms, and then disappeared.

It is also the story of Talis, the prince of the kingdom of Pelucir. His brother is King, unable to have children, and it is up to Talis to carry on the line, but Talis isn't really interested in doing so. He's found a strange spellbook and is more interested in testing all the spells inside.

The Queen of the Elves has been missing her consort and child since the days when Atrix Wolfe ended the war, and she demands that the mage come out of hiding and find them or else she will steal Talis into her woods and keep him.

But on top of all of that, this is the story of a kitchen. A very busy, hot, steamy kitchen, and one special person who works in it, among all the peelers, tray maids, pluckers, spitters, and other kitchen people with their kitchen words.

As I said earlier, this is a beautifully written book. It is a quick, easy read and I really enjoyed my time with it. The story unfolds in a way that kept me interested, and it was definitely a good example of McKillip's whimsical, otherworldly imagination.

I recommend this book to anyone who liked any of McKillip's other work, or enjoys authors like Robin McKinley, Charles de Lint, or Peter S. Beagle. If you enjoy them, I think that this is a book that you all would enjoy as well.

This is one of my favorite authors. I fell in love with her as a child when I read the Riddle Master trilogy.

Yo me she writes so beautifully- her words are lush and dream like. She really takes you to another world in her novels.

I found out that she has passed away and the world is poorer without her in it and gifting us with her writing.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

#TheBookofAtrixWolfe30thAnniversaryEdition
#NetGalley

Un romanzo da leggere se si cerca qualcosa di fuori dal tempo, e il piacere di una lingua che si svoltola come un incantesimo, per qualche ora di lontananza da tutto, sospesi in un modo senza tempo.

This was such a wonderfully done medieval fiction novel, it had that fantasy element that I enjoyed from the genre. It uses the world perfectly and had that concept that I was looking for. Patricia A. McKillip writes unique characters and that they worked in this world overall. I'm glad everything worked overall and was engaged with the plot of the book. It had a great atmosphere and wanted to know more about this world.

Possibly the most convoluted/confusing of McKillip's books. Well, at least it's up there. And I love it. :-) Definitely darker, too. But lots of fun to read, and the bittersweet ending is satisfying (enough) while still leaving much to mystery. My only complaint is that the girl at the beginning of the book who torments Talis (thus causing him to hide and find Atrix Wolfe's book) and who is descended from Pelucir's enemy in that fated battle, is forgotten entirely after that chapter. I kept expecting her to come back, but she feels like a thread that was inexplicably dropped. Which is *so* unlike McKillip.

Updated review 10 years later (and approximately 20 years after my first read): Agree with past self here. The dropped thread of Talis' school enemy is annoying and surprising in an otherwise delightful and dreamlike book. I was expecting the story to circle back to her. I'm also not sure about the ending. It doesn't feel like an earned or complete resolution for Talis or Saro. I can see why McKillilp chose to end it like that, but also I kind of wish she'd chosen differently.

Overall, absolutely still love it. It feels so dreamlike and magical, and the language is so delicious. I also love how the kitchen feels so solid and real while everything else sort of frays at the edges into dreams. The kitchen was probably my favorite part. I do wish we'd gotten more time at the school of Chaumenard though.

*Thanks to Tachyon Publications for providing an early copy for review.

Time to admit that I'm not going to finish this; I've finished 14 other books since I started it, and about 10 of those since I stalled at not quite halfway through, and I don't feel any pull to go back to it.

It's not because it's not a good book. It is a good book. It's just not the kind of book I enjoy anymore; it's epic and persistently serious and has a strong tragic undercurrent, and all of the characters are stoic under terrible events, beautifully narrated. It's not grimdark - the characters are not irredeemable people of bad will - but it's grimdark's slightly more humane cousin. Maybe there's a wonderful turn late in the book, but I wasn't enjoying it enough to stick around and find out.

The 30th anniversary edition which I got from Netgalley contains a few telltale signs of having been scanned from an earlier edition and has not had all the OCR errors edited out. I don't know if they'll be there in the published version or not; watch out for the error "fanner" as a misreading for "farmer," and em dashes rendered as hyphens, and that will tell you whether or not it got another pass after I saw it.

A fantasy classic told by one of the heavy weights of the early years of the genre. This was highly enjoable. A fable in McKillp's dreamlike prose with excellent characterisation. Highly recommend.

I cannot forget that Patricia McKillip is the author who literally introduced me to high quality fantasy books.
Before I discovered Tolkien and Le Guin, before "The Mists of Avalon", it was she who guided me into the world of magic and legends with her Riddle-Master trilogy.

For this reason, I read this copy of "The Book of Atrix Wolfe" with emotion and reverence, and it was truly wonderful to confirm that the magic of her words still has the same hold on me, even after at least 30 years since I last read her works.

McKillip’s specialty lies entirely in her prose: a mesmerizing flow of words that have the flavor of ancient myths, capable of evoking distant yet tangible worlds with an almost poetic rhythm. It’s a refined prose that demands attention and a willingness to embrace all its subtle nuances.

"The Book of Atrix Wolfe" is a book that, like the best fantasy, speaks of magic, deception, revenge, and power. But also of courage and redemption. It is a story rooted in the past, in an ancient war, in a mistake made perhaps with good intentions but one that must ultimately be corrected.

Atrix Wolfe is a powerful mage who, driven by the desperation to end a bloody war, summons a destructive entity. But his spell spirals out of control, bringing unimaginable devastation and loss. Years later, the young Talis finds a magical book that belonged to Wolfe, and unwittingly reawakens that same entity, which now threatens life once again. Joining these figures is Saro, a mysterious mute girl without identity, who may be much more than she seems.

The characters’ stories intertwine in a journey to restore balance between the mortal world and the fae's. The price of magic is often terrible, and only the pursuit of some form of redemption can remedy the loss.

Once again, I let myself be carried away into McKillip’s realms as if on a heroic and wondrous journey, and I have no regrets. Page after page, I rediscovered the power of great literature, capable of teaching something as well as entertaining.

I rated this book 4 stars because I really liked the story. Everything was well created, the characters were immaculate and so beautiful.