Bookverdict.com

Gr 7–9—In this companion to Water (2002) and Fire (2009, both Putnam), his short story collections with Robin McKinley, Dickinson goes solo as he explores fantastic creatures of the realms of earth and air. Drawing on ancient Norse, Celtic/British, Greek, and Roman mythological traditions, and using a rather formal style that hints at folktale, he explores the relationship of people to the gods and how they react when confronted with the fantastic. In these five varied stories, a woman with a genetic connec...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Dickinson completes the series of “elemental” tales he began with his wife Robin McKinley (Water, rev. 7/02; Fire, rev. 11/09). Though links to the theme can be tenuous, these six new stories are provocative in both variety and ideas. “Troll Blood” features a scholarly May/December friendship founded on Old Norse; it bursts into action with an underwater rescue (think Beowulf) and includes romance and a neat genealogical twist. In “Wizand” a dynamic, self-renewing broom controls witches ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More