Lud-in-the-Mist
Hope Mirrlees
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The town of Lud is a prosperous, bustling little country port, situated at the confluence of two rivers: the Dawl and the Dapple. The latter, which has its source in the land of Faerie beyond the Elfin Marches and the Debatable Hills, is a source of great trial to Lud, which had long rejected such fanciful nonsense as fairies, elves and the like.
Then a perfect plague of faerie influences hits the town, penetrating even to Miss Primrose Crabapple’s Establishment for Young Ladies, and it becomes apparent to even the stuffiest burgher that Steps Would Have To Be Taken. Fortunately for everyone, Master Nathaniel Chanticleer, Mayor of Lud, is a man with his head firmly in the clouds . . .
Lud-in-the-Mist starts off super slow into an introduction and history of the land of Dorimare. Dorimare is a land without magic but the Dapple, one of the mirrors comes straight out of Faerieland and there’s many magical goings on that happen mysteriously. The world building is full of fantasy and has an overwhelming sense that more is happening than what is shown.
Mirrlees was published back in 1926 and so the writing style is similar to that time period. It feels much older, and could definitely be a turn off for those who read mostly YA. Those who read epic fantasy’s could probably get into this writing easily. Plus once you push through the writing style differences, the book is much better.
The writing is like from a fairy tale, and this book was originally sold to me as from the Mother of fantasy. This completely holds up and although most of the book characters are negative towards magical, the premise and story feels magical. Nathaniel goes on a bit of an adventure to find his son Ranulph, and it went to so many places that were well built up my Mirrlees.
The plot itself kept me guessing, but this could have been because I had no idea what was happening. Going into the book I didn’t know what it was about, and even at the start I had no idea what kind of story this would be. In the end I enjoyed the book as a whole but the plot was more of a theme about magic and the society of Dorimare.
Positives of Lud-in-the-Mist
- Fairytale like whimsy
- World building
Negatives of Lud-in-the-Mist
- Writing style
- Slow start