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It is happening everywhere. Perfectly good movies and TV shows are being remade by Hollywood left and right. Stepford Wives, Starsky and Hutch, Around the World in Eighty Days, the Time Machine, Vanilla Sky, the Ring. Etc, etc. ad nauseum. I hear that Evil Dead is going to be remade. I weep.
Apparently, the big screen is not the only medium in which remakes are popular. There are many authors that have written successful versions of children’s stories and fairy tales. Gail Carson Levine wrote the popular children’s novel Ella Enchanted, a marvelous reinvention of Cinderella. Anne Rice wrote the popular oh-so-not-for-children’s novel The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. Ellen Kushner brings us Thomas the Rhymer, winner of the World Fantasy Award.
The blessed difference between these novels and the flicker-shows is that the books are actually pretty damn good.
The Gist: The book is based on the ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, a traveling minstrel who is loved by the men of royalty for his music and song and by the women of royalty for his other talents.
Getting caught outside during particularly bleak weather, Thomas is taken in and befriended by a peasant couple, and falls madly in love with Elspeth.
One day, the Queen of Elfland comes upon our fair Thomas, who suddenly says, “Elsie who” and rides off to stay with the queen in her enchanted land for seven years, during which he is not allowed to speak.
Seven years later, after no speaking, some heroics, and a fair amount of sex, Thomas is sent back to earth with the gift of the tongue which cannot lie. The gift inflicts poor Thomas with the gift of foresight and the source material for Jim Carrey movies.
Thomas and Elspeth marry and live happily ever after. That is, after Elspeth calms down a bit ‘cuz the lout ditched her for seven years.
The Good: If you like romance, you’ll like this book. If you like romance mixed with magical surroundings, you’ll love this book. If romance is your thing, buy this book. The characters are sympathetic, the prose is poetic, even beautiful. You will not be wasting your time.
The Bad: If you want an engaging story, you won’t like this book. I have a feeling women will enjoy this book much more than men. It’s a romance, a mild one by romance-novel standards, but a very feel-good, magic in the air, a song in the heart kind of romance. And while the book is exquisitely written, left me flat most of the time, since that just isn’t my thing.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
Published by: Spectra (June 1, 2004)
ISBN: 0553586971
Genre: Romantic Fantasy
Author’s Webpage: www.ellenkushner.com
