Reader discussion: The King of Elfland's Daughter

Public reader discussion about The King of Elfland's Daughter in the WeRead Catalog by Lord Dunsany.

Least read of Lovecraft’s seminal works?

By DraftTrail

I was just thinking—right now I’m reading Lord Dunsany’s *The King of Elfland’s Daughter*, and I really doubt it’s getting many readers. And it feels like *The Night Land* by Hodgson is in the same bucket. Stuff like that just doesn’t get read because it’s so weird (or honestly, kind of hard to get through, depending on who you ask). So I’m curious: which Lovecraft “main” work do you think is the most unread, mostly because it’s hard to access? Like, not counting his essay stuff, his poems, or the Dream cycle.

The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany (1925): Recently Added to Project Gutenberg

By green-marble

Dunsany feels like one of the early big names in fantasy—like, Lovecraft and Le Guin have praised him and mentioned him as an influence—yet he doesn’t get talked about as much as he should. I mostly see him mentioned for his short stories (a bunch are on Gutenberg too), but he also wrote some novels, and this one’s apparently his best. Anyone else read Dunsany? I haven’t gotten to him yet, but he sounds exactly like my kind of thing, so I’m thinking about starting this after I finish The Sound and the Fury.

Classic Review: 'The King of Elfland's Daughter' by Lord Dunsany

By CarefulKey14

Really highly recommended. It’s one of those fantasy classics that still echoes through the genre even if most people don’t seem to read it anymore. Honestly, I think the writing alone would be worth it. The prose feels real and a bit playful, but also kind of bright/hopeful in a way that feels different from a lot of modern style. This came out in 1924, and it’s one of the earlier fantasy books before stuff like Lord of the Rings really took over, so I went into it curious about how the genre looked back then. If I had to compare it: the narration reminded me of Tolkien, the dreamy vibe felt like Patricia A. McKillip, and the “whole book feels like it has this texture” thing made me think of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It reads beautifully—rich and kind of old-school in the best way. That said, I do have some complaints. Since it’s so old, it doesn’t really follow modern expectations for plot, pacing, or character depth. Pacing-wise it wasn’t *sleepy*, but it also definitely wasn’t a page-turner. It’s the kind of novel you have to slow down with and actually savor. The plot is also kinda loose. There isn’t one big, clean arc—more like it drifts across decades with different events and character threads. I felt that diluted things a bit because none of the individual arcs really grabbed me that hard. I kept wishing the author had focused more energy on one main storyline instead of trying to juggle like four or five smaller ones. Characters feel more like archetypes than actual people, which can work for fairy-tale style, but I wanted a little more personality. Lirazel (the Faerie Princess) especially felt more like a “prize” in the story than a person with her own real presence. Overall though, it’s still a really good book and a real cornerstone. Just need the patience to put up with the old-timey rough edges.

What are your favorite Lord Dunsany stories?

By badger_sharp1488

I picked up the Penguin Classics collection of his stuff and I’m not sure where to start. Which stories are actually the best ones to begin with, or should I just go straight through in order?

Fantasy Classics - The King of Elfland's Daughter

By hidden_raven6223

Hey everyone, I just wanted to point out one of my favorite fantasy books that I feel like doesn’t get talked about as much as the big-name classics. I mean “The King of Elfland’s Daughter” by Lord Dunsany. It came out in 1924, and it still feels packed with magic and this kind of spooky wonder. The whole thing treats magic like this wild, untamable sort of thing—you can’t really pin it down with neat rules. It shows up in these quiet, everyday places too, like golden wheat fields, and then in the darker shadows hanging around woods and groves. The plot is basically about a young king who marries the faery princess of Elfland, and after that things start going off in a big way—will-o-the-wisps, trolls, all that. It also brings this kind of timeless, calm “nothing-ness” that starts creeping into the human world and changes how people live. I think it’s a really cool read if you like magic that’s more strange and poetic than explained. And it seems to have had a real impact on writers all over the place, from Lovecraft to Gaiman to Yeats. If you’ve read it, I’d love to hear what you thought. Also, if you know any other overlooked fantasy books, drop them here—I’m always looking.

Finished The King of Elfland's Daughter

By reasonfrog

This was a really interesting read. I’ve been trying to dig into some of the earlier “proto-fantasy” stuff that came before Lord of the Rings (and I’m not counting The Hobbit here—more like LOTR as the big starting point for modern fantasy). I picked The King of Elfland’s Daughter first mainly because I could find an audiobook for it right away. The Well at the World’s End by Morris is still basically impossible to get in any decent audiobook format for me, which sucks. I’d almost call it “like an A24-style elevated arthouse fantasy movie.” It doesn’t really have the later Tolkien good-vs-evil creature thing going on, but the worldbuilding and vibe are excellent. Honestly, instead of a traditional plot it’s mostly mood and setting, which at least works here since Dunansy is really good at building atmosphere. Anyway, I’m glad I finally got to it (listened to it, technically). Next up I’m going for Worm Ouroboros, but I’m also reading Howard’s original Conan stories. On top of that, I’m trying to track down the full collection of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser tales.

What are the Best Portrayals of Fairyland/Otherworld you have seen?

By frozenCrown6

Fae show up a lot in folklore and fantasy, but I’m not sure I’ve actually read that many different versions. The one I remember most is from The Kingkiller Chronicles—like one side is always night and the other is day, plus talking birds and weird fruit that doesn’t sound normal. (Also Dresden Files.) What other portrayals of the fae lands are out there that people really like?

The King of Elfland's Daughter - the finest Fairy story ever written

By dustysail29028

There are some books in fantasy that you kind of wish you’d gotten to way earlier, no matter when you actually read them. If you like fantasy at all, or old fairy tale vibes, or just really gorgeous writing that kind of hurts in a good way, The King of Elfland’s Daughter is one of those. It was written in 1924 by Lord Dunsany, and it follows what happens when the twelve men of Erl ask their lord to be ruled by magic. And yeah, they get it sooner or later, coming out of the misty edge of Elfland and all that, but it makes you wonder if it’s really as wonderful as they hoped. Dunsany was way ahead of Tolkien-era fantasy, and he wrote a ton of stuff. He influenced basically everybody, from Lovecraft to Neil Gaiman to Le Guin and a bunch of others. Tolkien even liked him a lot. This is probably the thing he’s most known for, and I get why. It’s sort of a fairy tale and sort of a reworking of one, about what happens after the prince marries the elf princess. It’s about magic, time, wonder, love, being content, and the differences between people and fairies and everything in between. Honestly it feels like a fantasy classic in the best way. The first thing I really want to talk about is the magic. A lot of newer fantasy wants magic to have rules and systems and explanations, which is fine, but it does lose some of the mystery. Dunsany’s magic is just full-on wonder. It’s everywhere, it’s strange, it’s vague in the best way, and it feels alive in everything from animals to trolls to old memories. I don’t think I’ve read magic that feels more magical than this. The other thing is the prose. It fits the story so well because it’s magical too. At its worst it’s poetic, and at its best it just flows beautifully. It keeps you in that timeless Elfland feeling, like it’s putting you right in the middle of every happy thing you’ve lost and every lovely feeling you’ve ever had. It’s flowery, but not in a way that gets annoying or too much, which is hard to pull off. If you want action and huge battles and giant worldbuilding, this is not really that book. Most of it stays in the real world, with only a few chapters actually crossing over into Elfland. It’s small in scope, but it feels huge in what it’s doing. It gets at so many emotions really well. Sad, sweet, joyful, bittersweet, all of it. Easy five stars for me. It’s kind of wild that a lot of early fantasy gets overlooked because some people act like fantasy started with Middle-earth, but this one has stayed around partly because people like Gaiman and Lovecraft kept talking it up. Even so, it still doesn’t feel famous enough. I keep thinking I wish I’d read it sooner, and now I want everybody else to read it too. And since it’s from 1924, it’s in the public domain now, so it’s free on Project Gutenberg. You don’t even have to pay for it, which makes it even easier to say: just go read it. I feel like I got a little glimpse of Elfland too, and it’s still kind of hanging onto me.

Lord Dunsany or Tolkien?

By DesertPage20

Has anyone read both? Which one do you like more and why? I grew up on Tolkien, and it was basically my first real taste of fantasy. But I recently stumbled on Lord Dunsany (and I think he came before Tolkien and Tolkien read him?) and I loved it. It kind of shocked me that Dunsany doesn’t seem talked about as much. To me, his short stories feel way more full of wonder—poetic and kind of dreamlike—while Tolkien’s writing didn’t hit me the same way. Are there other Dunsany fans here? What do you think?

It seems well-established that Lord Dunsany influenced H.P. Lovecraft. But what evidence is there that Tolkien read Dunsany, if any?

By ChapterDelta96

I’ve seen it mentioned in a few different places that Lord Dunsany’s fantasy stuff from the early 1900s (which I’ve read some of and mostly enjoyed) really affected The Lord of the Rings. But I never see anyone actually point to a specific source for that claim, and Dunsany is honestly one of those writers where it’s hard to turn up much info on Google. After reading The King of Elfland’s Daughter, it feels like Dunsany’s elves—especially the whole thing about time passing—could’ve influenced Tolkien. Still, it also seems just as possible that they both pulled from the same older folklore and recurring literary ideas about elves.

Medievaltragedy/fantasy wellwritten

By fablesecret

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