Lud-In-The-Mist (1926)

Hatte mehr - oder anderes - von dem Buch erwartet. Man muss wohl bedenken, dass es von 1926 stammt, also aus einer Zeit vor der gängigen Fantasy-Literatur. Als Vorfahre von Autoren wie zB. Neil Gaiman (Stardust) aber unbedingt lesenswert. ( )

One of those classics that you should read as underpinning so much of what has followed, and unusually for such a book it's actually pretty good in it's own right. LitM is the main town of a small country bordered on side by Fairy, at least as village elders would have it, and no-one who's strayed beyond the marshes and into the Hills has ever returned. 200 years ago the land was comfortable with the Fairy influence, but the tradespeople rose up in rebellion for rules of law and equity and the Fairy influence was overthrown and a new Mayor installed instead of the Duke.

These days the office is mostly ceremonial and Nathaniel is quite comfy with his fine wines and high society friends, even if both he and his son occasionally suffer from bouts of paranoia and hysteria over wrought influences from the artistic effects around them. When the son becomes particularly troubled, Nathaniel consults with the curious low-town doctor and the decide to send the son to the country, it happens the doctor knows a smallholding in good standing despite being close to the borders of Fairy. Nathaniel has always had his doubts about the dr, and soon his suspicions are raised regarding some of the other notable characters around town, and despite the militia's good efforts it seems than the pernicious Faery Fruit is still entering town with untold consequences.

Although it's less than a hundred years old, some of the language is already verging on the opaque, but you get the gist well enough. Overall there's a delightful laid back lazy and dreamy feeling to the whole thing. It's somewhat bucolic as might be expected from 1920s view of farming life, but for those who were lucky enough to be born into privilege and power life as a town Mayor is always going to be smooth. It's initially hard to feel any sympathy for Nathaniel but he redeems himself. Compared to modern Urban Fantasy it's very different, the Fairy influence is never overtly described, none of the characters visit Fairy, and there's no direct magic of any form. Although Fairy seems to operate by rules it's not obviously sidhe based as many of the more common stories are, the mythos seems to be something more original or based on other folk-tales that I'm unaware of. There's no bibliography of influences.

I enjoyed this, its described as one of the most underappreciated books of the 20th century, which is probably a little excessive, but it's well worth reading for an appreciation of how the genre has evolved. ( )

I know this is a favorite of a lot of people whose opinions I respect, but it didn't strike me. I didn't hear the "Note" of it, I suppose you could say. ( )

**Lud-in-the-Mist** by *Hope Mirrlees* is a fantasy novel from 1926, which means it reads a bit aged – but not only that, it also subverts all kinds of implicit genre expectations, having been published before Tolkien and his larger-than-life influence started and defined half a century of a new literary genre. For instance, I found it delightful to see how much inspiration of the fantastic comes more from the general voice and pattern of European fairytales compared to the general Fantasy tendency to go with myths instead. Her combination of fairytale antics with good, solid, stout (and pretty British) real life has a lot of similarities to Tolkien's hobbits, but I liked how the explicit contrast between the fantastic and the Law (and everything related to it) was a focal point in the story.

While side characters may be a bit flat, and the pacing is noticeably uneven, Mirrlees not only shines a great light on how the fantastic and the real world can relate, she also demonstrates a great insight into humans, and their psyche. I found descriptions of the characters' tics and peculiarities (along with the hints where they come from/how they relate to everything else this person is doint) very insightful and amusing. Very recommended if you want to see fantasy that is different. ( )

It's an offbeat little fantasy, very episodic, with some beautiful language. I look forward to re-reading it in a year or two. ( )