![]() ![]() Odd things will happen, evidently, when mortals join forces or contend with fairy folk. That tactic achieves better results when a British military hero strays into a remote domicile ruled by similar domestic magic (in “The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse”). ![]() Elsewhere, Mary Queen of Scots, while imprisoned by her rival, England’s Elizabeth I, plots revenge through the medium of pictorial embroidery: Still, Elizabeth survives, and Mary loses her head (in “Antickes and Frets”). In the amusing title story, gentleman sorcerer Jonathan Strange discovers during a country visit that “the magic of wild creatures and the magic of women” are indeed a match for his own. In “John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner,” the legendary magician the Raven King (aka Uskglass) tramples on a humble woodsman’s property while hunting, and is himself humbled when his victim enlists various saints to redress his grievance. Two of that book’s major characters make vivid reappearances here. ![]() Materials from British folklore are reworked with beguiling narrative energy and mischievous wit in this first collection from the English author of the wonderful adult fantasy Jonathan Strange and Mr. ![]()
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