midnightfaerie's bookshelf: celtic-folklore (showing 1-4 of 4) (sorted by: date added) (cover view)

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title

Good Faeries Bad Faeries

author

Froud, Brian

isbn

0684847817

isbn13

9780684847818

asin

num pages

192 pp

avg rating

3.99

num ratings

9,503

date pub

Oct 15, 1998

date pub edition

Oct 15, 1998

midnightfaerie's rating

5 of 5 stars

my rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Good Faeries/Bad Faeries by Brian Froud is the faerie bible for any faeriephile. This is not just a catch phrase I'm throwing around. I have read and...more
Good Faeries/Bad Faeries by Brian Froud is the faerie bible for any faeriephile. This is not just a catch phrase I'm throwing around. I have read and own hundreds of books on faeries, folklore, Celtic tradition, and the history of faeries throughout the world. Within the faerie lover's community it is widely known that this is the book of basic faerie lore with the most comprehensive selection of fae and the most accurately illustrated of all books on the subject. To those that think the world of Fae is just another cute delusion belonging to the fantasy nerds of the world I tell you two things:

1. You have never been to Ireland or Scotland, where the faerie world is richly engrained in the culture and history, and seen as not only undisputed fact, but a way of life.

2. You are obviously close-minded and blind to magic of any kind in the world around you. Things such as miracles (the things you call happy coincidence) and giving birth are just another part of life you take for granted.

To those: I implore you - Please stop reading now, there is no justification in the act of you reading any further.

To the rest of you, who can understand the perpetuation of the myth we call Santa Claus to alight the sparkle in a child's eye, for only a moment, well, I speak to you.

Brian Froud is widely known as one of the best artists of all things magical, but he is probably best known for his work with Jim Henson in creating the puppets for the movies Dark Crystal and the Labyrinth. His wife had help in designing Yoda from Star Wars and they both have many other books and works under their belt. But this book, by far, in my humble but accurate opinion, is the best. The art alone is worth the purchase price. Not cutesy or childish, the images are seductive, alluring, and sometimes dark and sinister. This is no child's book. He details the main species in the world of Fae, which are not, as many believe, just fairy's. Fae refers to all magical creatures from sprites to elves to goblins to trolls. It is informative and beautiful. It also has an unusual aspect not seen in many books, which is that the first half of the book, Good Faeries, takes up half the book, then, you must flip the book over and backwards, to read the second half, Bad Faeries. The picture in the middle of the book dividing the two is multi-faceted in that it has no top or bottom of the page. That is, the picture looks the same right side up or upside down.

There are many hidden gems in this book, both written and illustrated. And because it contains four of the charactaristics of a classic (a source of the highest expertise of its field, unique, the magic factor, and a huge following) I will define it as such.

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date added

Feb 07, 2012

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midnightfaerie > Books: celtic-folklore (4) ×

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