The King of Elfland's Daughter
A fairy-tale romance from 1924, written before fantasy had its own shelf. Read it slowly, for the sentences, not the plot.
- What it is
- Fairy-tale fantasy with a love story at its center
- Length
- About 70,000 words, 34 short chapters
- Heat
- None. The romance is chaste.
- Content
- Hunting throughout, a unicorn pulled down by hounds, sword fights with some blood, a village priest who curses magic
- Price
- Free on Project Gutenberg
What it is
The men of Erl want a magic lord, so their old lord sends his son Alveric to marry the Elf King's daughter, Lirazel. Alveric cuts through an enchanted wood with a sword a witch forged from thunderbolts and brings her home, only to find ten years have passed in Erl. Lirazel never fits the world of men. When her father sends a rune after her, a wind carries her back to Elfland, and Alveric spends years hunting for a country that keeps pulling away. Their son Orion grows up hunting at its edge.
What works
The prose. Dunsany writes long, rolling sentences that sound read aloud, and his refrain "the fields we know" makes the ordinary English countryside half the magic. Later, back in ageless Elfland, Lirazel is homesick for cowslips.
The comedy is deadpan. Trolls are cheeky, and the village parliament settles big questions over mead, at one point voting that no unicorn was seen. The night-long unicorn hunt in chapter XIX is the best set piece in the book, and it ends hard.
"I hear them blowing at evening."Orion, chapter XIII, after his father tells him Elfland is gone
What doesn't
After the early chapters, Alveric and Lirazel barely share a scene. She acts mostly through her father's runes, so this is a book about longing, not two equals falling in love on the page.
The refrains turn into tics. The long troll chapters (XXIII and XXVII) are slow, the parliament repeats the same beat of mead, debate and vote, and the narrator stops the story for asides, including one on Benvenuto Cellini and a unicorn horn. The priest's curses on magic are played for mockery, which some readers will not enjoy.
Who it's for
Read it if you love old fairy tales, beautiful slow sentences, and fantasy where longing matters more than plot.
Skip it if you want a fast plot, clear stakes, or a romance with banter and heat.
Want the romance on the page?
Draconia, Book One by Vera Ashdown is a rivalry romance told from both sides. She saved his life. He thanked the wrong girl. Coming soon.