Last night our Different Skies Science fiction and fanstasy reading group met to discuss Hope Mirrlees Lud-in-the-Mist. When a plague of the much-taboo “fairy fruit” from beyond the Elfin Marches floods the streets of Lud, claiming people from high and low society alike, it’s up to disgraced mayor, Nathaniel Chanticleer to get to the bottom of things. An interesting folksy, pre-Tolkien British-folk-fairytale mystery which split the group roughly in two. With people either really liking the book (but being unsure why) and those who just could not get to grips with it. This was mostly because of the language used. Mirrlees does a wonderful job of using very lyrical poetic language and then throwing something dark into the mix when you dont expect... Lud-in-the-Mist had all the things that make an old town pleasant. It had an ancient Guildhall, built of mellow golden bricks and covered with ivy and, when the sun shone on it, it looked like a rotten apricot... Lud-in-the-Mist deals with our attitudes to tradition and our perceptions of the world, and about what we choose to believe, and what we choose to ignore. The rigid framework of the law in the town is held up against the chaos, delusions and unrealities of the past, embodied by the neighbouring Fairyland. One complaint levelled at the book was that it is not a hobbit-esque journey like was expected, but others enjoyed the fact that it focused on a small town and the small (but important to them) problems they faced. Overall the book gave us plenty to talk about and kept us going until the tea and coffee was gowing cold. Lud-in-the-Mist at Goodreads - https://goodreads/book/show/13635459
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 08:49:54 +0000