Thomas the Rhymer

Thomas the Rhymer Drawing heavily on existing mythology, Ellen Kushners novel THOMAS THE RHYMER relates the story previously told in ballad form. Expanding on the available verse, Kushner tells the story of a young and flashy balladeer, a dashing man who follows the courts of the powerful while maintaining a friendship with a farming couple and flirting with their comely neighbor. He disappears, mysteriously -- hes been taken by the Queen of Elfland to sing for her court and entertain her in her bed. After a tumultuous seven-year tenure by her throne, Thomas is returned to the world of humanity, unaged and unable to speak anything but the truth. He faces the challenge of reconnecting with those he left behind. Kushner does an excellent job of creating the characters that populate the tale. The four primary characters are each given an Act in the story to narrate, with Thomas himself relating the tale of his semi-forced interplanar relocation. Kushner handles this so skillfully that she completely conveys the mud and the grime of the real world, but still allows it a powerful appeal that contrasts with the unreal beauty of the land of the elves. Each of these characters brings joy to their own existence and their jobs, especially Thomas, who rhymes as easily as he walks. It is these perspectives that give the story its air of tragedy when the characters lives are interfered with by wondrous forces. In giving these people authentic voices, Kushner risks losing clarity at points when it would be useful for the story. These confusing points occasionally mar Thomas trip to Wonderland, but otherwise, this is an elegant, and ultimately, very romantic read.

Retelling of a fairy tale told from three points of view. I loved all the voices and was drawn into their minds because they were such interesting and big-hearted people. If you like fantasy I highly recommend it. Any of this authors novels.

Read this! You will be glad you did... An ancient myth told in a thought provoking way. Well worth the time

It came on me this year to re-read some favorite fantasy novels. I am glad I chose Ellen Kushner’s Thomas the Rhymer to be one of them. What a delight this novel is. I got my original paperback edition off my shelf, and saw I’d first read it in 1994. It has lost nothing in the ensuing years, only I have gained in appreciation of it. The ballad itself has always been so intriguing, and she has added to this in a hundred ways, the subtle research of time and place, both rural and court life, are wonderful strokes of realism to ground this fantasy. The faery lore itself, which I have immersed myself in for a very long time, strikes true to the telling. The genius of this book to me, is how seamlessly she weaves together and entire world not to mention the Otherworld, and the old ballads themselves become part of the tale. If I’ve waited over a quarter century to say it, I will certainly say it now: a job well done, and a tale for the ages.

Im always shocked that Ellen Kushner is not more well known. She blends fantasy with interesting characters so seamlessly. The words are so well written that music is in the background of my mind as I read. There is a reason why there is always a recommendation from Neil Gaiman.

As it happens, I quit when I was halfway through through the book as the second part just didnt catch my interest.

This is not a book to read if youre seeking a stirring adventure. Thomas does go on a long, strange trip, but the focus is as much on how his life impacts the people important to him as it is on his experiences in Elfland. Kushners decision to write only Thomass Elfland experiences in his own voice, then, is a clever one. Also, seeing Thomas before and after his journey through the eyes of others reveals the extent of the change in him more thoroughly than if we remained in his head. Kushner does an excellent job of giving each of the four narrators a distinct perspective, a difficult thing to do. And because they see different things in each other and percieve their relationships with one another differently, theres the opportunity to ponder how it is we get along in the world when we all have disparate visions of reality. This is a marvelously subtle way to question whether True Thomas can ever wholly tell the truth. Is the truth absolute, or is it changeable depending on individual understanding? This question lingers long after the book is shut. So why did I give Thomas the Rhymer only three stars? Well, for all the lovely writing and thoughtful structure, it left me cold. For one, the Faery Queen who is the heart of all this trouble and change seemed to me little more than a blowup doll. She laid a couple of spells on Thomas, but mostly all they did was copulate, and I needed either for her to be more interesting or to feel more of why Thomas was infatuated with her. (Because of the distance I felt from her, also, the ending of the book was less moving for me than it should have been.) Apart from that, I felt Kushner passed over a great opportunity to explore what the effects of Thomass truth-saying might be. There was some of that, certainly, in the final section of the book, but much was made of the gift of truth-telling in Faery (and whether it was a gift at all), and then very little was done with it. Reading this book is a gamble. It has its virtues, and if you think youll enjoy piecing together a larger meaning based on the fragments of story and varying points of view, youll probably enjoy it well enough. However, if you want a story that swallows you whole and spits you out at the end with no respite to sit back and intellectualize, this may not be for you.

Excelent tale that sucks you in from the very first. A rare treat.

On the plus side, the writing quality was good. On the bad side, there was no drive to the plot (if there was a plot). From the blurb, I’d assumed that it’d mainly be about Thomas after fairy land dealing with only being able to speak the truth, but turns out that the majority of the book is set before and during fairy land. Overall, I think Thomas the Rhymer need an injection of some conflict. There just wasn’t enough happening. The “back in the mortal earth” was the last two sections, of which the third is the one dealing with the adjustment of only being able to speak the truth. Not much is done with that, and we don’t see that many difficulties being presented there. I did not like Thomas at all in the beginning – he was a womanizer who never really seemed to care about other people. Yes, he got better in the end as a result of the stint in fairyland, but I think the truth telling should have been more of a force of change for him. What happens to a character who’s constantly lying when he’s forced to speak only the truth? Nothing significant, according to this book. I don’t think the entire last section should have been there. The end of section three seems to be the basic happily ever after, story’s done… and then there’s another section? It does do something with a detail from earlier in the book, but it still wasn’t reason enough to have an entire new section. Besides the lack of plot, it was well written, but it just wasn’t very satisfying. I wouldn’t recommend this one, unless maybe you’re a big fan of the ballad it’s based on. Otherwise, don’t bother. Pick up one of her Riverside novels instead.

If youve only heard the story of Thomas the Rhymer referenced but not actually read his tale this a phenomenal telling.