Review: The Legends of Light

Title: The Legends of Light
Author: Gill Shutt
Publisher: Greyhart Press
My Rating: 4 TURTLES: A great read, I definitely recommend.
*This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.



Description:
The Legends of Light by Gill Shutt is a sequence of six connected tales, each told in a separate poem. Ms. Shutt has crafted her stories to be enjoyed by adults and young adults who do not normally read poems, and hopes her book will encourage readers to try more poetry.
The poems are traditional high fantasy: Romantic tales of questing and love, of underground kingdoms and evil wizards. In keeping with this traditional theme, each poem has its own illustrated frontispiece.


Review:

I really enjoyed this book. I am a fan of poetry in general, but this was different from most poems that I have read. The poems all told a story, they were not abstract or vivid descriptions of nature – which I love as well – but this book reminded me of some of Tolkien’s poems from The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings.

In my opinion, high fantasy lends itself really well to verse because in high fantasy the characters often keep their history through song and poetry. I could really feel as though these poems were something that would have been recited in that world during a feast, and the more I feel like I am in the story the better for me.

My one complaint about this book is that the rhyming pattern was not consistent all of the time. Most of the time every other line would rhyme, but sometimes there would be stretches where there wasn’t rhyming at all, and then the rhyming would come back. (Soon after I initially posted this Ms. Shutt was kind enough to explain that it does rhyme, just not if you speak with an American accent like I do because the pronunciation is different). It didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book, but at times it was a bit distracting.

The Legends of Light would be a wonderful book to read aloud, is appropriate for all ages to enjoy, and it is fairly quick since it is around one hundred pages. It would definitely be a good book for people who do not often read poems to get them interested in the genre. The Legends of Light was a great read and I recommend it to everyone, but especially if you enjoy high fantasy and poetry.