Back
William Morris: The Well at the World's End (Paperback, 1975, Ballantine Books) 4 stars

Review of "The Well at the World's End" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I picked this book because i read that this book inspired Narnia and The Lord of The Rings series.

The first thing I notice about this book is the language. The author uses old-english like style that are somewhat challenging to read, especially for new readers. But in my case, I became used to it and after read the book, i understood that it is needed to compliment the themes and settings of this book.

This book has 3 part. And follow the story of a young Prince that seeking for adventures, and how he overcome the obstacles.

The story itself is slow at the start. The beginning of the book reads like a sort of fairytale or children story, but then at the later part, it become more mature plot-wise. The boring part is in the second half of the first part and I almost abandon this book out of boredeom, but I'm glad i didn't. Starting from Part 2, the plot and the main character become more interesting. For some people the prose and the story's structure can be a drag compared to a modern fantasy stories. But I personally didn't have a problem.

The characters count are plenty but not overwhelming. And some of them are well-written especially the main character, as this book tells how he grown to become a man over the course of the story.

Overall, i didn't expect this book to become one of my favorites. I recommend it anyone who love fantasy books, bonus point if you also like old-english prose.