Not all books stand the test of time. Some books that were so vibrant and profound when you discover them in childhood feel flat and flawed decades later. Some books, though, remain untarnished by age. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip is such a one. Every time I reread this book, it feels as if it’s the first time. It’s like a mirror held up to my ever-changing self.
When I first came across The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, I was thirteen and picked it up for three reasons: it had a dragon on the cover, the description called it “romantic”, and it was about a wizard—but not just any wizard. A girl wizard. As a teen, I desperately craved stories where women took up spaces traditionally dominated by men. I was tired of the scripts dictating who and what I could be: always weaker, always the victim. I wanted women wielding power the way the women around me wielded power, in both large and small ways.
Fundamentally, that’s what The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is about: a young woman grappling with her own power.
