Review: whimsical, dream-like, and very intriguing
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 16, 2012
It's rare that I give a book 5-stars, but "Phantastes" definitely earned it.  This is the first time I've read one of MacDonald's books, so if the others are even better I can't wait to read them!About the book:  The first half is like a beautiful, but fragmented, dream.  It's difficult to see how the fragments relate to each other, or what purposes they serve.  Many chapters could easily work as stand-alone short stories.  In the second half, everything starts to come together.  It's like piecing together a puzzle to see what picture forms at the end.The story often becomes philosophical, but in a way that encourages individual thinking rather than promoting only the narrator's viewpoint.Readers of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (or any other Inklings, for that matter) will probably find "Phantastes" worthwhile.