Dark Alchemy: Magical Tales from Masters of Modern Fantasy

This is a collection of 18 stories about wizards and wizardry, between them taking the traditional magician into many new, ingenious and exotic forms. Although published (originally in America) for young readers, it has also been reviewed as a book for adults which ‘no fantasy fan will want to miss’, and although its contributors include some distinguished writers for children, including Neil Gaiman, Eoin Colfer and Tanith Lee, others have previously published in the main for adults. All, however, are writers of exceptional talent, and this is an admirable collection for teenage readers whose days and years with Harry Potter have set them up for something more sophisticated and challenging. The stories vary in length from five comic pages of Eoin Colfer (‘A Fowl Tale’) to Orson Scott Card’s meticulously paced novella, ‘Stonefather’, which takes up nearly a quarter of the book.

Loosely unified as they are by the common theme, the stories are so varied that every ‘fantasy fan’ will find plenty to enjoy. Several nevertheless deserve mention as outstanding even in this competitive company. Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Witch’s Headstone’ places its boy protagonist in an eerie half-world between life and death; Tad Williams’s ‘The Stranger’s Hands’ splendidly refreshes the old themes of heart’s desire and the need of goodness for an evil adversary. And Peter S Beagle’s ‘Barrens Dance’ is an original, chilling and very satisfying portrait of pure evil and strange justice. These are particular highlights in a consistently readable and intriguing collection.