Lee, Tanith 1947–

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Lee, Tanith 1947–

(Esther Garber)

Personal

Born September 19, 1947; daughter of Bernard and Hylda Lee. Education: Studied art at college level. Hobbies and other interests: Study of past civilizations (Egyptian, Roman, Incan), psychic powers (their development, use, and misuse), music.

Addresses

Home and office—Kent, England.

Career

Writer. Formerly worked as a librarian.

Awards, Honors

August Derleth Award, 1980, for Death's Master; World Fantasy Convention Award, 1983, for "The Gorgon," and 1984, for "Elle est trois (la mort)"; Nebula nomination for "Red as Blood"; World Fantasy Award nomination for "Nunc Dimittis"; British Fantasy Society Award nominations for "Jedella Ghost" and "Where the Town Goes at Night."

Writings

FICTION; FOR YOUNG READERS

The Dragon Hoard, illustrated by Graham Oakley, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1971.

Princess Hynchatti and Some Other Surprises, illustrated by Velma Ilsley, Macmillan (London, England), 1972, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1973.

Animal Castle, illustrated by Helen Craig, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1972.

Companions on the Road (also see below), Macmillan (London, England), 1975.

The Winter Players (also see below), Macmillan (London, England), 1975.

Companions on the Road, and The Winter Players, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1977.

East of Midnight, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1977.

The Castle of the Dark, Macmillan (London, England), 1978.

Shon the Taken, Macmillan (London, England), 1979.

Prince on a White Horse, Macmillan (London, England), 1982.

Madame Two Swords, illustrated by Thomas Canty, Donald M. Grant (New York, NY), 1988.

Black Unicorn, illustrated by Heather Cooper, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1991.

Gold Unicorn, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1994.

Red Unicorn, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Islands in the Sky, Random House (New York, NY), 1999.

Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Singular Girl's Adventure upon the High Seas, Hodder (London, England), 2003, Dutton (New York, NY), 2004.

Piratica 2: Return to Parrot Island, Hodder (London, England), 2005.

Indigara, Firebird (New York, NY), 2007.

"CLAIDI JOURNALS" SERIES; FOR YOUNG ADULTS

Wolf Tower, Dutton (New York, NY), 2000.

Wolf Star, Dutton (New York, NY), 2001.

Wolk Queen, Dutton (New York, NY), 2002.

Wolf Wing, Hodder (London, England), 2002, Dutton (New York, NY), 2003.

NOVELS; FOR ADULTS

The Birthgrave, DAW (New York, NY), 1975.

Don't Bite the Sun, DAW (New York, NY), 1976.

The Storm Lord (also see below), DAW (New York, NY), 1976.

Drinking Sapphire Wine, DAW, 1977 (New York, NY), published with Don't Bite the Sun, Hamlyn, 1981.

Volkhavaar, DAW (New York, NY), 1977.

Vazkor, Son of Vaskor, DAW (New York, NY), 1978, published as Shadowfire, Futura (London, England), 1979.

Night's Master, DAW (New York, NY), 1978.

Quest for the White Witch, DAW (New York, NY), 1978.

Death's Master, DAW (New York, NY), 1979.

Electric Forest, DAW (New York, NY), 1979.

Kill the Dead (also see below), DAW (New York, NY), 1980.

Day by Night, DAW (New York, NY), 1980.

Lycanthia: or, The Children of Wolves, DAW (New York, NY), 1981.

Sometimes after Sunset (includes Sabella and Kill the Dead), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1981, portions published as Sabella; or, The Blood Stone, DAW (New York, NY), 1982.

Delusion's Master, DAW (New York, NY), 1981.

The Silver Metal Lover (also see below), DAW (New York, NY), 1982.

Sung in Shadow, DAW (New York, NY), 1983.

Anackire (also see below), DAW (New York, NY), 1983.

The Wars of Vis (includes The Storm Lord and Anackire), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1984.

Days of Grass, DAW (New York, NY), 1985.

Dark Castle, White Horse, DAW (New York, NY), 1986.

Delirium's Mistress, DAW (New York, NY), 1986.

The White Serpent, DAW (New York, NY), 1988.

The Book of the Beast, DAW (New York, NY), 1988.

A Heroine of the World, DAW (New York, NY), 1989.

The Blood of Roses, Legend (London, England), 1990.

Dark Dance, Dell (New York, NY), 1992.

Heart-Beast, Dell (New York, NY), 1993.

Personal Darkness, Dell (New York, NY), 1993.

The Book of the Mad, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 1993.

Eva Fairdeath, Headline (London, England), 1994.

Darkness, I, Dell (New York, NY), 1994.

Reigning Cats and Dogs, Headline (London, England), 1995.

Elephantasm, Dell (New York, NY), 1996.

The Gods Are Thirsty, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 1996.

Vivia, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1998.

Biting the Sun, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1999.

White as Snow, Tor (New York, NY), 2000.

(With Susan Krinard and Evelyn Vaughn) When Darkness Falls, Silhouette (New York, NY), 2003.

(Under name Esther Garber) Thirty-four, Egerton (East Sussex, England), 2003.

(Under name Esther Garber; with Yolande Sorores) Fatal Women, Egerton (East Sussex, England), 2003.

Mortal Suns, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 2003.

Metallic Love (sequel to The Silver Metal Lover), Bantam (New York, NY), 2005.

(With Mercedes Lackey and C.E. Murphy) Winter Moon, Luna (New York, NY), 2005.

"SECRET BOOKS OF VENUS" SERIES

Faces under Water, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 1998.

Saint Fire, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 2000.

A Bed of Earth: The Gravedigger's Tale, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 2002.

Venus Preserved, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 2003.

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

The Betrothed, Slughorn, 1968.

Unsilent Night, Nesfa Press, 1981.

Cyrion, DAW (New York, NY), 1982.

Red as Blood; or, Tales from the Sisters Grimmer, DAW (New York, NY), 1983.

The Beautiful Biting Machine, illustrated by Judy King-Rieniets, Cheap Street, 1984.

Tamastara; or, The Indian Nights, DAW (New York, NY), 1984.

The Gorgon and Other Beastly Tales, DAW (New York, NY), 1985.

Dreams of Dark and Light: The Great Short Fiction of Tanith Lee, foreword by Rosemary Hawley Johnson, illustrated by Douglas Smith, Arkham House (Sauk City, WI), 1986.

Night Sorceries, DAW (New York, NY), 1987.

Tales from the Flat Earth: Night's Daughter, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1987.

The Book of the Damned, Unwin (London, England), 1988, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 1990.

Women as Demons: The Male Perception of Women through Space and Time, Women's Press, 1989.

Forests of the Night, Unwin (London, England), 1990.

Nightshades: Thirteen Journeys into Shadow, Headline (London, England), 1994.

RADIO AND TELEVISION PLAYS

Bitter Gate, BBC Radio, 1977.

Red Wine, BBC Radio, 1977.

Death Is King, BBC Radio, 1979.

The Silver Sky, BBC Radio, 1980.

Also author of "Sarcophagus" and "Sand," both for Blake's Seven (television series), 1980 and 1981, respectively.

OTHER

Lee's work has been translated into Swedish, Italian, French, and German. Contributor of short stories to collections, including Vampire Sextette, Ace Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Adaptations

The Silver Metal Lover was adapted for a graphic novel/comic-book format by Trina Robbins, Harmony Books (New York, NY), 1985; Lee's short story "Nunc Dimittis" was adapted to television by Hunger Productions.

Sidelights

Tanith Lee blends science fiction, fairy tale, and fantasy in her fictional explorations of good and evil, destiny versus free will, and the search for identity. Her stories and novels are known for their originality, their deeply textured language, and their evocative alternate realities. While primarily known for such adult novels as The Birthgrave and Don't Bite the Sun, as well as for her "Tales from the Flat Earth" and "Blood Opera" novel series, Lee has also written for children and young adults.

Born in London, England, Lee wrote her first story at age nine—"an embarrassingly trite thing to do," as she once told SATA. Bookish and introverted, she studied art for a time before becoming a librarian. Her first book of short stories appeared in 1968, and her first novel, The Dragon Hoard, was published in 1971. It is significant that this first book was written for young readers. "I intend my books for anyone who will enjoy them," Lee once told SATA. "My books are expressions of my private inner world…. So I can't say I aim my work at a particular audience. Even the children's books are not really specifically designed for children, which anyway seems a bit patronising. They contain ideas and fantasies and observations like all writing. I hope adults will read them as well as children, and children get a look at the adult stuff, too, if it's their kind of book."

A fairy-tale quest, The Dragon Hoard tells the story of Prince Jasleth, who receives an evil birthday gift from the witch Maligna, who feels slighted by the prince and his wife, Princess Goodness. Turned into a raven for an hour each day by the witch, Jasleth goes in search of the Dragon Hoard to end the spell. "I must admit to a certain element of wish fulfillment," Lee once noted in SATA. "I did so enjoy Jasleth's crazy voyage in The Dragon Hoard, for where can you find convenient dragons nowadays, when pure wonder is so thin on the ground?" Many of the Lee trademarks are present in this first book: fantasy and invention, refined language, and an element of humor bordering on zaniness that is much more subdued in her adult fiction. Virginia Haviland, writing in Horn Book, found the story to be "elaborate" and "entertaining."

Lee followed The Dragon Hoard with the children's picture book Animal Castle. In the book, a prince who lives in a land without animals goes on a collecting journey, returning with a handsome array to live in his castle with him. Pampered and spoiled, however, the animals soon displease the prince, who banishes them. In the end all is well, however: the animals realize in the nick of time how good they have it and promise to be proper animals if allowed to stay. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that Animal Castle is "an original and appealing story," while Barbara Joyce Duree described it in Booklist as "mildly amusing." Another early work, Princess Hynchatti and Some Other Surprises, stands traditional fairy tales on their heads by presenting stories in which royal heroes do no significant deeds and where a prince may even choose a witch over a beautiful princess. The work was characterized as containing "a dozen cheerfully silly tales" by a Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books critic. It would be some time before the adjective "cheerful" was again used to describe Lee's work.

With Companions on the Road, Lee moved into more serious themes and a more somber tone, producing the first of what Daphne J. Stroud referred to in Junior Bookshelf as her "dark" young-adult novels. These "are not cosy and comfortable books where we know everything will turn out all right in the end and that the good magic will prevail," Stroud noted. "There is a real aura of menace, which suggests that no one will be allowed to survive totally unscathed, supposing they survive at all!" In Companions on the Road, Havor the soldier, only eighteen and already a leader of a company of men, is sick of war and leaves the king's service after the fall and pillaging of Avilis. However, Havor engages in a bit of pillaging himself, taking a sorcerer's chalice to add to the few coins he had been entrusted with at the death of the youngest of his company. This dying soldier wanted Havor to deliver the coins to his family, but the stolen chalice releases a mystical spell that shadows Havor and his two companions as they make their way from Avilis. Havor's two companions are killed by this spell and he is nearly done in as well, only to be saved by the young sister of the fallen soldier. A stark and haunting battle between good and evil, Companions on the Road "is an imaginative and impressive book," according to Graham Hammond in the Times Literary Supplement. Hammond also appreciated the "pared-down precision" of Lee's language.

The Winter Players is set bleakly next to the sea in a fishing village with an ancient shrine. Young Oaive was chosen at birth to guard the shrine, and guard it she does until the mysterious Grey comes to the village and transforms himself into a silver wolf to steal one of the relics. When Oaive pits her magic against the sorcerer who controls Grey, she succeeds in breaking the spell and restoring the wolf to the young man he once was. Magic spells also figure in East of Midnight, in which the slave Dekteon changes places and worlds with the mysterious Zaister. Dekteon, in his new world and as Zaister's stand-in, becomes the consort of Izvire, and learns he is to be sacrificed, as such consorts are every five years. Zaister, meanwhile, is faring poorly in the slave world into which he has fallen. To save himself, Dekteon must first save Zaister in the alternate world, and then somehow survive the ritual sacrifice. A complex story, East of Midnight has "moments of terror … that outdistance the average Dracula film," a reviewer for Junior Bookshelf commented, the critic adding that "Lee writes forcefully and with a sure grip on her tale." Writing in the Times Literary Supplement, Peter Hunt noted that while the exchange of minds is a typical fantasy device, the world of female kings and their five-year consorts "flashes with ideas," and the story ultimately "touches deeper themes of love, sex, and honor, and reaches a moving climax."

Set in a remote medieval age, The Castle of the Dark involves two protagonists, the harper Lir and the young maiden Lilune, guarded by two crones. Lilune is kept in a spell by a black power, a source of evil that surrounds her with darkness. Lir finally manages to find and destroy the evil power, thus saving Lilune. "The writing is beautiful, powerful, yet restrained," commented a Junior Bookshelf critic, who called The Castle of the Dark "a very fine book." Possession by evil powers is also at the center of Shon the Taken, in which the seventeen-year-old protagonist of the title becomes an outcast after being ‘taken,’ or possessed, by Crow, the symbol of death. Shon goes questing to the City of Crow, engages in deadly battle, finally vanquishes Crow, and, with the help of a beautiful young girl, reconciles his own people with Crow's subjects. "Lee is a fascinating writer of considerable force," Stroud asserted in Junior Bookshelf. The reviewer added that the story "reflects our vulnerable late twentieth century world with all its dangers and insecurities."

In a lighter vein, Prince on a White Horse is a mythical and humorous story of a prince who becomes a reluc- tant savior. As Times Literary Supplement contributor Cara Chanteau commented on the juxtaposition of language and content in Prince on a White Horse, "It is as though Le Morte d'Arthur had been written by the author of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Lee's ability to mix compelling humor and strong female characters are elements of her fantasy novels Black Unicorn, Gold Unicorn, and Red Unicorn, which she published in the 1990s. In Black Unicorn readers meet Tanaquil, whose mother is a sorceress. Although it does not seem that Tanaquil herself has inherited any of her mother's dark power, at age sixteen she becomes haunted by a black unicorn that appears magically from an object she has mended. Now she must find out why the beast has chosen her as a contact. Has it come to do good or evil? And does Tanaquil have magical powers after all? "Lee's language is wonderfully descriptive and lyrical," noted Mary Arnold in a Voice of Youth Advocates review of the novel, the critic going on to dub Black Unicorn "a coming of age story for fantasy lovers." A Publishers Weekly reviewer stated that Lee's "self-assured storytelling and the near-tangible evocation of a quirky world will have much appeal for fantasy devotees," while Ruth S. Vose concluded in School Library Journal that Black Unicorn is a "stylish, humorous fantasy."

Gold Unicorn continues the adventures of Tanaquil, as the teen is taken captive by the Empress Veriam who wants to conquer the world and make it perfect. Veriam turns out to be Tanaquil's half-sister, Lizra, whose major weapon in this war for perfection is a mechanical gold-plated unicorn that stubbornly refuses to work. Tanaquil is once again pressed into mending service—her one great skill, so it seems. Susan L. Rogers, writing in School Library Journal, found the sequel less successful than Black Unicorn, but also noted that in Gold Unicorn Lee "does introduce some new and interesting characters." In Red Unicorn Tanaquil returns home after several years of travel and adventure to find her sister, the empress Lizra, now engaged to Honj, the love of Tanaquil's own life. To make matters worse, her mother is romantically involved with another sorcerer and has no time for the girl. Tanaquil is magically transported into a parallel world, where she realizes that she not only has mending powers, but can also make herself invisible. She also meets her double, Tanakil, who is plotting to murder her sister, Sulkana Liliam. Tanaquil uses all her abilities to thwart the crime, and in the process both she and Tanakil are able to find true love.

Another series by Lee, "The Secret Books of Venus" features five titles, beginning with Faces under Water and Saint Fire. The stories are set in the fantasy world of Venus, an alternative version of medieval Venice. The first volume tells of Furian, a young man who has given up his family and now works for an alchemist in the city of Venice. As he searches through the Venetian canals for bodies, Furian discovers a mask of Apollo that belonged to a young musician who has been murdered. The find launches Furian into a series of adventures that lead him to various and strange places. The second volume in the series, Saint Fire, features a young, teenage slave named Volpa, who escapes a tyrannical master to begin a life of her own with the help of Cristiano, a soldier in the army of Major Danielus. A Kirkus Reviews critic described Saint Fire an "evocative" story written in "Lee's eerily crystalline prose." Commenting on the issues and themes Lee focuses on in this work, a critic for Publishers Weekly noted her use of "evocative imagery and memorable characters" and felt that the ideas Lee explores "about faith and hypocrisy, fear and justice, are deftly rendered and not easily answered." The final volume in the series, Venus Preserved, is as much a mystery novel as it is science fiction, as Picaro stumbles into his new home in Venus just as disaster strikes the city. "Lee builds to a totally unexpected climax, not to mention an interesting afterword," wrote Frieda Murray in her Booklist review of the novel.

In the "Claidi Chronicles," which include Wolf Tower and Wolf Star, Lee introduces a sixteen-year-old slave named Claidi, an orphan who serves as a lady's maid until she escapes from the Wolf Tower where she has been imprisoned. In the first book of the series, Claidi rescues Neiman, a dark-haired balloonist who lands into the grounds of her owner's house. When she and Neiman are finally able to escape, they encounter a group of bandits led by a young man named Argul. As Claidi is led back to Neiman's city and its ruling Wolf Tower, she realizes that she is really in love with Argul. The tower is now revealed to be a cruel and sad place run by Neiman's grandmother who had wanted Claidi as her successor. Reviewing this work for School Library Journal, Kathleen Isaacs praised Lee for her strong characterization of the protagonist, and anticipated that readers "will look forward to her continuing adventures." In Wolf Wing, the final entry in the series, Claidi and Argul discover that Argul's mother, thought dead, is actually alive, and has created a far away land. The trip to the utopia she has created leads Claidi to finally discover her own destiny. "Readers who have faithfully followed Claid's exploits … [will] want to see how everything ends," wrote Sally Estes in Booklist.

By Lee's own admission, her stories are not necessarily written for one audience or another. This may explain why younger readers have also become fans of some of her adult fiction, especially the short story collections Cyrion, Red as Blood, and Tamastara. Lee's adult novels also attract a young-adult readership, especially the "Tales from the Flat Earth" novels, which have been compared to The Thousand and One Nights because of their episodic nature and prose style that recalls old myths and fairy tales. In Cyrion, Lee creates a powerful male character whom she casts in short tales of mystery and violence. A sword and sorcery hero, Cyrion is not the typical "muscle-flexing macho," according to Rebecca Sue Taylor in Voice of Youth Advocates. Susan

L. Nickerson, writing in Library Journal, also noted the well-developed male protagonist and concluded that Lee's "continuing success with rich fantasy is remarkable."

In Tamastara, Lee tells seven stories set in India, some fantasy, some science fiction, and some a blending of both. Moments of self-discovery and understanding punctuate the seven, and Carolyn Caywood, writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, noted that "teenage readers who can appreciate these intricately structured tales will empathize with [the characters'] struggles for identity." As Lee explained in Locus, her fascination with India inspired the setting of both Tamastara and Elephantism. "In the mid-'80s, I just fell for India, and it was like a love affair," she explained. "I was obsessed with it," she recalled. "Later, I saw this person at a signing, and she said, ‘Oh, you've obviously lived in India.’ I said to her, ‘Only mentally.’" Feeling part of a place she has never been is not a new experience for Lee. As she explained to an interviewer on the Tabula Rasa Web site, "My mind and heart go where they wish. America does influence my work, also France, Europe generally, the East and India."

Apart from setting, Lee's trademarks are her strong female characters, and in Red as Blood she plays with the fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm—telling them from the point of view of the Sisters Grimmer—giving the formerly passive female protagonists more than a little spunk and initiative. In White as Snow, she retells the tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, peppering her version with various Greek myths, including those of Persephone and Demeter. Characterizing Lee's rendition of this popular children's classic as "chilling" due to the "frightening" nature of the issues she weaves into her story, Locus critic Dawn Castner added that readers of Lee's other short stories will be "in for a treat." Lee again draws on Greek myths for her epic Mortal Suns, a tale of a young, deformed girl raised in secret who rises to become the consort of a king. The author "excels at creating exotic worlds similar to our own but different enough to jar our perception and entice us," wrote Patricia Altner in a review of the title for Library Journal. Frieda Murray, reviewing Mortal Suns for Booklist, concluded that "Lee weaves style, subject, and characters into a seamless whole."

The heroine of Lee's YA novel Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Singular Girl's Adventure upon the High Seas is no less strong than the author's more mature heroines. A victim of amnesia, Artemesia begins to remember her past life as the daughter of famous pirate Molly Faith. When she seeks out her mother's pirate crew, however, Artemesia finds that her memory has more gaps than she thought: the fearsome pirates she remembers are in fact the adult members of an acting troupe rather than the real thing. That fact does not stop Artemesia from convincing the thespian crew to follow a treasure map, ultimately putting everyone in the center of a classic pirate adventure. "Lee cranks up the tension through shipwrecks, duels, tidal waves, cross and double-cross," wrote Jan Mark in the London Guardian. A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted of Piratica that Lee's "language is rip-roaring or glides like a seagull, as needed," and School Library Journal contributor Gerry Larson dubbed the novel a "refreshing, tongue-in-cheek, tangled tale."

Artemesia's adventures continue in Piratica II: Return to Parrot Island, in which Artemesia, bored with her pardoned life, becomes commander of a privateer. Gillian Engberg, reviewing the sequel for Booklist, recommended the title to readers of adventures, "particularly those in which young women steer the action." A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted that Artemesia's world, parallel to but different from historical Earth, creates humor: "Readers don't need to catch all the historical wordplay, though it's funnier if they do," the critic noted.

In SATA Lee once talked about inspiration and technique: "I don't know how I come to write my books," she admitted. "An idea, or group of ideas, appears suddenly in my mind. They worry and distract me until I begin to work on them, though the pre-writing stimula-

tion and excitement are often more enjoyable than the actual work of writing. Basically, I think my books are just a process of overspill from a particularly vivid and relentless imagination. When I write I reckon generally that about sixty percent of the story is an inspirational downhill slide, forty percent uphill slog, though there are exceptions. Mostly my children's books come easily. The Dragon Hoard, for example (about 160 pages long), I wrote in two weeks." A prolific writer, Lee's list of writings continues to grow. "As a writer who has been lucky enough to make writing her profession, I am most undisciplined and erratic," she once admitted. "One day I will commence work at four in the afternoon and persevere until four in the morning."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 46, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1987, pp. 230-234.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, edited by John Clute and Peter Nicholls, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993, pp. 700-701.

Haut, Mavis, The Hidden Library of Tanith Lee: Themes and Subtexts from Dionysos to the Immortal Gene, McFarland & Co. (Jefferson, NC), 2001.

St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.

St. James Guide to Science-Fiction Writers, 4th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.

St. James Guide to Young-Adult Writers, 2nd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 1973, Barbara Joyce Duree, review of Animal Castle, p. 948; January 15, 1995, Sally Estes, review of Gold Unicorn, p. 912; June 1, 1997, Sally Estes, review of Red Unicorn, p. 1685; April 15, 2000, Sally Estes, review of Wolf Tower, p. 1543; April 15, 2001, Sally Estes, review of Wolf Star, p. 1558; April 15, 2002, Sally Estes, review of Wolf Queen, p. 1418; September 1, 2003, Frieda Murray, review of Mortal Suns, p. 75, Sally Estes, review of Wolf Wing, p. 119; October 15, 2003, Frieda Murray, review of Venus Preserved, p. 399; October 1, 2004, review of Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Singular Girl's Adventure upon the High Seas, p. 323; December 15, 2006, Gillian Engberg, review of Piratica II: Return to Parrot Island, p. 48.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, January, 1974, review of Princess Hynchatti and Some Other Stories, p. 80.

Guardian (London, England), May 15, 2004, "The Saturday Review," p. 33.

Horn Book, February, 1972, Virginia Haviland, review of The Dragon Hoard, p. 49.

Junior Bookshelf, April, 1978, review of East of Midnight, p. 105; February, 1979, review of The Castle Dark, p. 54; April, 1990, Daphne J. Stroud, "Dark Quintet," p. 63.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1999, review of Saint Fire, p. 1452; June 1, 2003, review of Mortal Suns, p. 783; September 1, 2004, review of Piratica, p. 869; September 15, 2006, Piratica II, p. 959; September 15, 2007, review of Indigara, p. 183.

Library Journal, September 15, 1982, Susan L. Nickerson, review of Cyrion, p. 1772; December, 1995, Patricia Altner, review of Darkness, I, p. 156; November 15, 1999, Jackie Cassada, review of Saint Fire, p. 101; December, 2000, Jeanne M. Leiboff, review of White as Snow, p. 197; July, 2003, Patricia Altner, review of Mortal Suns, p. 133; October 15, 2003, Michael Rogers, review of Black Unicorn, p. 103.

Locus, April, 1998, "Love, Death, and Publishers"; February, 2001, Dawn Castner, review of White as Snow, pp. 68-69.

New York Times Book Review, October 12, 2003, Gerald Jonas, review of Mortal Suns, p. 19.

Publishers Weekly, October 23, 1972, review of Animal Castle, p. 45; October 26, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of The Book of the Damned, p. 58; September 20, 1991, review of Black Unicorn, p. 136; January 1, 1992, review of The Book of the Dead, p. 50; October 26, 1992, review of Dark Dance, p. 61; May 10, 1993, review of The Book of the Mad, p. 56; June 13, 1994, review of Personal Darkness, p. 61; November 27, 1995, review of Darkness, I, p. 53; October 18, 1999, review of Saint Fire, p. 75; November 20, 2000, review of White as Snow, p. 51.

Review of Contemporary Fiction, fall, 1993, Laura Pedrick, review of The Book of the Mad, p. 238; October 15, 1996, Michele Leber, review of The Gods Are Thirsty, p. 405; May 19, 1997, review of Red Unicorn, p. 70; June 8, 1998, review of Faces under Water, p. 51.

School Library Journal, November, 1991, Ruth S. Vose, review of Black Unicorn, p. 134; February, 1995, Susan L. Rogers, review of Gold Unicorn, p. 112; December, 1995, p. 156; June, 2000, Kathleen Isaacs, review of Wolf Tower, p. 148; July, 2001, Patricia A. Dollisch, review of Wolf Star, p. 110; October, 2003, Beth L. Meister, review of Wolf Wing, p. 170; December, 2004, Gerry Larson, review of Piratica, p. 149; April, 2007, Nicki Clausen-Grace, review of Piratica II, p. 140.

Times Literary Supplement, December 3, 1971, p. 1511; November 3, 1972, p. 1332; April 2, 1976, Graham Hammond, review of Companions on the Road, p. 383; October, 25, 1977, Peter Hunt, review of East of Midnight, p. 1246; July 23, 1982, Cara Chanteau, review of Prince on a White Horse, p. 794.

Voice of Youth Advocates, April, 1983, Rebecca Sue Taylor, review of Cyrion, pp. 45-46; October, 1984, Carolyn Caywood, review of Tamastara; or, The Indian Nights, p. 206; December, 1991, Mary Arnold, review of Black Unicorn, p. 324; December, 1997, Gloria Grover, review of Red Unicorn, p. 326; April, 2003, review of Wolf Queen, p. 12; October, 2004, Michele Winship, review of Piratica, p. 316.