Booklist Review
Gr. 7 and up. MacRae pretty well fulfills her intended purpose "to portray fantasy as a complex genre in great demand by many of the most motivated teenaged readers and to describe its subgenres clearly. . . ." Her focus is on authors currently writing in the U.S., though she harks back to the historical roots of each subgenre, carefully tracing the paths taken and the noted writers along the way. MacRae's research is very evident and fully documented, and her presentation has a scholarly flavor. Many of the plot summaries are quite detailed and laced with critical commentary, that of noted critics as well as her own and that of her teen evaluators, as she examines alternate worlds, magic realism, myth, legend, magic bestiary, and time fantasy. She includes in-depth critical analysis and interviews with four authors: Terry Brooks, Barbara Hambly, Jane Yolen, and Meredith Ann Pierce. The long recommended-reading lists and bibliographies that follow every subgenre discussion will provide teen readers and those who work with them guidance to further reading of specific kinds, and also help in tracking series titles. Appendixes list fantasy literary awards and fantasy books from "Best Books for Young Adults Lists 1970^-1997," and provide copies of surveys and questionnaires used in this study. --Sally Estes
Choice Review
Each of the six chapters in MacRae's survey focuses on a different subgenre of young adult fantasy. MacRae (editor of the journal Voice of Youth Advocates, or VOYA) provides an overview of the British roots of each subgenre, but she concentrates on contemporary US novels, adeptly summarizing plots and critical responses. Unfortunately, the book is severely flawed. Four biocritical studies throw the book out of balance; the author does not provide representative authors for two genres; discussion of featured authors spills in ungainly ways into other chapters; two of the featured writers, Meredith Ann Pierce and Barbara Hambly, are not of sufficient stature to warrant extended coverage; and, finally, though the essay on Terry Brooks runs nearly 70 pages, MacRae says she did not have room to discuss humorous fantasy (which she identifies as the second favorite form of adolescent readers). MacRae's introduction lacks the analytical depth of Ann Swinfen's In Defence of Fantasy (CH, Sep'84) and the range and historical sweep of Sheila Egoff's World's Within (CH, Apr'89), though it covers more novels and discusses current trends. Useful to upper-division undergraduates through professionals who need to know what adolescents really read. R. E. Jones; University of Alberta
