This book, which I got from Time-Life mail order (or whatever we called it) back in 1984, was the perfect start to a series that spoke to a shy, highly imaginative young boy. ( )

To see this review and to learn more about this series, please visit www.readrantrockandroll.com

I learned about this Time Life Enchanted World Series after Stacy and I did an interview with Katherine Arden, author of The Bear and the Nightingale. The author had mentioned reading these when she was a kid and I couldn't wait to discover the set of books. I was really surprised that I'd never even seen this series when I was younger, but once I started reading a few of them I quickly realized that there's no way these books would've ever been allowed into my house growing up. It's a set of 21 volumes and I've been working to complete my set by purchasing a volume here and there. Some of of the volumes are more expensive than others. I decided to start with Wizards and Witches by Brendan Lehane.

The Wizard and Witches volume is split into 3 sections - Singers at the World's Dawn, Masters of Forbidden Arts and The Shadowy Sisterhood. It begins with Finnish Folklore about Väinämöinen and discusses other wizards including the Wizard of Kiev, Merlin, Math and Gwydion to name a few. The Forbidden Arts discusses satanic servants, tarot cards, goblins and more. The book ends discussing white and black witchcraft.

I really wasn't pleased with the book, however, I did enjoy some of the artwork. It seems to be written well and the pictures contain captions and quotes. Some of the images are dark and with the content here I'm really surprised to hear that children have read it-even being that it's fantasy. My most favorite story in the book was "Haunter of the Birch Forest" which is a Russian folktale about a girl named Vasilisa.

I liked some of it, but overall, this volume just isn't for my taste. I don't want to rate it based on my opinion of the subject matter so I'll give it 3 stars for how it's written and the artwork it contains. I hope to enjoy some of the other volumes...

3*** ( )

My favorite of the series. ( )

These type books are undoubtedly interesting, but I have always found the format used a bit distracting the way the boxed excerpts interfere with the chapter being read. One must finish reading the chapter before going back to read what is in the boxes, or read through those sections first & then go back to the beginning to read the chapter in full. ( )