SOURCE: A review of The Folk of the Air, in Los Angeles Times Book Review, February 1, 1987, pp. 1, 9.

In the review below, Charnas argues that despite minor problems with its structure and plot, The Folk of the Air is well written and superior to Beagle's earlier novels.

Like the hero of this book, who returns to friends from his wanderings, Peter Beagle returns, with The Folk of the Air, to the company of publishing novelists. Beagle's first two novels, A Fine and Private Place and The Last Unicorn, were fantasies that won great popular response in the '60s No further books have come from this author for 18 years.

About 10 years ago at a fantasy and science fiction convention, I heard him read aloud from a work-in-progress that, rumor had it, he was having great trouble completing. Now here is the finished book at last, and it is a...