"A world of living legend, peopled by centaurs,golems, harpies, and primitive but shrewd humans. . . all this in a mysterious realm of Starflux and Earthflux, closer to the primordial chaos than the world we know, and told in a style at once familiar and fantastic, homely and horrific. I was completely caught up in the saga. "Fritz Leiber"It's always exciting to discover a new dimension in the work of a writer you think you know pretty well. The Island Under the Earth reveals that Avram Davidson is at one of those points of discovery and renewal. He's opened out into pure, funny, stimulating fantasy with something more than grace and easiness. "Peter S. Beagle