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. They don’t seem to be numbered in any way. I decided to start with Wizards and Witches by Brendan Lehane and so I’m titling this volume #1.

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. I’m usually the first one to hold strong to the statement, “It’s just fantasy,” but there are some very dark volumes here which make it inappropriate for children in my opinion.

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.

Volumes I have are:

• Wizards and Witches
• Legends of Valor
• Fabled Lands
• Giants and Ogres
• The Book of Christmas
• Dragons
• The Fall of Camelot
• Dwarfs
• Seekers and Saviors
• Water Spirits
• Fairies and Elves
• The Book of Beginnings
• Magical Justice
• Spells and Bindings
• Magical Beasts
• Ghosts
• Night Creatures

Volumes I need:

• Gods and Goddesses
• The Secret Arts
• Tales of Terror
• The Lore of Love

The author of Wizards and Witches, Brendan Lehane, is the same author on two other volumes – The Book of Christmas and Legends of Valor.

The next volume I plan to read is Magical Beasts

Please check back for more reviews and feel free to comment below with thoughts and suggestions!