My first time reading Morris, and what a curious book! Just before the beginning of the 20th Century, Morris affected to write in something resembling Early Modern English. This struck me as a bit silly at first, until I found the rhythm of his prose. It's actually very beautiful.
Another reviewer on Goodreads described the story as "horny". There are no descriptions of sex, but the entire work is suffused with a graceful eroticism.
I somewhat regret opting to read The Wood Beyond the World for the first time as a Kindle edition from an unknown publisher. Morris was a textile artist, printer, and typeface designer who first published the book through his own Kelmscott Press. Apparently, there's a Dover edition that is a facsimile of the original 1894 printing. I must have that for my shelf, and must read the rest of Morris' work.

After a fair start, this was actually pretty damn tedious. Some nice ideas but generally squandered in the self-consciously archaic telling. Could've done with less time spent in the golden hall as well, that section dragged.

This wasn't actually half-bad, for a late Victorian-era tale of faerie. Some predictably problematic things -- like the Maid's magic being dependent on her virginity -- but also some sort of interesting aspects, like the fact that the protagonist ends up being little more than a witness (well, part witness and part tool used by either side) in the central battle of magic and deception between two powerful women.

Este señor no se ha esforzado en montar una novela con el más mínimo sentido así que yo tampoco voy a esforzarme en escribirle una reseña. Solo diré que es lo más malo que he leído en mucho tiempo

якщо зі справжніми жінками у вільяма морріса були хоч наполовину такі специфічні стосунки, як із персонажками, то йому мусило цікаво житися. з головним героєм пов'язані три жінки: перша – дружина, якої читачі не бачать, але яка його, бідного й бездоганного, зраджує, призводячи зрештою до кривавої різанини між родинами, і від якої він тікає за моря; друга – могутня чаклунка (мабуть), яка його заманює до себе й тримає невідомо нащо, але точно зі злим умислом, може, щоб помучити свою служницю; третя – служниця другої, волоока діва з надприродними силами, які в неї зникнуть після сексу, тому вони з героєм, закохавшись із першого погляду, вирішують одне одного не торкатися (саме так. вочевидь, якщо закохані торкнуться, у них одразу ненавмисно вийде секс), доки не визволяться від чарівниці, але потім вона з радістю від цих здібностей відмовляється, бо нащо магія, коли є муж. і от ці три пані рухають сюжет. цікаво спостерігати, як герой ніби весь такий герой, але все, що з ним відбувається, стається майже без його участі, силами довколишніх жінок.
і, як на вікторіанську книжку, дуже багато голих людей.

It's horribly boringly written. It feels like William Morris was trying to be very medieval and epic, and... *sigh* it wasn't poetic and beautiful, it was boring, tedious, irritating.
The story itself... A boy is married to a beautiful woman who is unfaithful and he loses everything, and goes away and never comes back. He finds an even more beautiful woman, and becomes a king of a faraway place, and... *sigh* *sigh* *sigh*

I kept expecting the heroine to be a villain, and the villain to be a heroine, and I really cannot understand why --- killed ---, and... I mean they didn't even love that one.
I don't understand why all these people loved this book, or story. It's seriously just a very bad version of fairytales, especially those from [b:The Arabian Nights|93101|The Arabian Nights|Anonymous|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1617241455l/93101._SY75_.jpg|859375]. Read those instead.
Oh, and the style reminds me of [a:Edgar Rice Burroughs|10885|Edgar Rice Burroughs|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207155710p2/10885.jpg] (Read him instead)

I don't like anything about this book... well... the design is nice, I suppose.

The hero is irritating, boring milksop, full of himself. I think we are supposed to see him as something positive.
The heroine is... I suppose there's some promise in her.
The witch mistress is... mostly confusing. I seriously don't understand why she is supposed to be so scary, when she never really does anything scary. She just says things and Looks. Frankly, the only reason we have to believe she's evil is that the heroine says she is.
The prince is an a-hole, though we are to believe he's a good guy. He is totally fine raping the heroine. It's not rape if she is a slave. It's not rape if she says "yes", even though you threaten to harm her if she refuses. It's not rape if she's pretty.
The racist caricature is basically nothing more than that.
Nobody has any character development, or any consequences for their actions. I don't think William Morris really understood fairytales at all.
The way the people choose their kings is... WTF?
I am kind of impressed by the Bear People episode.

This was only okay in part because after reading the Well At The World's End I had extraordinarily high expectations. This book has lovely, lyrical prose but the story seemed confused and I object to two big things. Thing 1: the female characters had no names, only archetype appellations like The Lady and the Maid. Thing 2: the female characters did all the big work of the story and plot while the protagonist, Walter, seemingly gets all the benefit and never bothers to learn anyone's name. Grrrr…. I object.

3.6* I love William Morris especially News from Nowhere so am a bit bias, but it was a good story and made me wish I could live in a fantasy world. It makes you feel like a child again when you believed in ideals and could get lost in dreams.