Editing The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (section)

===Literary critics===

Literary critic Neil Philip devoted a chapter to both ''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen'' and ''The Moon of Gomrath'' in his book ''A Fine Anger: A Critical Introduction to the Work of Alan Garner'' (1981). He noted that it had become "fashionable to condemn Garner's early work, perhaps because of his own dismissive attitude to it."<ref name="Philip 1981. p. 23"/> He argued that the two books "may be flawed", but that "they are arguably Garner's most popular books; certainly it is on them that his reputation as a purely children's author rests."<ref name="Philip 22">[[#Phi81|Philip 1981]]. p. 22.</ref> Philip argued that ''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen'' suffers from a "lack of characterisation"; its "most serious flaw". Yet he also felt that the book had much to commend it, with a narrative that while "unstructured", was "gripping and enthralling", holding the reader's attention and keeping them "guessing what is going to happen next."<ref name="Philip 24">[[#Phi81|Philip 1981]]. p. 24.</ref> He commented on "Garner's assured, poetic command of English", with a writing style that is "more fleshy, more prolix than the pared-down economy of Garner's later style".<ref name="Philip 24"/>

In the 2005 book ''Horror: Another 100 Best Books'', edited by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman, Muriel Gray's article for ''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen'' described it with expressions such as "truly gripping," "beautifully crafted" and "a young person's introduction to horror."{{citation needed|date= January 2022}}