By now much ink has been devoted to the originality and emotional conviction of the Pinis' tale, and of course Wendy's artistic skills need no further explanation. However, it is good to see, once again, the sheer quality - and expressiveness - of the artist's pencil-work as originally presented; some of this was obscured by the mediocre coloring of the editions published since the late Eighties (quite unlike the elegant coloring-work of the earlier Donning versions of the first four volumes, still worth having after all these years).
It has been said many times before, but it should be said, again, that the Pinis demonstrate their storytelling prowess by breaking the conventions of fantasy fiction; most importantly, the fulfillment of the quest is seen to be costly, even in the loss both of lives and innocence; and the battle, though necessary for the elves to reach their goal, is not their be-all and end-all - the truly life-changing events lie further ahead. The climax of this story possesses a nuance and thoughtfulness worthy of "real" fiction, and this, even more than the superlative artwork, gives the tale its substance and emotional power.
A final note on the presentation: some printing errors have unfortunately crept into this Reader's Collection book (as they also have in volumes 5 and 12a (the first printing only) of the series) - many pages are out of their proper order, so if you are new to EQ, try to find and earlier edition of Book 4 to enable yourself to follow the plot correctly. That caution aside, it is good to have the original EQ storyline again - now priced to gain a new audience.
But to end this, I tell you: Wendy and Richard teach us in every book , and they tell about life.