Melusine...
Sep. 18th, 2006 09:48 amYesterday I read Melusine by Sarah Monette. Fantasy. I was drawn to it because of the title - Melusine was a legendary medieval witch-creature supposed to have been the ancestor of the Plantagenet and the Lusignan families.
This book has nothing to do with that. Melusine is a fictional place, a city-state run by lords and wizards. The story is told by two narrators, who at first seem to be unconnected, contrasts in every way. Lord Felix Harrowgate is a respected magician at court, a tall, beautiful man with long red hair - he is the only redhead in Melusine; his lover, Lord Shannon, is the ruler's heir. They live in the palace. Felix's narrative is told in articulate, gracious language, even when he is raving mad.
Mildmay the Fox is a wiry man with short dark hair and a scar across his face, by profession a cat burglar and occasional murderer-for-hire. He is earthy and practical. His lover, Ginevra, occasionally sells herself to rich men. Mildmay lives in the shabbier sections of lowertown, and writes in snappy slang, cursing a lot.
Felix has a dramatic fall from grace when enemies at court expose his past as an ex-whore from the slums. Enslaved again by Malkar, the evil magician who made him a lord, Felix is raped and used in a magic spell to take down the court, framed for the act, entrapped by spells that silence him and cloud his thought. Even immured in a hospital for the insane, Felix cannot escape the terrifying wizards, ghosts and nightmares in his mind. Nor can he escape the lords of the court, who bring him back for the information he can't give them.
Mildmay has his own assorted problems with both the criminals and the law, and eventually meets up with Felix. By this time, Felix's hair has been shorn and Midlmay's hair-dye is gone, and they look remarkably alike. Coincidence?