Melusine: Amazon.co.uk: Sarah Monette: Books

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7 Reviews

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3.6 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read it!, 22 Jul 2007

By	E. Holgate "Fiction Gannet" (Nottingham, England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Melusine (Mass Market Paperback)

I ordered this book in a bulk buy here at Amazon, desperate to find something decent to read. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately ordered its sequel and forgot about everything else, including a certain young wizard called Harry.

Told from the perspective of two very different characters, the narrative reflecting (often humorously) their opposing circumstances, it is not a typical fantasy fiction. First of all, neither character is thrust at the reader as immediately likeable or vice versa; they're both flawed enough to remain interesting and entertaining. The world isn't introduced in bombardments of politics and history - you're flung in at the deep end, which though confusing initially is quick to make an impression and means that Monette doesn't have to toil through page after page of tedious explanation later on. We're nicely spoon-fed bits and pieces as we need it so that the plot development doesn't suffer.

It's the relationship between the two main characters, Felix and Mildmay that keeps the book so fresh though. Far from conventional but a pleasure nonetheless.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fine start and a plodding finish, 4 Jan 2007

By	T. Manninen (Helsinki, Finland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Melusine (Mass Market Paperback)

This book starts out very well. I like the way the naming conventions of this book bring to mind Viriconium by M. John Harrison, even if we are more in the often too-self-conscious and secretly conservative New Weird tradition of Mieville and Vandermeer, rather than the no-holds-barred radical enthusiasm of original New Wave.

There are two viewpoint characters, an effeminate mage who is a former prostitute and a street-wise cat-burglar whose manner of speech isn't too affected to be unbelievable even if the conspicuous repetition of the word "septad" for "seven" is annoying and they are both a little cliched and foreseeable in their actions. So, beyond some conservative character-presentation there is a well-realised city-state with a seeming wealth of history behind it (well brought out even with only passing reference to characters, legends and events in the city's past).

The fall into madness of one of these characters is handled very well though there comes a moment when one wonders whether the writer had trouble deciding how to use a madman as the narrator of events meant to hasten the overall plot. These hesitations come off as a bit tedious, especially in the second half when the action transforms into a roadtrip and the most interesting things the characters think about for almost a hundred pages are whether or not they can find food and an inn, or if they have to steal things, again, for far too many times. The only thing offered as a reason for this prolonged plodding is an event the two protagonists have to stage, described as very meaningful, but using the madman as the one who has both the necessary information to explain this event and at the same time no means to offer a coherent explication of it makes the whole event meaningless. In the end it is passed over rather quickly. After this, for the rest of the trip we get a sea voyage and a prolonged descent into variations upon the same theme in the closed quarters of a ship's hold: how can the other guy not make the other guy go more mad. They get nowhere, the same chain of thought is repeated over and over again. Yadha yadha. At least this reader was left with a feeling of utter boredom. The final ending does pick up a little and there are some nice embedded stories.

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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Melusine, 23 Aug 2006

By	sjanee "sjanee" (Bradford, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Melusine (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed this book very much and found it hard to put down once I got into it. The book is set in the city of Melusine and has two main characters, Felix Harrowgate who is a wizard and Mildmay The Fox who is a thief and assassin. The perspective swops between these two characters for the whole of the book and you get to know them quite well - they have both been emotionally and mentally scarred by events in their pasts but are still worthwhile people even if know one else has cottoned on. I can't wait to read the next book about the pair - called The Vitu.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Gah.
Although I understand Melusine to be the first book by a new author, I am sorry to say that I truly find little at all promising about her work. Read more

Published 15 months ago by xenofan

5.0 out of 5 stars Magic and mastery in the mythical Mirador of Melusine
Lord Felix Harrowgate, a handsome and revered wizard or hocus, and the disfigured Mildmay the Fox, a common cat burglar, are the narrators of this story. Read more

Published on 12 May 2007 by Benjamin

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst type of fantasy
This is dire. The plot is almost completely incoherent, with cardboard cut out characters appearing and disappearing with dizzying speed. Read more

Published on 2 Feb 2007 by P. W. H. Bradley

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun.
This is one of the best reads I've come across this past year. Great lead charactors, unexpected turns and very well written.

Published on 2 Oct 2006 by David Keith

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