Author: Sarah Monette
Cover Artist: Judy York
Publisher: ACE
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: August 2005

Before I get into the actual content of my review of the debut novel from author Sarah Monette, I want to point out an apparent publishing decision regarding Melusine. I can see the logic of why it wouldn’t be noted, but since I have no way to confirm it (or rather I don’t wish to), I am just going to assume the reasoning for the non-existent mention that Melusine is indeed only the first installment of what is at least a planned duology was due to a mere oversight. I feel compelled to mention this as I have had more then one person ask me about the ending of Melusine, not to mention my own personal experience reading the latter portions of the novel, as rather in a Poirot-like manner, I was stressing the gray cells trying to formulate how Ms. Monette was going to conclude all the various plotlines in satisfactory fashion, the threat of the dreaded a deus ex machina-like, or dare I say, newcombesque (let me copyright that) ending looming in the back of my mind. So, again, just for the purposes of clarification, Melusine is only the initial offering to Ms. Monette’s story.

Although taken slightly off balance by this minor revelation, the idea of a second novel is thankfully not repugnant, as Ms. Monette has proven with Melusine that she wields a capable and elegant narrative, a quality in form that isn’t absent even when depicting scenes reverse in nature. A telling sign was that my first thought after completing Melusine was not a question that started with ‘where’, but with ‘when’ which was kindly answered by Ms. Monette. The continuation of the story will be available in July next year, titled ‘The Virtu’.

The city of Melusine has experienced a crisis. The impossible has been accomplished, and through the darkest violations of both arcane and physical means, the Virtu has been destroyed. The Virtu, an artifact of not entirely known and transcendental qualities, both associated with the efficiency of, and the application of magical abilities granted to the city’s wizard class (called hocuses by some Lower City dwellers). Inhabitants of the city of all walks of life feel its loss, if not directly as with practitioners of the magic, still equally to the common folk, due to the symbolic nature of the talisman that had taken on the role of a city monument, a source of caste crossing pride. We get what I feel is a very honest, and I think one that is reflective of a great portion of the population, insight on the significance of the act of vandalism on the populace’s psyche from Mildmay, a cat burglar, and principle character in Melusine:

“The Mirador talked a lot of mystic bullshit about purity and strength – the name “Virtu” was some kind of clever dick Martahine-Midlander. The hocuses in the Lower City talked about focusing and matrices, and made even less sense then the official line. All I knew for sure was that all the hocuses in the Mirador swore oaths on the Virtu every single day, and that was what kept the Mirador from tearing itself apart. No matter how you felt about the hocuses sitting on top of the city like a pack of vultures, you didn’t want the Virtu broken”

Through the perspective of two characters; both from alternating first person point-of-views, Ms. Monette spins a tale of two paths, each vastly different from the other, yet connected at the ends. One of these characters, a wizard of Mirador, Felix Harrowgate, a comely and eccentric who played the role of aristocracy with haughty normality befitting one accustomed to the beau monde. Felix will find his relationship with a member of the ruling family, Shannon Teverius; end in tabloid-like scandal, and unable to run away from his humble past, even in the opulence of the elite. He is both actor and puppet, and goes back to the last person he desires to see, however, at the same time truly he would go to no one else even if he had such a choice. Malkar. Felix describes the reunion with his former and in reality his present master “The damnation I sought had come to find me”.

Felix will be implicated in a most grievous crime against state, and at the same time sinking into a state of delirium, as he embarks on a journey driven by daunting, unseen powers - or perhaps simply by madness.

The aforementioned cat burglar, who goes by numerous monikers except the one that is best known, Mildmay the Fox is our other window into Monette’s world. Mildmay, is a grounded and savvy denizen of Melusine, not prompted just due to his profession, but a characteristic of just being a resident of the Lower City. Mildmay’s acceptance of offering his services for a simple jewel heist, will lead him to a classic gothic favorite, a graveyard meeting with Vey Coruscant, who also went by Christine Cooper, or Desiree Vaumond, but when people of the lower city whispered her name it was more often Queen Blood. Mildmay will find love, and find himself a fugitive actively being searched for by the law, fleeing from Melusine in the company of a tarot reading hocus and his assistant.

Both Felix and Mildmay are given intriguing back-stories rendered partly through the haze and at times clarity of madness in the former, and stories from the latter. These flashbacks give both character depth, and the reader understanding to their present make-up, and even more important we catch mention of the settings history in a fashion much more enjoyable then common information dumps that plague many debut works. Through Felix we get a surreal fall from grace, and Mildmay a redemptive journey, as they both embark on path and find their identities, each burdened by indentured pasts.

I mentioned we get two character perspectives, but in the interest of veracity there are really three. The third in fact puts everything in perspective and it is the city of Melusine itself, giving it an organic quality, as real and as alive as any character that dwells there. Our view of the city is not hindered, but panoramic. Melusine is a city that has the potential to become a favorite fantasy setting. No, we are not talking Ambergis, Viriconium, or New Crobuzon, but one that deserves merit potentially just under the genre’s elite. From the pomp of Mirador to the Dickensian back alleys of the lower city, and particularly through Mildmay’s narrative point we are introduced to a city that is both fantastic, mysterious, and ever expansive, while still appealing to our sense of familiarity. It’s a city of true wonder however still follows a law that is present no matter where we are, a law of true irony, as Mildmay tells us:

“There’s only four packs that run the rooftops. I was on pretty good terms with three of them, but the guy who lead the fourth wasn’t going to be happy until he had my balls on his watch chain. So-you can see it coming can’t you? - there ain’t nobody I can meet, coming home across the Corandina roof in the dark, expecting only Rindleshin and a septad worth of his pack. It’s the way things work.”

As one can tell from that last excerpt, Ms. Monette not only gifts applicable characters with credible slang, she spices the language with some of her own that don’t become annoyances due to the repetition she exercises in their usage. She inhabits her setting with peripheral characters, and no they are all portrayed as three-dimensional people, but as in with all efforts rendered using a first person narrative they are depicted in relation to the perspective and role they serve to our two vantage points in – unlike all, it is effectively accomplished in Melusine. Malkar,is a classic gothic villain, reminiscent of possible Radcliffe, and Lewis influences in his audacity.

There were some hindrances in my reading of Melusine. A tendency for an episodic feel did crop up in my reading. The links between some diverse and fascinating scenes felt ever so slightly contrived, as certain scenarios didn’t add up for me, particularly in the manner of how characters got separated with each other in the novel. There are a lot of ideas, but it seemed some segues leading up to them might have been deemed expendable during the editorial process, as although I read them with interest, I couldn’t always rationalize some actions by the characters. The actual methodology behind the talents of the wizard classes (hocuses) weren’t really explained to my satisfaction, I came away not know what makes a hocus a hocus, and the apparent factional differences of the class, although Monette leaves the groundwork for it. The ramifications of the destruction of the Virtu on the city of Melusine from a defense/sovereignty standpoint, is referred to ominously, but its effect is limited due to the readers ignorance about the political climate of the region. This is easily explained away due to our knowledge and perspective being limited to Mildmay and Felix; however, such an important element to the sequence of events seemed reduced in stature due to the lack of information in this regard.

The aspect of Melusine that’s really stand out, and ultimately what really promoted my feelings regarding the novel even above the setting and language, is it’s an absolute outstanding study of relationships. Monette confronts us with relationships in all forms, and deftly shows us the power of each. The different relationships revolve around Mildmay and Felix and involve both characters from their past and present. Felix’s relationship with Malkar, and his love life with Shannon, was already noted, but his relationship with all characters, particularly his surreal but symbolic perceptions, manifesting themselves in hallucinations, of those surrounding him in his fits of madness were terrific outlooks on the supporting characters. Mildmay was a particularly delight; in the course of the story we will see him in a romantic relationship, gang leaders who want him dead, a proprietor of a church who has a monopoly on discrete travel in Melusine who shares the same feeling, his meetings with Cardenio, Mildmay’s best friend, which was given added relevance because of its contrasting normality. The relationships change, are not something taken for granted by the author, and the ties between characters have a tangible quality, and displayed in their actions and thought processes. When reading Melusine; the reader will note a particularly powerful scene between Mildmay and Margot, friend, and character that can be associated with a “kidsmen” of 1800’s London, that shows the limits of friendship, and at the same time as its strength. Monette really impresses here.

Melusine is a daring debut, the beginning of a gothic influenced fantastic journey, rendered in an elegant and introspective narrative that will introduce us to the setting of Melusine, where hocuses and street urchins and everything in between dwell, where clandestine business arrangements with blood witches are more than just stories, where death curses are real, where unknown predators lurk in the river, and citizens are tortured in asylums, and where all live by these words of one of the city’s preeminent cat burglars:

“if you live in the Lower City of Melusine, you keep your eye on the Mirador all the time, same way you would with a swamp adder. It’s just common sense.”

There are haunted towers, mazes to the afterlife, and a wonderful history that Monette touches on, even if only in passing, that gives the feel and hopefully promise of even more possibilities

I really enjoyed Melusine despite the noted flaws, however, I think it’s a novel that isn’t going to garner something near a consensus opinion, either positive or negative that we expect in many novels. For myself, I look forward to returning to Melusine with Mildmay and Felix, next year.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon!

Related Entries

Topics: ACE, Judy York, Melusine, Sarah Monette