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Mélusine (The Doctrine of Labyrinths)
£1.40
“[An] extraordinary first fantasy novel focuses on two captivating characters . . . [A] highly original writer with her own unique voice.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
From an award-winning author, the first book in the spellbinding series, The Doctrine of Labyrinths
Welcome to Mélusine , a city as wondrous as it is corrupt. Within its walls lies a stronghold of power and magic, a shining setting for the brilliant Felix Harrowgate. A well-respected wizard and darling of the court, Felix harbors sordid secrets from his peers in the aristocracy: a dark past in which a sadistic wizard enslaved him body and mind, even as he schooled Felix in how to walk among noblemen as if he were one of them. An abuser Felix believes himself free of, until a return to his former master’s lair leads to his harrowing fall from grace.
Broken, lost, Felix finds an unlikely accomplice in Mildmay the Fox. Trained to be an assassin, surviving as a thief, Mildmay knows what it is to be hunted. When fate brings the weakened wizard and the wanted killer together, they escape Mélusine, traveling through strange lands where they encounter peculiar magic and powerful demons. A world where shocking secrets will be laid bare—dark truths that will bind them together forever.
“A lush novel, rife with decadent magic.” —Jacqueline Carey, New York Times–bestselling author of the Kushiel’s Legacy series
“A spellbinding, gut-wrenching, breathtaking quest that resonates with truth and heart.” —Joan D. Vinge, Hugo and Locus award-winning author of The Snow Queen
“[Addison’s] characters deserve a standing ovation.” —Booklist, starred review
Originally published under the name Sarah Monette.
From an award-winning author, the first book in the spellbinding series, The Doctrine of Labyrinths
Welcome to Mélusine , a city as wondrous as it is corrupt. Within its walls lies a stronghold of power and magic, a shining setting for the brilliant Felix Harrowgate. A well-respected wizard and darling of the court, Felix harbors sordid secrets from his peers in the aristocracy: a dark past in which a sadistic wizard enslaved him body and mind, even as he schooled Felix in how to walk among noblemen as if he were one of them. An abuser Felix believes himself free of, until a return to his former master’s lair leads to his harrowing fall from grace.
Broken, lost, Felix finds an unlikely accomplice in Mildmay the Fox. Trained to be an assassin, surviving as a thief, Mildmay knows what it is to be hunted. When fate brings the weakened wizard and the wanted killer together, they escape Mélusine, traveling through strange lands where they encounter peculiar magic and powerful demons. A world where shocking secrets will be laid bare—dark truths that will bind them together forever.
“A lush novel, rife with decadent magic.” —Jacqueline Carey, New York Times–bestselling author of the Kushiel’s Legacy series
“A spellbinding, gut-wrenching, breathtaking quest that resonates with truth and heart.” —Joan D. Vinge, Hugo and Locus award-winning author of The Snow Queen
“[Addison’s] characters deserve a standing ovation.” —Booklist, starred review
Originally published under the name Sarah Monette.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy (11 July 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 5417 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 500 pages |
by sjanee
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.
by Manda Scott
I’ve worked back through most of Katherine Addison’s work, starting with The Goblin Emperor. The Melusine series came onto Kindle recently and I knew she could write proper sentences, that her characters have depth and emotional literacy and her world building is always utterly compelling.
What seems entirely unlikely is that Melusine and its 3 sequels are first novels. Because the super-complex world building is all there, the long, slow burn of really strong, deep central characters (truly, I could have slaughtered Felix half way through Virtu, but by the end…. He’s good. He’s really, really good), and language to die for – there are people who have been writing for decades who can’t do this.
Leaving the how-do-you-get-this-good-on-book-one question aside, though, this. *is* brilliant. All of the above is true. You want a week off, really, and a good anchoring in a reality that doesn’t feel like it’s crumbling around your ears (good luck with that) and ideally no distractions, and just…..lose yourself in the Doctrine of Labyrinths. You’ll be glad you did.
by Liz
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.
by Sallie Raven
What an excellant writer. On a par with Dorothy Dunnett, Jacqueline Carey and Guy Gavriel Kay. The story line is brill and truely gripping.
by David Jebb
Mélusine is a city of wizards, thieves and court intrigue.
Our first protagonist is Felix Harrowgate, a wizard whose efforts in getting himself to the top of society is destroyed when his past as a teenage prostitute is revealed. What follows is a descent into madness and a fall from grace.
Felix shares the first person narrative with Mildmay the Fox, a renowned thief who gets pulled into intrigues he doesn’t understand.
The premise and lushness of the ideas on offer here pulled me in and the first few chapters made me look forward to something wonderful. However, the promise of the early parts of the book was not fulfilled for me and for various reasons.
Firstly, the story: it didn’t go anywhere. Characters and subplots are introduced that made me think they would play some part in the narrative, only to be written out or resolved out of nowhere. Felix is a madhouse for pages and pages, an interlude which could have been more ruthlessly redacted as once we understand the depths of his traumatised mind we make no progress.
Another thing is the language. We are treated to beautiful, fantastical place names but with no idea of where they are or their relevance to the story it just becomes a confused jumble of jargon. In the same vein, we discover the lower classes use a base-seven counting system, using groups of seven called septads instead of the usual ten to count (eg. A septad and five instead of 12). And Mildmay reminds us of this at every turn. Walls a septad foot high, septad of years ago, when he had less than two septads of age… and it really is as annoying as that. Instead of giving us an idea of this, we are bashed over the head with it every page or so.
I didn’t end up finishing Mélusine and I’m glad I borrowed it from the Kindle lending library for free. There is some truly inspired world building here, but the story itself never takes off enough to be truly engaging.