I don’t do book reviews nearly as often as I would like. One reason is b/c I need time to prepare all that snark, b/c I have read some truly dreadful book (see my Twilight posts, and be warned, New Moon is coming soon). The other reason is b/c I have not read enough books that I feel are truly good enough to recommend here. If I am gonna say “this is awesome, go read it now” and sign my name to it I want it to live up to some great expectations.
Not since I read the Kushiel’s Legacy series have I read a book that rocked so much.
Warrior by Marie Brennan (originally published as Doppleganger) is pretty much how you would write Strong Female Protagonist™, w/o the cliches common in modern pop culture, and w/o confusing her w/ a Female Protagonist who happens to be strong. Not only was (were) the main character(s) believable and likable, and the story intriguing, but the book as a whole is written w/ all the remarkable traits of the women whose story this is never being conditional on their gender. If anything, it might be the first novel I have read that finds women the default, which is so unusual in our day an age, and somewhat refreshing. The tired stereotype of a woman being second fiddle to a man and only existing in her role in a man’s world is found nowhere in this book.
Warrior (and its sequel, Witch), is set in a fantasy realm where magic and witchcraft are an everyday common trade. Two main specialized worlds exist, those of the Witches of Starfall, and those of the Hunters who run training schools. Magic is practiced as a hereditary worship of the Goddess in five aspects, Maiden, Bride, Mother, Crone, and Warrior, each associated w/ five elements, Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and The Void respectively. Each element has it’s own dominance in magic, except for The Void, which is thought to be the absence of magic, being that the Warrior aspect is absent from the Witch. Void magic is thought to be impossible.
Magic is worked using song, and a Witch is trained from infancy to carry her voice, and later sent to school to learn the metaphysics and practical applications of the craft. Hunters are divided into several schools, and students begin their training as early as ten to become the foremost spies, hunters, assassins, and mercenaries in the realm. In Brennan’s books women and men train side by side in Hunter schools w/ no mentioned difference in their skills based on their gender (and as of the first book, only women train as Witches, but more on that when I review Witch).
In fact, the protagonist (er, one of) is named Mirage, and she is the best Hunter any school has ever seen, even though she began her training three years late. Her skills and abilities are legend, and at a young age she has accomplished more than most Hunters will in their lifetime. She never fails to get her mark, and b/c of her reputation she is sought out by her former Headmaster to handle, along w/ her yearmate Eclipse, a very delicate assignation. To investigate the apparent assassination of a high ranking Witch. It is important to note that her whole life Mirage is mistaken for a Witch, due to her having a particular red hue of hair characteristic to a seemingly genetic trait of all Witches. Partly b/c of this Mirage has grown a disdain for Witches.
Miryo, (sort of) the other protagonist, is a woman who is just about to take her final test to become a full Witch, capable of having and using the magic she is born to wield. During her test something goes horribly wrong, and Miryo discovers something about her own past that she never knew. In order for a Witch to study magic a channel is formed magically at birth in a ritual performed by the infant’s mother, creating a block on that magic to protect the child until she is ready to handle the magic, and a doppleganger. Usually this double is a soulless shell and the mother kills it immediately, but for some reason Miryo’s doppleganger still lives, and now she is tasked by the Prime Witches to find her double and kill it herself. If the doppleganger lives Miryo’s magic will be uncontrollable and could kill her, they tell her, and only she can complete this task. Since the doppleganger is, in theory, a part of the witch that she can not control she will be unable to control her magic.
Through twists of fate and a complex web of machinations in the Witch world, Miryo and Mirage find themselves linked in ways they had never dreamed, and find themselves facing a difficult dillema: Only one of them can continue to live, lest they both be killed by Miryo’s uncontrollable magic. They also find that there may be more to that than either of them had ever considered.
On to the goods and the bads.
The goods.
I completely love the way that gender never figures into the abilities of the characters in this world. Never once do I have to read that Mirage is incredibly gifted for a girl, or that even among boys she was still the best. She is just the best. And not one person can contest it.
At this point in the story, only women ever become Witches, but there is much pondering as to why this is. Why only the girl children? Do Witches even give birth to sons? Is magic only available to the girl children? The traditional way of studying and using magic hasn’t been questioned for years until the issue of the doppleganger arises, and now suddenly it seems that some are curious.
While the story only ever hints at the heterosexual families that allow for the birthing of new Witches, the Traditional Family™ is not the standard. Some witches take lovers to become pregnant, and some marry, and neither is viewed as a better than the other. Also interesting to me is that not once in the story did anyone come anywhere close to developing a romantic relationship. The thoughts of relationships of this nature are afterthoughts and backstories. While there was plenty of opportunity for the most protagonist(s) to be written into the cliche corner of romance w/ the most prominent male character, Eclipse, it never happens, and isn’t even a possibility.
I love the way this universe handles the thoughts of magic and the Goddess, who is even accepted as the major deity among non-witches, but there is no oppressive nature to worship. Some do it, some don’t, but everyone seems to believe that Witches are directly descended from her. The division of the elements and inclusion of The Void was something so intriguing that I spent a lot of time out of the book pondering the concept.
The action and fight scenes are vivid and well written. Often when I am reading a fantasy book the fight scenes leave me slightly confused. Brennan writes fighting so well that I can actually see it happening in my mind. I was able to get what I call “In the book” so well that I could be startled easily. Also, since there is a tangible aspect to magic (song), the working of magic is also described beautifully, and it is also another element of the book that helps me get In the Book.
The bads.
Like I said, there is a hint of heteronormativity that appears. While there is no romantic theme in the book at all, it is alluded to. One thing I loved about the Kushiel’s series was that homosexuality was just as natural as any other kind of sexuality. Jacqueline Carey seemed committed to the concept of Love as Thou Will, no matter w/ whom that love is directed. There was no privileging of one over the other. Warrior and Witch don’t have room to explore this concept since there is no romantic storyline, but I got the feeling that if there was, it would be het only.
While skin and race descriptions are practically non-existent, the fact that all Witches are born w/ and characterized by their red hair led me to believe that white was the norm. That there was no explanation to the contrary I have to assume that it was assumed that everyone would be white. I find the erasure of race troubling, b/c I think too often, even in fantasy genres, that entertainment media tends to be whitewashed. If you don’t believe me, just look at the cast of the upcoming movie, The Last Airbender. Again, in the Kushiel’s series there were obvious differences in people’s appearance and ethnicities, and Carey described them as such, painting each body as beautiful as the next, no matter the color or size. One could justify by saying that the setting was predominantly a European style, but I still find the lack of variances notable.
I was uncomfortable w/ the use of “bitch” as an insult, and it was used several times. W/ the clever creation of new curses based on the beliefs of the realm, I think it could have been done away w/.
Also, when a Witch student fails her final test it is believed that she becomes insane and that her body is too weak a vessel for the magic. They believe her mind changed and she becomes a Cousin, women who look like Witches but have no magical powers and live to be servants and protectors of the Witches. In the first book I found their treatment slightly appalling, and saw that sometimes they were little more than warm furniture. It wasn’t until the second book that I found the issue of The Cousins addressed, and the issue is explored at length w/ a pleasantly surprising outcome. What made me uncomfortable in the first book was resolved in Witch, but I thought it worth noting.
For all of that, I have to highly recommend Warrior, and its sequel Witch. If you enjoyed Kushiel’s heroine you will enjoy this book as well, I believe.
You can read more about Brennan and her subsequent works at her website, which I linked above.
