Wonders of the Invisible World ★★★★☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Wonders of the Invisible World
Series: ----------
Author: Patricia McKillip
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 276
Words: 98.5K

Synopsis:

• "Introduction" by Charles de Lint

• "Wonders of the Invisible World" (from Full Spectrum 5, Aug. 1995) - a researcher goes back in time to record Cotton Mather's religious visions, finding his ravings not what they expected.

• "Out of the Woods" (from Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy, Jun. 2004) - a reflection on how magic is often missed by those searching for it.

• "The Kelpie" (from The Fair Folk, Jan. 2005) - a story of courtship and obsession illustrating the overlap between life and art.

• "Hunter's Moon" (from The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest, May 2002) - a seductive, chilling encounter with the dangers of Faerie.

• "Oak Hill" (from The Essential Bordertown, Aug. 1998) - an ugly young woman on the way to Bordertown is trapped in a terrifying cityscape known as Oak Hill, and explores it in search of magic.

• "The Fortune-Teller" (from The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales, Jun. 2007) - a young woman thieves a pack of strange cards from an unconscious roadside fortune-teller.

• "Jack O'Lantern" (from Firebirds Rising: An Anthology of Original Science Fiction and Fantasy, Apr. 2006) - a young girl struggling with the impending marriage of her sister seeks out magic during a picnic, fearing it will her last chance before she grows up.

• "Knight of the Well" (from A Book of Wizards, May 2008) - a society built around the veneration of water finds that element inexplicably rejecting them.

• "Naming Day" (from Wizards: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy, May 2007) - a teenage witch who cannot decide on her magical name is compelled to chase after an imp during the titular Naming Day Ceremony.

• "Byndley" (from Firebirds: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sep. 2003) - a man who once escaped the world of faerie seeks to return that which he stole.

• "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" (from A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales, Jul. 2000) - a macabre retelling of a traditional fairy tale.

• "Undine" (from The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm, Jun. 2004) - a water spirit falls victim to her own prey.

• "Xmas Cruise" (from Christmas Forever, Nov. 1993) - a surreal tale that follows two couples aboard an environmentalism cruise.

• "A Gift to Be Simple" (from Not of Woman Born, Mar. 1999) - a fictional pseudo-Christian religious faction realize that their numbers are dwindling and decide to take drastic action.

• "The Old Woman and the Storm" (from Imaginary Lands, Dec. 1985) - an allegory.

• "The Doorkeeper of Khaat" (from Full Spectrum 2, Apr. 1989) - a science fiction tale regarding two alien species with very different cultures, and the poet who attempts to cross that divide in search of meaning and art.

• "What Inspires Me: Guest of Honor Speech at WisCon 28, 2004"

My Thoughts:

I was sure that when I read Harrowing the Dragon last year that that was my last McKillip read until I started the cycle again. I'm not even sure how I stumbled across this book of her short stories but stumble I did and so I have one final McKillip to read and review.

McKillip is an odd duck when it comes to short stories. Some of them are so fantastic that you wonder why she doesn't stick with the format. Then you read some others and are like “Oh, that is why”. Some of these just ended, like she'd taken a butcher's knife to the story. It was very disconcerting. Others, you could see the same genius flitting about the story that she exhibits when writing her novels.

I did enjoy the final chapter where she talks about her life and writing. Now, as many of you know, I am firmly of the camp of “Authors are not People” so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading her recollections. I do need to track this down in hardcover and get a copy for my collection.

★★★★☆

• All of My "Patricia McKillip" Reviews

Harrowing the Dragon ★★★★☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Harrowing the Dragon
Series: ----------
Author: Patricia McKillip
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 185
Words: 86K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.com

"The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath" (from Elsewhere, Vol. II, Nov. 1982) - a young dragon harrower and a girl from a mining village clash over whether the land's long winter is caused by a dragon.

"A Matter of Music" (from Elsewhere, Vol. III, Apr. 1984)

"A Troll and Two Roses" (from Faery!, Jan. 1985)

"Baba Yaga and the Sorcerer's Son" (from Dragons and Dreams: A Collection of New Fantasy and Science Fiction Stories, Apr. 1986)

"The Fellowship of the Dragon" (from After the King: Stories in Honor of J. R. R. Tolkien, Jan. 1992) - Five young women are tasked by their queen with saving her lover, the court harper.

"Lady of the Skulls" (from Strange Dreams, Jul. 1993) - a story of personal transformation requiring a knight to look past what meets the eye.

"The Snow Queen" (from Snow White, Blood Red, Jan. 1993) - retelling the familiar fairy tale in a contemporary setting, highlighting the universality of love, loyalty and desire.

"Ash, Wood, Fire" (from The Women's Press Book of New Myth and Magic, Nov. 1993) - the story of a cinder-girl who has reduced the people around her to their functions as she sinks into her own essence.

"The Stranger" (from Temporary Walls: An Anthology of Moral Fantasy, Oct. 1993)

"Transmutations" (from Xanadu 2, Jan. 1994)

"The Lion and the Lark" (from The Armless Maiden and Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors, Apr. 1995) - a "beauty and the beast" retelling, in which a young woman loves a shapechanger, loses him, and must prove her love through many tests and trials.

"The Witches of Junket" (from Sisters in Fantasy II, Apr. 1996)

"Star-Crossed" (from Shakespearean Whodunnits, Sep. 1997) - the Verona constabulary investigate the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

"Voyage Into the Heart" (from Voyages: The 25th World Fantasy Convention, Nov. 4, 1999) a heartless hunt to acquire a unicorn's horn.

"Toad" (from Silver Birch, Blood Moon, Mar. 1999) - a "frog prince" retelling in which the prince is far from innocent.

My Thoughts:

It did not feel like it had been 13 years since my previous read of this book. While not quite “just yesterday”, if you had asked me point blank and I had to simply rely on my memory, I would have said from 5-8 years ago. How time flies!

This was a real mixed bag in terms of both interest and writing. Some stories were more interesting than others and some of the writing was much better than others. It also felt like McKillip was really experimenting with stuff and figuring out what worked for her and what didn't. Considering the stories were written between 1982 and 1999 I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

I wouldn't recommend this as a starting place for McKillip, as I feel that a familiarity with her style is necessary to be able to appreciate some of the very quirky stories told here. For someone with a couple of her books already under their belt, this would be a solid edition to your reading and to be able to experience some of her writing in shorter form.

This was the last McKillip book I had for this cycle of re-reads. I began back in 2017 with a re-read of The Tower at Stony Wood and now I end in 2020 with Harrowing the Dragon. Three years to read 21 of her books is just a win on every single count. I enjoyed them all, I hopefully praised them enough (I really think I did but covering my bases just in case, you know?) and I trust that I dragged at least one person into McKillip's sphere of influence.

So while this particular journey has ended, the road is still there and I know I can re-travel it any time I like. Perhaps in another 10-15 years. The question then will be who I am at that point and will you be around?

★★★★☆

• Harrowing the Dragon (2007 Review)

Kingfisher ★★★★½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Kingfisher
Series: ----------
Author: Patricia McKillip
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 302
Words: 87K

Synopsis:

From Tor.com & authored by Alyx Dellamonica

Pierce Oliver lives in a world that fuses our high-tech present day with the top-down political structure of a high fantasy medieval kingdom. It’s the kind of place where limousine-riding kings preside over jousts, where the court magicians argue over the academic citations and feminist interpretations of their ancient texts, and where the bastard princes are doing well if they manage to stay out of the tabloids. The country’s biggest ongoing problem is keeping its surplus of troublesome knights from taking it into their heads to overthrow the government.

When Pierce is a young man this hardly matters, because he lives in a small town far removed from the capital, a backwater whose existence is known to but a few. His home is in fact concealed by magic, an enchantment wielded by Pierce’s somewhat clingy mother, Heloise, a retired witch living incognito as a slow foods restaurateur. One day three knights stumble through town by accident, and by the time they’ve moved on, Pierce has decided to strike out on his own, seeking information on the father he never knew and–perhaps as importantly–cutting the apron strings that have bound him so tightly to his mother’s chosen refuge.

Packing up his car and charging his cell phone, Pierce heads down the road and almost immediately stumbles into–rather surprisingly–another restaurant, this one in a dilapidated hotel called the Kingfisher, a place that has fallen on hard times. There he encounters Carrie, a hard-working chef who also dreams of escaping her particular Nowheresville of a community. Pierce partakes of a peculiarly ritualistic fish fry there, before spending the night in one of their rooms. On his way out the door, he gives in to an irresistible not-quite-whim to filch a cooking knife from the place.

The theft, of course, is less a failure of moral fiber than a magical imperative, and by the time Pierce makes it to the capital, the effects of his minor act of banditry are reverberating throughout the land. The King has decided to declare a nationwide quest for… well, definitely for something. A grail? A relic? A fountain of youth? Whatever the Object in question is, his upstart knights will surely know it when they see it. In the meantime, if their motoring forth and scouring the kingdom keeps them from getting up to revolutionary scale trouble, so much the better.

The problem with this scheme is it isn’t entirely a PR scam. The quest Object is real enough, and the mere idea of seeking it sets off a feud between two major religions, a fight that breaks down more or less on gender lines: there’s a cult with masculine, metal-dominated values and a male god, and a watery, priestess-led faith centered in the ladies’ birthing chamber. Both sides are absolutely, positively sure that the quest’s Object belongs to their patron deity. And for at least some of the men and women on the hunt, this ambiguity is awesome, simply because it means they have a license to stampede around the whole countryside, kicking over lesser shrines, sifting through their relics, and beating on anyone who might object.

Carrie and Pierce have other problems too, in the form of a third restaurant owner, a slippery figure called Stillwater who is almost certainly in the know about whatever it is that has blighted the Kingfisher Inn. Now he has his sights set on Carrie herself, and is tempting her with job offers she definitely ought to refuse.

Publishers Blurb & Me

Hidden away from the world by his mother, the powerful sorceress Heloise Oliver, Pierce has grown up working in her restaurant in Desolation Point. One day, unexpectedly, strangers pass through town on the way to the legendary capital city. “Look for us,” they tell Pierce, “if you come to Severluna. You might find a place for yourself in King Arden’s court.”

Lured by a future far away from the bleak northern coast, Pierce makes his choice. Heloise, bereft and furious, tells her son the truth: about his father, a knight in King Arden’s court; about an older brother he never knew existed; about his father’s destructive love for King Arden’s queen, and Heloise’s decision to raise her younger son alone.

As Pierce journeys to Severluna, his path twists and turns through other lives and mysteries: an inn where ancient rites are celebrated, though no one will speak of them; a legendary local chef whose delicacies leave diners slowly withering from hunger; his mysterious wife, who steals Pierce’s heart; a young woman whose need to escape is even greater than Pierce’s; and finally, in Severluna, King Arden's youngest son, who is urged by strange and lovely forces to sacrifice his father’s kingdom.

Things are changing in that kingdom. Oldmagic is on the rise. The immensely powerful artifact of an ancient god has come to light, and the king is gathering his knights to quest for this profound mystery, which may restore the kingdom to its former glory—or destroy it.

In the end, Stillwater is recaptured by the women of Ravenshold, Prince Damion brings peace between Ravenshold and Wyvernshold, the magic is brought back in balance to the Kingfisher and the Holy Grail is revealed to be a magic cooking pot used at the Kingfisher.

My Thoughts:

The reason this still only gets 4.5stars instead of 5 is because of the cover. I'm sorry, but Kinuko Craft covers are the physical embodiment of the stories that McKillip tells. This bland, no-nothing cover is a blot. Now, that is the fault of the publishers, so I don't blame McKillip one iota but it still plays a part. Penguin, and their imprint Ace, should be heartily ashamed of themselves. In fact, I would gladly volunteer to help them commit seppuku for this disastrous, face shaming act they committed against this great book.

Now, there are some differences from her previous books. This takes place in “modern” times even while magic is in existence. There is also a much larger cast of characters. There are also several concurrent storylines instead of just the one or two. These various differences, while not bad, definitely contributed towards this feeling like a highly embroidered neckerchief instead of a wall scroll with one central picture. Smaller in scope but more “things” going on to keep one occupied.

I was thinking this was the last McKillip I had on my re-read journey and was pretty sad about that. It was coloring this whole read until about half-way through I realized I still had a collection of short stories to go through entitled Harrowing the Dragon. Then the sun came out, the birds began chirping and cherries fell directly into my mouth, already pitted. Life was wonderful again :-D

★★★★½

• Kingfisher (2016 Review)

The Bell at Sealey Head ★★★★★

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Bell at Sealey Head
Series: ----------
Author: Patricia McKillip
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 245
Words: 71K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

The small ocean town of Sealey Head has long been haunted by a phantom bell that tolls as evening falls. The sound is so common that many of the town's inhabitants do not even notice it, let alone questions its existence. Ridley Dow, a scholar from the city, comes to investigate the mystery, and sets up residence at the old inn owned by a young man named Judd and his ailing father. To aid Ridley, Judd enlists the help of his friend and love-interest Gwyneth, a young woman who writes her own stories to explain the bell.

On the other side of town is the ancient manor Aislinn House, whose owner, Lady Eglantine, lies dying. Emma, a servant in the house, is able to open doors that lead not into another room, but into another world. On the other side of Aislinn House's doors is castle where the princess Ysabo moves through her daily rituals, tasks that Ysabo hates and does not understand, but cannot question. While Emma and Ysabo are able to speak to one another, neither has ever tried to cross into the other's realm.

When Lady Eglantine's heir Miranda Beryl comes to Aislinn House, Sealey Head's secrets begin to reveal themselves, sometimes with dangerous consequences. Miranda brings to Sealey Head an entourage of friends from the city, as well as a strange assistant. As the town gets pulled deeper into the strange magic that Ridley, Judd, Gwyneth, and Emma uncover, Ridley breaches the border between Aislinn House and Ysabo's world. It is only when the bell's location and owner are discovered that Aislinn House and all of Sealey Head are able to return to safety.

My Thoughts:

I so enjoyed the time I spent reading this. While my reads in March were pretty cool, there is just something about McKillip's writing that soothes my soul.

Everything I might have to say I've said about McKillip before. I'm not going to repeat it. Beautiful language, highly recommended, go read it.

You Are Welcome.

★★★★★

• The Bell at Sealey Head (2009 Review)

Bards of Bone Plain ★★★★½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Bards of Bone Plain
Series: ----------
Author: Patricia McKillip
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 336
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

From the Wiki

The book is set in a culture reminiscent of the medieval era, but technologically near-modern, and in which archaeology is also an established profession. Scholar Phelan Cle of the Bardic School at Caerau chooses as his graduate thesis the subject of the perhaps mythical Bone Plain, where all poetry is said to have originated, and the tale of the wandering bard Nairn.

Meanwhile, archaeologist Jonah Cle, Phelan's alcoholic father, pursues his own investigations, urged on by his dedicated disciple Princess Beatrice, the king's youngest daughter. At the standing stones near the school is unearthed a strange artifact, a disk marked with ancient runes that may prove key to the mysteries of Bone Plain. Beatrice soon discovers indications of the lost language it represents everywhere.

Alternating chapters recount the activities of the Cles and the princess and the legend of Nairn, and gradually the present and past are revealed to mirror each other and ultimately fuse.

My Own Little Bit

Turns out Jonah is Nairn and that Welkin/Keldin is simply trying to reverse the curse Nairn brought upon himself from the first competition back in history. Jonah faces Keldin thinking he is taking his son's place but Keldin uses it to restore to Jonah his musical ability. Everybody lives happily ever after and Phelan's best friend Zoe Wrenn becomes the next Royal Bard, only now she knows about the magic in the music.

My Thoughts:

McKillip doesn't let me down. The mystery of language is explored in her typical lyrical way and the journey is beautiful with the way she crafts her story. As I noted in my 2011 review (linked below), she doesn't hide quite so much in poetic form so the overall story is easier to understand. I liked that last time but this time I'm not really so sure. I think I would have liked MORE mystery, not less!

McKillip has moved her writing from a straight Medieval to a late 1800^th Century, with automobiles and the like while still having bards and bardic schools. The magic is a given though, while most people in the story have forgotten that magic even exists.

With this move forward in time McKillip also brings forward some more modern ideas and those are what will keep this from being a 5star read for me. Several times she has unmarried couples sleeping together and that being completely normal. It was more striking to me because of its absence in her other works.

I've only got a couple more McKillip books to read through before this cycle of re-reads is over and honestly, I can tell I'm going to miss her stuff. I simply love her writing!

And finally, I'm including the full art spread for the cover by Kinuko Craft. They're just so beautiful.

★★★★½

• Bards of Bone Plain (2011 Review)

Od Magic ★★★★★

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Od Magic
Series: ----------
Author: Patricia McKillip
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 328
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Brenden Vetch saved most of his village from the plague but he couldn't save his parents. He learned the magic of plants all on his own and now he wanders, listening to what the plants tell him. One day a woman named Od appears before him and tells him to go to her school in the big city, as she needs a gardener. He'll know the entrance by the sign with the boot on it. Sick at heart and ready for a change, Brenden goes and finds the door. He enters, meets a wizard and finds out that only very special people ever find the door with the boot on it. All the other students enter through the front gate.

The King of the city, and his ancestors, started the school in honor of Od when she saved the kingdom hundreds of years ago. Slowly they have usurped its powers and decreed that only magic they control is allowed.

A wandering magician enters the city, only to entertain. But circumstances set the king off so he sets his own wizards on the trail of the magician to either control him or remove him and his troupe (said magician performs magics of illusions for the crowds) from the city.

At the same time the princess is to be married off to the head wizard, a man who is controlled completely by the rules of magic that the kings have set up. When she realizes this wizard will never allow her her own small magics taught her by her grandmother, she runs away to find the wandering magician to learn outside magic and to gain her freedom. This sets the King off even more.

At the same time Brenden accidentally shows what he is capable of to the head wizard. Realizing what he has done, Brenden runs away. The Head Wizard chases after him.

Everybody ends up in the North Country where there are 8 Stumps, which are beings of immeasurable power but who are afraid of humanity. Turns out Od is their representative to Humanity so they can all co-exist. Brenden must help the human magicians look beyond the limits they've set for themselves so that they won't be afraid of unknown magic.

My Thoughts:

This hit the spot. I really needed a good book after the stinkers I had last week. I slid right into the rhythm of the story like sliding into silk pajamas. My mind and senses felt caressed by the writing. It was just plain soothing.

There was a LOT going on. Brenden's story, the wandering Magician, the Princess, the Stumps, Od herself, and all of the side characters swept along by each of the main characters. In a good way, it was easy to lose myself in the story. But I never felt like McKillip lost a thread or made a mistep there. Each character was balanced within the overarching plot and at no time did I ever feel like a particular point of view was too long or too short. It just flowed together perfectly.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, every sentence of it. I had no issues with anything, well except maybe for wishing it was slightly longer, but I feel that way about every McKillip book. Of course, she writes just the right amount for the story she is telling.

If you haven't started to read McKillip's body of work by now, then nothing I can say will galvanize you. You won't get any contempt from me, just pity. And trust me, getting pitied by me means you're pretty low on the totem pole...

★★★★★

• Od Magic (2005 Review)