Book Log 12/2009 - Masques
Feb. 9th, 2009 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaceyPatricia Briggs: Masques – Sianim #1
I borrowed this from a friend because I wanted to read Patricia Briggs first novel – and as it happens this is also the first in her three interrelated, but stand-alone Sianim novels. This one tells the story of the shapeshifter, Aralorn, sent to spy on the head-honcho wizard, the powerful Geoffrey ae’Magi, irresistibly charismatic but deeply evil, who has most of the nobles in his thrall. Only a few can see through him to the darkness beneath and these include the young king of Reth, Myr, now an outlaw and freedom fighter in his own kingdom and Wolf, Aralorn’s occasional companion and – she suspects – very much more than the wolf he appears to be.
Aralorn is a straightforward heroine, courageous, determined and brave. Far more interesting is Wolf, shapeshifter, magic user and... a man with a secret as big as a double-decker bus following him round.
Fighitng against Geoffrey’s magic and the creatures he has created by dark and bloody rituals, Aralorn and Wolf, aided by unseen well-wishers, must risk facing the master magician in his own stronghold, not once, but three times.
In comparison to Patricia Briggs' later work this book displays some first novel flaws in terms of tension and opportunities missed, but it’s a good read from beginning to end. A slight book but with plenty of promise which has certainly been fulfilled.
I borrowed this from a friend because I wanted to read Patricia Briggs first novel – and as it happens this is also the first in her three interrelated, but stand-alone Sianim novels. This one tells the story of the shapeshifter, Aralorn, sent to spy on the head-honcho wizard, the powerful Geoffrey ae’Magi, irresistibly charismatic but deeply evil, who has most of the nobles in his thrall. Only a few can see through him to the darkness beneath and these include the young king of Reth, Myr, now an outlaw and freedom fighter in his own kingdom and Wolf, Aralorn’s occasional companion and – she suspects – very much more than the wolf he appears to be.
Aralorn is a straightforward heroine, courageous, determined and brave. Far more interesting is Wolf, shapeshifter, magic user and... a man with a secret as big as a double-decker bus following him round.
Fighitng against Geoffrey’s magic and the creatures he has created by dark and bloody rituals, Aralorn and Wolf, aided by unseen well-wishers, must risk facing the master magician in his own stronghold, not once, but three times.
In comparison to Patricia Briggs' later work this book displays some first novel flaws in terms of tension and opportunities missed, but it’s a good read from beginning to end. A slight book but with plenty of promise which has certainly been fulfilled.
