Song for the Basilisk

Rating:
Summary: "Basilisk" has the logic and beauty of dreams
Review: "Song for the Basilisk" ties with the Riddle-Master trilogy for my favorite Patricia McKillip book. However, I would advise reading her other books before this one; it is not as easily accessible as some.

"Basilisk" is the story of Rook, a musician who lives with the bards of Luly and has avoided his past for over thirty years. Eventually he is forced to remember, and he travels to the city of Berylon to right a decades-old wrong done to his family.

But "Basilisk" is not a typical revenge quest, and it holds far more than Rook's story. It tells the stories of Guilia Dulcet, a musician from the provinces; of Justin, a young man with secret plans; of Luna Pellior, the Basilisk's mysterious and powerful daughter; of Hexel Barr, the distracted, irate composer; of Damiet Pellior, the Basilisk's other daughter; of Hollis, Rook's impatient and protective son; and other intriguing characters.

I have read this book many times, and each time it quickly pulls me into a dreamworld where everything is hidden or cast in a new light. Yes, the characterizations are subtle, and the magic is unexplained. Yes, the first few pages are confusing the first time. Yes, the story moves slowly. However, if you accept the book on its own terms, it is rewarding, and will linger with you for weeks.

This is one of the few books I can read over and over, and never find myself skipping ahead to the "good parts." The whole book is that good.

Rating:
Summary: "Basilisk" has the logic and beauty of dreams
Review: "Song for the Basilisk" ties with the Riddle-Master trilogy for my favorite Patricia McKillip book. However, I would advise reading her other books before this one; it is not as easily accessible as some.

"Basilisk" is the story of Rook, a musician who lives with the bards of Luly and has avoided his past for over thirty years. Eventually he is forced to remember, and he travels to the city of Berylon to right a decades-old wrong done to his family.

But "Basilisk" is not a typical revenge quest, and it holds far more than Rook's story. It tells the stories of Guilia Dulcet, a musician from the provinces; of Justin, a young man with secret plans; of Luna Pellior, the Basilisk's mysterious and powerful daughter; of Hexel Barr, the distracted, irate composer; of Damiet Pellior, the Basilisk's other daughter; of Hollis, Rook's impatient and protective son; and other intriguing characters.

I have read this book many times, and each time it quickly pulls me into a dreamworld where everything is hidden or cast in a new light. Yes, the characterizations are subtle, and the magic is unexplained. Yes, the first few pages are confusing the first time. Yes, the story moves slowly. However, if you accept the book on its own terms, it is rewarding, and will linger with you for weeks.

This is one of the few books I can read over and over, and never find myself skipping ahead to the "good parts." The whole book is that good.

Rating:
Summary: "Basilisk" has the logic and beauty of dreams
Review: "Song for the Basilisk" ties with the Riddle-Master trilogy for my favorite Patricia McKillip book. However, I would advise reading her other books before this one; it is not as easily accessible as some.

"Basilisk" is the story of Rook, a musician who lives with the bards of Luly and has avoided his past for over thirty years. Eventually he is forced to remember, and he travels to the city of Berylon to right a decades-old wrong done to his family.

But "Basilisk" is not a typical revenge quest, and it holds far more than Rook's story. It tells the stories of Guilia Dulcet, a musician from the provinces; of Justin, a young man with secret plans; of Luna Pellior, the Basilisk's mysterious and powerful daughter; of Hexel Barr, the distracted, irate composer; of Damiet Pellior, the Basilisk's other daughter; of Hollis, Rook's impatient and protective son; and other intriguing characters.

I have read this book many times, and each time it quickly pulls me into a dreamworld where everything is hidden or cast in a new light. Yes, the characterizations are subtle, and the magic is unexplained. Yes, the first few pages are confusing the first time. Yes, the story moves slowly. However, if you accept the book on its own terms, it is rewarding, and will linger with you for weeks.

This is one of the few books I can read over and over, and never find myself skipping ahead to the "good parts." The whole book is that good.

Rating:
Summary: Another Marvelous Tale From Patricia McKillip
Review: "The Book of Atrix Wolfe" remains for me the best work I have read by Patricia McKillip, and by comparison, this book does not quite measure up, at times being more dream-like in its exposition, not always clearly illuminating the basis for certain actions and resolutions. Nonetheless, the quality of dream contributes to much of the book's magic, combining with the author's rich prose and inimitable imagination to deliver a tale far superior to most other fantasy. And while not all the magic that takes place is clearly explained, as George R.R. Martin recently emphasized at one of his readings, magic retains its wonder through its causes and characteristics remaining partially hidden, otherwise becoming, through too clear an exposition, a mere reflection of science.

Similar to "Atrix Wolfe," and in some ways unlike the earlier "Winter Rose," McKillip returns here to meditations upon the meaning of words, while at the same time more fully exploring the secret powers of music first examined in the earlier "Riddle-Master" trilogy. These underlying themes follow a structure and tone more reminiscent of "The Book of Atrix Wolfe" than "Winter Rose," though the realm of faerie so prominent in the two former books are here barely hinted at. Instead, this tale is more archetypically fantasy, a tale of struggle between good and evil houses, revealed through the magical lyricism that has come to distinguish McKillip's work.

Those that have criticized a lack of emotional characterization I believe have missed a strong and metaphoric chord running throughout the work, as well as underestimated the significance of emotions shown through the subtle gestures and actions of the characters. While the inner dialogue found in "Winter's Rose" is absent, here it instead becomes fully realized in the nuances of the characters' actions: the assembling of a cage of mirrors by Luna, Damiet's fitful gestures, Caladrius' revelation of his character through the various guises he assumes and the instruments that he plays. While perhaps not as readily accessible as some of McKillip's earlier works, there is a richness of subtlety just as rewarding for those who read closely.

A marvelous book: one that will reward, as have all her recent works, repeated and additional reading. Though her tales may not offer ready appeal to those seeking swords and sorcery, there is little question that the author's works are among the few and very best that fantasy has to offer.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good...
Review: ...but not as good as it ought to be. McKillip's language, as always, is beautiful and dreamlike, and her imagery is beautiful too. But I found the first section opaque and slightly diffuse. It was hard to tell what was going on; indeed, the whole thing felt like a rather disjointed dream.

The rest, however, was much better. I was captivated by the characters: Caladrius, the hero who falls over his heritage rather than discovering it; Giulia, the musician from the provinces who still sneaks out at night to play the picochet; Hexel, the eccentric composer; Dulcet, Arioso Pelior's brainless daughter; and Luna, also Arioso's daughter, one of the most bewitching characters in all of McKillip's books.

The plot? Like all of McKillip's books, it is at once simple and complex, a single narrative that twists and turns unexpectedly. Many years ago, Arioso Pelior seized control of Berylon, destroying Tormalyne House which had formerly ruled it. But one child--the heir--hid in the ashes of a fireplace and survived. He was taken to the Bards' school on Luly, and there he lived for a long time in secrecy, until at last he was driven to finding out who he was. When he did, he set off for the city where Arioso pelior--the Basilisk--lived, and where he, a group of Tormalyne supporters, and music school would collide in the midst of a fateful opera.

Rating:
Summary: Emotions were skimmed through, but it was still very good
Review: A Song For the Basilisk was a very well written book. My favorite character was Rook/Caladrius/Griffin (of course), the boy who was 'one with the ashes' and could not remember his past until the trip to the mysterious 'hinterlands'. His past, present, and future were uncertain throughout the whole book, but I liked imagining what happened in the past and what would happen in the future. I loved the suspense after Caladrius had reached the Basilisk's house, and loved guessing what would happen after he got there. One thing that I didn't like as much about the book was I would have liked for the characters to, maybe, have been more in depth. It's like McKillip only scratched the surface of thier emotions, and I didn't get a real feel for them. Although I did not like this, it was still a very good book. The end was a twist for me.... it was the last thing I expected to happen! If you love fantasy, I recommend this book, and McKillip's others (all very good!)

Rating:
Summary: All hail Patricia A. McKillip!
Review: All of this author's work is graceful and lyrical, and Song for the Basilisk is no exception. The writing is simply exquisite. Each line is poetical. The plot, which is weaker in some of her earlier books, is much stronger in Basilisk.

All in all, an intelligent and atmospheric work, though definitely not to everyone's liking. Those who liked the style of Robin McKinley's Rose Daughter will probably enjoy Song for the Basilisk.

Rating:
Summary: Top of the line
Review: Having read the Riddlemaster trilogy through about 8 or 9 times, I was pleased to see that McKillip had written other books. This one is excellently written, and has a more cohesive plot than some of her works (e.g., Winter Rose and the Sorceress and the Cygnet). Although I don't think any of her books since the trilogy have approached the level of sheer delightfulness that the trilogy did, this one is worth reading, if for nothing else than the evocation of setting by pure wordskill.

Rating:
Summary: What was she thinking?
Review: I have been reading fantasy for 50 years, and this was one of the worst. Flowery literary style simply doesn't compensate for a plodding plot. Using a basic change of character to resolve the plot conflict is so amateurish, I can't believe it got published. A very definite "Save your money"

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and complex, must be savored rather than gobbled
Review: I tend to read fantasy novels at a gallop, eager to see what new trick or monster pops out at me on succeeding pages. Reading a good fantasy is usually like watching a good magic show: one surprise after another. There is suspense and breathless anticipation that is quickly resolved by the next sleight-of-hand.

However, Patricia McKillip's novels are not like a conjuror's act. They make you work. They make you read slowly. Her clues are subtle and woven into the beautiful, but dense thicket of her text. This is especially true in "Song for the Basilisk". The novel is every bit as complex and beautiful as its jacket painting by Kinuko Craft, but sometimes it made me feel like one of the princes trapped in the rose thicket outside of Sleeping Beauty's castle. I wanted to follow the little boy Rook from his hiding place in the ashes, through his coming-of-age as a bard, to his eventual confrontation with the monster who destroyed his family. But it was hard. I kept getting hooked on the beautiful scenery, and the complex subplots, and the other intricately fashioned characters. The ancient, blind Reve Iridia and her haunting music, and Luna Pellior, the Basilisk's daughter, were such strong and interesting characters that they positively upstaged Rook/Caladrius/Griffin every time they appeared with him on the same stage.

"Song for the Basilisk" is definitely worth reading, and savoring, and rereading. My only advice to the reader who is new to Patricia McKillip, is to start with her "The Riddlemaster of Hed" trilogy, or "The Book of Atrix Wolfe". They are equally magical books, but more accessible.