The Book of Atrix Wolfe

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing, dreamlike tapestry...
Review: "The Book of Atrix Wolfe" would function very well as a set of tapestries. The colors are rich, the setting vividly archaic, and attention to detail is meticulous: reading Patricia McKillip's work, you often feel that you are observing a series of still images linked in sequence. Talis Pelucir resettling his glasses on his nose. A winter wind streaking the dreaming gold-green of the Queen's forest with snow. Atrix Wolfe fraying from wolf to wind to human in the blink of an eye that stretches for nearly a paragraph. McKillip makes time elastic, which adds to the mixed sense of the gritty and the unreal that pervades the entire book, as does her use of words as evocations rather than as descriptions. Characters are viewed obliquely, even when the story proceeds from their point of view; it requires careful reading to understand them, and even then you are learning from the outside in: vivid, surreal, and slightly detached tapestries of action, magery, and emotion.

While "The Book of Atrix Wolfe" is not my favorite of all of McKillip's works, in several ways it reminds me of the Riddle-Master Trilogy more than her other recent works do, especially in the importance of names. One character is named Saro, which is persistently and not inaccurately misheard as "sorrow" for much of the book. Atrix Wolfe binds his book with his name, so that none of the words really say what they seem, and part of the Hunter's terror is that he seems to have no name. Similarly, a strong sense of the awakening past fills every movement of the characters' lives. All the action in the book derives from one moment twenty years in the past when Atrix Wolfe, driven to desperation by the war between Pelucir and Kardeth, created out of the nightmare chaos of war a figure known only as the Hunter (a variation on the Wild Hunt, and one which McKillip fashions without once appearing derivative) and loosed him on the battlefield. That night Atrix Wolfe disappeared in horror and shame, and both armies were utterly destroyed along with all but the last remnants of their royal families. And it didn't end that night. Twenty years later two worlds are still affected by Atrix's desperate action, and the night's terrible hunting refuses to simply vanish from memory and life; even when it seems safely buried, something stirs it alive again. The past is inescapable: nothing can erase it, and even regret and acts of redemption cannot change what has been done, only amend what exists. In many ways it's a disquieting theme around which to build a book--unusual enough warrant some appreciation on its own.

For all its scope and detail, "The Book of Atrix Wolfe" never quite achieves the full resonance demanded by its subject. It's hard to fully realize your sympathies for the characters, since they are depicted with such precise detachment that you observe more than you feel, and though Pelucir and the realm of the Queen of the Wood are painstakingly drawn there is little description of the surrounding country or, indeed, the outer world at all. One or two events are completely inexplicable, even if that's in keeping with the tone of the story; the grittily real world and the haunting visionary realm of myth and magery never quite align. But it's a good book, if not everything that a Patricia McKillip novel can be, and strong enough to leave its echoes in the reader's mind, like waking the morning after a dream.

Rating:
Summary: Cinderella versus the Wild Hunt
Review: A bare outline of the plot and characters of "The Book of Atrix Wolfe" might deceive you into thinking that this book is yet another modern retelling of an old fairy tale. Here is the beautiful princess, forced into a life as a scullery maid by a powerful mage, who also turns her father into a deadly were-stag with a "black moon rising from his burning horns". Here also is the mage-prince who eventually recognizes the princess for what she is in spite of her formidable disguise, and returns her to her loving mother.

The sleeping beauty on the Kinuko Craft cover may do justice to the loveliness of the princess-turned-scullery-maid (at least prior to her transformation by the mage), but it doesn't capture her incredible will to survive after she is torn from her parents and dumped, naked and alone, into an alien universe. Yes, she ends up as a scullery maid, thought to be mute and retarded by her fellow kitchen workers. Yes, she scrubs pots from dawn to midnight. But the prince's kitchen turns out to be lively and warm, and filled with an eccentric hierarchy of cooks, sauce makers, plate washers, mincers, pluckers, boners, choppers, and spit-boys. McKillip goes into loving detail over the making and serving of food fit for a King's table, and when the princess Saro finally leaves the washing cauldron to fulfill her destiny, I for one felt a faint tinge of regret.

Who would have thought that a medieval kitchen could be a more interesting place to linger than a fairy forest where "water flowed, silver and sweet as honey among ancient roots"?

"The Book of Atrix Wolfe" stands many fairy tale truisms on their heads, including the character of the evil, all-powerful mage. In this story, the mage Atrix Wolfe creates the deadly Hunter that almost destroys the prince's family, but he does so with the intention of stopping a war. The Hunter himself is Death, but even he is not precisely evil. The prince rescues the princess, but only after she steals his book of spells in an attempt to teach herself how to read.

Patricia McKillip may have started out with a fairy tale in mind, but what she wrote was ornate, fascinating, and completely her own.

Rating:
Summary: Cinderella versus the Wild Hunt
Review: A bare outline of the plot and characters of "The Book of Atrix Wolfe" might deceive you into thinking that this book is yet another modern retelling of an old fairy tale. Here is the beautiful princess, forced into a life as a scullery maid by a powerful mage, who also turns her father into a deadly were-stag with a "black moon rising from his burning horns". Here also is the mage-prince who eventually recognizes the princess for what she is in spite of her formidable disguise, and returns her to her loving mother.

The sleeping beauty on the Kinuko Craft cover may do justice to the loveliness of the princess-turned-scullery-maid (at least prior to her transformation by the mage), but it doesn't capture her incredible will to survive after she is torn from her parents and dumped, naked and alone, into an alien universe. Yes, she ends up as a scullery maid, thought to be mute and retarded by her fellow kitchen workers. Yes, she scrubs pots from dawn to midnight. But the prince's kitchen turns out to be lively and warm, and filled with an eccentric hierarchy of cooks, sauce makers, plate washers, mincers, pluckers, boners, choppers, and spit-boys. McKillip goes into loving detail over the making and serving of food fit for a King's table, and when the princess Saro finally leaves the washing cauldron to fulfill her destiny, I for one felt a faint tinge of regret.

Who would have thought that a medieval kitchen could be a more interesting place to linger than a fairy forest where "water flowed, silver and sweet as honey among ancient roots"?

"The Book of Atrix Wolfe" stands many fairy tale truisms on their heads, including the character of the evil, all-powerful mage. In this story, the mage Atrix Wolfe creates the deadly Hunter that almost destroys the prince's family, but he does so with the intention of stopping a war. The Hunter himself is Death, but even he is not precisely evil. The prince rescues the princess, but only after she steals his book of spells in an attempt to teach herself how to read.

Patricia McKillip may have started out with a fairy tale in mind, but what she wrote was ornate, fascinating, and completely her own.

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: A very dreamy quality to it, even in settings that have a real "grit", such as the kitchen. Part of the dreaminess is the way magic is depicted, also the emphasis on what characters are thinking and saying to each other versus what they see and feel in their environs. I'll read her stuff again but I'll have to be in the mood for that sort of thing. Not a book that I was "lost" in, it didn't captivate me. I enjoyed it but from outside the story. Very impressive writing and one of the few fantasy novels an adult is sure to enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: A Tale of Faery in it's oldest and highest form
Review: An eldritch scullery maid who's mute; a powerful angry mage; a young prince in spectacles. Inexorably events involving these three unfold as in our best beloved fairy tales. The Book of Atrix Wolfe may not be McKillip's best (that honor is still associated with The Forgotten Beasts of Eld) but her story-telling still soars in the realm of high fantasy.

This is a faery tale, serious high fantasy, displaying glints of humor but told in powerful and vivid language. In particular McKillip's rendition of a medieval kitchen is perhaps the most delightfully evocative kitchen to be encountered in the fantasy genre.

Readers who've enjoyed Robin McKinley's Beauty may be equally enchanted with McKillip's work but should be warned that The Book of Atrix Wolfe is serious and heady stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Journey
Review: As always with McKillip's work, I found her descriptions wonderful. She always manages to get all of the way into her character's worlds. In this novel, her ability to surround the character Saro, who washes pots in a royal castle, is captivating. It's rare that a book makes me want to cook, but this one did. The rest of the book is as good, with all of her usual strengths.

Rating:
Summary: An Uncommon Fantasy
Review: As other reviewers provide summaries, I will not repeat them. Ms. McKillip doesn't write as many authors of this genre do. Instead of a more plot-driven story, her writing focuses more on developing imagery through colorful descriptions. Additionally she doesn't provide a "paint-by-number" story telling. The plot, while usually fascinating and original, is almost secondary to the world she reveals in her books.
That said, when I first read this book 4 years ago, I was used to the more plot-intensive fantasy stories with or without magic and sword-wielding hero(ine)s. While I quickly fell under the spell of Ms. McKillip's story-telling, I had many questions at the end of the book. I felt some dissatisfaction because I wanted fuller descriptions/explanations about some of the characters' motivations. In fact, not much happens after the initial spell-making.
I recently picked up this book again and, this time, found it more meaningful. It was like experiencing a vivid dream while awake. I felt as if I had somehow stumbled into a slightly more sophisticated version of a fairy tale. As long as you don't expect a typical fantasy read, I strongly recommend this book to experience something different in this genre.

Rating:
Summary: Charming but not engaging
Review: Character development and plot take second place to the creation of a mood of magic and mystery. There are all the elements of classic fantasy: a great mage, a novice, an enchanted scullery maid, a bewitching queen. The occasional touch of humour deftly lightens the tone. I think that this book achieves what it sets out to achieve; for that reason I don't really want to criticise it for failing to engage my interest. It is simply not to my taste, rather than due to any fault of the book.

Where this book really comes alive for me is in the descriptions of the food. I would gladly eat any of the food prepared in that kitchen. If I owned this book, I would mark all those passages and re-read them often.

If atmosphere and evocative mood are what you look for in a book, give it a try; if you prefer real, well-developed characters and compelling plots, I suggest you try something else.

Rating:
Summary: Charming but not engaging
Review: Character development and plot take second place to the creation of a mood of magic and mystery. There are all the elements of classic fantasy: a great mage, a novice, an enchanted scullery maid, a bewitching queen. The occasional touch of humour deftly lightens the tone. I think that this book achieves what it sets out to achieve; for that reason I don't really want to criticise it for failing to engage my interest. It is simply not to my taste, rather than due to any fault of the book.

Where this book really comes alive for me is in the descriptions of the food. I would gladly eat any of the food prepared in that kitchen. If I owned this book, I would mark all those passages and re-read them often.

If atmosphere and evocative mood are what you look for in a book, give it a try; if you prefer real, well-developed characters and compelling plots, I suggest you try something else.

Rating:
Summary: The War of the Words
Review: Combining several "thought" elements together in a single, beautiful tapestery, McKillip takes on the power of words and naming, the meaning of sorrow, man's capability for evil, and the shouldering of responsibility. Following three characters (on a nearly-systematic rotating chapter basis), Prince Talis Pelucir, Mage Atrix Wolfe, and the fey Saro, the reader is taken on a quest to discover the true nature of The Hunter (created by Atrix Wolfe), find the daughter of the Queen of the Forest, and save the kingdom from a second destruction. Along the way, Talis struggles with his romantic feelings for the Queen of the Forest, Atrix struggles against the Hunter who is his "darker" self, and Saro who is mute struggles against language to warn the men of danger. The scenes of Saro in the kitchen are at once heartwarming, enchanting, and impressive (or so says this complete culinary ignoramus!). Not enough time is given to Talis' own magecraft, and Atrix's story tends to become repetitious towards the middle. However, despite some minor quirks, The Book of Atrix Wolfe is a far more enjoyable, followable, and completed story than Winter Rose. Its theme of the power of words is compelling, its comment on the wrongness of inverting the meaning of words intriguing. As always, McKillip's prose alone is worth the price of the book! A good starting place for those interested in her work.