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: 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: What was she thinking?
Review: I was hooked by the front art (very good one from Kuniko Y. Craft) but kinda hesitate because the story is about revenge (while I'm not looking to read about that!). But, finally I gave it a try and... first, the rythmic sentence carried me into the story, second the unique and mystery of each character haunted me, and third, the end was unpredictable (in a charming way)! Can't wait to read more of McKillips's. :)
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece of silken prose
Review: It's a too-rare gift to be able to write prose like poetry, but Patricia McKillip has mastered the art. It took me a while to get past the first few chapters, but then the plot caught up speed into a magical, political story about love, revenge, music and memory. A burned child with only vague memories of fire is brought to the bard's island of Luly, raised and marries there. Rook Caladrius and his wife have a son, Hollis, but the bards are slowly drifting from Luly to the mainland, Hollis among them. Caladrius stays where he is, until a young man named Griffin Tormalyne, one of the last of a great ruling house that was overthrown by the Basilisk, arrives seeking great power. Caladrius realizes that he cannot escape his shrouded past any longer, and sets off for the capitol city. Elsewhere, the magister Giulia Dulcet spends divided time between the Tormalyne music school, and the taverns where she plays the single-stringed picochet. But soon she is called away to teach one of the Basilisk's daughters (he has two: smoldering sorceress Luna Pellior and the less intelligent, rather ignored Lady Damiet). She is aided by the mysterious Caladrius, who helps to teach Damiet how to play the picochet and how to sing. Damiet, who has previously thought mostly of clothing, begins to fall for Caladrius. At the taverns where Giulia once sang, there is a growing rebellion against the Basilisk. Near the decayed husk of Tormalyne Palace, powerful political figures and wandering idealists band together for a political coup, with Hollis assisting them. But something exists that is far more powerful than mere troops: the magic that the Basilisk wields. The heroes strike out against the sinister, aging despot and are caught in a clash of magic and music, between the dying symbol of an evil Basilisk and the last survivor of the Tormalyne family. It's astonishing how real Patricia McKillip's dreamy books seem, but the political themes and the sad remnents of the proud Tormalyne family give it an added dimension of reality. As usual, her magic is not the slam-bang-whizz of most fantasy books, but an underlying whisper. You can feel it in the playing of the music, the island of Luly, the forest where Caladrius finds his flute, and the husk of the Tormalyne palace. And not everything happens pleasantly--not everything twists to the way it should be in an ideal world, and not every injustice or crime can be reversed. McKillip recognizes and acknowledges this. Her characters are also very real. I particularly liked the composer Hexel, who spends half the book bewailing that he can't write without his muse and then scribbling furiously. Giulia Dulcet, Luna and Damiet are all excellently drawn: strong, intelligent Giulia, the powerful sorceress Luna who is far more than she seems to be, and the neglected Damiet who becomes so attached to the first person to treat her with real kindness. Because of his soul-scarred state, I found it a bit difficult to connect with Caladrius for a while, but once he got to the city things smoothed out a little. The Basilisk is a darker horse, though, as we don't really learn why he's so rotten. And Hollis and Justin are so sexy... The first few chapters, with half of Rook's life passing on Luly, are a bit difficult to wade through but after that the plot picks up speed. Her writing style is, as always, beautiful and evocative; my favorite scene may be the part where the white basilisk appears, bit by bit, in each mirror in the hall, followed by the statues that Luna summons. This book is also tempered with a bit of humor that pops up sometimes (Damiet's assigning a dress to each song; Hexel asking rhetorically what lovers think of aside from love, and Giulia's reply, "Clothes?") All in all, a beautiful fantasy novel with a wonderful writing style and a spellbinding story. Excellent!
Rating: 
Summary: ** yawn **
Review: McKillip has tried so hard to write "prettily" that she's forgotten to give us anything real. I felt like I was sleepwalking through her "prose opera" [as another reviewer rather saccharinely put it]. I didn't care about any of her characters, because she never gave me the chance. While they were whisping somnabulently through the vague and self-consciously pretty prose, I was just trying hard not to fall asleep. The sad thing is, none of her writing really wowwed me; had she spent more time on craft and less on art, she could have given us a good yarn, instead of a big yawn. There are many who are going to just eat this up: it has a vague artificiality that many people seem to love. I, however, didn't even think it was worth my time to finish. Terri Windling, in the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror for 1998 [jointly edited with Ellen Datlow] recommended this as one of the top 20 "must read" books for that year. Some of you are going to read this no matter what I say for just that reason: I ignored the poor and ambiguous reviews given here and read it anyway. I have to say, though, that while her recommendations are an excellent guide, she's not infallible [or maybe there was just a real lack of good fiction in the fantasy genre that year].
Rating: 
Summary: Flowery Prose doesn't save well written/flat novel
Review: No one can deny McKillip paints a pretty picture with her writing. Seemingly gifted with the eye and soul of a painter in the body of with the brain of a writer McKillip fills her novels with enough flowery prose to send Anne Rice running. Though McKillips flowery prose doesn't save this novels rather flat plot and characters that sized down to this story's rather un-epic scale. Perhaps taking the Tad Williams approach and writing a thousand page novel filled with the characters exploits would have boosted this novel up a few notches. Telling the tale of a young royal heir who hid in the fire place while his home and family burned, McKillip's amazing talent for showing the events of the burning and taking a clever idea of the 'Basilisk' makes the story almost a Historical Fiction if not for the supernatural overtones that haunt it. The story follows the young heir as he grows up and is sent off to study music and eventually earns his place and title as a bard. However McKillip moves from his childhood to adult hood to falling in love to having children in the span of a few pages when properly put all together. Once again one never really feels for the main character Rook or his children. Throwing in the opposing viewpoint of other characters in the story don't confuse or take away from the story. A trap that most writers fall into when approaching a story with Epic Scale potential only written in small size. There seems to be an old addage "Show, not Tell." I feel McKillip does too much of that. The book seems to be showing us a painting as vivid and as beautiful as the cover but not telling us a story behind it. Just a summarization of a story that has the potential to give George R.R. Martin a run for his Fanstistorical Money. Perhaps if McKillip had taken the time to write an epic novel and given more examples to paint the real picture of the main characters this novel would have earned five stars. But her lack of real well developed characterization drops the story down as well as it's short length several stars. This is one that a good read, but the flowery prose my overwhelm one and leave them empty of a plot and characters all in one.
Rating:
Summary: A prose opera
Review: Patricia McKillip has composed an opera purely of words. Don't let that description put you off: I don't generally like opera, but I loved this book. After the disappointing _Winter Rose_ and _The Book of Atrix Wolfe_, she's back at the peak of her form. The plot is pure opera: a ruthless tyrant, the Basilisk, massacres a rival family. The sole survivor, a young boy, crawls from the ashes and escapes into hiding in the far north, growing up with music and magic at the ancient school for bards. The Basilisk's gaze reaches even there, however, and the boy, now a grown man with a teenaged son of his own, is compelled to return to the city of his birth for revenge. There he meets the Basilisk's beautiful daughter (not to mention the Basilisk's brute of a son, the Basilisk's other, airheaded daughter, the Basilisk's court musicians and music director...). Wacky antics ensue. Patricia McKillip's characters burst with life: they breathe, they bleed, they sing, they ineptly plot revolution, they play in palaces and taverns, they go on murderous rampages, they throw temper tantrums and wield strange magics. She creates some of the coolest musician characters I've ever read about. She goes one better on the er-hu, the two-stringed, bowed, Chinese peasant instrument, and gives us the picochet, a one-stringed, bowed, peasant instrument. It makes the crops grow, she tells us. Remembering my experience with my father's er-hu (I was only able to produce feeble, distressed whines), I empathized (and laughed helplessly) at the ordeals of the Basilisk's unmusical younger daughter (not to mention her teachers). At least the girl was blessed with shameless unselfconsciousness. Patricia McKillip gives us an opera within the opera, one that reflects the main plotline much like Hamlet's play within the play, with even more startling effects when performed before the old tyrant. She shows us the process of composition, in loving detail, while the book itself is the performance. As always, McKillip knows exactly how to use her words. Her writing style is elegant, spare. In this book, she succeeds in creating a satisfying story to match the beauty of the prose.
Rating:
Summary: Typical McKillip - beautifully written and engrossing
Review: Rook is a classically trained Bard with a mysterious childhood. He has nightmares of fire and an odd connection to ravens. He spends most of his life avoiding looking for himself until a catastrophic event forces him to face his identity. What follows is an interesting mix of revolution, opera and family dynamics. The book focusses intently on character, which McKillip writes quite well. Again, the blessed absence of sappy lovestory, there is romance but only in passing and the women are strong and intelligent.
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