The Book of Atrix Wolfe

by Patricia A. McKillip

From Publishers Weekly
In what is probably her best-known work, The Riddlemasters of Hed, McKillip combined shape-shifting, riddle-solving and the desire for wild and unbridled power into a richly fantastic tale. Here, she returns to those themes, adding a strand of the fairy world to her rich web of enchantment. Prince Talis, heir to the Pelucir throne, has been away from his homeland studying magecraft. At the wizards' college, he discovers a mysterious book of spells whose words carry hidden meanings. Returning to Pelucir, Talis encounters the Queen of the Woods, who is looking for her daughter, Sorrow, lost ever since the mage Atrix Wolfe misused his magic to divert a war. Now Talis and Atrix must solve the riddle of Sorrow's existence, and rid the world of the evil that Atrix conjured. Though McKillip's latest is less strongly plotted than some of her earlier novels, her words and images remain masterfully evocative as she manages to invoke great beauty using the simplest language. Connoisseurs of fine fantasy will delight in this expertly wrought tale.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Driven by a formless fury when the prince of Kardeth refuses to halt his invasion of the kingdom of Pelucir, the great mage Atrix Wolfe creates a fearful hunter, "a warrior with no allegiance but to death." But the ensuing massacre of both armies and the king of Pelucir appalls the mage, and he flees to the mountains to live in wolf form among wolves until, 20 years later, the queen of the Woods demands that he seek out her daughter, who disappeared at the time of the great bloodbath. The ensuing story involves aspiring mage Talis Pelucir, son of the slain king, and Saro, a young, mute scullery maid in the castle of Pelucir whose background is unknown. Steeped in medieval legends of the wild huntsman, living trees, and shape changers, McKillip's tale is decidedly atmospheric, complex, compelling, and filled with rich imagery. - Sally Estes

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy, Magic, Young Adult, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adult

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1995

About the author

Patricia Anne McKillip was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. She wrote predominantly standalone fantasy novels and has been called "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre". Her work won many awards, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 4 out of 5]

all the world's a kitchen! a great steamy kitchen, full of cooks and servers, pluckers and cutters, a head chef and a tray mistress, spit-boys and a pot scrubber. all the food that is birthed there! so many tasty treats and delicious dishes, made for the lords and ladies and assorted gentry, but enough that can be picked at, pecked at, pulled from the bottom of a pan, enough of those leftovers to feed the loudly bustling world that lives in the kitchen.

a list of characters and events would make this novel sound like the grandest of sagas: full of shape-shifting wizards and doleful ghosts and fearsome enmity; a Faerie Queen in the wood and her stolen husband and daughter, both transformed; a battlefield full of slaughtered soldiers, a monstrous Hunter created by a curse and destined to return and slaughter again; whirlwinds of magic that transform and steal away. despite all of that grandeur, all of the fey and the strange... for me, the most magical parts of The Book of Atrix Wolfe was all of the time our lowly pot-scrubber spent in that world-within-a-world of a castle kitchen.

McKillip is a wizard with the words, as usual. perfectly formed phrases, pellucid prose, ah the elegant loveliness of it all. the novel continues her love affair with words themselves: words as evanescent things that may often define us but are just as often, in the end, unreliable and certainly subject to change - and update! The Book of Atrix Wolfe is primarily concerned with how we should acknowledge our mistakes while still forgiving ourselves and moving on. these are regularly appearing ideals throughout McKillip's works: we cannot run from our past actions, but instead must learn from them; despite how they may reshape us, those mistakes need not define our future. in her own fey, strange way, McKillip is a moralist. although not a strident, cold one that preaches; she is an empathetic and loving moralist, one that teaches.

[Sir He-Man · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is extraordinarily well written fantasy. Patricia A. McKillip is really the unsung hero of American high fantasy. I am here to tell you to forget the HELL out of most other high fantasy authors (especially Mercedes Lackey, Melanie Rawn, and Terry Goodkind) because Patricia A. McKillip just writes the shit out of them.

She is so concise and eloquent and purely otherworldly I would hesitate to put her even in the same league as most fantasy authors. She is definitely in the same class as Tolkien, LeGuin, and CS Lewis. That she is not better known is a travesty, for her work is both mythically epic and consistently genius.

In this volume, something I read years back, a young girl is lost, her memories a swirl of confusion, and none of the characters came across as stereotypical of their station. Each was intriguing, regardless of the fact that you've seen these tropes before: magician, his student mage, the kitchen women and manservants, the young scullery maid, the forest queen. McKillip mixes these tropes up and repaints them vividly, with dreams expounding a renovated finale that is both satisfyingly familiar and dizzyingly new. Highly rare and recommended.

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t know why this book didn’t work that well for me; it’s very much what you’d expect from McKillip, magical and otherworldly and dreamy, written in her usual meandering, allusive, dense style. I just… didn’t really get into it that much, or follow the chains of events. I often have that problem with McKillip’s work, to be fair, so this is probably a very individual criticism; people who enjoy her style effortlessly will probably enjoy this just as much as any of her other books.

For me, though… the story is compelling, and the style is pretty amazing — the way she depicts Saro’s thoughts, despite the fact that Saro doesn’t know how to speak, how to articulate in language, sticking close to what Saro is actually thinking/experiencing, for example. But other than that, I didn’t really get invested with the story, the characters; I felt oddly fatalistic about it. My attitude was pretty much ‘what will happen will happen’, rather than worrying about what might happen or trying to guess it, or even having any strong feeling about what would be a good or bad turn for the story.

The problem is probably exacerbated by the fact that I’m writing this review quite a while after reading. But it definitely wasn’t one of my favourite McKillip books; it was just too surreal, dreamy, disconnected, despite the quality of the writing.

Originally posted here.

[✩ Yaz ✩ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Sound in the kitchen had always been a constantly changing tapestry woven for a moment, frayed, rewoven, with threads spun from the spattering of onions over the fire, the rhythm of mincers’ knives on hardwood, the head cook’s brittle impatience, the undercooks’ feverish hysteria, a peeler wailing, the tray-mistress’s exasperated sibilants, milk scalding, meat spattering down into the fires, wood snapping and groaning, the changing voices of fire as it leaped into new wood, hungry as a spit-boy, or, sated, caressed darkening coals and murmured.

Patricia A. McKillip is a sorceress who conjures pure magic, for her storytelling always casts a spell on me that keeps me utterly spellbound.

The Book of Atrix Wolfe may appear to be a simplistic fantasy story centering around hope, sorrow, and redemption, yet the three central characters—a once great Mage, a Prince in training, and a scullery Maid—continue to be haunted by the echoes of a corrupt force unleashed years ago that was so devastating it claimed innocent lives.

And it took one spellbook to bind the threads of their fates together and face the darkness that reshaped their lives two decades ago.

“I lost my temper. I tried to stop a war, and made something more terrible than war. I made death to stop death.”

While I do think the story could've been shorter, but McKillip's storytelling is a feast I would happily devour for however long. I'm always astounded by her exquisite prose and fairytalesque imagery as it draws fragments of inspiration from different folktales and legends.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally reviewed here @ Angieville.

It was my friends at Readerville who convinced me to give Patricia McKillip a try. This I remember very clearly. I'd never read any of McKillip's books, though I'd run across them plenty of times what with her books being shelved right next to Robin McKinley's on all the shelves ever. And then there was the matter of her covers. Somewhere along the line, they paired her up with Kinuko Craft and decided it was a match made in heaven. For the most part, I think it is. Craft's luscious, romantic dreaminess blends perfectly with McKillip's sort of stream of consciousness fantasy. Occasionally, I long for something a bit more solid and grounded on one of her covers. But they do fit the bill in the What You See is What You Get department. I started off with The Riddlemaster trilogy and was instantly enamored. Where had this writer been all my life? I loved Morgan of Hed with the three stars on his forehead and the High One's Harper at his side. I could not get enough of that trilogy and still wander into my library from time to time to stroke the pretty omnibus edition I own. Utterly epic in scope, the Riddlemaster books set the bar high. And while I was a bit surprised to find her standalone volumes somewhat quieter affairs, I was no less impressed with the writing and reach. The second book of hers I read was this one. THE BOOK OF ATRIX WOLFE.

Sorrow is a word that means nothing until it means everything.

In a world where the mortal and the magical exist side by side, a young mage killed his king. Desolate from what he'd done, Atrix Wolfe retreats to the woods. Living as a wolf, he hides from the horror of what he wrought. But the Queen of the Wood is not about to let him disappear completely. Not until he performs a task for her. Find her daughter who disappeared into the world of men at the same time as the massacre. Meanwhile, in that very world of men, a kingdom is at war. Terrorized by a horned Hunter, the beleaguered land of Pelucir struggles to survive. Until their orphaned prince Tallis unearths a book without a name. A book whose spells do not always mean what they seem. And behind it all, a girl named Saro scrubs pots in the kitchen below the castle. They called her Saro because she cannot speak. Because her eyes are full of sadness and she has no words to tell them where she came from. But Saro hears everything that goes on in the castle as the swirling parade of rich foods and savory concoctions make their way from her domain up to the feasting tables above. And her part to play in the raging conflict between mages and armies, between mortal and immortal, will not be a small one.

There are no simple words. I don't know why I thought I could hide anything behind language.

THE BOOK OF ATRIX WOLFE is one of Ms. McKillip's headiest designs. From the decadent descriptions of castle cuisine to the throbbing lyric of losing your voice and finding it once more, I was buffeted about by beauty. I may be something of a sucker for books titled after an actual book within the book, if you follow me. Ever since The Book of Three and The Neverending Story. Which is probably what prompted me to pick this one up after The Riddlemaster to begin with. What landed it on my keeper shelf its layers upon layers of meaning. A book about a book. Beautiful words used to explore the value and power of language itself. The spiderweb of horrific events that creep out from one moment of impossible hubris. It doesn't hurt that there are living trees and shapechangers and medieval mythology galore. But it's the tapestry of words, in the end.

Someone living, he realised early, who had not been scarred by the siege or haunted by memory, was valuable to the storytellers. Having no memories of his own, he became their receptacle for memory, and, with his untroubled past, for hope.

Being a living receptacle for memory and hope. That is imagery worth your while. McKillip books are always worth your while. But this one is special. I hope that you read it one day, not only because the words are wondrous and the magic is tangible, but because reading it is like falling into a bed of soft linen and waking the next day to find you've dreamed, oh, the most beautiful dream.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the secret fantasy book for foodies. The plotline has the fairy queen's daughter, Saro, lost within the real world of men and mages. But the best part is that Saro's lost as the pot scrubber in the palace kitchen. Every chapter, huge banquets are constructed and served with musical fanfares. Meringues in the shapes of swans with currant eyes, pot pies with hunting scenes baked into the crust, opulent meals gone cold when crisis hits, then re-purposed into sandwiches for the departing warriors. The production of running a palace kitchen, the scrubbers and mincers, the plate washers, the pastry chefs, the spit-turner boys.

[Katherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read McKillip's work before and loved it, this I did not love. The first clue that this was not going to be another love-fest for me was the strange phrasing and odd over-use of the comma. Annoying. If the plotline had not been so compelling I would never have kept reading (okay, I'll admit it, sometimes skimming), not when my strongest impulse was to discard it. Ha, what I really wanted to do was throw it at the wall. Hard.

I could see what McKillip was trying to accomplish and how challenging a task it was, to use language and words to portray a character who is without language or even a basic understanding of what words are or what they mean. Had she done that with just the portions we see through Saro's eyes it might have worked, however, she manipulates language throughout the whole book so the reader is required to constantly re-read sentences or paragraphs to decipher the meaning. What are meant to be dream-like images are instead a contrived jumble of awkwardness. What is meant to flow, doesn't. You know those disjointed dreams where you struggle and struggle to make sense of what you see, yet only infrequently grasp anything of substance? The entire book reads like that.

I'm glad this was not my first McKillip--if it were it would have been my last. Not recommended.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's rare that I wish a book were longer, but this is one of those cases. I want more. More Chaumenard, the mages' school in the gray, jagged mountain peaks, where wolves run with the White Wolf. I want more tests where the mages have to hide and can become anything until they're found by the looker. I want more Talis with his glasses and power. I want more Saro, more descriptions of food (this book could be an itinerary for all the meals I want to make). I want more Pelucir, more parallel forest with Queen and consort. More sunlight, more golden leaves, more crisp mountain air. More Atrix, more King Burne, who can't have children and loves his brother more than anything. There just isn't enough of anything.
Of course, there's still the theme: sorrow is something that people often create for themselves, which in turn leads to pain for others, so they live in it longer than they have to because they don't see themselves truthfully, but when they do, they can overcome the pain; it never goes away, but light, love, and joy can ease it and make it so that sorrow and darkness and anger and regret are no longer the only things we see when we think of ourselves.
Maybe the only thing that satisfies in the novel besides the depth of the message, though it still leaves me wanting more, is the language. I kept thinking of that Goodreads quote from Bohumil Hrabal that I see when I log into the app: "I pop a beautiful sentence into my mouth and suck it like a fruit drop." I read slowly, savoring the words because McKillip's language is always beautiful, but in this book, she says things like, "Talis...waited patiently, catching stray arrows of sunlight in his lenses" instead of something like, "The sunlight reflected off Talis's glasses." I will admit that I didn't always know what was happening because, like the rest of the world compared to Amber, Roger Zelazny's magical world, McKillip's words seem to be shadows of the truths they really tell. There's always more, something real and something pure, behind the words, but it's like McKillip couldn't share the real thing, or we'd be blinded, so she found language that would obscure it with beauty. I can't even describe the effect of her words. But the more I read, the more things made sense, and the more I didn't care because this book is just so beautiful.
I only wish there was more.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is incredibly beautifully written, but it’s also incoherent. The repetition is lyrical, but repetition alone doesn’t create meaning: what is the relevance of backward? Of the lenses? Of language? Of the Hunter being separate-and-not?

McKillip is always dreamlike. This is one of those dreams that doesn’t make any sense.

[a ☕︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

i should have loved this (cinderella is one of my favorite fairy tales, a faerie princess stuck as a scullery maid is right up my alley plot-wise), but this was…so…boring…and her prince charming falls in love with her mother first (lol?!). the first chapter following the prologue also irked me extremely, she introduces a mage school and abt ten characters that you’d expect to be important, but none of them appear besides that first chapter. it’s so ridiculous i just laughed...and i still feel very distant from mckillip’s writing, which doesn’t do much for me (i’ve seen her compared to dunsany—questionable). zzz

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read THE BOOK OF ATRIX WOLFE five years ago for the first time, and the thing I remember most about it is McKillip’s amazing prose and imagery—specifically, the image of Saro in the nearly ghibli-esque kitchen full of industry and people, collecting a never-ending pile of pots and climbing under tables to stay out of people’s way. I specifically remember how VIVID everything felt and how concrete and tactile the hustle and bustle and the scent and feel of the world came through the pages.

Rereading it now for the 30th anniversary edition makes it feel even more alive.

THE BOOK OF ATRIX WOLFE is about a magician, the white wolf of Chaumenard, who intervenes in a war with unforeseen consequences. Years later, he is roused again by the queen of the wood to find her daughter, who went missing in all his sorcery years earlier.

I can never predict what happens in a Patricia McKillip book because so much of the story is a fairytale, but in such a way that plot is never the primary concern. Her stories have such an emotional and tangible FEEL to them, but that’s not to say that plot isn’t important. It’s that you get to swept up in her imagery and prose that when things happen, you are taken off guard.

The magic of the book is just as present in this new edition, full of wonder and mystery and life.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC.

[Althea Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful fairytale.

Atrix Wolfe is a powerful mage. Years ago, in an attempt to stop a war between two kingdoms, he conjured a terrible Hunter through sorcery... causing more death than, possibly, the war would have. In remorse and shame, he fled to the life of a hermit...

But now, a young prince in mage training has found his spellbook, and old sorceries are stirring.. And, for some reason, the beautiful Faerie Queen of the Wood is sending visions to both a boy and a mage...

Meanwhile, in the castle kitchens, a mute kitchen drudge called Saro labors endlessly over her dirty pots... and sees visions in the washwater...

Remarkable, as always, for the vivid poetics of McKillip's language, and the purity of her vision... Plus, this one has descriptions of the castle feasts that'll have your mouth watering!

I don't think this is McKillip's best book, but it's certainly a very good one.

[Susana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bittersweet story about magical actions and it's direst consequences.

This is the story of Atrix Wolfe, a mage original from Chaumenard, but who now lives amongst wolves.

One day he starts having dreams.
Those dreams make him travel to the realm of Pellucir, where he finds the castle under siege by the ruler of Kardeth.

Everywhere he looks, there's devastation.

Death, famine and, scavengers surround the kingdom.
Being faced with such a despairing vision, Atrix decides to take matters into his own hands...

He decides to create a Hunter out of death, to destroy death.

In a green wood on a hill, the Queen of the Woods watches her consort and their child Sora.

On the night that the Hunter is created, someone stops to listen to the words of a Wolf....

That someone will be turned into the Hunter, a being of legends and terror.

On that night, the child Sora, daughter of the Queen of Woods disappears

Twenty years later, a young prince finds a book without a name.

The book contains strange spells, on which the words don't signify what they should mean.

Words with enough power to summon the Hunter.

Twenty years later Atrix is once again confronted with the results of his actions.
This time Atrix will have to protect a prince, discover a lost girl, and come face to face with its worst mistake.

Patricia A. Mckillip writing is like an never ending melody of perfection.

She creates the most lyrical scenes that i've ever read in my life.

In truth, if you want to read stories in which the words grab hold of your heart, this is the author to read.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first Patricia Mckillip novel and I was amazed by her writing. One of the most lyrical and elegantly written fantasy novels I've read. I would easily compare her to Ursula le Guin in terms of both depth of ideas and lyricism of writing. The Book of Atrix Wolfe centers around; a young magician and prince, whose country is haunted by a battle that took both the prince's father and mother; a child named Saro who no longer remembers her past; and a mage--Atrix Wolfe--who is haunted by regret. All three characters struggle with the past in their attempts to redeem the future. Very well written novel.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even when the story is in the "normal", human world it seems dreamlike and fairytale-ish and a high contrast to the sort of stories that I usually read. It seems drawn from an earlier tradition of fantasy and there were aspects that recalled The King of Elfland's Daughter most specifically, but also The Face in the Frost.

McKillip produces powerful imagery, from the piles of luscious food continually produced by the ever-busy castle kitchen to the haunted tower to a definitely Elfland's Daughter inspired fairy wood.

[Amara Luciano · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

How truly beautiful and passionate and world-loving this book is. I don't know of many other books whose words enraptured me so. This book is about a book, about sorrow and light, past and future, about redemption and restitution, love that transcends worlds, magic that springs hope, beauty that lives in life.

I will never forget this book. Never.

It is a book I hope to share with the many, and the children I may have one day in the future. They should know the language of The Book of Atrix Wolfe. As for yourselves, maybe it's time to consider learning something new.


Page 220

"Who else have you got to listen to you up here?"

"Why do you want to listen to me?"

"Because I don't want to make your mistake."

Page 239:

"But I made something else… Where is it?"

They looked at him, wordless again. Burne spoke at last. "There was nothing else," he said. "There was only you."

[Tilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first foray into the strange and wonderful work of Patricia A. McKillip, and I loved it! It was fascinating to read the introduction from the artist who created the gorgeous cover for this 30th anniversary edition; Kathleen Jennings perfectly captured the magic of McKillip’s prose, and her musings about the visual elements of the writing really helped me get into the story. The lush imagery, so like a medieval tapestry, made this feel like a fairytale right from the beginning, and I immediately understood all the accolades from Jennings and others. This is not a straightforward story with a beginning and an end, but rather a shared dream between characters, with repeated memories and events. The tone of eerie otherworldliness felt plucked right out of dreams I myself have had, and I was left in complete awe of McKillip’s descriptive talent. Everyone is lost and searching in this story, from prince to mage to scullery maid, and while it was sometimes difficult to separate reality from dreams, that fine hovering balance was what made this book special.

4.5 stars

Thanks to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for providing me with e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[lookmairead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alphabet of Thorn is one of my favorite reads so I’ve been slowly chipping away at McKillip’s catalog when I need something dreamy.

This felt like Who’s of 1st x Fantasy. Clever, but torture for the reader around 60% in. 🤭😅 In a sense, I wish this was more of a novella (though, it isn’t crazy long on the first place).

I still have much love for McKillip’s and what she brings to the foundation of female written fantasy- and even though this wasn’t the home run I was looking for.

[L'encre de la magie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionnel 😍, la magie des old fantasy comme je les aime. D'une poésie et d'une vision maîtrisée. Une plume sensible et pleine d'une magie ensorcelante. Un des meilleurs Mckillip que j'ai lu c'est dire tellement chacun de ses tomes sont des coups de cœur 💖

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Sorrow is a word that means nothing until it means everything.”

[Alyssa (HeartwyldsLibrary) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"She is like the wood. Like golden light falling through the golden branches of the oak. The fierce, hot green stillness of midsummer, or the colors blowing everywhere in autumn when the winds are clear and wild as water..."

The Book of Atrix Wolfe is my second book by McKillip that I have read. She has a very dreamy way of writing her stories that just suck me in and refuse to let go. While I have only read two so far I noticed a recurring theme between the two, both have a melancholy feel to them. On one hand The Book of Atrix Wolfe was beautiful and dreamy and on the other it was melancholy and heartbreaking. Now I will say McKillip isn't for everyone, she has a very flowelry over descriptive way of telling her stories, that they move very slowly. If you don't like that then you honestly probably wouldn't enjoy her work, unless you really pushed yourself through it, and while I struggled with this at times, I knew she was going to deliver in the heartache which is what pushed me to keep going, (I like having my heart broken when I read leave me alone haha).

The Book of Atrix Wolfe follows the events that happen after the prologue. Yes there is a prologue but it truly sets up the entire story and what is to come. The story follows the consequences of the actions that happened in the prologue by Atrix Wolfe. I loved this approach to the story, while it is normal to see the aftermath of certain events that happen in prologues, it's usually 100+ years later, this was only a 20 year difference, so the events are still very fresh in many of the characters minds. The story constantly mentions veterans who were there and witnessed the great massacre of Pelucir, the King is fraught with memories fresh in his mind. It's still very real and very fresh to so many even though it's been 20 years. And then there are those who hadn't witnessed it or were not even born, yet they live to hear the stories constantly. So to have the consequences pop up so soon after the initial event was a nice change of pace.

The story follows 3 characters the Mage Atrix Wolfe, Prince Talis of Pelucir and Saro a young kitchen girl who can not speak. I loved Saro's chapters, she is completely mute through the book and no one knows if it's by choice or if she was born that way but what really made her chapters interesting was how they provided information for the greater story. Saro worked in the kitchens as a pot cleaner and so all of the necessary information that, I the reader needed, was told through the gossip of the kitchen servants as well as the musicians and hall servants of the castle. This was such a unique way of providing context for other portions of the story, like what was going on with the king and how he was reacting to certain events surrounding his brother Prince Talis. This also provided a lot of side commentary about what foods were being made so I found myself getting hungry a lot haha.

Talis was a sweet character, first of all he is a prince with glasses, it's not often I read about a prince having glasses so I loved this little bit about him. He gets tangled up in the aftermath of Atrix's actions and is used by those around him so they can get what they want. He is literally an innocent bystander pulled into these events by the Queen of the Wood, who wants both revenge for what she lost and the possibility and hope of finding what was taken.

"If I could stay-if somehow I could unweave myself from this spell and stay-I would burn these woods again with my memory. I was born that night. These Hunter's hands are my hands, these hounds and burning horns are mine. I died that night. There is nothing left of Ilyos but memory."

All the heartache I experienced revolved around the Queen. If there is one thing I have learned McKillip is amazing at, it is creating tragedy but delivered in the most beautiful way possible. She writes about loss inn this tale and it features both permanent loss and temporary loss but both are shared in equal light and both are tragic in their own right. She shows how innocent bystanders lost just as much as those who where taking part in the war 20 years prior. But she also shows how one never gives up, never stops looking, never forgets. The last 66 pages of the book are absolutely heart wrenching and broke me in so many ways. Also I really loved how we got to see Atrix learn and reaction to how horrible is actions affected others who he didn't even know where involved. It isn't glossed over and his reaction come across as genuinely confused and shocked with himself.

This has everything from magic, to fairy queens, to shapeshifting mages and so much more. It's a story steeped in learning how to own up to one's mistakes and not run and lie from them because eventually they will come back.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

We open with the king pleading with the wizard Atrix Wolfe, to work magic that will enable him to overcome another king. Atrix makes it clear that this is Not A Good Thing and Not What Wizards Do. But he keeps up the pressure. Meanwhile Saro, the daughter of the Queen of the Wood, and her father, owing to their drop of mortal blood, watch the scene curiously. Atrix, finally infuriated, weaves together a terrible spell, and unleashes a dark rider on the battlefield.

That was the prologue. The story picks up years later, with Tanis, the son of the king who died on the battlefield, who was born that very day, arguing with another student of wizardry about which king was responsible. Given that one died, and the other was driven from the field, there's no good argument for either except that the other one wouldn't have. But Tanis is summoned home. He goes up on the mountain where he catches a glimpse of the famous White Wolf, Atrix Wolfe himself, and grabs a book from the library, and goes.

Meanwhile, there's a mute girl who works in his brother's castle, as a scullery maid. Her name is Saro.

And Atrix Wolfe is plagued by dreams that send him back to the kingdom.

In McKillip's lyric prose, we get dreams with messages, an enchanted wood, a haunted keep, a magical misleading book, visions in a full cauldron, brotherly love, secrets, and the need to undo what was done.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this some years ago so the story line isn't fresh in my mind. However, the book made a huge impression on me. As with all of McKillip's books, it is full of enchantment, mystery and beautiful language. The story is about struggling for perception and understanding, it's about language and finding a voice. It's also about the destructiveness of war (intentional and unintentional). There are two stories going on, that of a young scholar prince and that of a mystical young lady yanked away from her family. The young man wears thick glasses. The young lady is mute and works as a skullery girl in a huge castle kitchen. McKillip's descriptions of the food being prepared are full of symbolism. These descriptions are sometimes overelaborate and drag on. It is one of only two flaws in the book, the second being an ending that feels contrived. McKillip's books are never about action, they're about unraveling mysteries and it's true here times two.

After reading this, I remember recommending it to a friend who teaches college composition as a book full of potential points of discussion. However, this friend was not a fantasy reader and probably had a hard time believing a fantasy would be intellectually stimulating. However, had I been teaching at that time, I would have jumped right in with it. I kept this book on my shelf because I expect to reread it one day.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book for the second time. I remembered loving it the first time I read it because of the poetic writing style of the author. I love the images of castle life and the characters. It reads like a fairy tale including many moral messages which can be gathered if one would wish to think them through most especially the importance of atoning for bad deeds.

The first half of the book is much more exciting than the second. In the second half, one might begin to get bored as a cycle of events seem to repeat themselves. The only cure to that boredom is to relax into the beautiful words as you would a hot bath and don't rush it. Just enjoy the journey!

[ria · Rating 3 out of 5]

very palatable, but i felt very detached from the characters throughout reading this. while i do enjoy a dream-like, more allusive writing style, i find it fits better for short stories or novellas, at least for me. i was deeply confused sometimes by what was happening/where we were or what the characters were doing, which meant i had to keep going back and forth. i was also kind of lost geography-wise. but overall enjoyable, especially for a saturday afternoon. it goes by fast too.
will try out some of mckillip’s other works, as i understand from the other reviews that this is a bit different from her rest.

[Miss Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book felt like a dream within a dream within a dream. The atmosphere was obscure and foggy, like you could never be sure exactly what was taking place or why, but you just went with it because that is the way of dreams. The plot was meandering, and in general I felt like I did not get to know the characters as well as I should have liked to have. Nonetheless, it is highly visually descriptive. An interesting style, but not, at least for this volume, one that I highly enjoyed.

[Seth Atwater · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love anything written by Patricia McKillip. I read this book years ago and loved it then but reading it aloud with my ride this time around I found new material that just blew me away. I love how each of the main players has a skill or talent that is necessary for the conclusion. Any one individual could not succeed on his or her own. I really enjoyed the characters flaws and the character growth. This is one of my favorite books.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinarily well-written, even by McKillip's high standard. It's also a perfect example of that rare gift she had for weaving a story with great depth of mystery and wonder, and then giving it an ending that explains what has been happening with wonderful clarity without ever compromising its enchanting, dreamlike essence.

A perfect book for summer and one of her very best.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dreamy scene of magic gone wrong and healed.

[Jael Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this! The magic is amazing, the worlds are so vivid, and the ending was lovely.