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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another Original Tale, September 23, 2008
This review is from: The Duke In His Castle (Paperback)
The Duke in His Castle is a fairly short book about Rossain, the Duke of Violet. Like the other dukes in this land, Rossain has been cursed to never leave his castle ... but there is one hope for escape. When the dukes were cursed, each was said to also receive a secret power. If any one duke learns the powers of all the others, he or she will be free.
While the others plot and scheme, sending messengers to try to pry secrets from their counterparts, Rossain seems uninterested in playing. He simply wanes away, his life empty and relatively meaningless until a messenger from the Duchess of White arrives at his palace bearing a box of bones and asking him to restore them to life.
Like most of Nazarian's work, this is a richly written world of depth and complexity. The references to various colors (White, Violet, etc.) made me wonder if this story tied into her book Lords of Rainbow, but they seem to be separate. Indeed, there are hints that this is set in some version of our own world: a reference to the lost library of Alexandria, for example. I'm afraid those lines bumped me out of the story. This doesn't feel at all like our world, but there were just enough hints to make me wonder. Hints, but no answers.
That's a minor complaint, probably more from Jim the writer than Jim the reader. The larger problem I had was that I simply didn't like Rossain. In the beginning, he's essentially given up. He's rude, lost in self-pity, and not someone I want to read about. That changes somewhat as Lady Izelle arrives -- their game of magical hide-and-seek is wonderful. But as the story moves on, one of Rossain's later actions undoes the sympathy I've developed.
The story itself is a complex one, with several unexpected twists. Izelle is a marvelously deep and tormented character. Her story is easily the most engaging, and the most tragic. I'll admit that I didn't completely understand the ending, where we discover the nature of Rossain's power (oh, right -- like that's a spoiler). But that might be me being a little slow.
I've yet to read one of Nazarian's stories that settled into the typical fantasy mold. This is another very original tale, and at times very powerful.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Overly baroque for my taste, but nonetheless intriguing., August 27, 2009
This review is from: The Duke In His Castle (Paperback)
Vera Nazarian, The Duke in His Castle (Norilana, 2008)
Interesting novella by Norilana headmistress Nazarian, a blend of fantasy and romance in the classical sense of the term (high adventure mixed with passion, rather than the passion-based stuff we know as romance today). Not without its flaws, but well worth your time nonetheless.
Rossian, the Duke of Violet, is the title character, the leader of one of seven duchies in the kingdom that is the world of the novel. Like his six compatriots, Rossian is incapable of leaving is castle, held in place by a curse from the Just King; none of the seven may leave, for reasons unknown. Rossian has his hypotheses, though, and they find themselves tested when a woman who claims to be an emissary of the Duchess of White shows up in Rossian's study bearing a box of bones.
The back of the book has a lot of words being thrown around that I'm not entirely sure apply to it, between it being called "erotic" ("disturbing" is far closer to the mark for the sexual scenes to be found here) and it being compared to Angela Carter, which is the tallest of orders (and obviously, I'm not holding it against Nazarian that someone blurbing the book was overzealous). The book's one problem, in my opinion, is the baroque language; you'd expect a book of just one hundred eighteen pages to be short, sweet, and to the point, but Nazarian is almost rococo in its application. That is a matter of taste, of course, and I'm sure many readers will find it as delightful as I find it off-putting. I certainly enjoyed this, and I hope others will discover Nazarian as well. ***
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Necromancy and deathless sensuality, August 26, 2008
This review is from: The Duke In His Castle (Paperback)
Vera Nazarian's storytelling sorcery achieves a new peak in this tale of necromancy, longing, ethereal beauty, life, and death.
It is a tale of magic with two unforgettable characters: the Duke of Violet, a Heathcliff-like hero with pent-up magical abilities and unspent sexual power, both of which he uses only when Izelle, the other character, goads him into action. The story line is gripping, and leads not just to death and rebirth, but also to a discovery of the shaky foundation of the universe. The other character, Izelle, is amusing, exasperating, puzzling, and thoroughly charming. You have to meet them both to know what I'm talking about.
Nazarian's style is elegant without pretension, sensual without crudeness, emotional without bathos. She evokes the gothic atmosphere of the Duke's castle with grace and power. Though you get the same type of pleasure you seek from H. P.. Lovecraft or Edgar Allan Poe, Nazarian's prose is more grounded, more vividly presented to the senses. And yes, there is a sex scene, a very weird one.
Nazarian ends the book with a satisfying set of surprises, each character getting just what they need -- and want.
I believe Nazarian is a relatively new writer, but she's already received some kudos, including Nebula nominations. I'll be following her future work with interest.
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