Customer Reviews

The Witch Queen

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jan Siegel is a wonderful, very poetic and visual author, and her technical skills in this book are at their usual level. However, I was very disappointed in the story.

In the first two books of this trilogy, Siegel showed the reader something new each time. I will agree that Prospero's Children is the best of these novels and The Dragon Charmer wasn't as good, but at least in The Dragon Charmer we got new, interesting characters such as Moonspittle and Kel, and fascinating pictures of different worlds--the Tree and Hades.

In the Witch Queen, however, the only major new character is Luc, and he is not very interesting--at least, he didn't seem that way to me. Compared to his Atlantean counterpart, he's downright dull, and I didn't feel any sexual tension between him and Fern. We also didn't get to see anything new in this book. Essentially, it was just Fern in London and Morgus in Kent, both trying to figure out what the other was up to. I kept thinking, Why don't you just get over there and find out and get this plot moving somewhere interesting?

The magic--the circle casting, the Tree, etc.--is basically what we've seen before. Even more vexing, the characters from previous books that I liked weren't around that much, and when they did make an appearance, they didn't seem to do anything; it was as if they were present merely for decoration.

Finally, I did not like the ending. It seemed more of a cop-out--on the part of the author AND Fern--than a closure.

Essentially, I feel this books lacks the level of creativity and thought that was found in such abundance in Prospero's Children, and less so in The Dragon Charmer. Even if you do love Jan Siegel, I would recommend that you wait until it comes out in paperback, or get it from the library.

The Witch Queen (Witch's Honour, in the UK) is the last in Jan Siegel's trilogy began in Prospero's Children and continued in The Dragon-Charmer. Numerous characters, history and plot are carried over from the earlier novels, including the main "enemies" of our heroes Fern, Will and more stranger people such as Rattleskin. Once again Fern battles against Morgus and Azmordis. However, it is a complete story in itself, not absolutely requiring you to have read the earlier novels, but this is obviously going to help in order to understand the background of the novel's mythos.

Siegel's world is set within ours, in our own time, but it is a world of witches, wizards, goblins and earth-powers which coexist with ordinary and mundane people. The Gifted, or Prospero's children have witch powers derived from the fall of Atlantis. Robert Holdstock, Tim Powers and Charles de Lint handled this kind of thing more successfully, though Siegel's excellent descriptive talents ensure a chill or two as the story develops. The young Witch heroine battling evil obviously has echoes of Buffy the vampire slayer and House-Goblins are rather familiar following Harry Potter's House-Elves, but the material is handled quite well would appeal to the older teenage market, though there is a few minor and mild references to sex.

One irritation was the thoroughly middle-classness of major characters who all seem to have smart flats in London, work in PR or The City and who had well-off parents live in large houses in the country. At times it almost seems to be a fantasy version of Bridget Jones. This will attract or repel depending on taste. In all a weaker effort than previous novels, suffering from a little padding midway through, a fault experienced by middle volumes of trilogy's rather than the last; but the finale works quite well, but too tidy.

I read novels and trilogies as a hobbies. I found the first two books from this author to be sufferable, if that's a word. I thought they were very entertaining and not too risque. None of the main characters were killed. Put in peril maybe, but not banished. I found that refreshing. However this last book had most of the suspense removed about 3/4 of completion. It was as if the author was writing a paper and came up about 75 to 100 pages short. My opinion (and I probably mistaken), it appeared that the last quarter of the book was a fillibuster to complete the novel with little or no effort to build the continuing storyline.
The author has excellent skills and imagination. Somehow she was allow to end a story with what basically amounted to "THE END". I was disappointed with the ending and the book as a whole. The story left too many questions unanswered. Several points refer to substance with out conclusion. THE GOBLIN CAT. THE DIG SITE. THE TWIN. These are the ones that stick out most to me. I am not a really great fan of the 800-900 page novel. However, time has to be taken to create and develop a storyline properly before it ends. Maybe the author's next offering will be planned better.

Jan Siegel did wonders with Prospero's Children (it was one of the better fantasy novels that I've read in years). Dragon Charmer was not quite as interesting, but the writing was beautiful. In Witch Queen, the interest in the plot is there, the writing is gorgeous, but I'm not sure that I feel satisified with the book. As any who read this series know, it is a blend of Arthurian legend, Atlantis mythology, and Shakespeare's Tempest. In this final installment, it feels as if the roots have been left behind (Arthur, Atlantis, Tempest) only to return to them with a vengance. In some ways, I feel like this could have been a great series (5 stars) but was held back by the fact that Ms. Siegel was so consciously reinterpreting old tales. It almost feels as if her tale was forced to fit the framework.

When I say "disgusting" here it doesn't mean buckets o' gore or sexual acrobatics. I mean it in it's very literal sense of "distasteful". This isn't a coming of age story. It's not a story of courage, physical or moral. It's not a story I'd ever let my daughters read.

It's a story about giving up, about powerlessness, about self-abnegation and denial and fear of one's own adulthood.

At every turn in the series, and one really must take the three books as a whole, the main character goes from joylessness to sorrow to emptiness. She runs constantly from her magical inner self. She only really touches it in moments of danger always ends up poorer in spirit from it. Her power brings her no joy, only pain to herself and danger to those close to her. Beauty is for her brother the artist. Love and sex are for her friend. Wisdom is for the burned-out hulk of a wizard who makes occasional appearances. None of it is for her.

Love? She tries to turn off her sexuality and her capacity for love by blunting them against an unsuitable match in the first third of the trilogy. Every time she comes close it ends in betrayal, loss and pain. In the end she almost finds a suitable man only to give him up along with everything else (literally). Her relation with the one woman who actually teaches her magic is equal parts abuse, rape, enslavement and vengeance.

Power? I'm not a fan of what Norman Spinrad calls "Emperor of Everything" stories, but if fantasy is to teach us anything it is that there is a capacity for nobility, transcendence and magic in each of us even if the power is only that of self-realization. Poor Fern reaches none of these. The series is a constant stream of pain, loss and sacrifice as our protagonist (I hesitate to call her heroine) tries desperatley for normalcy and fails and tries for magic only to be burned.

In the end, having sacrificed love, career, power, friendship, beauty, and everything else potentially good or uplifting in her life she is confronted with a choice of the destruction of everything she still holds dear or the last draining out of what she is and ever was. It is a depressing dilemma offering nothing but defeat any way you look at it. In that, at least, the author does not disappoint. She delivers defeat and self denial in the same degree that she did in about a thousand pages of narrative.

It's a shame that Jan Siegel is such a good writer. If she couldn't keep you turning the pages the reader would have dropped the books early on and not watched the series grind to its gray, deadening conclusion.

It is definitely NOT a story for girls or young women. The message is "Avoid your power. Fight growth and life at every choice because they will only bring pain. In the end your attempts will bring you quite literally to nothing. If you're really fortunate you can have a dull, comfortless but relatively pain-free existence. Otherwise you will have to sacrifice yourself totally for the benefit of others more worthy than you."

One can only hope that Siegel will turn her considerable talents in a more worthy direction.

The three-part story of Fernanda "Fern" Capel that began in "Prospero's Children" and continued in "The Dragon Charmer" comes to its conclusion in "The Witch Queen". A young woman now, Fern has resigned herself to the presence of magic in her life and accepted (however reluctantly) that her Gift means that the life of a witch is the only one she can lead. In "Prospero's Children" Fern time-traveled back to the City of Atlantis, where she loved and lost a young man of that nation; and in "The Dragon Charmer" she became the unwilling student of the witch Morgus (known in life as Morgause, the sister of Morgan le Fay), eventually betraying and slaying her tutor in her desire to return to her ordinary life. But Morgus was not destroyed when Fern flung her into the River Styx, and now she has emerged stronger than ever to wreck revenge on Fern for abandoning her.

Fern also has to content with the demon Azmordis, a foe who has threatened her throughout the entire trilogy, his mind set on gaining Fern's soul and power for his own. Lately she has been haunted by a dream in which she meets Azmordis in his earthly seat of power (a giant corporate building, naturally) and signs away her soul. Troubled by this nightmare, and knowing that life seldom ends well for those with the Gift, Fern is certain that trouble lies ahead. Even her brother Will, her mentor Ragginbone and her best friend (the unfortunately named) Gaynor are no comfort to her.

On the eve of the millennium, a masked ball is held at Wrokeby Hall, where an unknown illness strikes down Dana Walgrim - the daughter of the owner. She lies in a deep sleep that she cannot be awoken from, and her brother Lucas is at a loss...till he hears of a similar case a few years ago, in which a young woman also lay in a mysterious coma. He is referred to Fern, the two meet, and Fern is struck by familiarity. Could Lucas be the reincarnation of Rafarl, her Atlantean love? Despite her reluctance to dabble in the dark arts, she agrees to help him rescue his sister; but of course the investigation is connected to the reemergence of Morgus, who has a plan to bring Fern to her knees, one that involves an offshoot of the Great Tree Yggdrasil and its harvest of heads. And in the background lurks Azmordis, whose plans run even more deeply...

Okay, I'll admit it - I have been a staunch supporter for Jan Siegel's trilogy, recommending them despite the rather lukewarm reviews of other readers. I love Siegel's language, her ideas, her ability to put a fresh spin on old traditions, and I especially love the way that reading a fantasy novel by Siegel is in no way familiar - she's no Tolkien ghost-writer. I get sick of unimaginative fantasists who simply echo Tolkien; and thankfully Siegel does not fall into this category. Neither does she pander to the reader: Fern goes through difficult, painful and life-changing experiences throughout her like - unlike the hijinks strewn throughout "Harry Potter", being a witch is portrayed here as a heavy burden for a human being to bear. There are complaints that Fern's story is too depressing and nihilistic, which is a reasonable criticism given the mind-numbing curveball that Siegel throws us three-quarters of the way through the story. But it is a twist that fits well within the scope, theme and atmosphere of the story; it is not done simply to shock or depress us, and it serves a very clear and fitting purpose: to show us just how strong Fern really is, and how devoted to the cause of good. Fern was rather distant in "Prospero's Children", but I warmed up to her more in "Dragon Charmer" - now, for the first time, I admired her, and empathized with her pain. Finally, she comes up with a truly remarkable and bittersweet solution to Fern's conundrum. Well played, Siegel. Well played.

However, there are problems. In the previous book "The Dragon-Charmer", a dragon - yes, an actual *dragon* is released back into the world, a powerful force that was sure to have a part to play in the final installment of the trilogy. Nope - it's barely even mentioned, which makes its central role in the previous story as the magical McGuffin rather problematic. That's not as bad as Siegel's treatment of the wizard Ragginbone and his companion Lougarry, a cursed werewolf. They were introduced in "Prospero's Children" as a wizard who has lost his powers and a woman who has been cursed to bear the burden of lycanthropy. Their relationship and their lives before meeting Fern are initially shrouded in mystery - and they unfortunately stay that way. Why did Ragginbone loose his powers? Why was Lougarry cursed? Who was she before she was a werewolf? How did the two of them meet? There is a fascinating back-story to these two characters that begs to be explored, but it is an opportunity that Siegel never takes. Of course, in any story, there are some elements that are best left an enigma (such as Siegel's intriguing use of Morgus's sister) but Ragginbone and Lougarry have been with us from the first book, and the author owed us some details and explanations. Without it, one has to question why these two characters were even in the trilogy to begin with. Bad form, Siegel. Bad form.

So, "The Witch Queen" is the weakest of the three books, and I have to admit, a little disappointing. Sigel also squanders several other opportunities, including Siegel's established friendship between Fern and Kaliburn, and I'm wondering why she thought it necessary to reintroduce Sysselore. And it takes *forever* for the story to get started - it is not till page 105 that the two foes actually start making their moves against one another; beforehand is an achingly slow buildup to the action. But for all of this, I still recommend the Fern trilogy. It may not be to everyone's tastes since it does get rather dark in places, but it is worth the read simply because of its originality and Siegel's beautiful use of language (which is right up there with fellow fantasist Patricia McKillip). Take a chance on it: start with "Prospero's Children", and work your way through the trilogy.

P.S.: "The Witch Queen" is also known as "Witch's Honour" in some publications, but they are exactly the same texts.

Having just finished The Witch Queen, I have to say that while it was good--better than The Dragon Charmer--it wasn't nearly as good as Prospero's Children. In the final installment to the trilogy, Fernanda Capel is once again tormented by Morgus, who, having bathed herself in the River of the Underworld, is invincible to harm, and Azmordis, the Old Spirit. In this book, Fern's true power grows and shines, and with the help of her friends--who are more important than she would have thought--she once again proves that neither witch nor spirit can harm her, While the book was good, the writing beautiful, the ending was a disappointment. While it was suitable, I really would have prefered if Fern had chosen some other path, but whatever. Another disappointing aspect, though appropriate, but sad, is the possible return of her lost love, though it didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped. All in all, it was a satisfying read, and though I didn't particularly like the ending, I know most people will.

She once dreamed of ruling Logrez through her son, a product of having sex with her brother the great king Arthur but failed in her deadly scheme. Morgus hates mankind and intends to rule modern day England but she is not wise in the ways of the present. She plans to use the spirit of a modern day witch, separated from her body by Morgus, to learn how to get around in the twentieth century.

Fern Capel, unwilling to be an apprentice to such a malevolent being, fights her and eventually thinks she kills her dangerous "guest". Unfortunately, Morgus is a survivor and after a time of recuperation is back intending to destroy Fern once and for all. When it comes to Fern's attention that she will have to fight her enemy once again, she gathers her allies for the coming battle, never dreaming what she will have to sacrifice for the ultimate victory.

This is the third installment in the Fern Capel Saga and it is by far the most creative and fascinating to date. The antagonist is almost as interesting as the heroine as Morgus is a malevolent being so consumed by hatred that it is not at all easy to predict how she will attack only that her assault is pending. The heroine is a being of pure goodness so easy to predict but remains likable and engages the empathy of the audience early on. The climax is truly a shocker that solves the problems that plague Fern, but not quite in the way the audience will anticipate.

Harriet Klausner