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Books: The Water Mirror
Oct. 13th, 2009 12:39 pmThis is translated from the German. Original text by Kai Meyer. I'm not sure if the translation affected the flow or POV - there were a lot of things that felt like tiny hiccups in POV to me, but I'm not sure if they were translation artifacts or elements of a different style in German fantasy? I think that I've read some other works translated from German before and that they struck me as intermittently odd in tone.
The world-building is outstanding in this fantasy. It's set in a not-medieval Venice that's under siege from an Egyptian army of mummies made from the dead of conquered territories. There are mirrors made of water and stone lions who fly and thieves and magic underwear. Both the magic and the world are fascinating.
The characters, unfortunately, don't rise much above stock. There's very little humor in the dialog or storytelling, and I think the shimmering decay of the setting would be nicely highlighted by some humor. We've got orphans, a boy thief, lords of Hell, mermaids with toothy mouths. That reminds me that the mermaid-on-land character is definitely the character development high point. Her story really moved me. I think that I was wanting this to be more Lloyd Alexander-ish than it is. That said, the setting and magic and conflict (Venetian chancellors vs. lords of Hell vs. Pharaohs + fueding magic craftsmen + orphans traded to the control of dubious magic powers) are more than engaging enough that I'll plan to pick up at least book 2 of the trilogy.
The cover, while a good representation of the novel's world and the characters, is done in a very very quiet palette. I didn't pick it up on the first three times I looked at this book, until I saw the much brighter covers for the sequels. I've got mixed reactions to it - it's accurate to the story's world and tone, but I just don't have a strong response to it when it's on a shelf - and the sad faces of the girls make me not like them as characters. I should add that it's a middle grade fantasy and that I don't seem to be an ideal reader of middle grade fantasy, so that might be part of the problem. I'm not sure. Maybe having established the world in book one the author will let the characters get a bit livelier in book two. I did like the self-awareness of the Flowing Queen - her style of argument could be a lot of fun.
The world-building is outstanding in this fantasy. It's set in a not-medieval Venice that's under siege from an Egyptian army of mummies made from the dead of conquered territories. There are mirrors made of water and stone lions who fly and thieves and magic underwear. Both the magic and the world are fascinating.
The characters, unfortunately, don't rise much above stock. There's very little humor in the dialog or storytelling, and I think the shimmering decay of the setting would be nicely highlighted by some humor. We've got orphans, a boy thief, lords of Hell, mermaids with toothy mouths. That reminds me that the mermaid-on-land character is definitely the character development high point. Her story really moved me. I think that I was wanting this to be more Lloyd Alexander-ish than it is. That said, the setting and magic and conflict (Venetian chancellors vs. lords of Hell vs. Pharaohs + fueding magic craftsmen + orphans traded to the control of dubious magic powers) are more than engaging enough that I'll plan to pick up at least book 2 of the trilogy.
The cover, while a good representation of the novel's world and the characters, is done in a very very quiet palette. I didn't pick it up on the first three times I looked at this book, until I saw the much brighter covers for the sequels. I've got mixed reactions to it - it's accurate to the story's world and tone, but I just don't have a strong response to it when it's on a shelf - and the sad faces of the girls make me not like them as characters. I should add that it's a middle grade fantasy and that I don't seem to be an ideal reader of middle grade fantasy, so that might be part of the problem. I'm not sure. Maybe having established the world in book one the author will let the characters get a bit livelier in book two. I did like the self-awareness of the Flowing Queen - her style of argument could be a lot of fun.
