ISBN: 0-441-00447-4 Order from: Amazon.com
A melancholic tale of music, magic and intrigue in a setting vaguely resembling Renaissance Venice.
Reviewed by David on October 24, 1998
Genre: Fantasy (Intrigue, Music, Sorcery, Hidden Heir)
Synopsis: After the brutal destruction of his family, a traumatized child grows up in a music school in a remote island. After learning music and magic, he comes back to the city of his birth to confront his painful memories.
Full Review: Patricia McKillip excels in crafting lyrical, atmospheric stories filled with magic, longing and apprehension. This novel is no exception. After a brutal destruction of his family in a power struggle, Rook, a scion of a formerly powerful dynasty blocks his memory and lives for decades on a remote northern island famous for its school of bards. After learning and teaching music, raising a son and encountering magic strangely interwoven with his music, Rook finally returns to his home town, where his powerful enemy still rules. Complicated by the naïve plots of local resistance, music, magic, infatuations and Rook's talented and stubborn son, the confrontation with the old Basilisk will end up in clash of old fear and new pain.
The setting and even the mood is not unlike Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana. Song for the Basilisk is more focused and better than Kay's novel. It is somewhat marred by a deus ex machina ending, and a bit too much angst. Nevertheless, McKillip's skill with the tone of the novel, and the almost magical exposition of music and sorcery, make this a worthy contribution from the author of The Riddlemaster of Hed.
Overall: 6.5; Plot: 5; Characters: 5.5; Style: 6.5; World-building: 6.5; Originality: 6.5;
Copyright date 1998, Berkley Publishing Group (Ace Books), September 1998, Cloth, 314 pages
ISBN: 0-441-00447-4 Order from: Amazon.com