The Alchemist Of Souls by Anne Lyle
Apr. 28th, 2013 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back a name out of half-forgotten Viking legend: skraylings. Red-sailed ships followed in the explorers’ wake, bringing Native American goods – and a skrayling ambassador – to London. But what do these seemingly magical beings really want in Elizabeth I’s capital?
Mal Catlyn, a down-at-heel swordsman, is appointed to the ambassador’s bodyguard, but assassination attempts are the least of his problems. What he learns about the skraylings and their unholy powers could cost England her new ally – and Mal his soul.
It’s the Elizabethan era, but not as we know it. Queen Elizabeth’s mourning the death of her husband Robert Dudley but takes comfort in her sons Prince Robert (who effectively rules as regent) and the dashing Prince Arthur while the explorers of the New World found it inhabited by strange creatures called skraylings who are keen on trade.
Mal Catlyn is a swordsman struggling to find the money needed to keep his twin brother Sandy comfortable in Bedlam. His fortunes improve when he’s summoned to court and told that a visiting skrayling ambassador called Kiiren has asked for Mal to be his bodyguard. Although Mal doesn’t understand how the skraylings know of him, he agrees to the commission only to find himself drawn into the machinations of the spymaster Walsingham as England seeks to improve relations with the skraylings and thereby improve their international position.
But as his relationship with Kiiren develops, Mal, learns that the skraylings have their own reasons for visiting England and that their interest in Mal stems from an event that Mal would rather forget ...
Anne Lyle’s debut novel (the first in a trilogy) is an intricately plotted AU historical fantasy thriller that combines authentic period detail, a refreshing approach to sexuality and gender-bending characters filled with daring-do.
Based on a real historical person, Lyle fleshes out Mal’s character and background to interesting effect but the use of third person narration does make it a little difficult to fully connect with him or his plight – mainly because certain key events in his life are kept vague until the final quarter of the book. I enjoyed his relationship with the brilliant but mentally ill Sandy and I found the scenes in Bedlam – with its mendacious “carers” who subject patients to the mockery of paying visitors – to be the most touching. There are hints of bisexuality, with Mal sharing a bed with actor Ned but also developing a relationship with Coby, a Dutch girl who’s disguised herself as a boy to work backstage for a theatre company.
I enjoyed the way Lyle develops the Norse legend of skraylings and the idea of magic being advanced technology is explored to good effect. I also enjoyed Lyle’s alternate Elizabethan court, which feels plausible and claustrophobic as factions compete for influence.
All in all it’s a solid first novel and I look forward to reading the next one.
The Verdict:
Anne Lyle’s debut novel (the first in a trilogy) is an intricately plotted AU historical fantasy thriller that combines authentic period detail, a refreshing approach to sexuality and gender-bending characters filled with daring-do. If I have a complaint then it’s that the use of third person narration makes it a little difficult to fully connect with Mal or his situation (mainly because certain key events in his life are kept vague until the final quarter of the book) but nevertheless this was a solid first novel and I look forward to reading the next one.
When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back a name out of half-forgotten Viking legend: skraylings. Red-sailed ships followed in the explorers’ wake, bringing Native American goods – and a skrayling ambassador – to London. But what do these seemingly magical beings really want in Elizabeth I’s capital?
Mal Catlyn, a down-at-heel swordsman, is appointed to the ambassador’s bodyguard, but assassination attempts are the least of his problems. What he learns about the skraylings and their unholy powers could cost England her new ally – and Mal his soul.
It’s the Elizabethan era, but not as we know it. Queen Elizabeth’s mourning the death of her husband Robert Dudley but takes comfort in her sons Prince Robert (who effectively rules as regent) and the dashing Prince Arthur while the explorers of the New World found it inhabited by strange creatures called skraylings who are keen on trade.
Mal Catlyn is a swordsman struggling to find the money needed to keep his twin brother Sandy comfortable in Bedlam. His fortunes improve when he’s summoned to court and told that a visiting skrayling ambassador called Kiiren has asked for Mal to be his bodyguard. Although Mal doesn’t understand how the skraylings know of him, he agrees to the commission only to find himself drawn into the machinations of the spymaster Walsingham as England seeks to improve relations with the skraylings and thereby improve their international position.
But as his relationship with Kiiren develops, Mal, learns that the skraylings have their own reasons for visiting England and that their interest in Mal stems from an event that Mal would rather forget ...
Anne Lyle’s debut novel (the first in a trilogy) is an intricately plotted AU historical fantasy thriller that combines authentic period detail, a refreshing approach to sexuality and gender-bending characters filled with daring-do.
Based on a real historical person, Lyle fleshes out Mal’s character and background to interesting effect but the use of third person narration does make it a little difficult to fully connect with him or his plight – mainly because certain key events in his life are kept vague until the final quarter of the book. I enjoyed his relationship with the brilliant but mentally ill Sandy and I found the scenes in Bedlam – with its mendacious “carers” who subject patients to the mockery of paying visitors – to be the most touching. There are hints of bisexuality, with Mal sharing a bed with actor Ned but also developing a relationship with Coby, a Dutch girl who’s disguised herself as a boy to work backstage for a theatre company.
I enjoyed the way Lyle develops the Norse legend of skraylings and the idea of magic being advanced technology is explored to good effect. I also enjoyed Lyle’s alternate Elizabethan court, which feels plausible and claustrophobic as factions compete for influence.
All in all it’s a solid first novel and I look forward to reading the next one.
The Verdict:
Anne Lyle’s debut novel (the first in a trilogy) is an intricately plotted AU historical fantasy thriller that combines authentic period detail, a refreshing approach to sexuality and gender-bending characters filled with daring-do. If I have a complaint then it’s that the use of third person narration makes it a little difficult to fully connect with Mal or his situation (mainly because certain key events in his life are kept vague until the final quarter of the book) but nevertheless this was a solid first novel and I look forward to reading the next one.
