Walker, Saskia: Unveiling the Sorceress
Unveiling the Sorceress
Writer: Saskia Walker
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 219
Whew. I was a little worried to read another Juno book right after Apricot Brandy, even though Walker is obviously not the same author and the story is completely different. Plus, Apricot Brandy was the first Juno book I'd read that I did not like. And since it isn't fair to let the reaction of one book affect the next one I read, I sat down with this as planned and gave it a go.
Unveiling the Sorceress has a pretty simple plot with an uncommon setting in regards to fantasy. The plot: among the gods, one has decided to directly influence the course of human events by creating unrest in the exotic lands. This leads to the possibility of war, and the peaceful and wealthy Aleem, a city coveted due to its riches and location in the trading routes, must find a way to make peace with its enemy, Karseedia. To do so, the young Empress Elishiba, decides to offer herself to Karseedia's Emperor in marriage. While she doesn't want to do this, she'll do whatever it takes to defend and protect her people, and she hopes that by agreeing to such a marriage (which was her idea), she can negotiate with the Emperor and find another way to create peace between the two countries. The conflict comes in the form of the Emperor's mother, who wants power for herself and wants Aleem squashed, and the fact that Elishiba finds herself dangerously attracted to one of Hanrah's (the Emperor's) advisors, Amshazar, who clearly has an agenda of his own.
Spoilers to follow.
While this is Walker's second romantic fantasy, Walker is no stranger to the writing world. She also writes erotica, and it certainly shows in this book. The intense desire felt by Elishiba for Amshazar is tangible, and the sex scenes (despite some purple prose here and there) are definitely hot. There's also the lovely touch of sexual culture in this book. Both Karseedia and Aleem have their own practices and freedoms. Karseedia trains nubiles in the sexual arts, but keeps them as slaves. Hanrah also turns out to be homosexual, and in love with one of the nubile promised as a gift to Elishiba. In contrast, Aleem seems to embrace a number of sexual freedoms. Elishiba is no blushing virgin. She's already been involved with the head of the Immortals (Aleem's elite guard) but has had to distance herself from him due to the arranged marriage. Her handmaidens, the twins, seem to embrace a certain playful, sexual freedom as well, especially when it comes to the seduction of one of the nubiles, Kerr.
There's heterosexual sex, homosexual sex (or at least boy-on-boy action), and masturbation of both the male and female variety. That's a lot of sex. ;)
I bring this up because for whatever reason, the freedom taken in this book was a welcome relief. Walker doesn't treat sex as any sort of taboo in this culture, nor does she make a big deal out of the sex scenes there are. Oh, sure, Hanrah's mother is furious over his relationship with Kazeen, but not because she's homophobic, but because he's the Emperor and must produce heirs.
In some ways, this book reminded me of a far less complex version of Kushiel's Dart. Well, without the pleasure-as-pain comparison. You've got gods and goddesses influencing the events/characters in the book, you've got political scheming, and you've got freedom of sex. Cool.
Now that I'm done babbling about sex, let's talk about the rest of the book. It's particularly interesting to read this on the heels of Apricot Brandy, because some of the problems I had with Apricot Brandy did not bother me here. Let's compare:
1) Gods/Goddesses influencing their people: when the god Hurda inspires unrest in the exotic lands, the Council of the gods enlist the help of Amshazar, to go within and create peace. Spearheading this mission is Sevita, the goddess of "higher emotions," who has her own agenda of getting women admitted into the school of the magi, but to do so, women must somehow prove capable of the magic. Since Amshazar is a mage of the most powerful sort, this is part of his mission, to train Elishiba into her powers so that she can defeat Mehmet, the Emperor's mother.
In this book, we don't have gods or goddesses taking over the will of the main characters, which is why this divine influence works. The gods/goddesses are characters with their own motivations and goals, and the characters still have to make their own choices, even when they pray to the gods/goddesses for guidance.
2) Villains have no motivation other than the attainment of power. At least, that's what it boils down to. In the case of Sibias, Mehmet's advisor, he is drunk with the use of dark sorcery, and all he does is to please Mehmet, which, of course, exalts him to a position of power within Karseedia. With Mehmet, her motivations are very clear. With the coming marriage of her son to Elishiba, she will loose her hold on her people. She wants to remain in power, and the only way to do that is to force events and people to bend to her will.
Why didn't this bother me? For starters, I love the female villain in general. I think it might be my diet of Disney princess movies when I was a child, as well as some personal experiences, but when a villainess is created just right, she brings an energy to the tale that male villains don't have. Don't ask me to explain that comparison. It's an intuitive thing on my part. So while even though Mehmet isn't exactly a three-dimensional, sympathetic character, she hits the right pitch as a villain, and she's not total cardboard either. And as far as Sibias goes, we never get his point of view, and the conflict between him and Amshazar is delightful.
So those are the specific comparisons, though my feminist hackles rose just a wee bit in regards to the relationship between Amshazar and Elishiba and the magic. For starters, Elishiba can barely work the magic without Amshazar's help, and then there's the fact that she feels the magic most fully when she and Amshazar are intimate with each other. However, there's the fact that the magic system, such as it is, is a bit vague. It comes from the soul, and I know that part of Elishiba's power comes from the fact she IS a woman and that women's emotions are what gives a woman her strength in power. So the hackles were smoothed down: it made sense that Elishiba learned use of her magic during intimate physical encounters, because emotions were running high. And since Elishiba also worked her magic at two pivotal points in the book without Amshazar's help, I could see her as a sorceress in her own right rather than a dependent on Amshazar's power.
The book is just a very enjoyable read. I loved the emotional depth to the characters, particularly Elishiba, who is a very solid heroine. The is pretty tight and rolls right along, and despite the book's short length, there's no shortage on the romance, sex, and personal sacrifice the characters have to make. There's tragedy in this book, and that's an impressive punch for 219 pages. The story wraps up well, though I couldn't help but wonder if Walker might write a sequel, because the epilogue implies possible future adventures, and I'd enjoy seeing these characters again.
Next up: Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder