The Mirador by Sarah Monette
Title: The Mirador
Author: Sarah Monette
Type: Fantasy, Supernatural, Intrigue
Slash: Male slash
Length: 432 pages
Rating: 4/5
Back of the Book: After loosing everything at the hands of his sadistic former master, the dashing wizard Felix Harrowgate has finally managed to reclaim his sanity, his magic, and his position in society. But even as he returns to his former place in the Mirador--Melusine's citadel of power and Cabaline wizardry--there are many eager to see him fall once more.
Mildmay the Fox is an ex-assassin, a cat-burglar, and Felix's half-brother. Tied to Felix by blood and magic, Mildmay goes where Felix goes--even into the Mirador, where only his link to Felix can protect him from his notorious past.
There, Mildmay finds himself drawn to the alluring Mehitabel Parr, an actress who is hiding a dangerous secret. As an unwilling spy for the Bastion, a school of rival wizards who despise the Mirador and all it stands for, she has been forced to gather information from her friends and acquaintances.
The Bastion desires above all else to bring down the Mirador, and they have learned that Felix is the key to its destruction. But Mildmay cannot let Felix stand alone, and will fight to save both his brother and his city from certain ruin...
Okay just a note if you plan on reading these you might not want to read all of this. I will however leave that for the end. So if you wish to read the first part without reading the spoilers you can.
I guess I should start off by saying, I enjoyed this book as I did the other two. However I felt that this volume was lacking somewhat. I also found that the back of the book was misleading to me. That aside, I enjoyed reading it but I was also annoyed with it all at the same time. This volume raises more questions that it answers which is highly annoying when the next one isn't out.
The point of this book isn't about saving the city, it becomes more of an insight into Mehitable Parr then anything else. We get glimpses of Mildmay and Felix but nothing is resolved between them. I think we get advances in both Mehitable and Mildmay's characters however Felix still seems to be stuck in the mire that is himself despite the glimpses of possibility that he shows. Though I think perhaps the events at the end of the book my shove him back towards madness and may give him a chance to make progress away from the ass that he most typically is.
Like the underlying back stories that we have going through here. Of the past kings and queens and such, it adds a nice back drop. I think that it also gives things an air of reality that we might not other wise have. However, again this raises more questions. I really want to know how the laying of Magnus at the end of this book really plays into things because it seems out of place and slightly superfluous right now.
Okay SPOILER, Rant down here.
So Gideon. I liked him in the first book. There was a lot of possibility there given his character and his past with Theadus. Which is never fully explained.
However I felt that Gideon lost a lot when he was rescued, and came back without his tongue. He shows sparks of his old self in the third book but never really becomes what he was. Which annoyed me.
But that aside I wanted him to come back and be the strong character that he was original. I did not want to see him simply end up dead. Somehow I don't quiet find myself believing the sequence of events that we are given. I want to see the note that he received and know where he actually met with the ass that killed him. Because Gideon was not stupid, and it would've had to be a well played trick to get him to believe it. That of course does not change the fact that he's dead.
Anyway I gotta go have to head to work. *makes a face an runs off*