Brennan, Marie: Doppelganger
Doppelganger***
Writer: Marie Brennan
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 388
This writer was a rather random find. For some reason, I was browsing on the internet and came across Brennan's name. It struck me because of its similarity to Moya Brennan, so I had to check out her website. Brennan had an excerpt of her novel posted (still does), so I gave it a whirl, was intrigued, and decided to give it a go.
There are things I really like about this book, and then there are things I don't like. For starters, I was CONVINCED this book was a modern fantasy before I started reading. Why? Because the tone in the excerpt is very modern, very light. No real "fantasy speak" triggered any alarms, so I was perplexed when I realized that no, this was your typical fantasy fare, just with a modern voice.
No worries: Maria Snyder's Poison Study also has a light, modern tone, and that book entertained me just fine.
So read on I did.
The thing I most love about this book is the premise: when a witch is born, a doppelganger is created and must be killed for the witch to achieve her powers. But in this case, the doppelganger (Mirage) never died, and it's up to Miryo to kill her doppelganger before her own magic spirals out of control and kills her.
Cool, right? I thought so.
The world-building is also very thorough. The power structure of the witches are very organized and detailed, so much so that even now, I have a hard time keeping it all straight. Also thorough is the religion (Goddess-centered) and the Hunter schools.
I enjoyed this book, don't get me wrong. But quite a bit kept me distanced from getting immersed in the world.
For starters, I wanted more flesh on the bones. Not on a descriptive level by any means, but character. And this is tricky: in the case of Mirage and Eclipse, I had a hard time believing that they had no physical attraction for each other. She stripped in front of him at least twice, yet even in his point of view, he never reacts to her. Even from a best friend or sister standpoint, a naked woman is something to notice, unless you're gay. Not saying Eclipse is gay (there's no indication either way), but I wanted more between him and Mirage, some kind of deeper connection (not necessarily sex) that wasn't portrayed on the page.
The catch-22 with the characterization of Miryo and Mirage is this: they are two halves of a whole. Literally. So Mirage's inabilities are Miryo's talents, and vise-versa. Mirage is a harder, tougher, rougher character. Miryo is softer around the edges. It was easy to see them as individuals, but once the two meet, I found their characters becoming more and more similar. Intentional, I'm sure, given who they are and how they were created, but still, it felt less intentional and more...not sloppy. Just a natural progression that came too early, if that makes sense. And it didn't help that the POV began to slide between the two of them. It got a little head-hoppy, which forced me to pay closer attention than necessary.
And then there's the religion. I love femme-based religions (hello, Mists of Avalon), but something about this one felt a bit unnatural to me. A little off. Maybe it was the constant use of verbal prayer, which is something that's hard to swallow no matter what religion you're reading. Or it could be my own experience: I have difficulty swallowing what I view as a naive acceptance of religion, and this religion, while it appeared to be engrained in everyone's lives, felt very superficial. Again, not in a shallow way, but like I was seeing the surface without ever having a sense of roots. If the religion is clearly rooted in character or the world (like in Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow), I can accept it, because it's a part of the culture, a part of the life.
I don't know why the Goddess-based religion struck me as off, then, because it is a part of the witch's mythology and history and magic, and the Hunters have a fierce respect as well. It's clearly well-thought out and detailed. Maybe my reaction is due to the manner of prayer, as previous mentioned, or maybe it's something else.
I enjoy light reads, and this is very light. Yet, given the subject matter, the themes and symbols explored, I think I wanted something heavier. Most of this book has a kind of innocent glaze over it...the morality behind the murdering of the doppelganger (who's supposed to be murdered as an infant, soulless, mind you), the lack of complexity of the friendship between Mirage and Eclipse, the surface-ness of the religion, or the ease of Miryo's and Mirage's acceptance to each other and their fate. Maybe I'm too individualistic in regards to fully accepting the latter, but I would think that they would've fought the very idea of that certain solution.
Still, I love the solution. I saw it coming at the beginning, and was reminded of Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea. Love, love, love the the solution though. I love it to pieces, even though I wanted more resistence to the thought (even though it happened as an accident). But I think my reaction to this stems more from my own exploration of same souls and parts of selves in other people. So I can't blame Brennan for her interpretation.
Yet there are so many things that distanced me from this book: the characters' constant dwelling of their problems, the slow scenes with seemingly no urgency or direction. The former usually works better in the first person, as the narration are the narrator's thoughts, and the latter, well, I can't blame her too much. I tend to like quiet scenes. But still, this novel never struck me as meaning to be "quiet".
Oh, and a random nitpick that all writers are prone to: there are TOO many names that begin with the letter "M" and "K". The "M"s really drove me batty. But alas, all writers are prone to it. My weak spot is the letter "A".
So despite my picking this book apart, I did enjoy it. It's a very light read, with a fascinating premise, and its ending clearly nods to another book, because culturally, the issue at hand is not resolved. This is good, and I really wish I'd bought the second book, Warrior and Witch (which has one of the most gorgeous. covers. ever!), cause I really, really want to read it now that I've read the blurb. Oh well, I'll get it soon enough.
It's an easy enough book to recommend, but with fair warning: it's a first novel (not first written but first pubished) and I feel it shows in several areas. But this is great for a light reading when you really don't want to think too hard, and those of you interested in medieval fantasy without all the frilly language will certainly enjoy this.
*** = This book has been retitled Warrior by the publishing company and now has a snazzy new cover. Just click here to see it.