The Painter Knight | |||||||||||
Fiona Patton | |||||||||||
DAW Books, 522 pages | |||||||||||
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A review by Alexander von Thorn
The author tells another tale in the chronicle of the Aristoks of
Branion. It would be imprecise to call this the second in a series, for this story
is set a century and a half before the events of The Stone
Prince. During the reign of Marsellus the Black, Branion's power
is on a rising tide. But in a world where a ruler is only as good as his
last conquest, the realm is always at risk from tribal uprising,
sectarianism, foreign alliances, and dynastic and political manoeuvring,
even at the best of times. Having cowed all adversaries outside the palace,
the Aristok Marsellus is murdered while at prayer by agents of his
well-loved brother-in-law in a bid to bring the royal line into a
different sept of the dynasty. The plan of Ellisander DeMarian, Duke of
Yorbourne, is to become Regent for Marsellus's five-year-old daughter,
Kassandra, and then arrange for Kassandra's demise at a later date, once
Yorbourne has consolidated his power.
But more than mortal schemes are at work here. The child Kassandra
is in the study of Simon of Florenz, court painter for the royal palace and
occasional lover of the late Marsellus. The power of the Living Flame
transfers itself to Kassandra, and Simon realizes that anyone who murders
the Aristok in his personal chapel likely has the run of the palace, and
likely does not intend well for the child. Simon flees with Kassandra,
subtly protected by the power of two deities. From there the stage is set:
Simon and Kassandra attempt a desperate flight to a distant noble who has
not been corrupted by the intrigues of the capital, while Yorbourne and his
treasonous allies try to capture Kassandra while preventing anyone from
learning the truth. From there, things begin to get complicated...
There is not enough room in this review to catalogue the novel's best
points, but a few can be listed. In one scene, the child sovereign passes
judgement over a venal vassal who had fallen in with Yorbourne; Kassandra
solemnly orders the miscreant to eat live worms. The prophet priest
Rosarion is a blend of conflicts; the "white lung plague" kills the Duke's
lover and leaves her brother, Rosarion, slowly hacking his lungs to death,
so Yorbourne becomes Rosarion's protector, and then Rosarion becomes
Yorbourne's co-conspirator in the plot against Marsellus. But the priest
realizes that his efforts to track Kassandra and reveal the thoughts of
prisoners cannot succeed; he cannot use the powers given him by his god
against the interests of the god's new avatar. So when Simon is captured by
Yorbourne, Rosarion helps Simon escape, and then the priest presents
himself to Kassandra for secular judgement and spiritual redemption. And
there are the colourful performers of the Spinning Coins Tumbling Troupe,
the stalwart vassals of the Duke of Kempston, the quiet intrigues of the
Assassin's Guild, and many other memorable characters and subplots. The
unpredictability and freshness of these characters brings the story to life
in a way that few fantasy authors manage.
The whole novel is told within a framing story, a dialogue between
the aging Simon and the late Marsellus set some 50 years after the main
events of the story. In life, Marsellus commissioned Simon to paint all the
walls of a new chapel in the Aristok's honour, and the effort takes Simon's
whole life. Marsellus, ever a demanding patron, is not going to let the
artist out of the commission simply because of his own death, so the shade
of the late monarch harangues the painter as he works. It could be that the
author lets the framing story pull her punches in a few places, but there
is so much tragedy in this novel that it's appropriate to lessen the impact
of events occasionally.
By telling a story out of sequence, Patton lets the reader know
that this is not just a single cycle of stories, but tales taken from the
entire living history of the realm of the Living Flame. The Painter
Knight is an unlikely hero in an unexpected tale, in a milieu as
real as any Tudor history. The realm of Branion is an important addition to
the universe of fantasy fiction; I hope there are many more tales of this
world to come.
Alexander von Thorn works two jobs, at The Worldhouse (Toronto's oldest game store) and in the network control centre of UUNET Canada. In his spare time, he is active in several fan and community organizations, including the Toronto in 2003 Worldcon bid. He is also a game designer, novelist-in-training (with the Ink*Specs, the Downsview speculative fiction writing circle), feeder of one dog and two cats, and avid watcher of bad television. He rarely sleeps. |
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