Helpful Score: 1
I'd seen this book highly recommended for fans of Tolkien, so I picked
it up. I'm not sure where that recommendation came from, because I
didn't see any similarity in the writing style or themes. The writing
style was particularly stilted; perhaps because it was translated from
the Spanish, but I didn't find it particularly enjoyable.
Inspired by mythology, but without a 'mythic' feel to the story, the
book briefly outlines the story of the fairy Melusine,who took human
form to love a man, but was cursed to be rejected when her lover came
upon her in her true, monstrous form, in her bath. The largest part
of the book follows the incorporeal spirit of Melusine as she follows
around a young knight in the Crusades, her descendant, that she is
obsessed with. Although at one point she tries to take human form to
be with him (it doesn't work out, as she ends up in a male body, and
the knight isn't gay), this places the bulk of the narrative at a
remove, actions being described by an intangible observer, which is
distancing.
it up. I'm not sure where that recommendation came from, because I
didn't see any similarity in the writing style or themes. The writing
style was particularly stilted; perhaps because it was translated from
the Spanish, but I didn't find it particularly enjoyable.
Inspired by mythology, but without a 'mythic' feel to the story, the
book briefly outlines the story of the fairy Melusine,who took human
form to love a man, but was cursed to be rejected when her lover came
upon her in her true, monstrous form, in her bath. The largest part
of the book follows the incorporeal spirit of Melusine as she follows
around a young knight in the Crusades, her descendant, that she is
obsessed with. Although at one point she tries to take human form to
be with him (it doesn't work out, as she ends up in a male body, and
the knight isn't gay), this places the bulk of the narrative at a
remove, actions being described by an intangible observer, which is
distancing.
