Od Magic by Patricia McKillip

[meganbmoore]

Od is the legendary, ancient sorceress of the kingdom of Numis.  Though rarely seen in Numis these days, her school-Od School of Magic-flourishes, and she keeps in touch by occasionally sending letters, or by sending people to the school.  One of these people in Brenden Vetch, a young man with a gift for growing things, is sent by Od to be the new gardener.  In Numis, all magic must be learned at the school, and put to the use of the king.  Any magic that is not learned there is illegal, especially if it takes different forms.

The king's daughter, Sulys, has magic that she's kept quiet, and worries what will happen once she is married to Valoren, and arrogant councilor of her father's who can't be bothered to get to know her.  There's also Tymaryn, a street magician who many believe practices forbidden magic, and who has his daughter, Mistral, who is always hidden behind masks, handle all his business.  Then there's Yar, who takes Brenden under his wing, and later finds himself the keeper of a student who can't follow the rules, and Arthen(whose name I just misspelled, but I'm too lazy to look it up), who in investigating Tymaryn, but finds himself drawn to Mistral.  And then there's a lot of other characters.  In fact, even though the blurb puts Brenden forth as the main character, he often gets lost in the shuffle, and I sometimes forgot all about him.  It doesn't help that, though perfectly decent in his own right, he just isn't as interesting as everyone else.  I particularly liked Sulys and Mistral's plotlines, and while I wasn't as invested in Yar's plotline as the other two, I very, very much like how it played out.

The book is good (I have yet to read a McKillip that isn't, though the degree has varied) but suffers from too many characters, and too much going on at once.  Like with Alphabet of Thorn, I find myself thinking that, while I liked it, I would have liked it a lot more if it were a few chapters longer.

Comments

[salimbol.livejournal.com]

I've never read this one, so I can't really say too much about it (obviously). Except for some reason I thought Od was a place, not a person - so I can't even have read the synopsis correctly! Anyway, it sounds pretty good, and it goes on the To Do list. I'm just beginning to think now what shall I do when this degree is finished (three and a bit months - delightfully and yet scarily close, because my research is only just beginning now!), and a big plough through some Patricia McKilip will be a definite. It will be spring heading towards summer by then, which is a good time of year for reading her curving, luscious (and yet still quite delicate) prose.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*checks book blurb since it's right beside her*

Well, the blurb only refers to Od as a person, but the school is named for her, and I think most reviews I've seen name the school. Like a lot of McKillip's places, the school does have a bit of a life of it's own.

I forget, have you read Ombria in Shadow or In the Forests of Serre? Those are my favorites of hers, so far.

[salimbol.livejournal.com]

You might just be making nice excuses for my stupid tired brain *grin* - I probably just flick-read the synopsis and went 'uh-huh' and retained virtually nothing. It happens quite a lot, unfortuntately.

I have indeed read those two books - in 2005, I think, when I went through heaps of her stuff. I recall liking them a great deal and I've retained a lot of imagery, but - as per usual - much of the story itself eludes me. So that's part of the reason why I'm so keen to re-read her books; I really do like her work very much and it bugs me a bit that it's all blurring into one undifferentiated mass in my mind!