Maledicte

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Maledicte is Lane Robins' debut novel about Miranda, a street urchin whose best friend Janus is the bastard son of the King's brother. Janus has been reclaimed from the streets, and therefore stolen from Miranda, because his father has no legitimate heir. Miranda, in her grief, makes a deal with an evil god (who everyone thought was dead), gets a scary-looking sword, and sets out for vengeance. She manages to enter noble society dressed as a boy (named Maledicte) under the patronage of a lecherous old man, the only one who knows her secret.

The publisher's description of the book is misleading. First of all, the court is not “seething with decadent appetites unchecked by law or gods.” It's just your average king's court full of gossiping courtiers. Not seething, and no more decadent that any other court I've ever read of. There really wasn't much political intrigue either. Then enters “a handsome, enigmatic nobleman, Maledicte, whose perfect manners, enchanting charisma, and brilliant swordplay entice the most jaded tastes...” He may have been handsome (not very well described), but I didn't find him (her) particularly enigmatic, enchanting, or charismatic. His manners were not at all perfect (which was the only reason I could find for the courtiers to consider him enigmatic), and his swordplay was not brilliant. Really, (s)he was just an sulking angsty girl trying to be bad, and she didn't seem so bad to me at first. I couldn't really understand why her behavior was so scandalous because all she did was draw her sword and mouth off to a couple of nobles. I think it was supposed to be witty mouthing-off, but I found it rather obnoxious. If the court was really seething in decadence and intrigue, Maledicte's behavior shouldn't have caused such a scandal. To me, the court seemed like a bunch of priggish gossips who were blown away when Maledicte acted like a spoiled brat. I just wasn't convinced. And I was bored with Maledicte.

Then, just as I'm thinking that this book is not as bad as it wants to be, suddenly Maledicte starts murdering people ruthlessly, a drive instilled by a hungry god. This god (and the other apparently dead gods) were not well described, so I had a hard time understanding or relating to this. In fact, not much was well described – not the city, the court, the house where Maledicte lived, or the political and religious systems. The only motivation of Maledicte's that was described was his/her constant drive to kill Janus's father (whose name is Last), which seemed a bit unrealistic to me. All the father had done was to take his bastard son off the streets and raise him to be a nobleman. Not really a reason to murder him. And, we get no back-story on the relationship between Miranda and Janus, either. I never saw Janus as “the lover whose passion still haunts her dreams” since I never saw any dreams or passion until they were reunited. Again, I wasn't convinced that this was realistic behavior. Maledicte keeps on murdering people (and not very cleverly–she just jumps them at convenient moments) and shows no remorse or internal conflict. This goes on and on an on and I found myself searching for some reason to like Maledicte and some reason to care what happens to him/her. But I couldn't – (s)he was utterly unlikable all the way to the end. In fact, only two characters were likable: Maldedicte's servant Gilly, and the king. But, both of them fall in love with Maledicte, even after seeing him murder people with no remorse. I had a hard time believing that, too.

But Maledicte is mostly very well written, and for that reason I think Lane Robins has a promising future as a writer. Sometimes the writing was over-done, resulting in vagueness, and points of view shifted unexpectedly, causing occasional confusion. The novel is character-driven, yet most of the characters were not as well fleshed-out as they should have been and I had a hard time understanding what drove them. But, all in all, the writing was better than a lot of what I've read by authors who have been publishing for decades, and I think I will pick up the next book that Ms. Robins writes. I just hope it won't be about Maledicte.
Read more Lane Robins book reviews at Fantasy literature.