I was glad I'd picked up some light reading Saturday before leaving Philcon so I had something to read in Gettysburg late at night while trying to unwind from the ball and then in the morning over breakfast. I hadn't considered myself a particularly passionate Robin McKinley fan before reading Sunshine, but I liked that novel so much that when I stumbled across Chalice
(Putnam, 2008, no editor listed; paperback Ace, 2009), I picked it up purely on the strength of the author's name. I was pleased to find that it was a good read, though not as overwhelmingly brilliant as Sunshine. But the similarities in plot and character were a little startling.
Chalice is the story of Mirasol, a woodskeeper and beekeeper who is abruptly placed in the magical role of Chalice to her demesne upon the violent death of both her predecessor and the demesne's Master. Learning how to function in her own new role is complicated by the fact that the new Master has returned home from the priesthood of elemental fire and is now almost as much fire as human. Mirasol is a provider of carefully blended (and now magical) honey and a brewer of mead for the demesne, very similar to the eponymous heroine of Sunshine, who is a baker. And the Master, formerly human but now with supernatural powers that make it difficult for him to pass as mortal, is very much like the vampire Constantine. I wonder if this pairing of heroine-who-does-food with semi-human man for whom she must form a bridge to humanity is common to most McKinley novels or whether I just happened to stumble over the two with the same plot and cast.
If you haven't read Sunshine, or can overlook the similarities (which I mostly could), Chalice works perfectly well as a homey, gently-paced fantasy story mercifully free of elves, dragons, fairies, and other fantasy clichés. It's a small, almost domestic, tale, rather than a grand epic. Both the story and Mirasol as Chalice are limited in range to the demesne itself. The Circle of low-level magic-users (Weatheraugur, Talisman, Clearseer, etc.) that both rules and supports the demesne occupies itself with small-scale local problems like a lightning-strike fire, and the magical power of the Chalice is entirely linked to the safety and healing of the local land and people. It's really a book about local good governance with magic thrown in. And it works surprisingly well. The way Mirasol's powers as Chalice are tied to her beekeeping and honey is unusual and interesting and their first, unexpected manifestations are hilarious to read.
In general, this is a beautifully-written novel, but I must register a complaint about the excess capitalization of generic titles. We have not only the Master and the Chalice, but the Overlord, the Grand Seneschal, the Heir, the House, etc. This makes me feel like I'm caught in a bad Victorian novel, which is not what one wants to feel while reading a fantasy with a loosely medieval setting. It didn't spoil the book for me, but it was a little ongoing annoyance.
A more serious problem is that I felt that the final resolution had a bit too much of the deus ex machina to it. It was far too convenient, it did not follow well from previous events, and Mirasol was just too much the passive bystander.
I was also a little freaked out by the bees. I'm allergic, so having thousands of bees buzzing around and landing on people even in a story makes me a bit twitchy and entirely in sympathy with the more nervous characters. But that's all to do with me, not the story.
Overall, despite some problems with it, I do recommend Chalice. It won't blow you away, but it's pleasantly original and an enjoyable read.
Her others do not follow that plotline, although McKinley has a recognizable authorial voice. I read Sunshine because I adore McKinley; I enjoyed it, but I'll never reread it because of the whole vampire thing. Chalice is otherwise my least-favorite of her novels. The bees bothered me a whole lot, too.
McKinley and Peter Dickinson (to whom she is married) have a new collection of short stories out: Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits. Coincidentally, I read that yesterday, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Posted by: Mary Aileen | November 25, 2009 at 10:37 AM
After I'm done with Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth, I'm planning to finally read the anthology Ravens in the Library.
Posted by: Serge | November 25, 2009 at 11:01 AM
About story similarities... Back in the early 1990s, I was reading a story in one SF magazine when I stopped dead in my tracks and asked myself "Didn't I already read that specific story of unicorns showing up on the set of a porno film?" It turned out that, no, the author had not sold the same story twice, but that, within a few months of each other, two separate authors had come up with the same story.
Posted by: Serge | November 25, 2009 at 11:27 AM
I haven't read Chalice or Sunshine, but I've read Deerskin, which is very different, and Spindle's End. I own Dragonhaven but haven't read it yet.
Posted by: Marilee J. Layman | November 25, 2009 at 05:41 PM
Mary Aleen,
I'm pretty sure I've read a few other of her novels; I'd have to check my shelves. But none of them really grabbed me the way Sunshine did. Since Chalice was a mild letdown (though not a bad book) I probably won't be as quick to grab others of hers in the future.
Serge,
I still haven't read Ravens. Gah. And I also have a pair of books published about ten years apart that are weirdly similar in setting, character, and plotlines. I will try to blog about this in December.
Posted by: Susan de Guardiola | November 27, 2009 at 08:40 AM
A pair of books published about ten years apart that are weirdly similar in setting, character, and plotlines: Groosham Grange (1988) by Anthony Horowitz, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) by J. K. Rowling.
Posted by: Paul A. | November 28, 2009 at 10:56 AM
Thanks for the review -- it reminded me of what I liked about this book. (my poor, poor memory -- I didn't even remember the really important detail of Chalice==bees!)
Posted by: mneme | November 30, 2009 at 02:39 PM
Well, in spite of my initial reactions, I have come to the conclusion that Vance and I are not made for each other, and Tales of the Dying Earth will remain unfinished by yours truly. It's nothing to do with the quality of the writing. Something about the whole thing's sensibilities rubs me the wrong way. In other words, not only does it not push my like button, but it pushes my do-not-like button.
Meanwhile, I have begun rerading Ravens in the Library, and Gaiman's "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire" had me smiling.
Posted by: Serge | December 06, 2009 at 10:34 AM