Yzabel / July 16, 2005

I’ve pondered writing a few book reviews here and there, so here’s one about the latest read I’ve finished. Unsurprisingly for those who know me enough, it’s fantasy, with some predictable aspects, and some that aren’t that common nor especially conform to the “positive” genre.The Bone Doll’s Twin is the first volume of the Tamir Trilogy by Lynn Flewelling, and also the first one I’ve read by this author. The legend has it that in order to be secure and prosperous, the kingdom of Skala must be governed by a Queen descendant of Gherilain; however, the throne is now between the hands of a king, who is working slowly toward getting rid of all female pretendants, whatever their degree of parenthood with the deceased queen, while wanting to secure the throne for his own son.While the plot revolves around the classical genderbender twist of the young girl disguised as a boy during her childhood in order to protect her from her uncle, the way this was done in the book is one of the most chilling and inhuman ones I’ve seen in fantasy: no disguises that can’t hold water, but the performing of ancient and somewhat dark magic, involving the murder of the newborn male twin for his sister to survive. Actually, throughout the whole book, the haunting presence of the murdered brother remains lingering, making the childhood years of young Tobin, the girl-in-digsuise, somewhat bizarre, between this ghost and their mother becoming more and more crazy. The author also depicts a medieval society in many details and with a certain accuracy, while distillating in it elements of fantasy (the magicians) as well as of something darker (the control-freak attitude of some characters, notably the king and his personal mage).There’s however a “but” here, in my opinion. All of this detailing, albeit interesting for the sake of knowing the background of Skala’s kingdom, feels more like an introduction than like a real story, like the setting of an ambience (a very intriguing and at times chilling one, that is) more than a plot. Characters and facts take lots of time to get installed, with this lingering feeling that they’re crossing existence and events rather than ‘living’ them, and this won’t be to the liking of every reader. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed this first volume, else I wouldn’t have finished it, and I feel that there is a basis here for more interesting developments in the second volume, now that everything is known about the main protagonists and their goals.