Tarr, Judith - Alamut

[oyceter]

I honestly am not sure what to think of this book. There were parts of it I liked very much, and then, sometimes on the very same page, a part in which I would feel like beating my head against a wall or something.

I initially picked it up even though I knew nothing about the author because the back said something about immortal female assassin (OOOO! I go). Plus, Thomas Canty artwork on the cover. Pretty. The book is set in the Middle Ages during the Crusades (I think... my knowledge of that time period sucks). The hero, Aidan (one of the immortal beings), has had several relatives (not an immortal being) assassinated by said female assassin, Morgiana. Vengeance quests ensue, along with attempts to keep another potential victim safe.

I very much like having the historical fantasy; it's sometimes a nice change from the imaginary world fantasies, and I enjoyed the time period, which I don't know much about. Also, it was a really nice change from the medieval period feeling of romance novels.

My main problem was that the characters were too opaque, I think. I still can't get a feel for Aidan or Morgiana or Joanna's personalities (Joanna is the non-immortal woman Aidan falls in love with) -- the main impression in my mind of the immortals is that they are uncannily beautiful. While interesting to hear about, oh maybe the first time, it is unfortunately not enough to sustain me through a fairly fat books. Someone should tell Anne Rice this as well. Actually, I think Lestat has ten times more personality. Hrm.

Anyhow. There was that, and then Aidan goes and falls in love with Joanna for no reason that I can possibly discern! Then he goes on and on about loving her stubbornness or something or the other, and I am left there, scratching my head, thinking, where did this come from? Joanna of course loves him back, but it mostly just seems like his not-human beauty has left her in some sort of stunned shock. And then, Morgiana falls in love with him (I'm sure we could all see that coming from a mile away, even if we didn't read the back cover about her discovering "secret places in his heart" like me). Fine, I can accept that, mutual feeling for someone of her kind, lonely assassin girl. But then after meeting him oh maybe two time (I stretch "meeting" here to mean "makes eye contact") she is suddenly convinced they are soulmates or something. And then, after a botched assassination attempt on Joanna, she decides she will kidnap him and make him love her. Eventually, Aidan does fall in love, they part again, then there is a strange ending in which she comes after him and asks him to marry her in front of his king (despite her being Muslim and him being Christian).

So there were many points in which I wanted to shake Aidan and tell him that love affairs with those not of your kind is never a good idea, as substantiated by multiple Jossverse examples. Then I wanted to take a stick and hit Morgiana with it to make her be assassin-like instead of being a love-sick idiot. Also, there was a sex scene in which one character said something resembling, "How can you even walk around like that, you are so well hung!" re: Aidan's equipment.

Things that were interesting included the inversion of some standard romance genre tropes, along with the entire setting ... I always cheer for non-Medieval-Europe-esque fantasies. And it wasn't bad, per se, because she resolved most of the plot lines and character interactions to my satisfaction, and she had me rather swept along with some of it before I stopped and realized that it made no sense. It was just a very frustrating middle to get through.

Comments

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

The first thing I read about Morgiana was a prequel story called "Defender of the Faith" in the anthology Moonsinger's Friends. It's about her crisis of conscience on an assignment and her struggle to define what she is and what Islam means to her. It's very cool, and she actually reads like an ifreet assassin.

Alamut is a sad comedown, and the sequel, The Dagger and the Cross, is even worse.

[oyceter]

That sounds very cool... I think I shall dig that up and kind of replace the Morgiana in my head ;).

Sigh. I really wanted to like her, and she had such potential...

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Oh, the female assassin book was Alamut? I did read that one. However, it never really did much for me--it was a slog of a read--and I didn't bother with The Dagger and the Cross.

[oyceter]

Yeah.. Glad to know I'm not just making up the frustration.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I'd forgotten about those books. I read them when they came out, and never reread them.

[oyceter]

Hrm. Not sure if I should give her another try or not...

[atpolittlebit.livejournal.com]

Plus, Thomas Canty artwork on the cover.

One of my guilty secrets is actually buying books Tom Canty did the cover art.

[oyceter]

I love his covers ^_^. I wonder if there are prints... hrm.

[fresne.livejournal.com]

Personally, enjoyed the Tarr’s Hound and the Falcon trilogy much better. Same universe, but the main characters are bit more interesting. What can I say, an elvish theologian monk, who keeps discussing if he has a soul.

My guess is that Tarr wrote the trilogy, liked the universe, had mentioned Aidan and Morgiana in book 3 and decided to write a few more books in the universe.

Unfortunately, she seems to be one of those authors where I quite enjoyed some of her earlier works and each subsequent books gets colder and more distanced.

[oyceter]

*nods* I think my main problem was while I very much enjoyed the concept of Aidan and Morgiana, the execution left something to be desired.