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Stealing the Elf-King's Roses

by Diane Duane (Goodreads Author)

3.49 · rating details · 178 ratings · 17 reviews

In an alternate-world Los Angeles, prosecutor/psychic Lee Enfield and her partner, Gelert, investigate the murder of an elf. They soon reveal a deadly network of ties among organized crime, multinational corporations, and planetary governments of the Seven Worlds--all working together on the "ethnic cleansing" of elves from the alternate world of Alfheim. Origina...more

Mass Market Paperback, 401 pages

Published November 1st 2002 by Aspect

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Jan 18, 2012

Russett rated it

A beautiful, dense work that is the culmination of a dream Diane Duane deferred for decades. The pinnacle of her work — in its ideas, if not necessarily in her writing abilities — and well worth the read. That said, the book does suffer under the immense weight of its many ideas, and I badly wished all the information on the Seven Worlds contained had been exposed through a series of narratives prior to this one.

However, while I admit that this work won't work for many, as a devo...more

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Jan 12, 2011

Lis Carey rated it

Shelves: f-sf

This is not an especially easy book to describe.

The cosmological background is that there are multiple alternate Earths, six of which currently have regular communication and trade with each other. A seventh has just been discovered as the story opens, and is subsequently revealed to be our own. One of these worlds, Alfheim, is the source of the gating technology that makes intercontinuum travel and trade possible, and of the fairy gold that makes gating technology practical and afford...moreThis is not an especially easy book to describe.

The cosmological background is that there are multiple alternate Earths, six of which currently have regular communication and trade with each other. A seventh has just been discovered as the story opens, and is subsequently revealed to be our own. One of these worlds, Alfheim, is the source of the gating technology that makes intercontinuum travel and trade possible, and of the fairy gold that makes gating technology practical and affordable. The setting of this story, or at least part of it, is an alternate Los Angeles, mostly referred to as Ellay. The legal system in Ellay is in some respects similar to that existing in the UK in our world, and in some respects, really different. In our UK, the magistrate, prosecuting and defending attorneys, and the jury do not invoke the actual personification of Justice, who determines actual guilt and imposes a suitable sentence, such as turning a nasty little weasel of a con artist into a human-sized weasel. Nor are the prosecuting and the defending attorneys all psychoforensicists, able to know whether suspects and witness a re telling the truth, or replay the events at the scene of a murder from the victim's viewpoint.

You might think that these abilities would make solving a crime child's play. It's not. You still have to have enough evidence to convince the jury and Justice that the accused is guilty, and this is harder to do if the events as you discover them involve impossible things happening, such as people appearing and disappearing into thin air without benefit of a worldgate.

This story is, or starts off as, a murder mystery. The murder takes place in the alternate world called Earth, in the city of Ellay, and the victim is an elf, or what is called an elf. Omren dil'Sorden is one of the Alfen, a native of the alternate Earth called Alfheim. At the time of his murder, dil'Sorden was a very successful and valuable employee in the R&D division of ExTel, a telecom multinational.

In the case of dil'Sorden's murder, our investigators and intended prosecuting attorneys are Lee Enfield and her partner Gelart. Gelart is a fayhound, and looks rather like a white, frizzy-haired wolfhound--Irish or Russian isn't specified, but the size sounds like an Irish wolfhound. It's mentioned a couple of times that the fayhounds were originally native to Alfheim, as are the Alfen, but it's implied that there are no longer any fayhounds in Alfheim. Why this should be is not further explicated here, and this looks deliberate rather than careless--one of several things suggesting that this may be intended as the first of a series.

As implied above, Lee and Gelart's psychoforensic examination of the scene of dil'Sorden's murder turns up the apparent appearance and then disapearance of a person, an elf, who watches the murder, appears to be satisfied with the result, and then steps through something that isn't there, and is not seen again.

Dil'Sorden's employer, ExTel, is applying a startling amount of pressure to get this murder "cleaned up" quickly--with odd hints that this doesn't necessarily mean "solved" in any greater sense than getting the immediate gunman. Then, in rapid succession, there's anattempt on Lee's life, she gets wind of a Five-Geneva report that reveals a surprisingly high, and increasing, rate of murder of Alfen living and working in worlds other than Alfheim, and she gets an anonymous, probably Alfen, call, suggesting that she should be looking for an opportunity to "leave town", and also to acquire--illegally, because it couldn't be done any other way--one of the Elf-King's roses, as this could have interesting and useful effects on technology currently causing her a lot of trouble.

The Elf-King's roses are, as far as she can determine, entirely mythical.

The Five-Geneva report is released, the fecal matter hits the air-recirculating device, and Ellay's politically ambitious DA gets Lee and Gelart appointed to the UN&ME (United Nations and Multinational Entities) commission that's being sent to Alfheim to investigate the strange Alfen murder rate and the evidence that it's related to Alfen organized crime. Dil'Sorden's murder rapidly becomes the least of their troubles, as they get caught up in an Alfen power struggle with a garnish of a planned multinational invasion of Alfheim, with the survival of all the worlds at stake.

That the Alfen know a great deal more about worldgating than they've ever shared or hinted at is, of course, not even a surprise, by the time Lee and Gelart start to figure out the Alfen factions involved.

I haven't really done justice to this book; it's a lot of fun. I'd be happy to see more of Lee and Gelart, at least as long as they remain in mass market paperback.(less)

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Jan 29, 2012

Pikachu rated it

Shelves: _faeries, 2002s, _lets-play-pretend, _talking-animals, _if-we-build-it-they-will-come, _psychics, _reviewed, _greetings-earthlings

What an bizarre book. I hesitate to categorize it because it's one of those rare cases where fantasy and science-fiction are so closely intertwined. There are aliens and alternate dimensions, but also talking dogs, Fae, and what looks an awful lot like magic (but seems to be a symbiotic relationship between a living, breathing planet and its inhabitants). The plot revolves around Lee, an inhabitant of Ellay (L.A.), in a word that closely mirrors our own. She works as a lawyer (alongside her trus...moreWhat an bizarre book. I hesitate to categorize it because it's one of those rare cases where fantasy and science-fiction are so closely intertwined. There are aliens and alternate dimensions, but also talking dogs, Fae, and what looks an awful lot like magic (but seems to be a symbiotic relationship between a living, breathing planet and its inhabitants). The plot revolves around Lee, an inhabitant of Ellay (L.A.), in a word that closely mirrors our own. She works as a lawyer (alongside her trusty talking dog, Gelert) and her powerful psychic powers come into handy when determining whether people really do adhere to the whole “do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God” bit.

Lee gets embroiled in an interplanetary drama when she starts investigating the assassination of an Elf. The number of Alfen assassinations has been steadily increasing over time, as has the number of Alfen people involved in murder. Naturally, they find this quite odd from a people supposedly devoted to peace. The Alfen people are beautiful, immortal, and quite ruthless. They are, as one of the fayhounds describes them, “how humans are supposed to be, but aren't.” They control a valuable substance called “fairy gold” that is needed for traveling between universes. The price has remained constant, but sudden fluctuations are making people fear that some sort of embargo might be on the horizon…

Just to warn you, it starts out INCREDIBLY SLOW. There are news reports and briefings in the beginning that are inserted without any preamble whatsoever. After trying to swim my way through them, I gave up and skipped them. They were boring and used weird terms particular to the book that weren't define. I don't like authors when they get so wrapped up in their world-building that they start acting like pompous scientists, sprinkling around big scary sciencey terms like confetti. I was close to giving up, but the premise intrigued me enough that I stayed on. I'm glad I did because the book really picks up with conspiracies, murder, xenophobia, alternate dimensions, mythology, and so much more — to the point where I stayed up a bit past my bedtime just to find out what happened. She also goes into more depth about the sciencey terms, making them understandable and interesting (which I wish happened earlier on).

The magic system in this book was very interesting — particularly because it wasn't exactly magic. I liked how Ms. Duane made something so extraordinary seem… well, rather ordinary and plausible. Lee was pretty likable, too, although she did have that annoying trait SO many other plucky heroines have: she likes to have long conversations with herself that explain her thoughts. I really enjoyed reading about the Alfen homeworld, Midgarth; there were scenes that seemed almost cinematographic, they were so vivid. The elf king was hot. I was hoping for romance — especially in the beginning, when Lee is in the restaurant and gets into a staring contest with him. Maybe I've been reading too many romance novels because my brain immediately went “BAM! There's the love interest!” Not quite. Romance is hinted at, but doesn't actually happen, so if the pretty pink cover makes you think of valentines and romance, think again.

What I liked about this book:
The magic system (☆☆☆☆): I LOVED the magic system. A lot. I love the idea of a world being like a wad of play-dough that you can manipulate at will, with practice.

The political system (☆☆☆☆): Ms. Duane captures the frustration a revolutionary has with his backwards-thinking people perfectly. I loved how well-thought-out the Alfen political system was. I felt the king had a lot of really spot-on points, and his beliefs and actions definitely rang true.

The characters (☆☆☆): They're pretty unique and interesting. Even the plucky female protagonist wasn't too plucky and obnoxious. I really liked Gelert (although I kept thinking of that dog creature from Neopets by the same name, haha). He was so adorable and mischievous. Definitely how I'd picture a real talking dog. The elves were cool, too. They kind of reminded me of the “Smiths” from The Matrix, except I could relate with their reasons for doing the things they did, and they weren't just evil for the sake of being evil.

What I didn't like about this book:
The pacing (☆☆): A book should always start out strong, to seize the audience. If you're going to peter out (not that you should), it's best to do it at the end when the reader is already invested in the characters. There were moments when I was gripping the book anxiously reading on to find out what happens next, and there were moments when I was skimming the text, looking for the spot where the plot picked up again. It was a pity this book was so uneven because it had the potential to be something really great.

Overall, pretty good read. I'm not disappointed about reading it. In fact, it was a lot of fun. The fantasy/sci-fi blend reminds me a lot of Sheri S. Tepper, especially with the feminism bent, so if that's a genre that appeals to you, as it does to me, you'll probably like StEKR a lot. It was also a mystery, so that was fun, too. When you're bored it's always nice to jump ahead of the characters and figure out whodunnit. She left it open for a sequel — and you know what? I'd probably read it (albeit with reservations, and only if it was cheap).(less)

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Jun 24, 2010

Donna rated it

Shelves: read-in-2010, sci-fi-and-fantasy, scifi-fantasy-book-club

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is set in multiple universes in which people can travel between the universes. The two main characters are Lee and her partner Gelert who are psychic forensic specialists. They become involved with trans-universe politics involving the King of the Elves.

After really enjoying the book, it actually lost me a bit at the end with the remaking of the universes. I guess I just didn't quite get the metaphysics or whatever was going on.

I did e...more

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Jul 20, 2011

Candace Cunard rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. What can I say, every time I read something by Diane Duane I feel myself strangely but comfortably at home. Strangely, because her universes are so out there, but comfortably, because they’re weird in very similar ways. Stealing the Elf-King’s Roses fit nicely into my idea of the kind of thing she writes, and the way she thinks. I must say, I was happy to see her write an extended work from an adult female perspective — in a weird way, this made me wish that she’d continue Young Wizards long eno...moreWhat can I say, every time I read something by Diane Duane I feel myself strangely but comfortably at home. Strangely, because her universes are so out there, but comfortably, because they’re weird in very similar ways. Stealing the Elf-King’s Roses fit nicely into my idea of the kind of thing she writes, and the way she thinks. I must say, I was happy to see her write an extended work from an adult female perspective — in a weird way, this made me wish that she’d continue Young Wizards long enough for Kit and Nita to grow up and have new sets of problems to deal with, because now I know that Duane is just as perceptive about adults and their problems as she is about young adults and theirs.

I must say, this book was nothing like I expected it to be from the cover. I’d always expected it to be some kind of high fantasy story, but when it turned out to be urban fantasy, I was pleasantly surprised. I loved all her main characters, and her concept, and the moment when I realized that Lee doesn’t live in the Earth I know and love, but some other Earth, where the White House is blue and Jesus was a woman named Suzanne. More broadly, I enjoyed the idea that there would be inescapable congruencies between neighboring universes in a sheaf (something that definitely shows up in Young Wizards) and that those universes will have certain points of “convergent evolution” that cannot be avoided — not just in physical laws and concrete places, but in names of scientists and inventors and even cities.

Most of this world, frankly, felt familiar, courtesy of my reading of the Young Wizards books. Talk of sheaves of universes, Powers that work through humans, worldgates, entropy, all of these things drew me back into the feeling that Lee probably lives a lot closer to Kit and Nita than she thinks. Lanthanomancy felt a lot like Earth’s version of Terra’s wizardry — and of course, the persistent imagery of gardens and the temptation of the mortal female reminded me a lot of Duane’s envisioning of humanity’s Choice. Especially toward the end, the Laurin’s decision to remake his world and allow it to move forward had congruencies with Quelt’s decision in Wizard’s Holiday. Although her people go on to a life beyond bodies, while the Laurin’s are now more subject to the demands of theirs, I still felt a real emotional similarity (there were also moments that felt quite reminiscent of the Song of the Twelve).

I know I will have to read this book again, because my reading of the ending was definitely rushed, and there have to have been things that I missed. It left me with a strange feeling, though, especially the part about Lee and Matt maybe trying ot make things work again. I thought the early portion of the book was pretty clear in saying that Lee had caught Matt cheating on her — why should she get back together with him? Also, maybe I’m just reading this into things, but I thought like there might have been something more than ceremony between Lee and the Laurin at the end — all the joking about being partners, and that kiss on a cheek — but even if they weren’t going to be romantically involved, I didn’t want her to be with a guy who did nothing but make her hurt.

Still, reading this confirms something I had long suspected but am now pretty certain of — anything I read by Diane Duane will be a pleasant surprise and an even more exciting adventure. Now for Door Into Fire, attempt #3…(less)

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Jan 16, 2008

Ann rated it

Recommended to Ann by: Journeywoman

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Short thoughts: I enjoyed it, and it was nice to read something more science-fictiony after my long spell of fantasy. The cover is awful, though.

First, a confession: This is the only Diane Duane book that I've read. I know, I know. But there you have it.

The story, despite the title, is not really a fantasy. It has it's feet planted rather firmly in Science Fiction, I think. There are certainly elements of the fantastic, but the tone was that of rational scifi. Even with...moreShort thoughts: I enjoyed it, and it was nice to read something more science-fictiony after my long spell of fantasy. The cover is awful, though.

First, a confession: This is the only Diane Duane book that I've read. I know, I know. But there you have it.

The story, despite the title, is not really a fantasy. It has it's feet planted rather firmly in Science Fiction, I think. There are certainly elements of the fantastic, but the tone was that of rational scifi. Even with the more paranormal bits. It follows Lee Enfield, a lawyer and Lanthnomancer as she becomes embroiled in what first a murder of an Alfen businessman and quickly ratchets up to a much larger mystery.

It is written in third person, limited to Lee's POV, and is a nice example of a close third person POV. I actually had to look to see that it was third person, because my memory of the book made it seem like first.

I was rather taken with her concept of alternate Earths and a sheaf of universes, but that is not unique to this particular book (this I know, for Wikipedia tells me so). Still, she executed the idea wonderfully, showing the interplay between the different Earths. You get the feeling early on that this is *not* our Earth, though it bears a striking resemblance. For one, Justice here is an idea, not a force that can physically manifest and render a criminal sentence. For another, Lee's law partner Gelert is a giant fay-hound. I loved Gelert. Despite being a six foot fluffy white dog, he was a significantly grounding character. We also get to see Gelert's home life, and his wife and kids, which was fun, and rather "humanizing".

A subplot of the novel was Lee's relationship with her ex... who happens to be the DA on the case she's working on. There were times in the novel where I just wanted her to get over him, but I think those worked. Work relationships are hard, and break-ups of work relationships are even harder. I found Lee's emotions honest. I've been there, unfortunately. And the ending was just ambiguous enough that I can choose not to think that she went there.

We don't get to see much of the Elf-King until close to the end of the book, but when we do, I found him a well written, engrossing character. That takes talent, to plop a fully formed character in close to the end and have it work.

The largest problem I had with the novel had to do with our Earth. The first issue for me occurred was when the characters traveled to our Earth's NYC and wondered where the World Trade Center was... that threw me out of the novel instantly, and had me looking to see the publication date. November 2002. So, chances are that the mention was intentional.

The second issue was that our universe was seen as fundamentally corrupted, so much so that it would warp the idea of what is moral in the other universes once travel was opened up between them. This made me feel wretched. Even after I finished the book, I thought about it, and why I rejected the notion. And then it stuck me that this may be what some people feel when they are confronted with the Christian idea of a Fallen Creation--that there is something broken about the world, something wrong with it. And yet, the idea of the Fall doesn't bother me, so why did the notion of a broken Earth in this book?

I think it boils down to Christianity giving an "out" if you will, and that even in the Christian viewpoint, the world did not start out broken, and isn't even (now) bad. And it's fixable. In the book, it's just the way that particular universe is, and there's nothing that can be done. Now, in the end, something was done, but it was never quite made clear if that fixes our broken Earth.

But these two things, are very minor thoughts in my reading of the novel. Overall, I very much enjoyed the book, and I will be picking up other works by Ms. Duane, in the future, since I seemed to have missed out!
(less)

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Jan 05, 2012

Lynn Abbey rated it

Part fantasy, part science fiction, and part police procedural this is a truly genre-straddling book. The parts don't always blend as well as I would have liked. I came away thinking I would almost rather Duane had told the complete story three times (it could work...) because wherever I was, I wished for the insights the other perspectives could have given me. But the characters are engaging and the writing's top-notch.

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Sep 29, 2009

Juliana rated it

Shelves: sff

There's some neat stuff in here, and some rather amusing stuff (also, the cover is AMAZING OMGWTFPINK). Ultimately I felt like Duane overreached and got a bit too epic and heavy-handed (I had a similar reaction to the end of her Star Trek Rihannsu series), and that the worldbuilding could have used a bit more work. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind reading another book set in this universe.

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Jul 01, 2009

Wealhtheow rated it

Shelves: fantasy

A much more mature novel than it looks/sounds. The main character, a plain middle-aged woman investigating increased murders of elves across the worlds, seeks ever deeper into a plot that just gets brouder and more interesting as you go.

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Sep 20, 2010

Elsi rated it

Shelves: fantasy, mystery, read-in-2010

This was a fascinating juxtaposing of the modern paranormal murder mystery and classic fantasy. Much to my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

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Jun 17, 2010

Stargrave rated it

Shelves: 2010

Ultimately, I liked the setting more than the story, but it was interesting enough. There are a number of interesting concepts up to the end.

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Mar 31, 2011

Helen rated it

SF Detective, interesting view of justice & parallel universes

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Nov 22, 2011

Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides marked it as maybe-read-sometime · review of another edition

Recommended to Snail in Danger (Sid) by: http://dduane.livejournal.com/206392.htm...

Shelves: fantasy-fiction, rewrites

Might be interesting to read the new material.

· see review

Jul 03, 2010

Eric rated it

I had a few issues getting engaged with the story. For everything that goes on, the writing feels too light. Like the ideas are bigger than the book itself.

That said, it's a relatively easy read. A good summer book.

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Aug 05, 2010

Sue Ann rated it

Shelves: recently-read

Generally enjoyable fantasy, but a little hard to follow at times. I loved the detective's sidekick.

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May 17, 2009

Cameron rated it

Shelves: fantasy, supernatural

Enjoyable, but there's a rather distict lull toward the middle that's difficult to get through.

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Nov 15, 2008

Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides rated it

Shelves: fantasy-fiction, science-fiction

This is an interesting concept, but ... certain details seem a little too patly moralistic. If you like this, you might enjoy Mark del Franco's books. (And vice versa.)

· see review

Dec 14, 2009

Rachel rated it

Interesting blend of science fiction and fantasy. Very in-depth original world (or worlds, in this case, as the story spans several multiple dimensions). I am generally not a fan of books that feature elves prominently, but Duane's unique spin on them made it much more enjoyable. The characters are likable, their abilities are believable, and the leading lady DOESN'T immediately fall into the arms of the first man to come along and save her from danger. Would definitely read more from this autho...more

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Feb 22, 2012

Janet Logan rated it

Feb 16, 2012

Chloe added it

Shelves: elves, young-adult, ya, fiction, public-library

Feb 16, 2012

Elizabeth Creegan rated it

Shelves: fantastical, world-travel

Feb 15, 2012

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Feb 13, 2012

Amy marked it as to-read

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Amber is currently reading it

Shelves: ebooks

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Shelves: 2003-reads

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Shelves: 2012

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About Diane Duane

Diane Duane has been a writer of science fiction, fantasy, TV and film for more than thirty years.
Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek TM universe, and many scripts for l...more

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Books by Diane Duane

So You Want to Be a Wizard (Young Wizards, #1)

The Wizard's Dilemma (Young Wizards, #5)

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