The Mirador (Doctrine of Labyrinths, Book 3)
by Sarah Monette
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 202)
Read in September, 2007
Felix annoyed me even more than usual in this book (seriously, does he have any redeeming qualities left?) but I loved Mehitabel's narration and Mildmay is still the hottest ex-assassin ever, and I think I'm glad the author didn't go the expected places with their romance. I sort of wished there had been more plot, but on the whole I was too entertained to care. Sarah Monette rocks my world, also her meta on Due South is love. Everyone who hasn't read already read Melusine (the first book in ...more
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Read in November, 2007
This is the third book in Monette's series. Felix and his younger brother Mildmay have returned to the Mirador, where court politics and dark magic are once again complicating their already complicated lives. All the main characters' love lives are complicated and fucked up, *of course*, and I enjoy it but it does get a bit old. I hope that the next novel has more action and less moping.
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Read in August, 2008
The downside of these books is after reading, I find myself wanting to talk like Mildmay (perhaps not a good thing while in polite society). I still think Felix and Mildmay have one of the more interesting relationships in fantasy, but this book isn't quite as rewarding as the previous two. The brothers' relationship is more antagonistic -- and one of avoidance verging into passive-aggressive sparring --in this one, and the few tender moments they share are fleeting. Mildmay spends most of the b...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
fans of the series
The Mirador is the third book in Monette's series, and takes place two years after the events in Melusine. Felix has restored the Virtu, and is back ensconced in the Mirador with his lover Gideon, and is engaged in magical research. Mildmay is seeing the governess turned actress Mehitabel Parr, but is haunted by memories of his deceased love Ginevra, and becomes determined to solve the mysteries behind her death. Unbeknownst to him, Mehitabel is the somewhat unwilling spy for th...more
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Read in November, 2007
The Mirador is the third in Monette’s ‘Doctrine of Labyrinths’ fantasy series. This is an interesting fantasy series because, unlike the traditional Tolkien fantasies (which I love by the way), the heroes’ paths are unclear. For that matter, the heroes themselves are far from traditional: the fate of a country rests largely upon Mildmay the Fox, a former cat burglar/assassin, and Felix, an elitist wizard with a mean streak.
If you choose to undertake this series (and I do recommend it...more
If you choose to undertake this series (and I do recommend it...more
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Read in March, 2008
Finished The Mirador, the third novel in Sarah Monette's The Doctrine of Labyrinths series.
The short of it:
Court intrigue! Character development! Felix reminds me rather alarmingly of Akito in that he triggers my "hug and throttle" reflex (more often throttle). Mildmay just needs tons and tons of hugs, and I want to make babies with him.
The long of it:
I liked this book a lot, lot more than I'd anticipated. This whole series has made me flail-y with good books...more
The short of it:
Court intrigue! Character development! Felix reminds me rather alarmingly of Akito in that he triggers my "hug and throttle" reflex (more often throttle). Mildmay just needs tons and tons of hugs, and I want to make babies with him.
The long of it:
I liked this book a lot, lot more than I'd anticipated. This whole series has made me flail-y with good books...more
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Read in December, 2007
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
People who are already hooked on Monette
OK, so I finally finished. "Finally", not because I wasn't enjoying it, but because I kept putting it down and getting distracted by other things. The Mirador is a delicious slice of court intrigue fantasy, and if you read and enjoyed Melusine and The Virtu (and if you didn't, why on earth would you be reading The Mirador?) then you'll be very happy to follow Monet...more
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Read in August, 2007
Fantasy. Third in Monette's Melusine series. This is much slower than the previous two books because we're stuck in the Mirador and not out racing around the countryside, escaping from mobs, or battling the forces of evil (much). Instead, this is all politics and court intrigue. It's kind of a yawn; on the other hand, the pacing is much improved -- no more long periods of waiting between action. Um, mostly because the whole book is a long wait for action, but you can't have everything!
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Read in August, 2007
I was apparently a bit too enthusiastic in my review of the first book of this series. It was a kinda "can't see the forest for the trees" moment. I absolutely adore Mildmay. That really helps since I can't stand Felix more often than not. The only time I *can* stand Felix? Is when he's tortured and gone bugfuck. He's not a likable character, but I don't think he's meant to be. Or he is meant to be, but only after he's been tempered by the extreme heat of how he keeps fucking up his li...more
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recommends it for:
fans of Mildmay
This is the darkest of the series so far and also the most sedentary -- no travels to far-off lands this time -- the action takes place almost entirely within the eponymous area of the city. Monette takes us into the inner workings of the characters' minds, and if you prefer wandering around the labyrinthine cities of her world, you may be disappointed. Each of the main characters is on his/her own path (whether to enlightenment or self-delusion), and it is in the interstices of their journeys ...more
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Read in August, 2007
I really love this series, and while this one wasn't my favorite, this is when it really gets complex, and everyone's emotional problems and hauntings all come back to bite them in the ass. And, what an ending -- leaving everything irrevocably altered and the reader very much going, "How's that going to work out?" Not quite a cliffhanger, in that the major plot is resolved, but everyone is somewhere far different than where they started.
I really enjoyed have Mehitabel as p...more
I really enjoyed have Mehitabel as p...more
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Again, see the review for Melusine...now subtract two stars. If you've read the first two books, you kind of have to go all the way and read this last one. It's just not as enjoyable as the others, though, and the two main characters have kind of gotten lost in the labyrinthine social webs that have been drawn around them. (The addition of a third narrator was a poor authorial choice, in my opinion, since the third voice wasn't sufficiently distinct from the first two.)
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Read in August, 2007
I enjoyed this look at Melusine society and the continuation of Felix and Mildmay's story. I felt like the story suffered a bit from "middle book syndrome"; a lot of old threads had to be tied up while new ones had to be started, making the real action of the book start about the time the book ended. However, the characters carry the story for me, and I didn't want to put the book down once I started.
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Read in October, 2007
Guilty pleasure, or good writing? I raced through this book out of several others on the CR list. It feels like a romance, but that includes relationships ending as well as beginning. There's also a mystery that isn't become clear until the end. I find the writing style inviting; not that surprising, as she was a nominee for best new sff writer last year.
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Read in January, 2007
This book is more of the same for this series. I wouldn't recommend it to a family member because of the graphic scenes, but it's overall well-written with a good storyline. I think there may be one more book in this series yet to be released and I'll probably read it at some point because there's a character that I hope will get a happy ending.
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Two gay S&M wizards walk into a bar...no, a gay brothel...no, a wizard school...this book was totally not what I expected, and I really ended up loving it. Weird, weird, strange stuff, richly imagined and baroque, ooky spooky and hocusy. Now I have to go backwards and read the other two because I can't do anything normally these days.
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Julia by:
Zarfrecommends it for: people who enjoyed the first two
3rd (of 4?) in a series.
In order to make myself read a classic like Middlemarch, I rewarded myself at the end of the first section of that book by taking the time to read this. Quite the contrast!
Mirador returns to Melusine's fantasy setting, where over-regulation of magic is added into the usual mix of sex and political intrigue.
In order to make myself read a classic like Middlemarch, I rewarded myself at the end of the first section of that book by taking the time to read this. Quite the contrast!
Mirador returns to Melusine's fantasy setting, where over-regulation of magic is added into the usual mix of sex and political intrigue.
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