The Mirador (Doctrine of Labyrinths, #3)

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The Mirador (Doctrine of Labyrinths #3)

by Sarah Monette

3.92 · rating details · 619 ratings · 66 reviews

Wizard Felix Harrowgate has finally reclaimed his sanity, his magic, and his position in society. But even as he returns to the Mirador, there are many who desire his end. His half-brother, Mildmay the Fox, follows Felix to the Mirador, where Mildmay finds himself drawn to an alluring spy of the Bastion, a rival school of wizards who want to destroy the Mirador. And Felix ...more

Paperback, 480 pages

Published July 29th 2008 by Ace Books (first published 2007)

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Sep 27, 2007

Belmanoir rated it

· review of another edition

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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Jul 15, 2010

Margaret rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-and-science-fiction, authors-mn

Sorcerer Felix and cat burglar Mildmay are still two of the POV characters, and Monette has added a third, actress Mehitabel Parr, whose sections I enjoyed very much, particularly as she brings to bear an outside view of Felix and Mildmay's complex, troubled relationship; as always, Monette handles the three different voices beautifully, always making it clear who is speaking. I don't want to go into plot details for fear of spoilers, but I will say that this book has a little less action and fa...more

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Dec 22, 2008

RF rated it

· review of another edition

Some notes on Melusine and The Virtu: I love these books. The narration takes turns going between first person PoVs of Felix and Mildmay. I should also point out that Sarah Monette is one of the best authors I've seen when it comes to putting colloquial, 'incorrect' english/grammar down on paper and not making it grate on my nerves. I recently picked up a book.. boy, what was it... ok, I don't remember, but oh boy... I put it down after I read the first page, it was absolutely grating. Sarah Mon...moreSome notes on Melusine and The Virtu: I love these books. The narration takes turns going between first person PoVs of Felix and Mildmay. I should also point out that Sarah Monette is one of the best authors I've seen when it comes to putting colloquial, 'incorrect' english/grammar down on paper and not making it grate on my nerves. I recently picked up a book.. boy, what was it... ok, I don't remember, but oh boy... I put it down after I read the first page, it was absolutely grating. Sarah Monette makes it look easy. Mildmay's slang is fantastic, and his curse phrases are becoming some of my favourites. Anyway... the point is that Felix goes insane. This is no big secret; I'm not spoiling anything. But yeah, Felix goes insane, and the point is that this series is not to be taken lightly. It has a lot of heavy and distrubing imagery, but oh boy is it amazing. I honestly think everyone should at least try it. Psychosis can get ugly but Sarah Monette writes it so well it gives me the creeps.

So that was my little plug for Melusine and The Virtu. Now moving on to The Mirador.

My opinion of The Mirador by Sarah Monette: Quite honestly, I think Ms Monette dropped the stick on this one. Possibly I think this was because of how much I loved the first two books and how much I therefore expected of the third, but I don't think so. Compared to the fast-paced action of books one and two, three was about nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing happens, and the only way I can justify this is that there will be a fourth. So I'm guessing The Mirador only served as a transition, and I can sort of see how that could be. But a big part of me thinks that Ms Monette could have condensed The Mirador into two or three chapters. But oh well, I'm not her, maybe she knows better. All that said though - I still enjoyed the books. And the reason is this: Sarah Monette has a real knack for characters. Her characters are absolutely amazing, especially the ones who narrate. And even though the book is hardly about anything enchanting plot-wise, it is certainly still enchanting when we see the world through the characters' eyes, and that is why I still enjoyed this book. So in conclusion: no, it wasn't nearly as good as the previous two, but it was still enjoyable. I could say more, but only spoilers, So I'll stop here.(less)

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Jan 07, 2010

Alena rated it

· review of another edition

The blurb sounded interesting, but I just couldn't get into this book. For starters, it was very difficult to keep track of the characters and their various political alignments; at about thirty pages in, I realized that all the fingers of my left hand were marking places so I could flip back for reference to check what character was affiliated with which group and sleeping with which person... Part of this confusion may have been due to the fact that this book is apparently part of a series, ...more

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Nov 05, 2009

jD rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: magic_wide-range, genre_fantasy

I enjoyed this book best of all. I liked having additional characters and the court intrigue. I did not like the ending. I hated to have Mildmay not get the answer to his question. Felix got what he deserves when all was said and done. Now that I have read the 4th book, I am pissed that all the characters left behind in Musaline at the Mirador are left unresolved. There are a few people that I would like to know what happened to them like the young actors. Gideon's story was wonderful, no...more

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Jan 04, 2010

Suuanda rated it

· review of another edition

I would say this book is slightly slower than the first two, so it took some getting into, but as ever I love Mildmay to death, and Felix fascinates me. To my surprise, I even learned to like Mehitabel for whom I had no great interest at first.
I think Sarah Monette's world is really believable and so well described that I'm sure I could paint a picture of the Mirador and le Lower City and all these places we see through Mildmay, Felix and Mehitabel's eyes. Although this novel is entirely s...more

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Dec 03, 2007

Wealhtheow rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, queer-characters

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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Sep 21, 2011

Joy rated it

· review of another edition

Third in a series featuring a tortured wizard and his former-assassin half-brother, as they go around causing trouble, being exploited, destroying magical artifacts and restoring them, and exploring all the magical implications of labyrinths.

Now, this is a transitional book in which a whole lot of nothing (or, if you prefer, court intrigue) happens. So if you like court intrigue (which I do), then you'll like it; otherwise it's going to seem a bit slow. There's also a third protagon...more

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Jul 10, 2010

Kernos rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I had trouble at first in this book, since I had read the previous 2 some time ago, and keeping characters straight was a problem. I kept looking at the end for a list of characters which does not exist. One would have been helpful. But, as I got into the book, I started remembering who's who and what had happened in past book. The Mirador took on a life. And the ending was fun, fast paced and entertaining. In fact, I decided to go ahead and read the next book in the series—[book:Corambis} becau...more

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Dec 07, 2009

Dabs rated it

· review of another edition

I'm glad I stuck with this series. The characters got fleshed out quite a bit in this installment, though Felix is still a bit unsympathetic and Monette is still delighting in torturing both him and Mildmay. We're also treated to reading sections from a woman's point of view, and I have to say that Mehitabel Parr is by far my favorite (and the most fully realized) character here. She brings out the best in Mildmay, and she even helps a bit with Felix. Which is good; he needs it.

Anyw...more

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Apr 21, 2011

Jeremy Preacher rated it

Shelves: fantasy

With The Mirador, Monette has finally hit her stride. The third narrator allows more narrative tension, and is a charming perspective besides. All of the seemingly extraneous worldbuilding detail in Melusine becomes sharply necessary, and while it's never super-clear what the plot of the book is, the tensions between the various characters and factions are so interesting that it doesn't matter. (And I usually have zero patience for plotless books.)

There is still, to some extent, th...more

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Jul 06, 2009

K. rated it

· review of another edition

The third sibling in the set of the Labrynths series. Hmm.

Judging from the quick and violent consumption of these stories on my part- being a non-intense reader most of the time, I have a deep love of them.

This particular story is effective in getting the characters out and DOING THINGS.

Some of the previous stories have been intensely cerebral, and this is to be expected with some of the things going on in the plot. As always, the world-building and attenti...more

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Jul 01, 2011

Marleen rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

This book in the series feels like an intermission. We're just hanging around in the Mirador and there are a bunch of little, non-urgent mysteries being pursued by way of plot. You kind of figure that, seemingly unrelated, they'll all come together somehow, and they do, but not until the very end, when crash-bang-boom everything blows up in Felix's face without much build up. The plot under the plot is about how Mildmay and Felix, the Master Non-Communicators, gain a bit more insight into themse...more

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Oct 05, 2011

Andy rated it

· review of another edition

Kethe, where do I start? This was a very incredibly written piece of work. This novel builds the world much more and delves into the history and all the holes and questions Monette left unanswered in the first two novels. So I recommend this one if, like me, you love the characters and want to learn much more of their back stories. But I have some reservations for you. This novel is MUCH slower and more character based than the first two. Way less 'adventure-sum' is how I would put it. It...more

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Sep 21, 2010

Robert Beveridge rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-goal-list, cuy-co-pub-lib, finished

Sarah Monette, The Mirador (Ace, 2007)

In many series, there comes a tipping point where the ongoing story of the recurring characters becomes more important to the author than the story line contained in each book. Perhaps one can consider the mark of a good series author to be how that tipping point is handled; in the case of, say, Robert Parker (who hit it in Early Autumn, the best Spenser novel that ever was), we may find that the ongoing story is actually more interesting than th...moreSarah Monette, The Mirador (Ace, 2007)

In many series, there comes a tipping point where the ongoing story of the recurring characters becomes more important to the author than the story line contained in each book. Perhaps one can consider the mark of a good series author to be how that tipping point is handled; in the case of, say, Robert Parker (who hit it in Early Autumn, the best Spenser novel that ever was), we may find that the ongoing story is actually more interesting than the book-length story. (And then, on the other side of the coin, there is Terry Goodkind. Yeesh.) The Mirador, the third book in Monette's series The Doctrine of Labyrinths, doesn't so much hip the tipping point as go screeching headlong into a tipping wall; there are plots that are fully contained in this book, yes, but they are trifling matters indeed; what the book is really about is unanswered questions from the first two books (who was it, really, that killed Mildmay's most recent girlfriend?) and sharpening focus on what had previously been vague clouds, at best, of ominousness (what would seem to be a coming war between the Mirador and the Bastion). And how is it handled? Very well indeed.

Things take up not long after the end of The Virtu, the second book in the series. Mildmay and Felix are still at one another's throats, Felix and Gideon are still together, and Mehitabel has found herself a comfortable spot in one of the local theaters. There's some rumbling about the ex-Bastion members who sought refuge with the Mirador being spies (and some of it might actually be true), but things are actually kind of calm for the moment, which leaves Mildmay to ponder the question of who got his last love dead (and whether he's already taken revenge for it), Felix to ponder stuff he learned while overseas and tailor it to Mirador-style magic, Gideon to study ancient texts from the Mirador's voluminous library, and Mehitabel to spy for the Bastion. Oh, yes, as it turns out, there is a Bastion spy in Melusine, it's just not one of the wizards...

The main plot of the book, assuming there actually is one, is the who-killed-Mildmay's-lover line, but this is an ensemble plot more than anything, and all the more so because most of the subplots never tie together the way they do in neater (and less realistic) books. Yes, I did use the term “realistic”; given the world in which the book is set, there is magic, of course, but less here than in Monette's previous volumes. This is about spy work and mysteries and domestic strife rather than wizards battling one another, and that brings a sort of homey intimacy to it. Assuming your home was anything like, say, the Borgias.

Where series novels, no matter the genre, are usually plot-based affairs, books like this tend to be where a writer focuses much more on characterization than in earlier books in a given series, which is why I think the tipping-point book is the mark of a good writer. (Granted, some series don't have them. What to do in those cases? Don't ask me.) The writing must sparkle in order to make such character-based books work well, and The Mirador, lovely thing that it is, does sparkle. Even if you want to kill Sarah Monette after you've read the final chapter of this book. Some questions were never meant to be answered. ****
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Feb 06, 2010

Heather rated it

· review of another edition

I really enjoyed this entry into the series. The addition of Mehitabel added a welcome new perspective; it was nice to get out of Felix's head in particular. I still really love Mildmay, he's a great character. And I love that even the bit players are fully realized characters; at one point there is a character who is tangentially involved with both Mildmay's and Mehitabel's stories, but those never overlap, and I got the feeling that said character had his own very interesting story that we hav...more

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Aug 02, 2008

Kim rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: fans of the series

Shelves: fantasy

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 the Bastion, whi...more

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May 01, 2008

Lighthearted rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

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

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Mar 31, 2008

Ashley rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

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 ...moreFinished 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!joy, and again, I recommend it because if Monette maintains the current trend of churning out high-quality character development, this series will be in the league of Takaya Natsuki's Fruits Basket and Jacqueline's Carey's Kushiel's Legacy in terms of time spent on developing the characters both individually and in terms of each other. (I want to blanket-rec it, but I can definitely see some people stumbling through Mélusine and not being too keen on continuing, but I really think this series is good enough that it deserves tons of readers.)

I probably can't discuss the specifics of what I liked about The Mirador without being spoiler-y, but suffice it to say that it was a lot of character development and some much needed individual evolution on the parts of Felix and Mildmay. It wasn't as good as The Virtu, which I thought had a good balance of pretty much everything, but it also didn't have the minor Plot Goes Poof syndrome that we saw in Mélusine. Monette actually has a very good ability to tie things from previous books into her current works, so none of the novels so far have felt like they were just tacked onto the series.

One of the comments about this book made by other reviewers is that it has the feeling of a "transition" book where everyone is kind of cooling their heels and preparing for the next adventure, and I do see how it can be viewed like that. If you come to the Mirador looking for the epic adventures found in the previous two novels, you might be disappointed. But I think character development is an adventure all on its own, so I wasn't too bothered by the shift away from the action.

I can't believe the next book isn't due out until 2009! My soul. She cries.(less)

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Jan 02, 2008

Schnaucl rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, library, read_2007, december, glbt, later_purchased, series

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Warning: This review contains massive spoilers. I talk about the end of the book. Read at your own peril.

I love this series and this book and I'm very distressed that the next book isn't due out until 2009.

This time around there were scenes from Mehitabel's point of view as well as Mildmay's and a few from Felix. I thought her story was interesting, but I was still more focused on Felix and Mildmay.

The scenes from Felix's point of view were the fewest and...more

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Oct 01, 2007

Eviltwinjen rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: People who are already hooked on Monette

Shelves: fantasy

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 Monette's wonderful characters as they act like their disfunctional selves and noodle around her richly detailed world getting...more

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Aug 23, 2007

Punk rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: sff, queer

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!

...more

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Sep 09, 2007

Jay rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

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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Dec 17, 2009

Laurel rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: novel, fantasy, fiction, series

Okay, the Felix/Mildmay love-hate dynamic is starting to get a little old at this point. You just want to shake them both, because they really want the same thing, but they're both too chicken to say it.

There's some interesting clarification of various aspects of magic in this book. Most of the action, alas, happened in the not-so-recent history of the Mirador.

Still, Monette's obviously a gifted writer and she's got some good characters to work with. I look forward to the...more

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Mar 18, 2009

Elfscribe rated it

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Shelves: fantasy-sci-fic

Third in the series. See review for Melusine. This book adds another character, Mehitabel, who first appeared in The Virtu. She is also an engaging character who isn't given enough to do in this book. In fact, none of them are. This book seems like filler before the next one in the series, as if the author wanted to keep people hooked and be able to crank out more books. It is long on atmosphere and short on actual plot. There are many pointless scenes where the characters are fighting with o...more

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Dec 09, 2010

Avivs rated it

· review of another edition

The first book was amazing. the second one disappointed me, because it was way too slow. but this book... oh my god! i did not see that one coming. what an amazing story! i couldn't stop reading. all the characters were great, and i really loved Mehitabel. the world building is the best so far, and the writing was perfect!
can't wait to start the next one. i think that i will start it right... about... now!

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Feb 18, 2009

Hirondelle rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I liked it, a lot, though not quite as much as Virtu. I missed reading these type of stories, perhaps not perfect but a great big plotted stories with magic and politics and everything in between.

The series seems to be a series of duologies, Melusine and Virtu could fit as just one extra long novel, perhaps should. Mirador is some years after and could be almost a what-happens-after the happy (happy-ish) ending of story. And while it does not quite end in cliffhangers (thank you), it...more

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Apr 02, 2011

Angela R. rated it

· review of another edition

Another great book in this series. I liked this book less than the others in some ways because the tension between Felix and Mildmay starts to get really old. It's about time for Felix to grow up. I mean, you see Mildmay grow as a character, which I like. But not Felix. I often got aggravated enough that I had to put the book down. One thing I liked in this book was the addition of a female point of view from Mehitable the actress. Nothing really gets resolved in this book, but new events are se...more

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May 26, 2010

Christin rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: court-intrigue, fantasy, fiction

I felt like the first two books of this series really took some chugging along to get started. However, starting with this third book I felt like the series had finally hit its stride. With true court intrigue, spies, magic, and left-over historical/arcane riddles we finally see our characters challenged and personalized at the same time.

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Feb 28, 2009

Brooke rated it

· review of another edition

Really disappointing. She completely dropped the slightly incestuous undertones of Felix and Mildmay's relationship without any explanation. The new characters were annoying. It was a chore to get to the end.

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About Sarah Monette

I was born and raised in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, one of the secret cities of the Manhattan Project. I studied English and Classics in college, and have gone on to get my M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature. My novels are published by Ace Books; I also have a collaboration with Elizabeth Bear, A Companion to Wolves, from Tor. My short stories have appeared in lots of different places, including Lady...more

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Quotes from The Mirador

“The obligation d'âme meant that his only allegiance was to Felix, making them a separate kingdom of two, with Felix as king and Mildmay as ministers, army, and populace all combined in one. A stormy little kingdom, I thought, with periodic flare-ups of civil war and a magnificently unstable government. And I was glad I wasn’t a citizen of it.” — 9 people liked it

“It is a rose planted in your heart, and as it's thorns tear you, so does it thrive and flower” — 7 people liked it

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The Mirador (Doctrine of Labyrinths #3)

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