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The Wars of Vis #3
The White Serpent
Sold into slavery at the age of four, the warrior Rehger is cast under the spell of Aztira, the mysterious White Witch, who leads him to challenge the mightiest of mortals and immortals
396 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
2 people are currently reading
557 people want to read
About the author
Tanith Lee
616 books1,981 followersTanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series "Blake's 7."
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 12, 2024
One final visit to Tanith Lee's world of Vis. This one came out in 1988, but I didn't discover it until some years later.
(And, since I've posted the covers I remember from the previous books, this one had a lovely Sanjulian cover. Apparently, they also rereleased the first two books with matching new covers.)
The setting this time is about a hundred years after the events of Anackire; and unlike in the first two books, the events it covers aren't earth-shaking. (Well, in a couple of cases, they literally are earth-shaking -- Vis is apparently a very tectonically-active planet, and conveniently (or inconveniently) timed earthquakes &c. have played roles in the past books.)
Our protagonist this time around is one Regher, whose mother is from a remote, primitive village in Iscah, and whose father is ... not. And he's also not actually Regher's mother's husband; long story. As a result of which, at the first opportunity, Regher's uncle sells Regher into slavery.
Fast-forward 20-ish years and Regher, still a slave, has made a name for himself in the Alisaarian city of Saardsinmay, as both a gladiator and chariot racer; and we follow him along on what I regard as one of the best chariot races ever put to prose. (As it happens, another great chariot race was also written by Tanith Lee, in her earlier, unrelated novel The Birthgrave.)
And then Things start happening and Regher (much like the protagonists of the previous books) ends up journeying to distant lands, but this time it's not so much concerned with the fate of kingdoms as it is a journey of self-discovery. Which isn't to say there's not plenty of adventure along the way! (And also plenty of sexytimes, which are, happily, generally more consensual than some of what we'd seen in the earlier books.)
And I'm not sure I can call this the conclusion of the Vis books, just because it's really more of a standalone set in the same world, but it leaves things in as good a stopping place as one might hope for.
(And, since I've posted the covers I remember from the previous books, this one had a lovely Sanjulian cover. Apparently, they also rereleased the first two books with matching new covers.)
The setting this time is about a hundred years after the events of Anackire; and unlike in the first two books, the events it covers aren't earth-shaking. (Well, in a couple of cases, they literally are earth-shaking -- Vis is apparently a very tectonically-active planet, and conveniently (or inconveniently) timed earthquakes &c. have played roles in the past books.)
Our protagonist this time around is one Regher, whose mother is from a remote, primitive village in Iscah, and whose father is ... not. And he's also not actually Regher's mother's husband; long story. As a result of which, at the first opportunity, Regher's uncle sells Regher into slavery.
Fast-forward 20-ish years and Regher, still a slave, has made a name for himself in the Alisaarian city of Saardsinmay, as both a gladiator and chariot racer; and we follow him along on what I regard as one of the best chariot races ever put to prose. (As it happens, another great chariot race was also written by Tanith Lee, in her earlier, unrelated novel The Birthgrave.)
And then Things start happening and Regher (much like the protagonists of the previous books) ends up journeying to distant lands, but this time it's not so much concerned with the fate of kingdoms as it is a journey of self-discovery. Which isn't to say there's not plenty of adventure along the way! (And also plenty of sexytimes, which are, happily, generally more consensual than some of what we'd seen in the earlier books.)
And I'm not sure I can call this the conclusion of the Vis books, just because it's really more of a standalone set in the same world, but it leaves things in as good a stopping place as one might hope for.
February 20, 2020
After enjoying book 2 of this series more than the first volume I hoped the trend would continue. However, I found this book very uneven.
The themes here are slavery and the oppression of women, and what women have to do to survive. Those aspects are interesting yet the grinding misogyny of most of the male characters becomes pretty wearing after a time. The putative hero, Rehger, is sold into slavery by his uncle as a young child after witnessing the uncle repeatedly beating his mother Tibo and so is opposed to violence against women. He is a hero of the gladiator-type culture in the city of Saardsinmey, but his fate becomes entwined with a woman of the Amanakire, the most extreme of the Lowlander peoples. (The Lowlanders are the white race who were oppressed in book 1 but who rose to power as a result of the events of that novel and who now look down on the darker skinned races - the darkest people are the most oppressed now, with "mixes" more privileged depending on how "white" they appear.) The Amanakire have developed the psychic abilities of the Lowlanders to a new level and can command godlike powers such as healing wounds that would otherwise be fatal.
For much of the book, Rehger remains ignorant of his true parentage - his father was a traveller passing through whom his mother Tibo nursed back to health. Her husband was a "simpleton" in a backwater remote settlement in a country where women are chattels despite the local deity being a goddess, so she had been unable to have children previously. At one point she has to prove she isn't an adultress by passing a 'fixed' ordeal devised by the local priesthood, but with the aid of some supernatural force - perhaps the snake goddess who was prominent in the first two volumes - she manages to do so and is saved from being stoned.
The other slave whose story is followed is Pandruv, a fire dancer and at the top of her profession in Saardsinmey. As such she enjoys a good standard of living, is paid for her dancing and even has her own servants, with noblemen vying for her favours. Yet despite this there is an undercurrent of hatred towards women, and dark skinned women in particular, in the insults constantly directed at her, despite the fact that the city is cosmopolitan and less overtly oppressive to women than the backwater in which Tibo lives. The tragedy which overtakes Saardsinmey throws Panduv into a situation where her best hope of survival is in manipulating a young priest who is destined to achieve his ambitions, and to help him to do so. As a black woman she is doubly oppressed.
One thing that rather confused me was the motif of Rehger as a descendant of Amrek, the villain of book 1, because I had thought that the whole point was that Amrek was impotent with his bride in that story, the woman who eventually ended up with the hero of that book. I know Rehger's father descends from the woman in book 2 who became a priestess of the snake goddess and who apparently married into the royal family in that country (the story in book 3 is set years later) but how she could have been the daughter of Amrek puzzled me somewhat. There are so many characters in these books, often with similar names, that it does become quite hard to keep everything distinct.
Another problem I had with the current story is that the ending of Rehger's journey does not make sense. I did not really believe in his relationship with the Amanakire woman, and the reader is only given her side of the story late on, in the form of a condensed infodump about her life history up to the point where she met him,
The development of a couple of female characters - Tibo, Rehger's mother, and Panduv was a welcome change from the first two books where women were ciphers or stereotypes, yet the story of Tibo cuts off inconclusively - we see her with Panduv when her master has taken her with him to the remote settlement to investigate reports that Tibo is a witch (she has developed healing powers). Panduv is able to tell Tibo about her lost son although she believes him killed in the disaster. Tibo in return takes her to a 'temple' which has been working its way out of the hillside for years and which is responsible for her powers. It seems from that, and certain hints through the three books about the darker skinned peoples arriving from the sky in dragon ships, that they were actually colonists from another planet and that this is the remains of their technology, but that is not followed up. Neither is the story of Tibo - was she saved from being condemned again or not?
Ultimately for me the story suffers because unlike book 2 there were no really likeable characters. I was sympathetic to Tibo and Panduv but their lot seemed, if not hopeless, pretty grim. There are some great set pieces, mood setting and descriptions of action, but the story didn't really engage me. For this reason, I can only award it 2 stars.
The themes here are slavery and the oppression of women, and what women have to do to survive. Those aspects are interesting yet the grinding misogyny of most of the male characters becomes pretty wearing after a time. The putative hero, Rehger, is sold into slavery by his uncle as a young child after witnessing the uncle repeatedly beating his mother Tibo and so is opposed to violence against women. He is a hero of the gladiator-type culture in the city of Saardsinmey, but his fate becomes entwined with a woman of the Amanakire, the most extreme of the Lowlander peoples. (The Lowlanders are the white race who were oppressed in book 1 but who rose to power as a result of the events of that novel and who now look down on the darker skinned races - the darkest people are the most oppressed now, with "mixes" more privileged depending on how "white" they appear.) The Amanakire have developed the psychic abilities of the Lowlanders to a new level and can command godlike powers such as healing wounds that would otherwise be fatal.
For much of the book, Rehger remains ignorant of his true parentage - his father was a traveller passing through whom his mother Tibo nursed back to health. Her husband was a "simpleton" in a backwater remote settlement in a country where women are chattels despite the local deity being a goddess, so she had been unable to have children previously. At one point she has to prove she isn't an adultress by passing a 'fixed' ordeal devised by the local priesthood, but with the aid of some supernatural force - perhaps the snake goddess who was prominent in the first two volumes - she manages to do so and is saved from being stoned.
The other slave whose story is followed is Pandruv, a fire dancer and at the top of her profession in Saardsinmey. As such she enjoys a good standard of living, is paid for her dancing and even has her own servants, with noblemen vying for her favours. Yet despite this there is an undercurrent of hatred towards women, and dark skinned women in particular, in the insults constantly directed at her, despite the fact that the city is cosmopolitan and less overtly oppressive to women than the backwater in which Tibo lives. The tragedy which overtakes Saardsinmey throws Panduv into a situation where her best hope of survival is in manipulating a young priest who is destined to achieve his ambitions, and to help him to do so. As a black woman she is doubly oppressed.
One thing that rather confused me was the motif of Rehger as a descendant of Amrek, the villain of book 1, because I had thought that the whole point was that Amrek was impotent with his bride in that story, the woman who eventually ended up with the hero of that book. I know Rehger's father descends from the woman in book 2 who became a priestess of the snake goddess and who apparently married into the royal family in that country (the story in book 3 is set years later) but how she could have been the daughter of Amrek puzzled me somewhat. There are so many characters in these books, often with similar names, that it does become quite hard to keep everything distinct.
Another problem I had with the current story is that the ending of Rehger's journey does not make sense. I did not really believe in his relationship with the Amanakire woman, and the reader is only given her side of the story late on, in the form of a condensed infodump about her life history up to the point where she met him,
The development of a couple of female characters - Tibo, Rehger's mother, and Panduv was a welcome change from the first two books where women were ciphers or stereotypes, yet the story of Tibo cuts off inconclusively - we see her with Panduv when her master has taken her with him to the remote settlement to investigate reports that Tibo is a witch (she has developed healing powers). Panduv is able to tell Tibo about her lost son although she believes him killed in the disaster. Tibo in return takes her to a 'temple' which has been working its way out of the hillside for years and which is responsible for her powers. It seems from that, and certain hints through the three books about the darker skinned peoples arriving from the sky in dragon ships, that they were actually colonists from another planet and that this is the remains of their technology, but that is not followed up. Neither is the story of Tibo - was she saved from being condemned again or not?
Ultimately for me the story suffers because unlike book 2 there were no really likeable characters. I was sympathetic to Tibo and Panduv but their lot seemed, if not hopeless, pretty grim. There are some great set pieces, mood setting and descriptions of action, but the story didn't really engage me. For this reason, I can only award it 2 stars.
January 31, 2018
Like the previous, it comes into its power late, after lengthy buildup, but doesn't have the same arc or scope. Anackire--goddess, manifest spirit, or collective psyche--has careful plans for the world that this time requires subtle manipulation and influence, toward an unknowable goal.
That is, unless the destruction of the city--brilliantly staged and viewed from several points of view--is the action of Anackire. But I doubt it. The repeated theme is subtlety of action, of influence, especially by women. All the women act by slow manipulation to serve their own ends: Tibo and Panduv carve lives for themselves in a society where women are chattel, and Aztira ensures Rehger's survival and travel to the hidden city.
The world of the Vis is very heavyweight by this point. Not only is the world extremely textured with cultures and nation-states, but this book builds on the world-shattering events of the previous in the series. It is a soup of nationalities and ethnicities, of historical and mythological figures, of religions and cultures and geopolitics.
That is, unless the destruction of the city--brilliantly staged and viewed from several points of view--is the action of Anackire. But I doubt it. The repeated theme is subtlety of action, of influence, especially by women. All the women act by slow manipulation to serve their own ends: Tibo and Panduv carve lives for themselves in a society where women are chattel, and Aztira ensures Rehger's survival and travel to the hidden city.
The world of the Vis is very heavyweight by this point. Not only is the world extremely textured with cultures and nation-states, but this book builds on the world-shattering events of the previous in the series. It is a soup of nationalities and ethnicities, of historical and mythological figures, of religions and cultures and geopolitics.
Want to read
July 29, 2017This book is DAW collectors No. 740.
The cover is by Sanjulian.
The cover is by Sanjulian.
June 21, 2015
Although the book has some tpyos and the writing could use some polish, I love how thought provoking this book is. It's something special when a novel can grasp my thoughts weeks or months after I finish it, and this book is among those few. I've read it twice so far and I'll probably keep reading it again and again until it falls apart.
February 28, 2018
It had a different picture on the front of the book I received which was very beautiful. It had a great story with hints of exciting adventures but fell short of a really memorable book. A good read just shy of a great read.
Read
December 3, 2023No offense to the memory of Tanith Lee. This is just very...I don't know, there are weird racist overtones with careful attention paid to who's a "mix" and who isn't, and maybe the plot would make more sense if I'd gotten hold of the first two books before trying this one, and the sheer number of cultures in this world in which women basically do work and get pregnant and try not to get abused is wearying. Gonna let this one slide.
August 26, 2019
One of her earlier works and a bit dated, but Tanith Lee's ability still shines through. The best in the trilogy for me.
November 1, 2020
Great ending to the series.
Great ending to the series. Challenging in its complexity and number of characters and places, but reading digitally made it convenient to search names.
Great ending to the series. Challenging in its complexity and number of characters and places, but reading digitally made it convenient to search names.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews