What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

Query abandoned by poster > ABANDONED. Non-YA Fantasy novel from the 1990s about a many-roomed castle, intrigue, secret rooms with stlized cover art

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message 1: by Matthias (new)

Dec 25, 2019 03:49PM

This is probably impossible since the only things I remember are very, very vague. This is a fantasy novel published before the year 2001, probably late 90s since that was when I read it (there's a sequel, which I haven't read and that is why I want to seek out the original to read it again, but I don't know anything helpful about the sequel either). It took place in some sort of Victorian/fantasy setting with carriages, palace intrigue (and very maybe even flying ships). I believe one of the villains was an attractive woman called a contessa, but this might just be my imagination.

It's all a big blur and I might remember the wrong things - and those all sound very cliché. I guess it must've sold at least decently, because they sold the English or US trade paperback here in a non-English speaking country in chain bookstores. And there was at least one sequel that I know of. No elves, dwarves, dragons or other classic high fantasy tropes.

The cover art was very stylized (simple shapes, flat colors, no photos or classic fantasy paintings) and had a black/red or orange color scheme. Again: I might remember that incorrectly.

The plot was some sort of palace intrigue / daring escapes / ballrooms / running around secret passageways / listening in on conversations stuff. A dagger might have been involved somehow. I know how awfully vague this sounds. It was a bit of a fever dream of a novel and not by one of the genre stalwarts (it might have even been a debut), so no Silverberg, Melvyn Peake, Sanderson, Abercrombie, Robert Jordan, Gaiman, Pratchett, Tad Williams or David Gemmel. Possibly a female writer.

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message 2: by Kris (new)

Mar 06, 2020 05:28PM