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A review by byrdnash
Dark Castle, White Horse by Tanith Lee
4.0
Dark Castle, White Horse has recently been published for e-reader so it gave me a chance to enjoy one of my favorite authors.
This book is actually two novellas - and while some of the themes are similar the tone is completely different, which is probably why it receives low ratings. I know for me (who has kept the paperback for a long time) it was always the second story that I enjoyed the most. But this time around I wanted to take it slow and see what I thought about both stories after all this time.
The Castle of Dark is a traditional fairytale theme: the heroine in a castle who needs saving. But is she worth saving?
The Castle of Dark (pub 1978) and Prince on a White Horse (1982) both have several themes that Tanith Lee worked on throughout her writing career. Both have characters who have no understanding or recollection of who they are: Lilune lives in a castle and is managed by two crones under rules she doesn't understand; and the Prince wakes to riding a horse, compelled to rescue again and again.
This amnesia theme is written to perfection in The Birthgrave (1975, highly recommended) but here it rather limps along, especially in the first story. It makes me wonder if these two stories weren't written earlier (especially Castle) when Lee was playing with the amnesia theme?
Lee continues with the alliteration of names (Lir:Lilune, Gemael:Gemant, Themon:Themistra) something she does throughout all of her books. I can honestly say I hate that. It makes for a confusing read and after wading through it a few times, grows really tiresome. Perhaps her purpose was to show the mirror image of the characters but it comes off as coy, especially reading it now after 3+ decades of fantasy evolving since the stories were written.
Another Lee theme, that of vampirism, is found in Castle with the character of Lir. I won't go much further than that but the woman who cannot eat, who sleeps during the day, and who is naïve about how the world works around her can be found in The Birthgrave to much better result.
Now the stories. The Castle of Dark has a classic Lee opening - the heroine imprisoned and the hero compelled to save her. A village under a curse. This theme is done so well in the Cyrion short stories (now available!) and so to me this story falls a bit flat as I know what to expect.
Castle suffers from going on too long with the misadventures, the hero trying to save the helpless (and rather blank heroine) but the ending is satisfying. Overall, not a bad story but will probably only appeal to Tanith Lee purists who want the entire collection.
The second story, Prince on a White Horse, is far more fun, with a light hearted story of a man who wakes on a horse, forced to fulfill quests in a fantasy world he doesn't understand in the slightest. The talking horse (far more intelligent) serves as his guide as he gets mixed up with destroying a mechanical dragon (the Dragon of Brass, reminiscent of a beast in her Flat Earth series), being chased by some vindicative trees, saved by some water ladies, and in turn saving some mermaids.
He is the Looked-for-Deliverer whose ultimate goal is to destroy Nulgrave which threatens this charming and rather silly world.
This is Tanith Lee's fun side and is one of her few tales which could be read by children. Lee delights in overturning the tropes while writing a tale that has some fairytale and knight-errant quest themes. It made me think of her Unicorn stories (Black, Red, Gold, highly recommend!).
While I do enjoy the story, I always found the ending to this story rather weak.
Because of the mismatch of story tones, I feel this book will appeal most to Tanith Lee fans. Some of her stronger works which I highly recommend are:
The Birthgrave - which in its time was a stunningly powerful work of women's power. It took Conan and Red Sonja and destroyed them.
The entire Flat Earth series - an amazing collection of books that use the framework of tales from the Bible and mythology to forge an entirely new world full of characters that are unmatched. Highly evolved fantasy worldbuilding at its best.
Unicorn series (unfortunately the first is not available yet in ebook). Black Unicorn, Red Unicorn, Gold Unicorn has a deep vein to plumb in a story suitable for middle school readers. Fun, amusing tales about a young woman who is far smarter than the adults all around her.
Cyrion - which just published in ebook and is IMO her strongest collection of short stories with one hero throughout.
Tamastara - her short story collection with India themed stories.
Biting the Sun & Drinking Sapphire Wine - pure 1960's counter culture w a SF theme.
She has numerous other books, especially those who have vampire themes but those aren't my personal favorite though others love them.
Tanith Lee, you were an amazing woman and writer, and I salute you with a glass of sapphire wine. But I have to ask why peeve's aren't available as pets?
This book is actually two novellas - and while some of the themes are similar the tone is completely different, which is probably why it receives low ratings. I know for me (who has kept the paperback for a long time) it was always the second story that I enjoyed the most. But this time around I wanted to take it slow and see what I thought about both stories after all this time.
The Castle of Dark is a traditional fairytale theme: the heroine in a castle who needs saving. But is she worth saving?
The Castle of Dark (pub 1978) and Prince on a White Horse (1982) both have several themes that Tanith Lee worked on throughout her writing career. Both have characters who have no understanding or recollection of who they are: Lilune lives in a castle and is managed by two crones under rules she doesn't understand; and the Prince wakes to riding a horse, compelled to rescue again and again.
This amnesia theme is written to perfection in The Birthgrave (1975, highly recommended) but here it rather limps along, especially in the first story. It makes me wonder if these two stories weren't written earlier (especially Castle) when Lee was playing with the amnesia theme?
Lee continues with the alliteration of names (Lir:Lilune, Gemael:Gemant, Themon:Themistra) something she does throughout all of her books. I can honestly say I hate that. It makes for a confusing read and after wading through it a few times, grows really tiresome. Perhaps her purpose was to show the mirror image of the characters but it comes off as coy, especially reading it now after 3+ decades of fantasy evolving since the stories were written.
Another Lee theme, that of vampirism, is found in Castle with the character of Lir. I won't go much further than that but the woman who cannot eat, who sleeps during the day, and who is naïve about how the world works around her can be found in The Birthgrave to much better result.
Now the stories. The Castle of Dark has a classic Lee opening - the heroine imprisoned and the hero compelled to save her. A village under a curse. This theme is done so well in the Cyrion short stories (now available!) and so to me this story falls a bit flat as I know what to expect.
Castle suffers from going on too long with the misadventures, the hero trying to save the helpless (and rather blank heroine) but the ending is satisfying. Overall, not a bad story but will probably only appeal to Tanith Lee purists who want the entire collection.
The second story, Prince on a White Horse, is far more fun, with a light hearted story of a man who wakes on a horse, forced to fulfill quests in a fantasy world he doesn't understand in the slightest. The talking horse (far more intelligent) serves as his guide as he gets mixed up with destroying a mechanical dragon (the Dragon of Brass, reminiscent of a beast in her Flat Earth series), being chased by some vindicative trees, saved by some water ladies, and in turn saving some mermaids.
He is the Looked-for-Deliverer whose ultimate goal is to destroy Nulgrave which threatens this charming and rather silly world.
This is Tanith Lee's fun side and is one of her few tales which could be read by children. Lee delights in overturning the tropes while writing a tale that has some fairytale and knight-errant quest themes. It made me think of her Unicorn stories (Black, Red, Gold, highly recommend!).
While I do enjoy the story, I always found the ending to this story rather weak.
Because of the mismatch of story tones, I feel this book will appeal most to Tanith Lee fans. Some of her stronger works which I highly recommend are:
The Birthgrave - which in its time was a stunningly powerful work of women's power. It took Conan and Red Sonja and destroyed them.
The entire Flat Earth series - an amazing collection of books that use the framework of tales from the Bible and mythology to forge an entirely new world full of characters that are unmatched. Highly evolved fantasy worldbuilding at its best.
Unicorn series (unfortunately the first is not available yet in ebook). Black Unicorn, Red Unicorn, Gold Unicorn has a deep vein to plumb in a story suitable for middle school readers. Fun, amusing tales about a young woman who is far smarter than the adults all around her.
Cyrion - which just published in ebook and is IMO her strongest collection of short stories with one hero throughout.
Tamastara - her short story collection with India themed stories.
Biting the Sun & Drinking Sapphire Wine - pure 1960's counter culture w a SF theme.
She has numerous other books, especially those who have vampire themes but those aren't my personal favorite though others love them.
Tanith Lee, you were an amazing woman and writer, and I salute you with a glass of sapphire wine. But I have to ask why peeve's aren't available as pets?