House of Shadows
Rachel Neumeier
ISBN: 9780316072779
Re-Read January 6, 2014
Fantasy: Magecraft, bardic magic, geisha, mysterious cats, portentous curses, Princes, Kings, and dragons.
Karah is the beautiful sister, and Nemienne the one who doesn't quite fit in, and that's good, because after the death of their father, both sisters will move out into the larger world to support their remaining five sisters.
Nemienne, with her smoky, shadowed eyes, ends up apprenticed to the master Mage Akennes, while Karah finds her beauty a perfect fit for the cultured world of the Keiso, the geisha-like women of leisure who aim to become wealthy kept women of the nobility. Despite the divergence of their paths, these two sisters keep spiraling in towards each other, and they are key to unraveling a mystery, and perhaps preventing a murder.
I originally read this sometime in summer 2012, and I enjoyed it immensely. I loved the political twists, the cultural details, the details of the various types of magic (especially the bardic work) and the quirks and details of the individual characters. The "bardic sorcery" was so interesting and well-described that I'm pretty sure I emailed Patrick Rothfuss with a semi-coherent yet enthusiastic recommendation immediately afterwards.
Unreservedly recommended, and just as good on a second read-through.
One teeny-tiny niggle: some of the names are unfortunately close: Nemienne is the sister, Narienneh is the matriarch of the Keiso (geisha) house. Lily is a nasty deisa (geisha-trainee) and Leilis is a sort of chatelaine of the establishment. A little frustrating. On the other hand, if you must name your male character Tod, I have no objections to spelling it Taudde in order to make it more alien, and therefore palatable. I still reserve the right to roll my eyes just a smidge.
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