Relentless Inquiry

Sisters of the Raven, Barbara Hambly

I keep waiting for another “Bride of the Rat-God”, my absolutely FAVORITE Hambly novel. Alas, it seems to be outside her preferred milieu (high fantasy in pseudo-medieval settings). Sisters is also a step into different ground, and while the pacing was somewhat uneven, I really enjoyed the book.

The premise is that in an old and complex society that relies on magic to bring the rains (and perform a million and one little other tasks), magic has always been a male prerogative. In the past generation or two, men's magic has been fading and some women have been discovering they can do magic. While this seems to set the stage for a trite “men have abused the power of magic, and so it passes to the gentler sex” , in fact there is no specific resolution to this setup issue. Instead, the book is something of a murder mystery, in that the protagonists are trying to discover why magic-using women, like themselves, are disappearing.

I am not a historian, but I know just enough history to find the culture portrayed as jarring– elements of Shogunate-era Japan and Caliphate-era Byzantium were seasoned with a dash of Court of the Sun King. The resulting jambalaya wasn't particularly appetizing to me. It wasn't that it grossly Didn't Work, but more that it didn't come together into a coherent cultural framework.

I really enjoyed the strong female characters, and found the book overall a decent way to spend a few hours on a weekend afternoon.