Y’all, I’ve been meaning to read this book forever, and so when the 30th Anniversary Edition popped up on my NetGalley radar, I immediately requested it, because what better time than the present?
So, thanks very much to the author as well as Tachyon via NetGalley for the review copy.
When the White Wolf descends upon the battlefield, the results are disastrous. His fateful decision to end a war with powerful magic changes the destiny of four kingdoms: warlike Kardeth, resilient Pelucir, idyllic Chaumenard, and the mysterious Elven realm.
Twenty years later, Prince Talis, orphaned heir to Pelucir, is meant to be the savior of the realm. However, the prince is neither interested in ruling nor a particularly skilled mage. Further, he is obsessed with a corrupted spellbook, and he is haunted by visions from the woods.
The legendary mage Atrix Wolfe has forsaken magic and the world of men. But the Queen of the Wood, whose fae lands overlap Pelucir’s bloody battlefield, is calling Wolfe back. Her consort and her daughter have been missing since the siege, and if Wolfe cannot intervene, the Queen will keep a sacrifice for her own.
I love Patricia McKillip’s writing. Love love love. It’s always so lovely, and brings me into worlds of whimsy and magic.
The Book of Atrix Wolfe is the story of, among other people… Atrix Wolfe (gasp!)… He is a legendary mage in these lands. Twenty years previously, he used some powerful magic to end a war between kingdoms, and then disappeared.
It is also the story of Talis, the prince of the kingdom of Pelucir. His brother is King, unable to have children, and it is up to Talis to carry on the line, but Talis isn’t really interested in doing so. He’s found a strange spellbook and is more interested in testing all the spells inside.
The Queen of the Elves has been missing her consort and child since the days when Atrix Wolfe ended the war, and she demands that the mage come out of hiding and find them or else she will steal Talis into her woods and keep him.
But on top of all of that, this is the story of a kitchen. A very busy, hot, steamy kitchen, and one special person who works in it, among all the peelers, tray maids, pluckers, spitters, and other kitchen people with their kitchen words.
As I said earlier, this is a beautifully written book. It is a quick, easy read and I really enjoyed my time with it. The story unfolds in a way that kept me interested, and it was definitely a good example of McKillip’s whimsical, otherworldly imagination.
I recommend this book to anyone who liked any of McKillip’s other work, or enjoys authors like Robin McKinley, Charles de Lint, or Peter S. Beagle. If you enjoy them, I think that this is a book that you all would enjoy as well. 4/5 stars!~
superstardrifter 
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