#The Book of Atrix Wolfe

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

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[nixariel]

"She doesn't speak?" "She never has, my lord," the tray-mistress said faintly. She rallied herself, apron to her heart, and added, "Never since she was found." "Where?" "Out there beside the woodpile." "When?" The tray-mistress shook her head, speechless again. "Years ago, my lord," she said finally. "Just after the winter siege, we found her, just a scrap of a child, barely alive in the cold, and mute as a mop. My lord." He touched his lenses again; they turned back to Saro. "Then how," he asked huskily, "did you know her name?" "She was someone's sorrow," the tray-mistress said simply. "So we called her that."

— The Book of Atrix Wolfe, Patricia McKillip

[sunthroughdarkclouds]

Patricia McKillip was by far my favorite author in my early teen years. Her along with Tanith Lee, Peter S. Beagle, Ursula Le Guin, Tolkien and Roger Zelazny. She died recently and in my reminiscence and feeling the loss of this guiding light, I started reading Stepping from the Shadows which I understand is semi-autobiographic in a magical realist sort of way, starting in childhood and continuing into the college years. Now inspired to better understand her in the context of her lived through experience, I was disappointed to find very little on the web in the way of photos or info.

At risk of being a tad creepy, I generated these. Patricia in her younger years because she captured my heart at a young age when I discovered The Forgotten Beasts of Eld in my junior high library a lifetime ago.

[stingrayextraordinaire]

♡ ¡¡¡¡Patricia McKillip!!! ♡

One of my all-time favorite authors!!! I've made boards for three of her books: Winter Rose, The Book of Atrix Wolfe, and The Changeling Sea (which I made three boards for because I loved it so much). I hope you like them!! :)

Winter Rose

The Book of Atrix Wolfe

The Changeling Sea

[rhetoricandlogic]

THE BOOK OF ATRIX WOLFE by Patricia A. McKillip

RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1995

hen the warrior Prince Riven of Kardeth decided to attack Pelucir, the ancient mage Atrix Wolfe pleaded in vain with the prince to desist. So the mage wrought a mighty spell to create a murderous, irresistible Hunter that slew Pelucir's king and drove the forces of Kardeth from the field. Twenty years later, Prince Talis of Pelucir is studying magic in Chaumenard at the behest of his brother, King Burne, when he discovers a strange book of magic spells. Soon after, Burne recalls Talis, who takes up residence in the castle's ghost-ridden keep, where the spells from his book go disastrously wrong. Meanwhile, a sad, disregarded mute girl, Saro, labors in the castle's scullery as a pot-washer. When she's ordered to carry meals to Talis, he notices herand she starts to recover her awareness. Then the Queen of the Wood abducts Talis; though she shows him every courtesy, he is forced to wander in the human world as a ghost. Atrix Wolfe is drawn to the scene when the dreaded Hunter reappears. Saro, meanwhile, begins to read Talis's book of spells. Atrix, who thought the Hunter was his own creation, can't understand why he is unable to uncreate ituntil he confronts the Queen of the Wood and learns that, in fashioning the Hunter, Atrix accidentally ensorcelled both the queen's consort and her daughter. The consort, maddened and twisted by Atrix's spell, became the Hunter; the daughter lost her memory and her magic and became Saro.

ntriguing, at least initially, and delicately wrought. But like the similarly charming The Cygnet and the Firebird, (1993), desperately short of plot even at this modest length.

[six-of-ravens]

okay I'm tentatively back and have come around to the annoying realization that my snappiness over the past few days was my brain's last defence against an anxiety attack from a combo of work stress + something that happened last week that upset me deeply but I won't post about.

GOOD TIMES.

anyway this is going to be a Self Care weekend. gonna clean the apartment tomorrow (prime self care activity in my books), roast a chicken with some tarragon, veggies, and hopefully fennel if the grocery store has it (it's hit or miss sometimes), and read a lot. maybe go for a walk in the park if it stops raining (this park is mainly dirt paths and therefore is not very fun in the rain).

also, the herbs and greens I planted last weekend have started coming up and I'm SO excited!! mom really wants me to bring her some lettuce and kale if I can grow any (neither of us have consistent luck with it) so I hope it does good.

[sixofravens-reads]

Finished The Book of Atrix Wolfe! 10/10 excellent story. I love the dreamlike writing style McKillip had. Definitely need to get back to the used bookstore to pick up more of her books (among others) someday.

Think I'm gonna read vol 1 of Witch Hat Atelier next, since I've had a rough day (insomnia, only got 2 hours of sleep last night) and then see if I still want to start There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job. Not sure if this is still a great time to try and read something super like, brain altering, which I think it will be, since my mental health basically crawled through the work week and collapsed yesterday evening.

If I don't go with that I'll probably pick up an old comfort book/series, maybe some Tamora Pierce since I've been meaning to reread her books forever.

[neuxue]

A few days ago I finished my buddy read of the Riddle-master Trilogy, and I’m left unsure what to say. I finally got around to reading it, after your numerous recommendations in your wot liveblog and I guess I want to thank you(?). It felt like discovering a new favourite and I have the deepest gratitude towards your for making me know her words. Do you have any recommendations which book to follow up with?

Anon, you have made my day. Maybe my week. Possibly my month. I love being rewarded for pushing this trilogy on everyone at every opportunity because I think the people I know who have read it remain in the single digits and yet lines from it have haunted my waking hours since I read it well over a decade ago, so. I am delighted that you not only read it but loved it - you're very welcome for the rec, and also please talk to me about Riddlemaster any time.

As far as recommendations! My next favourite of McKillip's works is Alphabet of Thorn, which is a beautiful story about a girl, a library, an ancient powerful sorceror/king loyalty situation, and the concept of translation given vague sentience and less vague power. If you enjoyed her writing in Riddlemaster, give this one a try! I also have a particular soft spot for The Book of Atrix Wolfe for the way it plays with identity, agency, desperation and its consequences, and the particular grief of living with yourself. Or you could try any of her other works; you'll find she revisits certain themes that are found in Riddlemaster, and her prose is always lovely.

Outside of McKillip... I sort of struggle to recommend something as an 'if you liked Riddlemaster, try this next' because while I can think of stories that are similar to specific aspects of it, I don't think I've ever come across something that hits in precisely the same way.

Two that you've probably seen me talk about recently: if you liked music-as-power, watching a character become immensely powerful at the cost of something that was once an intrinsic part of their identity, and a love story that focuses on seeing and being seen for who you are, you could try 《魔道祖师》 / Mo Dao Zu Shi, usually referred to MDZS or The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation in its English translation (or its TV series adaptation 《陈情令》 / The Untamed). It's not the same vibe, but there are elements. Or, by the same author, 《天官赐福》 / TGCF / Heaven Official's Blessing, which has arguably fewer parallels but a slightly more similar vibe. Maybe. Still quite different but... hey, I liked both, and I feel like dissimilar as they are they sometimes hit some of the same things I want out of a reading experience.

Or, if part of what really did it for you with Riddlemaster was the exquisite agony of it all, and the infinitely fine line between love and betrayal, and the feeling of being held gently even as you were being stabbed in the heart, and you just want more of that no matter the genre or story it's in, you could take my hand and trust me and give something like Machineries of Empire, The Traitor Baru Cormorant (bonus points for lovely prose), possibly one of Robin Hobb's books, or maaaaybe even Doctrine of Labyrinths a try. Fair warning, all of those do feel darker (and Machineries of Empire in particular is weirder, though does have a fairly close Erlenstar parallel if you look for it), but for me they do hit some of those same deep-seated buttons in the id. Also for what it's worth, I know that Yoon Ha Lee (author of Machineries of Empire) has read and claimed to enjoy Riddlemaster; I think Seth Dickinson (author of The Traitor Baru Cormorant) might have as well, but I could be misremembering.

And if anyone else reading this has 'if you liked Riddlemaster, try ___' recs, please toss them anon's (and my!) way.

[smalltownfae]

I closed my eyes and picked 5 from the ones I have read and 5 from the ones I haven't read. Not sure how I was supposed to do this exactly.

1 - "He came one late, wet spring, and brought the wide world back to my doorstep." (Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb)

2 - "1801 - I have just returned from a visit to my landlord – the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with." (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)

3 - "The real story isn't half as pretty as the one you've heard." (Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik)

4 - "You would have searched a long time for the sort of winding lane or tranquil meadow for which England later became celebrated." (The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro)

5 - "If anyone had told Nine a week ago that she would be in a magical house with a hopscotching wizard, a feather-duster-obsessed troll and a stab-first-ask-questions-later wooden spoon, Nine would have laughed in their face." (The Tower at the End of Time by Amy Sparkes)

6 - "I shouldn't have been surprised that fairies exist." (Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko)

7 - "Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house." (Coraline by Neil Gaiman)

8 - "The White Wolf followed the ravens down the crags of Chaumenard to the wintry fields of Pelucir." (The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip)

9 - "He remembered much of his stay in the womb." (Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler)

10 - "Hassan was deep in prayer." (The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson)

[muppeted]

3, 10 and 13 for the book asks!

ahhh tysm for asking! I’m putting this under a read more bc i got a lil out of control lmao

3. what are your top 5 books of the year?

ok I’m planning on making a separate post w my top 10 2022 releases so consider this list like. my top 5 books I read this year that were NOT released in 2022. if that makes sense. in no particular order:

-the inheritance trilogy by nk jemisin—putting an entire series as one book may be cheating BUT. also me recommending jemisin is very like. hey, did y’all know that one of the most acclaimed sf writers of our generation is uhhh….really fucking good? but oh my god she is.

-the book of atrix wolfe by patricia a mckillip—was reading this when I found out mckillip had passed away, which made for an extra emotional experience. her writing is so, so beautiful, and has had such an impact on the way I write (ok, try and mostly fail to write)/think about fantasy. this is a great standalone from her, about ghosts and curses and the magic of kitchens.

-the singing hills cycle by nghi vo—this is just like. everything I want from a series of linked fantasy novellas. if that makes sense. Like I’m such a sucker for books where the frame narrative is someone going around collecting stories, and the stories vo tells are so real, feel deeply embedded in history and mythology, love and rage. and, ofc, also very very queer and hot (who among us has not wanted to be semi-abducted by beautiful morally ambiguous tiger lady).

-ghost summer by tananarive due—one of the things I love abt due is her stories work SO well read aloud—levar burton’s podcast featured one of the stories from this book and it was such a good ep, I really recommend seeking it out. listening to her read at an event I attended a couple years ago was also amazing—the entire audience was like so tense and so with her for the entire story, it was great. another thing I love about this collection is that at the end of each story she gives some context around the writing of the story—it’s fun! I think more authors should do this w their short story collections!

-peter darling by sa chant—yes it is embarrassing that it’s taken me this long to read this. but I did! finally! and I did cry !

ok actually going through the list I cried while reading 4/5 of these despite the fact that none of them are like. stereotypical cry-y books. which could mean 1) i love books that make me cry or 2) i just cried a lot this year. probably both

10. what was your favorite new release of the year?

gonna say it’s a tie between the daughter of doctor moreau by silvia moreno-garcia and the hurting kind by ada limon. I just finished the hurting kind so that might make me a lil biased but limon is one of my all time favorite poets and this collection peeled me like an orange so ! (is that a phrase? is that something ppl say? icr)

And then the second daughter of dr Moreau was announced I was like I’m going to love this and then I did. reworking SF classics is just so completely my shit and moreno-garcia does it sososososo well. really recommend watching island of lost souls (the 1932 adaptation) right before watching this, they pair together perfectly (it;s like, one takes this base story and does something mostly shitty but still kind of fascinating/intriguing with it, and the other takes this base story and turns it into something incredible).

13. what were your least favorite books of the year?

Listen. I read so many bad romance novels this year. also a lot of really really good romance novels but. so many bad ones. i don’t want to like name names but here is a vague list:

-romance that was literally just ted lasso but ALSO the author was originally a het romance writer who had never written gay before so the sex scenes were like ‘he put his thingy in my thingy’ and it’s like maam. this is not my immortal. either say hole or leave.

-tiktok popular book that was EXTREMELY badly-written (yes this happened 3 times. it will probably happen again. I’m not even on tiktok--i’d see some non-tiktok person rec it also so i’d be like oh then it must be good ! and it never was. idk i am Charlie Brown and tiktok is lucy holding the football)

-started reading a fantasy romance and was intrigued by the premise and then they described the love interest and I was like ‘oh. this is just fantasy k*lo ren.’ i have like zero feelings on k*lo ren he just is not sexy to me so it always took me out of it and made me put the book down. also I don’t even think the books themselves were r*ylo or republished fanfic or anything I think the authors just think that character/actor is sexy. which is fine. i just am not personally into that. this also happened twice

[fanlit]

WWWednesday: Cover Reveal, The Book of Atrix Wolfe

http://dlvr.it/T8BcHg

[smakkabagms]

I am the raven, I am the hounds, I am the black moon rising in the flames, I am the Hunter's dream ...

Patricia A. McKillip, Book of Atrix Wolfe

[extractofword]

She gathered the bright moths and blossoms and stars all around her.

The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip, 1995

[stingrayextraordinaire]

Literature Moodboards // The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip

Sorrow is a word that means nothing until it means everything.

[persephinae]

The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip

“There was a drop of human blood in her, and in her father . . . it brought both of them visions at times, living dreams of the world beyond the wood. Her father had learned to ignore them, for they meant nothing to him. She, still learning words for her own world, did not make such distinctions: Everything was new, everything spoke to her and had a name; she had not yet learned that something could mean nothing.”

[the-forest-library]

My recent fantasy haul. I’m very curious about the caribou fairytale retelling.