more Melusine

[rm]

I reached a critical point in Melusine on the subway this morning. If what I think is about to happen happens, it's indication #784545 that I really need to make a list of "occult texts you should read before attempting to use sex magick as a major plot device in your fantasy novel."

Maybe no one cares but me, but I care!

Just because the magick in your fantasy novel isn't real doesn't mean it doesn't have to have internal consistancy, a justification for its processes (why you have to do x instead of y) and some sort of philosophical underpinning. Magick _is_ science, and deciding that it's not and therefore doesn't need rules, FUCKS YOUR NOVEL UP.

Thank you.

Comments

[earthgoat.livejournal.com]

I thought it was, and with each successive post, I've been cringing more and more every time I look at the book. *le sigh* 'Tis a shame. Her friend and sometimes co-writer, Elizabeth Bear, has written some very good stuff and had recommended her to me.

FWIW, if you enjoy urban fantasy, I suggest Blood and Iron to get the Melusine taste out of your mouth. It has a fantastic take on Faerie in modern times, doesn't get bogged down in magick details, while at the same time never once making you question the magick system.

[rm.livejournal.com]

We're reading Melusine right now for themollyhouse if you want to watch that discussion when it happens. I'll certainly be going into a detailed "why the magick system doesn't work narratively or conceptually" tirade there. she definitely fell in the crack between "vague but not illogical" and "detailed and functional" on that score. It's an easy place to fumble, but it was done so broadly, it amazes me that an editor let her get away with it (although I also wonder if it was an editor's fault, as I could see one arguing against revisitng the sex magick that creates the mess in the first place, in which case that should have been replaced with something of somehow explainably equal force, which was definitely not touching someones shoulder and doing spells on a piece of glass.