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Myrren's Gift: The Quickening, Book One
by Fiona McIntosh
(Orbit, £7.99, 662 pages, paperback, first published 2004, this edition
published February 2005.)
Review by Martin Owton
 Myrren's
Gift (book 1 of The Quickening) is the first book published
in the UK by Fiona McIntosh, though she has other books (the Trinity
trilogy) published in Australia.
The story's central character is Wyl Thirsk, hereditary General of
the Morgravian Legion. Wyl's father is close friend and advisor to the
King of Morgravia, and as he grows up Wyl becomes equally as close to
the King. However, despite the King's desire for their friendship to
flourish, the heir to the throne Prince Celimus hates Wyl and takes
every opportunity to humiliate him. On one such occasion Wyl is obliged
to attend the torture and execution of Myrren, a young witch. Wyl does
her the kindness of easing her death and she repays him by giving him
a gift, the nature of which is initially unclear to Wyl. When the King
dies and Celimus assumes the throne Wyl is in deep trouble. Coerced
into a mission to the kingdom of Briavel, Morgravia's long time enemy,
and separated from his loyal legionaries, Wyl is assassinated by the
sellsword Romen Kareldy. At this point the nature of Myrren's gift becomes
evident and Wyl's personality takes over the body of his assassin. Wyl
must struggle to free the people he loves from the threat that Celimus's
ambitions bring.
So far, so good. In the hands of a talented storyteller we should be
in for a gripping adventure of classic fantasy. But we're not in the
hands of a talented storyteller. Regrettably Fiona McIntosh displays
all the errors of an inexperienced writer. She does not appear to have
learned the fundamental disciplines of showing not telling, and maintaining
her point of view. The world of Myrren's Gift is the default
setting of feudal Europe plus magic, with added anachronisms such as
readily available sugar and people eating potatoes (sugar was not widely
available and affordable until the 16th century). The characterisation
has limited credibility and interest: Prince Celimus is just too bad
to be believable and another character, Fynch, an uneducated child sewer
worker, talks just like a courtier.
All this might be tolerable if the plot was a real cracker, but it
isn't. It takes a while to get going, rolls satisfactorily for a bit,
then takes a major diversion when Wyl goes in search of Kareldy's past
which does not contribute to the main plotline. Too many key events
are driven by characters doing daft things. The climax requires the,
hitherto sensible, young queen of Briavel to do two stupid things and
then have a spectacular change of mind about Wyl to bring about the
ending. There is little resolution of the main plotlines by the end
of the 650 pages, with everything left 'to be continued in book 2' (Blood
and Memory). I will not be reading it.
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