Fox's Bride
A desert fox. An enchantress. And a sacrificial marriage.
Everyone in Oasis City worships the fennec fox as a sacred animal, except for the one woman forced to marry him. Enchantress Hiresha believes her fiancé is possessed by nothing more divine than fleas, and she also objects to the wedding venue: the afterlife. Priests will trap her in an airless sarcophagus with the fox. She has only four days of engagement left to live.
Her escape attempt ends in disaster, leaving her at the mercy of the city's vizier as well as her own pathological sleepiness. She wishes she could trust help from the Lord of the Feast, a past acquaintance with forbidden magic. He warns her that a sorcerer with even fewer scruples than himself may have arranged her marriage, to murder her. To find the truth before it's too late for her and the fox, she must slip off her silk gloves and break into pyramid tombs.
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A. E. Marling
A. E. Marling wrote his first fantasy novella after his freshman year in high school. In college, he found nothing gave him a greater urge to write than science lectures, and he sat through a lot of ’em. He has yet to repent his fascination with fantasy and is intrigued by its grip on the human imagination.
Both ambidextrous and word-voracious, his diet ranges from Arthurian legends to Jane Austen. He denies being a running addict, though he has to shout it over the noise of the treadmill. He dances as directed by demons. And, yes, he partakes in fantasy-related gaming. His best writing ideas pounce on him when he would rather be sleeping, thanks to insomnia.
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Reviews and Comments
Enchantress Hiresha's intelligent fantasy/mystery story continues in the wonderful follow-up to "Brood of Bones." Marling's prose beautifully captures the flavor of the desert, creating richly painted scenes. The plot is full of expertly crafted twists and turns, and the characters are brought to you in vibrant technicolor. I loved seeing Hiresha thwarted, regrouping, stepping outside the bounds of what she knows, and growing as she does. She's not just a focused 'scientist,' she's whimsical, at times callous, and she has a habit of putting her foot in her mouth. Her new bodyguard, Chandur, strikes me as a good-hearted, wonderfully loyal and idealistic but frustratingly dense individual, but he too grows through his experiences, making for a more solid, engaging character. The doings of the Soultrapper antagonist are devious and woven expertly into the tapestry with threads of creepiness and dark humor. Well done! I would have liked Tethiel to figure a little more prominently; I missed his biting wit and dry humor, and the knife-edge relationship with Hiresha developed in "Brood of Bones" only received token attention after his reintroduction. "Fox's Bride" flows well, keeps a quick pace, and ends on a strong note. Again, I am looking forward to Marling's next book.