Book Review: The Virtu

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Virtu     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Sarah Monette
Class/Genre:   Fantasy   Magic
Series: Felix Harrowgate and Mildmay the Fox # 2
Ace, $24.95

Wizard Felix Harrowgate and assassin and burglar Mildmay the Fox journey through enemy territory to Melusine. Felix believes he can repair the VIRTU, a magical crystal that has kept the city safe for centuries. He figures his success will enable him to regain his standing amidst the city’s powerbrokers. Besides person gain, Felix feels somewhat responsible for the breakage of the VIRTU as his former master misused Felix's magic to break the crystal.

Mildmay does not share his companion’s confidence as he assumes this is not going to prove a simple task or someone would have done it already. On the trek, a governess and two wizards that Felix and Mildmay saved from a stake burning join their journey. This quintet travels to Melusine where the Virtu and trouble await to greet them that is if they can clear away the trouble that seems to harass their every step.

THE VIRTU is fantasy at its best as the audience will appreciate the two lead characters, who prove opposites make best friends as Felix is the overconfident optimist and Mildmay is the skeptical pessimist; together they take that partially filled glass and cut off the empty top so that it is filled. Fans will enjoy their escapades as Sarah Monette rotates the goings on between them so that readers see even deeper how each thinks about the same incident. As with its predecessor MELUSINE,. THE VIRTU is a great fantasy saga.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner