Tanith Lee - Lycanthia (1981)

[Calenture]

Paul Chadwick

Daw Books, 1981 (first edition?)

Christian Dorse is suffering from a consumptive illness, when he inherits a house in a corner of France. The house has come to him through a fluke. It was once in his family, but had been gambled away. Now the owner has died childless, and the house reverted to Christian. The village close to the house is a crazy place of hills; nothing seems upright. There is a totem of a wolf goddess in the town square. The house itself is a Gothic mansion. A blue stained glass window glows over the door.

In the forest, Christian finds the De Lagenays. Gabrielle and her son Luc live in a tumbledown shack. The road leading to their home is marked by two crossed bones, the sign against werewolves.

He finds that the 'horrible monsters' said to be living in his forest are sensual and graceful werewolves.

A friendship is forged between Christian, Gabrielle and Luc. They become lovers. The snow falls and the three of them live a strange, insular existence in the great house.

Paul Chadwick

This is a stylish and curious piece. Lee seems to be setting the ground for her later, more ambitious gothic pieces. There are certain elements - the stained glass windows, the piano playing - which recur in book after book. The book is about werewolves, but it's less a horror novel than a sumptuous, quietly erotic gothic romance. The werewolves are not the monsters here. The ending is brutal and downbeat, but Lee at least leaves us with something to take away. The book leaves a lingering impression, felt more strongly several months after reading.

[cauldronbrewer]

Apr 5, 2008 20:35:06 GMT Calenture said:

This is a stylish and curious piece. Lee seems to be setting the ground for her later, more ambitious gothic pieces. There are certain elements - the stained glass windows, the piano playing - which recur in book after book. The book is about werewolves, but it's less a horror novel than a sumptuous, quietly erotic gothic romance. The werewolves are not the monsters here. The ending is brutal and downbeat, but Lee at least leaves us with something to take away. The book leaves a lingering impression, felt more strongly several months after reading.

That's an excellent review. I didn't like Lycanthia as much as the short story collections of Lee's that I've read (Red as Blood, Tamastara, and The Gorgon and Other Beastly Tales, plus her hugely entertaining fix-up novel Cyrion), but at least it was interesting. I'd like to read more of her novels, but I haven't figured out what to try next.