Marianne, The Magus, & the Manticore by Sheri S. Tepper

Mortification Scale: 3 Tomato Faces

• 1 for SciFi/Fantasy
• 2nd for the cover
• 3rd for the extremely beat up copy that I got from the library

Mitigating Features:

• Really cool cover!!!
• Interesting dreamscape
• Fun to see Sheri Tepper's development as an author

Synopsis:

Marianne lives in a constant struggle for balance. She keeps a careful tally of order vs. disorder, and disorder is winning. Then, she meets a distant kinsman from a magical country who gifts her with one thousand points of order. With one battle being won, she feels safe to confront her older half-brother at a weekend party at her kinsman's estate. This is a mistake. Her brother and his shamanic aunt succeed in sending Marianne into a false reality and from there into one of her internal worlds.

The whole thing is full of crazy imagery: paper cutouts, embassy visas, monsters, books, tea, clothing, etc. etc. As a story, it's extremely jumbled. However, as a trip into the fantastic, it's quite original and refreshing. I don't think that this book is terribly representative of Ms. Tepper's work, but it does show some of her deepest concerns: that of the plight of women in society, and of male-female interaction. I especially liked the part when the hero's sister chides him for spending too much time trying to impress Marianne rather than listening to her and learning who she is. We can all take a lesson from that. Rather than using a conversation as an opportunity to display knowledge, use it to gain knowledge of your conversational partner. Lecture done. :)