Lady of the Trillium

I recently finished Lady of the Trillium by Marion Bradley. #1 lesson from this book; check out the author before you read the book! I discovered Bradley wrote a few novels for gays. Everyone seemed straight in the book, so no worries there.

Lady of the Trillium
Marion Bradley/Bantam Books (1995)
Lady of the Trillium is a fantasy/Sci-Fi novel set in the background of the Black Trillium saga. Marion Bradley wrote many fantasy books in her career featuring strong heroines. Probably her most famous novel is Mists of Avalon, the story of Camelot from a woman’s perspective.
She worked as the editor of the Sword and Sorceress anthology series that encouraged fantasy submissions portraying a heroine.
The story commences as Haramis, the ancient survivor of three magical princesses, searches for her replacement as Archimage. Princess Mikayla had her life planned before Haramis kidnapped her at seven years old and imprisoned her in the Archimage’s tower. For years the inflexible women bicker as Haramis trains Mikayla to be the next Archimage. Mikayla finally agrees to take on the role after ….I’d better leave it at that.
It’s hard deciphering this book’s worldview. There’s no central creator figure, no one the main characters call upon. References to the Lords of the Air show there is a god-figure somewhere, but they have no significance in the story. A second alternative is an idol that requires blood and sacrifice. Death is an uncertain enterprise in this story. The characters have no thought about will happen after life and loose hope if death is mentioned.
Where does an Archimage fit into all this? The Archimage is a sorceress who protects the land with becoming one with it. My overall comment is the worldview is unclear, but the New Age thought comes across clearly in certain places.
The style made the characters tell the story a lot, making for a livelier read. Bradley offered just enough details in a scene to make it plausible and left it alone. She combined technology and magic, which shook up the typical all-powerful magic cliche a bit. The conflict in this book is primarily dealing with inner issues of the heroine, and the story revolves around a general region. I wanted a different location after a while, but maybe the point was to want to escape feel like the heroine.
Beware of a “scene” on pages 202-204. It’s odd the main characters hold themselves to morals without a god-figure to cement those values. The point appears to be a person can be good without God’s help.I don’t recommend this book for Inheritance or The Lord of the Rings fans; not enough action. If you like books where the pivotal conflict focuses on the protagonist’s inner problems, this might be just the book for you.