I have always thought that Lucius Shepard writes like a G. G. Marquez. You have a very distinct and clear idea of the characters and the setting. You can almost smell the sweltering heat of the dying Louisiana town where the story takes place. And just like many of Marquez’ works, there is a lot of mysticism intermixed with reality where, in the end, you come to the belief that magic and the real world are intermixed, that if we were just in the right place (wrong place) at the right time we too might get wrapped up in a fairytale or tragedy.
The story revolves around a bargain the town of Grail made with the “Good Gray Manâ€. Every generation they must promise a Midsummer Queen to him. The bargain they made is for all the town’s bad luck to be drawn onto the Midsummer Queen. But I don’t know if they got what they’ve bargained for, because it appears that, perhaps, they get no luck at all good or bad.
The story centers on Jack Mustaine, an outsider and how he is entwined in the story, cast as the hero or is that the jester…Will he rescue Vida Dumars, the current Queen? And what is his larger part in the story?
The people know that Jack might be the one who breaks the spell: they warn him, they help, they hinder. It’s a true suspense story that could end in many ways. I’ll let you read it and enjoy the ending yourself.
Great book, and one I will certainly read again.
p.s. I’ve read most of his works. I can recommend this as a great introduction to his writing and would follow it up with The Jaguar Hunter
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