The Innkeeper's Song

Ahhh, was für ein Buch! Wenn ich könnte, würde ich jetzt einen tiefen Sufzer des Behagens ausstoßen, wie wenn man gerade einen Becher Wein abgesetzt hat, tiefrot mit geheimnisvollen Reflexen nach Blut und Tod und Liebe, mit Gerüchen nach fernen Ländern, heißen Sommernd, staubigen Strassen und gemütlichen Gasthäusern an einsamen Starssenkreuzungen, mit einer Vielzahl an Geschmäcken, erdig, fruchtig schmeichelnd aber auch etwas metallisch-schneidend, aber bei aller Komplexität trotzdem rund und wie aus einem Guß ... ahhhh, was für ein Buch!

Ein kurze Zusammenfassung des Buches könnte so lauten: ein alter Zauberer und zwei frühere Schüler kämpfen gegen einen anderen früheren Schüler, der in einem faustischen Pakt sein show more Leben gegen die dunkle Seite der Macht eingetauscht hat. Das ist soweit richtig, aber wiederum auch völlig am Buch vorbei, denn es geht um so viel mehr: Liebe und Hass, Geschichten und Gesang, Verpflichtung und Verantwortung, Tod und Wiederauferstehung.

Es gibt Bücher, die sind wie ein Milchshake, man trinkt sie in einem Zug, denkt "lecker" und ist schon auf dem Weg zur nächsten Zerstreuung. Dieses Buch will gut gekaut sein, es ist nahrhaft wie ein Schwarzbrot mit allerlei Nüssen und Trockenfrüchten. Das liegt nicht zuletzt auch am Schreibstil: das Buch ist in viele dutzend kleinere Kapitel unterteilt, die aus immer wieder wechselnden Perspektiven in der ersten Person geschrieben sind, alle Hauptpersonen kommen immer wieder reihum zu Wort. Normalerweise halten ich von solchen erzähltechnischen Taschenspielertricks nichts, aber Peter S. Beagle ist einfach ein Meister des Geschichtenerzählens (und er war es schon bei seinem ersten Buch "A fine and private place", das er mit 19 Jahren geschrieben hat!) und hier funktionieren diese dauernd wechselnden Perspektiven völlig natürlich.

Beagle hat hier so viele Geschichten, Details, Motive, Anspielungen in 350 Seiten untergebracht, dass es bei vielen anderen Autoren für eine 2000 seitige Trilogie gereicht hätte (die aber deswegen keinen Deut besser gewesen wäre).

Ein Buch voller Überraschungen und Wendungen; das Buch fesselt einen von der ersten Seite, aber nach einem Drittel weiss man immer noch nicht, worauf das Buch eigentlich zusteuert, Personen erweisen sich als etwas völlig anderes, als was man gedacht hat, und dann kommt eine der überraschensten, seltsamsten und schönsten Liebesszenen, die ich je gelesen habe.

Auch wenn hier scheinbar eine Menge altbekannter Fantasy-Motive auftauchen - der alte weise Zauberer (hallo Gandalf, hallo Dumbledore), der fehlgeleitete Zauberlehrling (Faust und Voldemort lassen grüßen), tapfere Kriegerinnen und dicke Wirte (ja Barliman, wir denken an dich) - ist das Buch doch völlig eigenständig und abseits aller gängigen Klischees; für mich jetzt schon ein Klassiker, den ich sicher wieder hervorholen werde. show less

Read this after reading Giant Bones, a collection of short stories set in the same world. While as with everything else I've read by Beagle so far, I loved the writing and characters, I liked the round-robin telling of the story from different first-person perspectives, I liked the denouement. This felt very much like LeGuin's later EarthSea books, and that's a high bar. But I prefer the short story collection, Like Fox, one of the characters in Song, I'm not fond of wizards, because sooner or later everything hangs on some mystical surreal dream-like duel or quest that changes the rules of the narrative game to "every card is wild". That happens here.

Also, if it's an issue for you, there's a surprisingly long group sex scene in the show more middle of the book, something I've not encountered in previous Beagle stories.

It's Beagle, so it's recommended, but not my favorite of his. show less

The consequences of three strange women stopping at an inn are recounted, in alternating chapters, by Lal, a sailor and swordswoman searching for her old mentor; by Lukassa, inadvertently raised from the dead by Lal; by Nyateneri, a woman being chased by assassins; by Tikat, chasing his lover Lukassa; by Rosseth, the worshipful stable boy; by the Fox, Nyateneri's mysterious shape-changing companion; by Karsh, the bitterly singing innkeeper himself; and by the other curious inhabitants of Karsh's inn.

The Innkeeper's Song is rich and complicated and features the best description ever for pigeons (courtesy of the fox): rumblysoft. I loved Beagle's The Last Unicorn, and this is better than The Last Unicorn (if only because The Last Unicorn show more failed to have a foursome). show less

Like several million people, I read 'The Last Unicorn' when it was the big thing (probably around when the movie came out; not when it was first published - I'm not THAT old) - still, it was years ago, I don't remember it that clearly, but it just didn't really strike me for whatever reason. Since then, Beagle's writing hasn't really been on my radar - but I'm going to have to change that.

I got this book after reading Beagle's short story 'Chandail' in the anthology 'Salon Fantastique,' and loving it. I was delighted to learn there was more set in the same world.
One of the main characters in this is the woman in 'Chandail' and it was wonderful to learn a bit more of her background and history.

As a novel, on its own - there is show more absolutely nothing wrong with this book at all. I have no criticism. It does what the best fantasy does: creates a story of real people, real emotions, believable conflict and drama - while tying it in to myth and mythology, using symbolism and classic tropes to tell something entirely new. I'm impressed - and will be seeking out more of Beagle's work.

Three women ride into town... the dark warrior Lal, the nut-brown Nyateneri, cloaked in religious robes, and the pale and resurrected Lukassa. They are pursued by a lover, and they are pursued by assassins. In turn, they pursue a lost friend; and a powerful wizard. The inn where they take rooms will never be the same... and especially, life will never be the same for the innkeeper's boy, Rosseth. show less

I read Peter S. Beagle's most highly regarded novel, The Last Unicorn, about ten years ago and I really didn't like it, so I didn't expect to like this much either. It turns out I was wrong. This book is a lot of fun! In a low-tech setting where magic isn't the norm but isn't uncommon either, this is the story of a battle between a good wizard and his gone-bad disciple (Obi Wan versus Darth Vader...only different...), but the wizards aren't the main characters. Instead the main characters are a pair of the good wizard's other students, a young man and his dead fiancée, a shapechanging fox, and an innkeeper and his stable boy--all thrown together under one roof and each with problems of his own to worry about. This story is full of show more twists, turns, surprises, and action and was in itself very entertaining, but what I liked most about it was the writing style. Each chapter is told in the voice of a different character, telling the story directly to the reader and picking up the action where the previous one left off, only from a different point of view and with a different focus, and sometimes slightly contradictory. My favorite narrator was the fox! I definitely enjoyed this book and I'd recommend it to anybody in the mood for a quick, fun fantasy. show less

This standard fantasy fare is complete with warring wizards, some shapeshifting, and journeys into an abstrusely described alternate world/ reality. Beagle's use of language, however, is gorgeous: from the comic turn-of-phrase ("He always sighed like that to inform his students that their answers to his last question had shortened his life by a measurable degree and filled his few remaining days with quiet despair.") to Lal's full name, which I wanted to say aloud every time it appeared on the page (Lalkhamsin-khamsolal). But, because I fell asleep 10 times while trying to read the last 50 pages, I can only rate this Locus Award winner at 6 out of 10 stars.

If a toned-down Faulkner wrote a sword-and-sorcery novel, it would be kind of like this. I loved the depth of the characters' backstories and how obliquely they were conveyed.