The Innamorati

Instantly - I'm there. "The morning sun rose above the edge of a quiet green sea. Bright rays of light speared the waters of the laguna and transformed the canals of Venice into ribbons of flame. Burnished water splashed over the mossy walls of the canals, scattering droplets the size of sequins..."This kind of writing gets me everytime, and Midori Snyder has got it. She tantalizes the reader with each word, with every lush phrase, she seduces and entangles into the fantasy world of her labyrinth, and she engrosses mercilessly, leaving the world outside of her written page pale and distant for the time it takes to disentangle oneself from her story and close the book again. Snyder's fantasy is one of many players, all varied in lifestyle and enchantment, but all alike in that they are somehow cursed. The young actor stutters and cannot speak his lines clearly, though his words ring out when he is feeling unthreatened by other males who remind him of an abusive father figure. The mask-maker suffers torments of thorns inside her belly that tear also at her heart with regret, keeping her masks from taking on their usual aura of life. A swordsman wins battle upon battle, grown calloused to the act of killing, yet finally longs to be free of such a destiny. A siren is cursed to leave the sea and live ten years on the dry earth in utter silence, covered with a leathery skin of ugliness. The poet fails to win the love and loyalty of his philandering wife with his verses and finally loses her. The priest repeatedly falls into a gluttony of sexual pleasures forbidden to him, unable to abstain from such temptation. And there are more. The fantasy is peopled with rich characters, each one more colorful than the next. All travel to Labirinto to enter the magical maze to be freed - somehow, they do not know how - of their curses. Curses are not always what we think they are. In some cases, it is indeed "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it..." In others, freeing oneself of a curse is perhaps not so much wrapped in a magical spell as facing a fear and confronting it. In many, they find wisdom when they understand the reason for their own emptiness. In most, going beyond the superficial and delving into the depths of the human soul and its nature is the maze leading to a deeper love. "A true hero is the one who knows that often as not the dragon is in the damsel and not the other way around," says one character. "Could you love your damsel, even if she showed you her fangs? Could you embrace what is terrifying in her as well as what is lovely? True love, Signore, must be willing to lift the mask and kiss whatever hides beneath."Indeed, the characters find, each in their own way, that many of their curses, if not in fact all, are lifted by the "magic" of a freeing love, whether for one self, for one another, or for one's art. Even the poet who could not hold on to his wife's heart by mere verse alone at last understood that a woman does not so m

Everyone knows the power to remove curses that the Great Maze in the center of Labrinto can perform. People visit the Great Maze from just about any location in a hope that the force will free them. The only problems with the Greta Maze are entering, facing one's worse nightmares while wandering, and exiting. Several pilgrims are struggling to enter the Great Maze. Once inside these four pilgrims begin to journey to the center in search of an "elixir". Instead, the once great mask maker, the fencer, the exiled siren, and the stuttering actor with their ensembles begin to interact. Sometimes they are in each other's way, but several begin to team up for that seems to be the most effective way to attain the center and its power. However, if they make their goal will they truly want what they find? THE INNAMORATI is a powerful allegory that will leave the audience in awe of the talent of author Midori Snyder. The story line consists of several subplots that at first read more like vignettes, but cleverly tie together into a cohesive, well-written novel. Renaissance Italy never felt better or captured as well as this fantasy tale accomplishes it.

The Innamorati is a wonderful journey into the world of 16th century Italian commedia dell'arte, told within a great story with as many laughs and surprises as the theatre which inspired it. It has quickly worked its way to the top of my "most loaned out" list, and has had considerable influence upon my troupe's performances.

In the tradition of Vonda McIntyre's THE MOON & THE SUN and Jack Dann's MEMORY CATHEDRAL, Midori Snyder has created a fascinating historic fantasy filled with myriad characters, a rich atmosphere of Renaissance Italy and metaphors within metaphors. The theme of Masks -- both those that hide and those that reveal -- is subtley woven through a labarynth of individual struggles and stories of brilliant depth, and subtle humor. A truly wonderful book.

This superb fantasy is the best thing I've read all year--and there are lots of good books out. Snyder's Renaissance Italy is impeccably presented, with all the humor, beauty, anguish, ugliness, and magic that one finds in reading writers of the time. The characters are well realized, the story told with wisdom and compassion, and there is--oh joy!--none of the tiresome nineties determinism that seems so requisite in the current Cool Writers. After listening to me read bits aloud, my spouse (a professor) and my daughter (teenage) are fighting to see who gets it next.