The Poison Master

Described in the biographical paragraph in the back of the book as the daughter of a stage musician and gothic novelist, it sounds like Liz Williams could be a character in one of her own books. I recommend this book particularly for those who enjoy the Baroque and who have a strong ability to visual the scenes described. The alchemical imagery meshes well with the culture that has arisen from the combination of Elizabethan era dessenters and alien culture. There's also a great sense of the theatrical in the descriptions of the Anubes-- enigmatic natives of the planet where the humans find themselves, and the great palaces where certain indentured humans labor to provide their alien masters with subtle pleasures.Also there is a darkly humorous take on the traditional gothic novel in the relationship between the lead characters and the situation the heroine discovers herself in for the last part of the novel. While serious in intent, the author is quite playful in execution of parts of this novel. All in all a definite reading pleasure.

You cannot do justice to this book in a brief synopsis. The author paints vivid pictures of strange worlds, weird characters, and travels between worlds. We are taken on one wild ride after another with our intrepid heroine, Alivet. This is a MUST READ!

In "The Poison Master" Liz Williams, author of two "social-science fiction" novels ("The Ghost Sister," "Empire of Bones"), now turns her cynical attention to borderline fantasy. Dedicated to Jane Austen, William Burroughs, and Jack Vance (you hardly need to have the Vance connection spelled out for you), the author cleverly weaves together speculations about a historical figure, Elizabethan alchemist-astrologer John Dee, and the fictional Alivet Dee, a distant ancestor, who works as an alchemist on a planet called "Latent Emanation."Plot mechanations soon throw her into the arms of the mysterious, witty poison-master Ghairen from yet another planet, Hathes, and soon Alivet is drawn up in a plot to free her world of the mysterious Lords of Night and their collaborators, the "Unpriests"--and more than incidentally to free her twin sister Inki.She's attracted to Ghairen, but can she trust him? Williams spins out the answers cleverly, gorgeously, giddily. The byplay between Alivet and Ghairen is to treasure. Her descriptive passages are lush. Her prose dances and sparkles and the characters (unsurprisingly considering the debt to Austen) seem believable and all too human. Williams just keeps getting better and better.

This is Liz Williams' third novel, and her best so far. She weaves the story of alchemist Alivet Dee with that of her ancestor, the Elizabethan courtier Dr. John Dee.Williams' prose, as usual, is beautifully crafted and unobtrusive. Both branches of the story kept me interested, and fit together neatly without feeling at all contrived. I'm looking forward to reading it again, and to finding some good books about the real life of John Dee.

Centuries ago on the orb Latent Emanation, the alien Lords of the Night made the planet their own with 1,000 humans as their servant slaves. In the present, the Lords rule with an iron grip abetted by the human Unpriests who willingly serve their masters while the rest of humanity swells as second class citizens, knowing that anytime they can be enbonded, forced to directly serve their masters.Alchemist and apothecary Alivet Dee is saving her money to get her sister Inki unbonded but her goal seems futile when one of her clients dies and she is wanted for murder. On the run she meets Fifth Grade poisoner Ari Mahedi Ghairen of the planet Hathes who needs her help in destroying the Lords of the Night. She travels with him to his own world where they devise a poison that might free her world of her enemies. However, first she must discover if Ari is the friend he appears or the enemy that will kill her as predicted to her by one whom knows him very well.Liz Williams has created a very innovating, cutting edge science fiction thriller that starts off at supersonic speed and turns into faster than light until the plot attains a satisfying if startling climax. The hero is an enigma who readers never really get to understand but the heroine endears herself to the audience from the start with her plans to reclaim her sister from indentured servitude. THE POISON MASTER is science fiction at its thought provoking very best.Harriet Klausner