Felix Harrogate, a handsome, well respected wizard among his aristocratic peers, finds his dark past as an abused slave coming back to haunt him and joins forces with Mildmay the Fox, a thief and assassin, to stop the demons of darkness, but a shocking secret that links their pasts could destroy them both. A first novel. Adult/High School–Mélusine is a city both sordid and splendid, rich in history and layered with corruption. Monette shows readers this fantastical place through the eyes of two characters: Felix, a member of an elite society of wizards, and Mildmay, a thief and former assassin. After his past as a whore is revealed, Felix returns to the man who trained him to pass as a noble. His malicious mentor uses a sexual ritual and Felix's magic to shatter the Virtu, a crystal that stabilizes magic. Felix goes mad, is imprisoned, and is sent to an asylum. Mildmay's precarious existence becomes more and more difficult. When he hits rock bottom, he is hired by another wizard, whose card divination says Mildmay will lead him to Felix. Monette has created an interesting world, leaving enough unexplained to intrigue patient readers. Profane Mildmay and insane Felix have distinctive narrative voices. Side plots and secondary characters are dropped soon after the two meet, so any resolution of the many issues raised will have to wait until the sequel. –Susan Salpini, TASIS–The American School in England Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. *Starred Review* Mildmay the Fox, resident of the Lower City in Melusine and cat burglar by profession, at first tells a little story of hocuses (wizards) and why any thinking person should beware them. Moderately decent Mildmay has steered clear of hocuses since murdering one (hey, a trained assassin's gotta earn a living). Good idea, considering there's a death curse on him set to activate if he gets within spitting distance of the Mirador, Melusine's stronghold of magical power. ?A social world away, in the Mirador, Felix Harrowgate is a stylish, well-liked wizard traveling in circles of wealth, power, and nobility. Responsible for Felix's polish and status is his former keeper, the malevolent charmer Malkar, whose ideas of teaching inflicted scars on Felix's body and mind that induce intermittent descents into madness. Thrown together on the lam, Felix and Mildmay discover how much they have in common, beginning with a shocking blood bond and the fact that neither clearly recalls coming to Melusine as children. Subsequent adventures take them far from their city, through a country in which far-from-friendly magic lies under rocks and sea and haunts marsh and tower. While Monette's story engages, her characters deserve a standing ovation. Mildmay's off-color personality and often wickedly funny narration keep the story and the other characters fresh. Perspective shifts between Mildmay and Felix make Mildmay the cat burglar visible and take us into the lightless crevasse of Felix's madness. Paula Luedtke Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Sarah Monette recieved the 2003 Spectrum Award for her short story, "Three Letters from the Queen of Elfland." This is her first novel.