Poisonmaster
01/10/2003 . Source: Donna Jones 

Overall then, I found the book very good. It really kept up the sense of mystery and that for me was a fantastic method of telling a story that has been told in very many different ways, not all good.

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It's a swamp filled, sorrowful place. It harbours all sorts of people. People with a mind to deceive. People with a mind to ally with those unworthy of alliance. People who are striving for the truth of their existence.

It isn't their home world. It never has been although those that brought them here will never tell them the truth of their arrival. Humanity has been stolen to a place dark and unforgiving. The place is Latent Emanation.

You're an alchemist, an apothecary. Bringer of scent and fragrance on a damp and mouldy scented planet. Bringer of hallucination to entrance. Hallucination for the Search for your kinds real history. Bringer of possible death. You strive to earn from your work enough money to pay to have your twin sister released from her Enbonding.

From the creatures that brought your people here in the first place, the Lords of Night. You are unknowingly a distant relative of the infamous Elizabethan mage, Dr John Dee. You are Alivet Dee and your world has just been turned upside down.

Everything you thought you had is gone. All because of an Experience Merchant and his customer who has died under the influence of a drug you gave.

Make a decision. The place is Latent Emanation. You are Alivet Dee and your world has just been turned upside down. By it seems the Poison Master. Trust him? Trust yourself first!
Do you like a spiralling story that is a little confusing to grasp what the hell is going on? If the answer is yes then 'The Poison Master' is for you.

From early on in the book, Liz Williams dangles huge carrots but only for a fleeting instant. You get snippets of information from the start of each part of the book, where insight into the life of Dr John Dee in the sixteenth century seems to invisibly link up to the life of his descendant, Alivet.

Then there are the constant issues of who Alivet actually trusts. This makes you question every event that takes place in Alivet's adventures and thus inevitably makes for an instant page-turner.
The characters are not that colourful but really this is more of a story-driven book rather than a character-driven one and it's quite a refreshing change. Ari Ghairen, the poison master himself, is guarded and very restrained in his show of emotion but Williams has meant for this to be in a world where Ghairen poisons and can be poisoned to achieve status.

The sub-characters of Iraguila Ust, the secretive and illusive Governess of Ghairen's daughter, Elaniel of the higher spiritual human race who see the likes of Alivet as animals and then the actual Lords of Night themselves. It makes for a rich tapestry of deceit and treachery to have so many multi-layered agendas all fighting to hinder Alivet. You never really know which line is the right one and it's like the best mystery and fantasy all wrapped up in one. Even Ghairen's daughter is an unknown quantity. Is she trying to kill you? Is she just a mixed up little girl after her mother has died of poisoning? Who knows until right at the very end.

The backdrops of the different worlds that Alivet is practically forced to visit are like the four elements themselves. Latent Emanation, where she starts is wet and cold combining a swampy vista with a dark chilling undercurrent. Hathes of Ghairen is cold and dry something on Alivet's arrival seems very alien. Nethes of the sinister Ethaniel is hot and dry to the point anything that dares step outside is burnt to a cinder. The home world as Alivet thus surmises must be warm and wet. Three guesses where that home world might be!

The ending to the book was the only real let-down I had while reading. It all seemed to be over far too quick and the Lords of Night seemed to not really play that much of a part. Their demise is all over far too quickly and you sit and wonder whether Williams kept those cards back from the book or whether they just didn't figure in her telling of the tale. Maybe they didn't even exist. I think that maybe my enjoyment of the book overall may have contributed to my lack of enthusiasm for its ending, I might just have wanted it to never end!

Overall then, I found the book very good. It really kept up the sense of mystery and that for me was a fantastic method of telling a story that has been told in very many different ways, not all good. This rings true with the storytelling of Jack Vance and she does acknowledge him at the beginning, part of her writing style has been borne from reading his titles.

Such a fine story mustn't go unnoticed. The fact that she has managed to mix Earth's Sixteenth Century with that of a distant planet in a distant time is quite wonderful. Williams certainly has a fine array of twists and turns to keep you off the scent and for this she has to be credited.

Donna Jones