[Book review] Passion Play by Beth Bernobich

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This review contains spoilers

The fantasy genre is no stranger to romance, especially not with the glut of supernatural fantasy crowding the shelves these days.  But there are some novels that dispense with the magical creatures and simply concentrate on the human side of relations.  One of the newest of these is Passion Play, a novel with some unexpected twists on what could have been a very familiar tale.

Therez Zhalina has always dreamed of true love, and thus it’s an unpleasant shock to find out that her father has contracted her in marriage to an older man.  Feeling that she can’t stand being trapped in a loveless marriage, she gathers her possessions and flees.

Young and inexperienced, she falls prey to a caravan master who uses her to his own ends and eventually ends up at the house of Raul Kosenmark.  Kosenmark runs a notorious pleasure house, but forebears to take advantage of Therez’s straitened circumstances.  Instead, she changes her name to Ilse and becomes his secretary.  When she discovers that he’s also a spy master, she’s drawn into the intrigues of kings.

I greatly appreciated that this novel didn’t take the easy path of having Ilse turn into a courtesan before getting involved in the spying aspect.  That story has been done, and done well, by Jacqueline Carey already in her Kushiel books.  It would hard to live up to those.  Instead, Bernobich allows Ilse to retain the scholarly bent that she begins with.  With all the tales out there containing women who swoon into men’s arms and who embrace a fall from grace, Ilse is a refreshing voice for the opposite course of action.

I found the characters to be well drawn and fleshed out.  Ilse is a strong woman, despite her youth, and her actions cast her in a very positive light.  I also liked the secondary characters, the servants and workers in Kosenmark’s house.  Often, I wanted to see more of them and know more about them.  I especially liked Nadine, one of the courtesans.  Her interactions with Ilse hinted at a character with multiple layers.  I hope that she returns in future novels.

I did find the intrigue to be a little confusing.  I think this is because the author isn’t consistent with how she identifies the major characters.  There are five people who are particularly involved in the spying, and they are identified sometimes by first name and sometimes by last name.  If readers don’t pay attention, it can get a little muddled.  Also, as so many of the plot points are delivered via letters, there are no concrete scenes that readers can latch onto visually.  While the letters themselves are not a bad device for conveying such ideas, a little more direct involvement by the main characters would have been welcome.

There is one episode that must be touched on, as so many other reviewers have mentioned it: Ilse’s repeated rape by the caravan master and his henchmen.  Some readers have questioned its need to be part of the story, especially since Ilse is only fifteen when this happens.  A few readers have felt so strongly about it that they express a sense of horror, disgust or revulsion.  I think the question boils down to “Is it logical that this could have happened in the story?”  And it is… although it’s unfortunate that I can say that.  Ilse finds herself as the sole woman in a caravan of men, far away from society, and subject to their whims.  While there is certainly a chance that she could have come through that experience with her virtue intact, her character is not painted as the kind who would fight.  Rather, coming from a merchant family, bargaining is indeed the path I would expect her to take; and in this instance, she bargains with her body. 

The question of whether or not the author should have taken this path is not one that I feel a reader can answer.  A reader can personally prefer that it didn’t happen, but a reader has no right to judge on the plot choices of an author.  A poorly written novel is one thing, but one that merely contains something that a reader finds distasteful is something altogether different.  I don’t blame any reader for not liking that this novel contains rape, but I don’t believe that the author should be denigrated for it.

I enjoyed this novel immensely, taking pleasure in the interesting secondary characters, the rich intrigue, and the sumptuous setting.  Ilse is a heroine with an unusual amount of personal fortitude and easily holds her own among the other characters in the ranks of romantic fantasy.  I hope that, despite the controversial material, you will give Passion Play a try.  It’s well worth it.