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Tanith Lee
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Faces Under Water (The Secret Books of Venus Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Tanith Lee (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 19 ratings
“A fast start to what promises to be an exciting, innovative fantasy series” from the World Fantasy Award–winning author of Night’s Master (Publishers Weekly).
 
In the hedonistic atmosphere of an eighteenth-century Venice Carnival, gaiety turns deadly when Furian Furiano happens upon a mask of Apollo floating in the murky waters of the canals. The mask hides a sinister art, and Furian finds himself trapped in a bizarre tangle of love, obsession, and evil, stumbling into a macabre society of murderers. The beautiful but elusive Eurydiche holds the key to these murders and leads him further into a labyrinth of black magic and ancient alchemy. Why do secrets from Furian’s past seem tied to the mysterious Eurydiche? In Tanith Lee’s brilliantly imagined world of violence and terror, Furian must find a way to survive and stem the obsession driving him toward his hidden destiny.
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  1. Book 1 of 4
    The Secret Books of Venus
  2. Print length
    230 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    The Overlook Press
  5. Publication date
    April 1, 2002
  6. File size
    3.7 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's no surprise that Tanith Lee has won the August Derleth Award and several World Fantasy Awards. She writes elegantly of love and lust, hatred and obsession, in decadent, morally ambiguous, fascinating novels and short stories that owe more to Angela Carter and Oscar Wilde than to any established tradition of fantasy.

Lee finds the perfect setting for her rich style and dark visions in Venus, an alternate-history, 18th-century Venice caught up in a fevered Carnival that requires everyone to either wear masks or be killed. When Furian Furiano, searching for bodies in the canals, finds instead a floating mask of Apollo, he becomes entangled in the complex plots and counterplots of warring religions and the secret societies of powerful guilds. And he encounters the beautiful Eurydiche, who has been cursed from birth with silence and an immobile face that make her both a powerful symbol of the historic role of women and an irresistible, inscrutable, and possibly fatal attraction for the hot-blooded young Furian.

This fantasy murder mystery, Faces Under Water, is Book I of the Secret Books of Venus, but its plot is self-contained and complete. This is no fat fantasy; rather, it is a properly proportioned novel of somewhat more than 200 pages, a length that displays Tanith Lee's considerable gift at its finest. --Cynthia Ward

From Publishers Weekly

Lee (the Paradys series, etc.) throws more jeweled prose at the city of Venice than almost any writer since George Sand. People sleep under "rose death sheets" and roam in palazzi where the ceilings are painted with pictures of "cloud blown Gods." Except this isn't quite Venice. The canals are still there and Carnival is still that famous time of desire and revenge, but in Lee's alternate 15th century, Titian's Venice is combined with haunting references to Venusberg, where Tannhauser was tempted. The young man being tempted here is Furian, who from disgust has forsaken his wealthy parents and now plies various trades for the alchemist Schaachen. While trolling for corpses in the canal during Carnival, he comes upon an odd mask of Apollo. The mask, it turns out, belonged to a young musician who has drowned. Furian brings the mask back to Schaachen and, suddenly, Furian is a marked man. His wandelier (gondolier) is cut up into 11 pieces, like Osiris, and Schaachen is attacked. Furian seeks a motive, which leads him to Eurydiche, a woman whose face is frozen into statue-like beauty. Everything starts to fall in place for him when he meets her father, Lepidus, a traveler in the Marco Polo mode. Lepidus is the head of the Guild of Mask Makers and as such has assumed an occult power for himself, employing the magical arts of the distant peoples among whom he has traveled. But what does he want with Furian? And is Eurydiche simply a lure, or does she love Furian? This is a fast start to what promises to be an exciting, innovative fantasy series.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07RT35CFJ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Overlook Press; 1st edition (April 1, 2002)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 1, 2002
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.7 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 230 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

About the author

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Tanith Lee

Tanith Lee

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Tanith Lee (19 September 1947 – 24 May 2015) was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of over 90 novels and 300 short stories, a children's picture book (Animal Castle), and many poems. She also wrote two episodes of the BBC science fiction series Blake's 7. She was the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award best novel award (also known as the August Derleth Award), for her book Death's Master (1980).

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Danie Ware (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
19 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Cat Hellisen
    4.0 out of 5 stars Jolie Laide, as Lee's works tend to be
    Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2015
    Though the writing felt staccato -almost tripping over itself - at times; even with this narrative tic I rushed through. The story, for all its obliqueness, is pretty linear, but the descriptions are perfect: the drowned cities, Venus/Venice a place of magic and nightmare, Furian an unlikely and unlikeable hero, and Eurydiche a flat and distressing damsel in distress.

    And yet and yet and yet, I swept through it, ate it up. While Eurydiche is not Lee's most interesting female creation, nor Furian her most interesting male, there's something about the way she paints the obsessive and revolting qualities of lust/love*, the dark movements of humans and the subtle press of the gods they worship, that keep me fascinated with her storytelling.

    Her human characters feel like beetles - pretty and scintillating-bright - but still just insects, crawling across the far more interesting character of her cities. Perhaps that's why I love her books. It's not about people, but about the way cities shape their people, and *that* fascinates me.

    *I am reminded of a lyric from MSP's Life Becoming a Landslide: "My idea of love comes from/ A childhood glimpse of pornography/ Though there is no true love/ Just a finely tuned jealousy."
    One person found this helpful
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  • Kat
    5.0 out of 5 stars unfolds subtly
    Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    I had not read this series before. It is both mystery and fantasy as the
    plot slowly and subtly unfolds, giving you more and more at a time
    as you begin to understand what is going on. Reality and Fantasy blurs
    at times, becoming almost surreal. Adults 18+ only for suggestive scenes.
    (Warnings: violence & sexual scenes) Must read.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Shari's Peculiar Fascination
    5.0 out of 5 stars It's Tanith Lee at the top of her game
    Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Tanith Lee does not disappoint. The Venus trilogy is as good as the Paradys. I loved the water-richness of the Other Venice's tales.
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  • LizyLiz
    5.0 out of 5 stars Total Series 1-4
    Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2014
    As first time reader of Lee, this series is fantastical. They all wrap together in the last book, so pay close attention to all of the details and characters in each book. Lee bounces from last to first names often, and they are names we're not used to knowing (unless maybe you're from Italy). I am truly taken back by her writing style. I am shocked that her name isn't as well known as Ray Bradbury is outside this genre.

    As for all the other 4-5 star commentators, they've read so many of her earlier books that they're unjustly critical. A couple attempt to mimic her writing style, which is, simply put breathtaking and can only be achieved by Lee. Prior to reading her books, take care in reading verbose reviews, especially if they start off with "I've read most of or all of Lees' series...." The number of replies too "Did this help you" must be by those who have completed the book. Don't get me wrong, they're great reviews IF you've read the book.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Jessica Levai
    2.0 out of 5 stars Dense
    Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2004
    Tanith Lee's writing seems to come in two categories, though not exclusively. Her Flat Earth series, and her fairy tale stories, are written in an arch style which suits them.

    And then there are books like this one, and the comparable Paradys series, which speed past arch and enter baroque. I found the writing so distracting that I had difficulty following the plot.

    Some readers might enjoy this style, but I don't. The book is short, which is nice, but it's still too long to sustain the style. On a positive note, the period setting and the mix of murder and alchemy are intriguing. If only I know where it was going and what it meant when it got there.
    4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Amazon Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    not my favourite Tanith Lee but good.
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