The Tourmaline [Hardcover]

The Tourmaline

Other readers have outlined what happens in this second installment of four, in Paul Park's Princess of Roumania series. I will add only my version of what is arresting about it. First, the language, beautiful and potent at the level of sentences. Second, individual scenes, exquisitely drawn, comprised of impeccably imagined particulars, whether simple or elaborate. Third, the endings of scenes: graceful, tapered, while at the same time being apogees of dramatic tension, every one. Fourth, the uncompromising existence of that which has been depicted. There is no way to subsume this narrative into one's own imaginary, to force it to comply with one's designs or expectations as a reader. It is captivating, demanding, wholly other. Fifth, what a magnificent tale it is. I haven't read a lot of science fiction and/or fantasy; for others like me, I will say that A Princess of Roumania and now The Tourmaline remind me a bit of Isak Dinesen's short stories, which, like these books by Paul Park, offer a rigorous, unfamiliar pleasure, to be relished.

The Tourmaline continues Paul Park's new fantasy series that began last year with A Princess of Roumania. (There will apparently be at least two more books.) This is proving to be a fascinating extended work, with odd and original characters (including some very interesting tormented villains) and written in a fairly distinctive voice.

The basic conceit is that our world is a construct, made by a Roumanian sorceress to protect her young niece, Miranda Popescu. Miranda may be the "White Tyger," the great hope for a return to glory of Roumania, and for protection against their agressive German neighbors. But when Miranda's uncle is framed for treason and murdered, and her mother imprisoned in Germany, her Aunt creates an alternate world (ours) and places her in present day Massachusetts to grow up. The first book tells how the Baroness Ceausescu, her aunt's enemy, manages to find and destroy the book "containing" our world, returning Miranda (and two companions) to the wilds of lightly inhabited North America in the curious alternate world of her birth.

The Tourmaline opens with Miranda having magically made her way to Roumania, but five years in the future. The Baroness, who thinks she herself is the White Tyger, is now the head of Roumania's puppet government after a German occupation. Miranda's two companions, a boy named Peter Gross who is now mostly a man, Pieter de Graz; and a girl named Andromeda who now alternates between being a dog and being another man, Sasha Prochenko (yet who is still also somehow Andromeda); are marooned in America but soon find a strange way to Turkey. The Elector of Ratisbon, the enemy of both Baroness Ceausescu and of Miranda, has been confined to his home in Germany, but he still holds Miranda's mother and the Baroness's son, and he remains a powerful sorcerer. The book follows Miranda's struggling realization of her possible destiny as the White Tyger, and her halting attempts to begin a resistance. At the same time, Peter and Andromeda, in their various forms, try to find a way to Roumania. The Baroness holds the tourmaline, Kepler's Eye, which has the power to make people love her, and she tries to balance her need for German support of her position with her hate for them -- scheming among other things to import nuclear material from technologically advanced Africa. And the Elector tries to restore his power base in Germany, while magically keeping track of Miranda. Indeed, everyone, one way or another, is after Miranda, who escapes again and again by accident, destiny, and magic.

It remains a truly fascinating world, with a subtly revealed background, consisting of the odd magical system (to some extent based on Hermes Trismegistus), of such geographical changes as the fact that England has been destroyed by earthquakes, and of the different religions: one based on King Jesus and his Queen, Mary Magdalene, who are believed to be the ancestors of the Roumanian royal house (including Miranda), another based on ancient Greek myths, and so on. In The Tourmaline, Miranda becomes a more interesting character as she begins to take a modicum of control of her life. The Baroness Ceausescu is an affecting villainess, for example spending much of her time composing an opera in her head. The other characters are also odd and quite believable. It must be said that the book, as with many middle books, does not so much come to an end as simply stop -- we must wait for the concluding books for full satisfaction. But I will certainly be looking for the rest of the series.

If you were as enchanted by Paul Park's magically strange and compelling alternate history A Princess of Roumania as much as I was, The Tourmaline's continuation and expansion of the story is not to be missed. Imagine if you suddenly discovered that the world you grew up in was not the real world after all, but a time and place created by your aunt, a powerful mage who needed a place to hide you from your enemies because in the real world, you are heir to the throne of Roumania. Imagine that your best friends turn out to be faithful retainers from this world, and together you have to figure out what the truth is in your quest for justice. To say more about this story would be a spoiler, but this second book in the Tourmaline quartet is a testament to a writer whose skill and power continues to unfold, revealing extraordinary depths with each new book.

Park's prose is elegant, poetic, subtle, and layered with meaning. His imagination is limitless. Symbolic, mythic, and metaphysical connections are woven throughout, building into larger psychological and political meanings. His characters are powerfully drawn--at times ambiguous and full of contradictions, just like people in real life. The evil Baroness Nicola Ceaucescu is one of the most unforgettable villains I've ever read. The heroes are reluctant, the villains are complex and vulnerable, and the settings vivid, sensual, and surreal. In The Tourmaline, dream worlds become accessible, revealing inner landscapes that reflect happenings in the real world.

There are scenes in this book that read like short stories in and of themselves, such as when Miranda's friend Peter is imprisoned by a colorful Turkish magistrate and integrates the memories and talents of his dual identity and some unexpected help from Andromeda to escape. The dialogue is pitch perfect and laugh-out-loud funny.

The author addresses the nature of evil, power, and the moral and political challenges inherent in trying to do good with perceptive brilliance. This book resonates with the archetypal power of the best fairy tales, but with a strong, literary sensibility. I look forward to the next two books in the quartet and am recommending A Princess of Roumania and The Tourmaline to all who love great, literate, fantastic fiction.

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