Lee is excellent with strange and dark fantasy lands. This story is darker and more dour than the Claidi Journals and the heroine is much more passive and very aware of it too. It is a piece of the history of a country where everyone can hear its heart beat and strange, vengeful and forgetful gods meddle in the lives of humans. Gods, kings and slaves swirl around the life of a girl with silver feet. (June 19, 2005) ( )

Tanith Lee is one of my favorite authors, but while this book isn't bad, it's also not one of her best.
This tale of a priestess' life is interesting, but lacks forward motion, or any sense of urgency. Although technically a fantasy novel; it reads very much like a fictional historical biography.
In a land very much like ancient Greece, a girl is born to a royal princess - but she is born deformed. In shame, the princess sends her infant to the temple of a dark god, fully expecting her to die. But she lives; and when politics change at court, the young princess is summoned back - and embarks on a life of power and frustration, beginning with learning to walk...
(An absurdly detailed plot synopsis can be found here: http://concord.wikia.com/wiki/Mortal_Suns_(novel)) ( )

I like Tanith Lee's books, and I found this one a disappointment. I know that there is a sequel that is supposed to come out for this book, and I sincerely hope that it is better than this one. ( )

I like Tanith Lee's books, and I found this one a disappointment. I know that there is a sequel that is supposed to come out for this book, and I sincerely hope that it is better than this one. ( )

I was really pulled in to this book. It is a standalone fantasy book set in a land called the Akhemony, which recalls ancient Persia or Egypt. The story is told from the viewpoint of Cemira, born to one of the Sun King's lesser wives without feet, and hence sent away by her mother to die or live a life of servitude at the Temple of Death. But fate intervenes and Cemira is recalled to the Imperial Palace. There, on the fringes of Imperial social life she observes the jostling for power, the omens and portents and struggles by men against their fates, little realizing that soon she too will be caught up in the centre of events that will change not only her life but that of the entire Akhemony forever.

The setting is extremely well realized, with Tanith Lee really bringing the place, the people and their beliefs, mores and cultures to vivid life. The story is somewhat reminiscent of Mary Renault's The Persian Boy or Robert Graves' I Claudius though with a female protagonist. Some may remark on what they consider the central character's essential ineffectiveness or lack of initiative in trying to control or direct her own fate and the events around her, but this fits well with her upbringing on the fringes of the Court where her place was tenuous and dependent on the sufferance of more powerful patrons. The characterization is excellent and of course the tragic themes Lee deals with fit well with her setting, as men struggle against mortal limitations (or the will of the gods, however once chooses to see it). The finale has all the pathos of a Greek tragedy. Its been many years since I last read anything by Tanith Lee, but I certainly need to seek out more of her works after reading this. ( )