BASILISK

Rej, a comber from the squalid caves beneath the city of Lunnzia, and Donna, the courtesan’s daughter, form an unlikely alliance to bring back dragons and save the world in this appealing dark fantasy. Since the revolution, which toppled the monarchy two decades before, the oppidans of Lunnzia have lived in poverty-stricken, legally enforced equality. Donna is sent to scribe for the Doctor Esteemed Melagiar, where she realizes the privileged don’t share the cold and hunger of the citizenry. As if avoiding trouble and corruption weren’t enough, Donna is given a new charge: Rej has violated ancient treaties by leaving the catacombs to avenge a murder, and a spy network places him in Donna’s nervous care. Rej and Donna are drawn into dangerous plots when they witness horrors at the Doctor Esteemed’s home. Linked by shared dreams of dragons, they need to overcome intrigue, sexual ploys, and extensive torture as they discover the debauched wickedness of their parents’ generation. Suspenseful and rather original, marred only by pedestrian language. (Fiction. 14-17)