Gossamer Axe - Gael Baudino

[NinjaKitten]

For all of you music lovers, and fantasy enthusiasts, this is a MUST read. Okay, yeah it comes across a little odd. I mean, you've got a Celtic priestess-cum-goddess-cum-harper from the sixth centry, a sentiant Sidh harp that enables her to stay youthful (among other things), and a plot to rescue her lover Judith, who has been been held captive in the land of the Sidh for centuries.

Let me start by saying, this is NOT a romance novel. Yes, the plot sounds a little hokey, but it is saved by a few certain elements.

You have Christa, a Celtic Harper, who (after watching a Yngwie Malmsteen concert) takes up the electric guitar, and uses Heavy Metal and Rock&Roll, in order to thin the walls between here and Faerie. How many musicians do *you* know who can turn heroine and cocaine into a "few simple sugars and trace elements" simply by using her axe/guitar? (The guitar, by the way, is much more than it seems) Or who can cause a heart-attack by being so angry that they meld the fabric of music and reality together with that anger?

This author has her stuff down cold. If it's music related, you can bet that it's been double-and triple-checked for accuracy. You're fighting a battle between stagnancy and evolution of life in music-theory terminology, with heavy-metal lyrics that combat the typical "and then this happened, and then that happened" descriptions of people slamming away at each other with weapons the author probably doesn't know anything about anyway.

Take special interest if you're a Denver resident, as that's where this book is set.

BEWARE though, if you're easily offended by Christianity- or Catholicism-bashing, this book might be offensive in some ways. Think about it. Celtic, priestess, Sidh.. not your typical Biblical Tale.

Might not be to everyone's taste, but I give it 2 thumbs up.

[Thenomain]

Gossamer Axe is a book about a perfect woman whose problems are slight. She is magically powerful, beautiful, a strong leader, completely selfless, and solves everyone's problems with simple words or deeds. Everyone adores her. She is the penultimate Strong Woman architype, blazoned from the mind of Jung and Irish folklore.

But to bring an Irish folk hero into the modern age doesn't work that well, at least without the other half of Irish folk heroes that Gael seems to neglect: They are tortured, violent and undoubtedly end in a gruesome, bloody death.

Christa's perfection does not even clash with the modern world, except for a little at the beginning of the book when she fusses over making over her image. She takes guitar lessons and quickly surpasses her teacher in a matter of weeks, after which he starts to follow her around like a love-lost schoolboy.

In fact, in an interesting reversal of sexism, all the men in Gossamer Axe are either stupidly cruel or are meek and more than a little vapid. The female characters don't share this fate, and most neither love nor hate the main character. I would say that all the men are two-dimensional, but all the characters are two-dimensional. Perhaps this latter fact is in attempt to emulate the irish myth that Christa is no doubt supposed to be.

Gossamer Axe, however, is an incredibly easy read and Gael's use of imagry is top-notch. She descibes the crowd at a small club and the electricity in the air just before a storm with the same sense of ease.

If homosexuality (either male or female) bothers you in any way, I would suggest staying away from this book or, really, any of Gael's books.

What I took away from this book was a simple plot, subtle men-hating, and a bit of Mary Jane self-worship in the form of the main character. This book is very much a soft romance novel where the woman is the strong character instead of the man.

I don't suggest this book to just anyone. In fact, I can't think of anyone I would suggest this book to.