Song for the Basilisk - Misplaced Pages

1998 book by Patricia A. McKillip

Song for the Basilisk
First edition cover
Author	Patricia A. McKillip
Cover artist	Kinuko Y. Craft
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy
Publisher	Ace Books
Publication date	September 1, 1998
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print
Pages	314
ISBN	0-441-00447-4
OCLC	987642215

Song for the Basilisk is a 1998 fantasy novel by American writer Patricia A. McKillip. It was a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature finalist in 1999.

Summary

The sole survivor of a massacre, Caladrius, nicknamed Rook, has been living with the bards of Luly since the day he was rescued from the smoldering remains of his home. Despite falling in love and having a son, Caladrius is unable to make peace with his memories, and so ventures into the world to discover how his family was destroyed – and why. He learns his true name: he is Griffin Tormalyne from the house of Griffin, which was crushed by Arioso Pellior, the patriarch of the house of Basilisk and tyrant of the city of Berylon.

In Berylon, Caladrius enters Pellior's house as a music teacher for Pellior's decidedly un-musical daughter. As Griffin tutors Damiet Pellior for an upcoming opera, the city's musicians hatch their own plots. Armed with his picochet, a single-stringed instrument played by peasants, and a small bone pipe, Griffin challenges the Basilisk and exacts his revenge. But his revenge is not complete. Arioso Pellior is stricken, but not dead. Pellior names his other daughter, Luna, a powerful magician who has been his apprentice all her life, as his heir. Unexpectedly, Luna declares that thirty-seven years of torturing Tourmalyne House are enough. Hearing this, her father dies of anger. Luna begins to help Caladrius restore Tormalyne House.

Nominations

1999 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature Finalist

References

Mythopoeic Awards – Fantasy. "Mythopoeic Awards – Fantasy | Mythopoeic Society". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2009.. Retrieved 2010-02-24.

v t e Works by Patricia A. McKillip
Riddle-Master trilogy	The Riddle-Master of Hed (1976) Heir of Sea and Fire (1977) Harpist in the Wind (1979)
Kyreol duology	Moon-Flash (1984) The Moon and the Face (1985)
Cygnet duology	The Sorceress and the Cygnet (1991) The Cygnet and the Firebird (1993)
Winter Rose duology	Winter Rose (1996) Solstice Wood (2006)
Stand-alone novels	The House on Parchment Street (1973) The Throme of the Erril of Sherill (1973) The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (1974) The Night Gift (1976) Stepping From the Shadows (1982) Fool's Run (1987) The Changeling Sea (1988) Something Rich and Strange (1994) The Book of Atrix Wolfe (1995) Song for the Basilisk (1998) The Tower at Stony Wood (2000) Ombria in Shadow (2002) In the Forests of Serre (2003) Alphabet of Thorn (2004) Od Magic (2005) The Bell at Sealey Head (2008) The Bards of Bone Plain (2010) Kingfisher (2016)
Collections	Harrowing the Dragon (2005) Wonders of the Invisible World (2012) Dreams of Distant Shores (2016)

Categories:

Summary

Nominations

See also

References