Doppelganger by Marie Brennan

I found Doppelganger to be a refreshing look at the witch fantasy genre. This book was more magical world fantasy then the Urban (set in the now) Fantasy which I have been reading lately. It was a refreshing look at the witch genre.

The plot for this novel is somewhere between a mystery and a quest novel. It is told from two people's point of view. One is Mirage who is something called a hunter. A hunter is an assassin warrior. Some of them work exclusively for nobles and are something like house assassins and some of them take commissions and travel all over the land killing people or hunting things (which can be something like a big cat that is terrorizing the countryside). There are several houses that train hunters and each school or house of assassins specialize in something different. Mirage is from the Silverfire house and they specialized in the odd job assassin. The kind that takes commissions and travels all over the land. She and her friend Eclipse have been given a very dangerous commission. Someone has killed a witch (which is this case is a magic wielding woman). The witches that hired Mirage and Eclipse want them to find the hunter that killed the witch, and kill him. They also want them to find out who hired him to kill the witch. This is such a special commission that if they fail, then they will die.

The other part of our story is about Miryo who is a witch in training. It has come time for her to take her tests to see if she is going to become a witch or if she will die trying (happens some times). She passes but there is a hitch. When a witch is born a doppelganger (a copy of herself) is created that holds part of her soul. The doppelganger is usually killed 5 days after they both are born. The thought is that the doppelganger is not exposed to the starlight and therefore has no soul when it is killed. It is born to help divert the magic from the child until she is tested and ready. Only, Miryo's doppelganger survived. This means that Miryo cannot control and therefore, not use her magic until the doppelganger is killed. And only Miryo can kill the doppelganger, and she cannot use magic. And you guessed it, Mirage is the doppelganger.

Can Miryo find and kill her doppelganger and will Mirage get a change to finish her commission? You will have to read the book to find out.

I found the plot of this novel to be very interesting. It had some mystery beyond the witch dealing with her doppelganger. It was very solid and very interesting. The book read very easily and quickly and we were never given so much information about the witches or the hunters as to get confused or to make the book seem lecturery. I would have, however, liked to know a little more about the set up of the country and how it is ruled.

I also liked the characters. I liked how Mirage and Miryo were alike but different. Miryo is the innocent witch who has been sheltered all her life. She has lived most of her life as a scholar within the walls of the witch school. Mirage on the other hand is the worldly hunter who has killed many people and traveled all over the kingdom. So they are quite different in their experience and training but they have the same mannerisms and same basic make-up. It was a very interesting dichotomy.

I really enjoyed this book. If you like a good quest type fantasy then you should like this novel. If you are a fan of Mercedes Lackey or the witch genre then this book should be right up your alley. It is a good book with a good plot and good characters. Give it a try.