When the King Comes Home

by Caroline Stevermer

Book Overview

When the King IV comes home . . . Good King Julian of Aravis has been dead for two hundred years, but his kingdom still misses him. The current occupant of the throne is old and witless and has no heir. The true ruler of Aravis is the powerful Prince Bishop, who controls both church and state. When the King comes home, all wishes will be granted. Hail Rosmer wants to be an artist-not an ordinary artist, but a great artist, as great as the fabled Maspero,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312872143
• ISBN13: 9780312872144
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

When the dead come home

This sprightly, original fantasy concerns necromancy and an apprentice artist who drives everyone into an advanced state of irritability with her determination to experience true art. The setting is a finely detailed post-Renaissance somewhere-in-Europe city. Readers of Stevermer's "A College of Magics" will recognize some of the place names, but this book takes off on its own with the very likeable Hail Rosmer and her fellow apprentices. Hail becomes obsessed with the deceased artist, Maspero who was interested in magic as well as art. She discovers a gold medallion in the palace archives that Maspero supposedly cast, with a portrait of Good King Julian on one side, the obverse being a view of the city of Aravis. She pesters the archivist into letting her sketch both sides of the medallion, then makes a wax copy, and casts it over and over again in bronze until she is satisfied with the result. The young apprentice is very pleased with her medallion until one of her jealous colleagues accuses her of counterfeiting. What could any self-respecting heroine do but clobber her accuser over the head with her heavy market basket. She then flees from the city, not knowing whether she killed her fellow apprentice. Four days into her flight along the river, it begins to rain and Hail takes shelter under a bridge. There she sees a ragged tramp catch a mudskip with his bare hands and eat it raw. This doesn't bother her half as much as the fact that the man is a dead ringer for good King Julian--who departed from life over 200 years ago. She recognizes him from her medallion. Now we're into the sorcerous part of the book, with a magician as equally nasty as any that came out of "A College of Magics." Hail plays an important role in the battles and necromantic manipulations that follow, including the recasting of King Julian's crown (again, the original was fashioned by her favorite artist, Maspero). "When the King Comes Home" has a relatively happy ending if the reader is into artistic fulfillment rather than romance. The wicked are punished, the good deceased sail away into a starlit diminuendo of love and death. Hail's masterpiece, "When the King Comes Home" is ---well, I don't want to give away the ending. Read this subtle, graceful fantasy. There's nothing else like it.

Slow, but brilliant

Many of the other reviewers have complained that this book moves too slowly. If you go into it expecting a rollicking adventure, then you'll be disappointed. This is not a novel of swords and sorcery. It's not something that you could pull from transcripts of your last D & D campaign. And that is very much in its favor. Stevermer has painted a picture of the life of her main character. She is not your typical fantasy heroine, nor is she a wilting flower waiting to be saved by the big strong men. She's an individual, and the joy of the book is learning about Hail. The book expects more of you, too. Unless you're familiar with Renaissance Europe, and have a more than passing acquaintance with the Arthurian legends, you'll find many of the references obtuse. But for the rest of us, Caroline Stevermer has given us a rich world full of memorable characters, and my only disappointment is that the book was too short.

Absolutely Wonderful

Stevermer does a wonderful job of portraying what really happens when the king comes home. I really cared about the main characters - Hail Rosamer and Ludo. The one complaint I have about the book is that she didn't fall in love. Just as another reviewer said, I really wanted them to fall in love. Anyway, I really enjoyed how Hail was an artist. I liked how Maspero, the object of her obsession, was connected to everything. It is a very original fantasy and thoroughly satisfying (except for the whole not falling in love with Ludo - who is perfect for her). I think this is better than Stevermer's A College of Magics - but read that too.

Enchanting heroine and world, disappointing ending. (SPOILERS BELOW)

Edited to add: *** SPOILER WARNING *** OK, I admit it. I wanted the herione to fall in love at then end of the book. There. Something just rankles about our girl Hail Rosamer being so clueless and indifferent to the hero, after all they've been through! But stilll...it was a good, original story and you can't say that about a lot of fantasy these days! Hail Rosamer is an artist apprentice and either Stevermer is an artist herself or she's done her research, because the littlest details of Hail's training are fascinating. Hail goes to the big city to learn art, she meets a jealous rival and encounters interesting people. Then one day she runs afoul of her rival and runs away, only to stumble onto a seeming living legend. From there we have necromancing sorceresses, Arthurian and Fisher King-like heroes and a work of Art above it all. Although this is set in the same world as "A College of Magics" (which I would rate higher and enjoyed even more) there is little similarity other than one character with a same last name and some references to the juxtaposition of the fantasy world Stevermer has created and our own. Stevermer is a good and fastastically creative writer--I just wish I had her ear next time to tell her how to end the story! :) This book is suitable for high school age and up.

If only the King came Home more often!

Caroline Stevermer is one of those authors who writes (it seems) a book a decade, but oh what a book, when it finally appears! _When the King Comes Home_ is a true treasure -- realistic fantasy that doesn't shy away from showing all of the trials and tribulations that we often forget when indulging in a fantasy. The narrator is a young girl, apprenticed to an artist in the capital city of her (imaginary) country, who ends up being witness and participant in the changes that come when the Good King Julian of legend (he lived several hundred years ago, and died while at war, in Europe) reappears. There is a subtle Arthurian twist to the tale, which makes the characterization of the King's Seraph and his Queen, who also are brought back by necromantic means, richer and deeper. This is a book which rewards reading and re-reading. Another classic by Stevermer.