Another finely crafted tale

Neumeier’s writing style is at once down to earth and lyrical. Her protagonists and supporting characters are engaging and solidly real. I highly recommend this book. ( )

Novelette (I think) about a psychiatric patient whose delusions of being an immortal warrior—Death’s Lady—are very coherent, up through her being initially arrested because she was waving a sword around and unable to speak English or any other recognizable language. But her psychiatrist wins her trust and provides her with therapy to acknowledge her grief and anger about all the things she did in order to get revenge on the immortal king who killed her husband and son (which her doctor of course believes stand for something else). It’s an intriguing setup but it’s clear that the rest of the story will take place back in her world, with the doctor and his daughter along for the ride, and I wonder if I want to go there. ( )

Different from Neumeier’s other stories, although it is actually just a prelude to a story which isn’t very different at all.

Dr Daniel Dodson has started a new job at Lindenwood, a psychiatric institution. One of his patients is a silent and deeply angry woman called Tenai. Slowly she tells him pieces of her story. She claims to come from another world. After her family were killed by an evil king, she became Death’s Lady and embarked on a long war, seeking revenge.

It is reasonably obvious to the reader that Tenai is telling the truth. Of course, Daniel doesn’t realise that he’s in a novel by a fantasy author, and so he doesn’t believe her. But I really like how this doesn’t actually undermine his ability to help. Because he believes that: Tenai fully believes what she’s telling him, her story contains important “symbolic” truths, and moreover, that his job isn’t to get her to remember what actually happened. His job is to help her to understand and manage her anger, so that she’s not a danger to herself or others and is able to leave the institution.

This is compelling. I really liked it.

There it was. Daniel had not framed it that clearly to himself, had not precisely expected it, certainly had not expected it right now, at this precise moment. But he recognized it instantly: the heart of the problem and the heart of the cure, bound up together. As always, the patient was the one to find it. His role was to help her accept the truth she had discovered. He said gently, “We all fail. Sometimes in terrible ways. Sometimes we push our failures off onto other people and blame them instead. Sometimes it’s just so much easier to do that.”
“Yes,” she said quietly, head still bent. “Yes, I see that is so. You give me new eyes, doctor, and I thank you, but how am I to endure this new sight you have given me?”

The book also contains the shorter interlude story, “Chase”, which is mostly from the perspective of a martial arts instructor who gives Tenai Chase a job. It answers questions about what Tenai does after she leaves Lindenwood and while that’s interesting, my initial impression was that the story wasn’t really necessary. But having read the rest of the trilogy, I’ve revised that opinion. There are some important developments, most notably in setting up Daniel’s daughter’s relationship with Tenai. ( )

A novella and long short story/novelette/short novella, something of a prequel to the rest of the series. It's a reverse portal fantasy, in which a psychiatrist at a mental institution treats a woman who remembers being an ancient warrior who killed an evil emperor and made herself thoroughly hated in the process.

Neumeier's books never go where one expects them to; I am eager to read the rest of the story. ( )