Rook remembers fire. Saved by an uncle and sent to the bards of Luly, he avoids remembering the past. When the past will not leave him alone, he sojourns in the hinterlands and finds a new magic in music that is actually very old. He returns to Luly to find the past has not forgotten him, and finally turns to the land of his birth to remember and to avenge those lost in the fire of his childhood, becoming a true bard and restoring his heritage as he does so.
Impression: This story was very different than Ombria in tone and style and I'm very curious to see if the next book I'm about to read is different from them both. McKillip just might be one of those versatile authors who changes with every new story, or her writing became more rich the longer she wrote. Regardless, Basilisk was an enjoyable read, though not as dense and layered as Ombria (which remains my favorite so far). As with Ombria she has an ending that surprises, though in this case it's not as strong since she doesn't foreshadow it at all earlier in the novel (if she does, I missed it). The story is still a good one and, in this case, leaves us with the question: who really did defeat the basilisk?
