“The Progeny†by Tosca Lee, Simon & Schuster, 322 pages, $26
I take it there is a bond between writers and readers of fantasy fiction. Please know from the beginning that I am not a party to that agreement. I can only give an outsider’s impression of “The Progeny,†the first of what the publisher says will be Lincoln author Tosca Lee’s “Descendants of the House of Bathory†series.
This story begins as a young, apparently American, woman wakes in a remote Maine cabin with no memory of her life and only a note advising her to move forward and not to search for her past. She has been coached in some life skills and knows how to get by motor boat to a nearby village store, to buy groceries, meet a handsome guy and return home. She does not worry about money, diet, exercise or work. And she begins a search for her past. Adventure ensues, very fast and very dangerous adventure, but without a lot of character development.
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As the story unfolds, the young woman displays remarkable extra-human powers, for instance, the ability to make authorities look at ordinary papers and believe they have seen proper passports, which really come in handy in overcoming plot barriers. Sketchy memories come back to her. Events lead her to Middle Europe and some of the fascinating old capitols of the world — Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna — but, alas, only to a literal dark underground.
This is all because she is a member of the progeny of a “Blood Countess,†Elizabeth Bathory, a prolific serial killer, about whom we learn very little. Progeny seem to dance most of the night in beautiful costumes beneath these cities, mingling with enemies sworn to exterminate them and guardians who protect them to the death.
Perhaps part of the tacit agreement between author and reader of this type of work is that teasing is allowed because there is much in the tale that is sketched but not revealed. I surmise these details will come out in the volume to come.
I have read and commented on some of Lee’s earlier work. I found her Biblically-rooted fictional works “Iscariot†(2013) and “The Legend of Sheba†(2014), both of which were sturdier and a better return on the reading investment, in my opinion, interesting and intriguing. But I am not party to the fantasy compact, and “The Progeny†may be the beginning of a beautiful read for those who are.