Doppelganger by Marie Brennan

Title: Doppelganger

Author: Marie Brennan

Genre: Fantasy

Summary: A witch must kill the other half of her soul, contained inside her Doppelganer, if she wishes to control her magic.

The Take-Away: I loved the set-up for this title. For the first seven or eight chapters, the point of view alternates between the two characters -- the witch Miryo and the warrior Mirage. By the time that they meet, I was routing for both to live, neither to die. I wasn't disappointed.

Instead of instantly killing her Doppelganger, as the Primes stated she must, Miryo is overwhelmed by the similarities in appearance. It is evident that her Doppelganger has a soul, contrary to her teachings. Even though Mirage could easily dispatch the witch, she doesn't. It doesn't feel right to either of them.

Instead, the rest of the book is their attempts to solve the dilemma between of who must live.

The only downside to this book was the names. No one has a similar name. My normal trick of identifying the character by the first letter of their name didn't work either, as both start with "M."

Recommendation: I can't wait for the next title in this two part adventure.

Technorati tag: Book review