Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
A Tom Doherty Associates Book
Description
Finalist for the World Fantasy Award and Nebula Award, and winner of the Aurora Award Waters of Versailles is a historical fantasy about sex, magic, and plumbing. In 1738 France, soldier and courtier Sylvain de Guilherand enlists magical help to bring modern conveniences to the court of Louis XV. The innovation sparks a cold war in the hothouse palace environment as the nobles compete to outdo each other. Everyone wants what Sylvain has, but can he control the magical creature who makes it all possible? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
User reviews
LibraryThing member isabelx
She laughed and dove. The water bubbled like a soup pot, forcing the slush to congeal into wads the size of lily pads. As the turbulence increased the leaved tilted and stacked, climbing into columns of gleaming ice that stretched and branched overhead.
Sylvain is a soldier and minor noble who
I listened to this fantasy novella on the Podcastle podcast and really enjoyed it. According to his latest mistress Sylvain is a 'striver' which is very much not the done thing at court, and I found him quite arrogant, but I warmed to him as the story progressed and he showed his home-sickness for the Alps, and I liked the ending.
Sylvain is a soldier and minor noble who
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spends his summers on military campaigns and the rest of the year at Louis XV's court at Versailles. His wealth and status come from engineering a system of cisterns and pipework to run water through the palace and setting up porcelain 'thrones' in the private quarters of king's mistress and other well-connected residents of the palace, although it takes magic to prevent leaks and keep the water flowing.I listened to this fantasy novella on the Podcastle podcast and really enjoyed it. According to his latest mistress Sylvain is a 'striver' which is very much not the done thing at court, and I found him quite arrogant, but I warmed to him as the story progressed and he showed his home-sickness for the Alps, and I liked the ending.
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LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
New author Kelly Robson has been getting quite a bit of buzz for this novella, as well as the short stories which she recently had published, and I think it's very well deserved. This is going to be an author to watch - she's got a way with words!
Sylvain is an ingenious man with an eye for the main
However, his water lines have a disturbing tendency to spring leaks, and his efforts to keep everything running become more and more frantic. It turns out that Sylvain isn't an engineer or plumber at all. Rather, his entrepreneurial vision depends on magic - and a captive.
Sylvain is an ingenious man with an eye for the main
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chance. He's willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead - whether that's a carefully planned seduction or sucking up to a well-placed aristocrat. In this alternate-18th century Versailles, his efforts have so far had good results. Sylvain has introduced the flush toilet - and the associated plumbing - to the court, and his facilities have become the hottest new thing. However, his water lines have a disturbing tendency to spring leaks, and his efforts to keep everything running become more and more frantic. It turns out that Sylvain isn't an engineer or plumber at all. Rather, his entrepreneurial vision depends on magic - and a captive.
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LibraryThing member h-mb
This is a novella but the space is enough to flesh the protagonist, to give sense of his past - and present unease with his life at court. Versailles in the 18th century isn't my first pick choice but the author managed to make me interested in that soldier-courtier-engineer.
LibraryThing member richardderus
Whenever humans encounter the uncanny, the unexplainable, the magical, their first thought is "how can I use this?" The best among us finish that thought with "to make things better"; the worst, "for my own benefit"; and most of us, "to make a buck."
Author Robson's 2015 novella isn't her first
But logic dictates that even a magical creature have limits, and the nixie Sylvain has forced into his service isn't able to do everything. The more pressing question for him now is why does the nixie appear to be doing the *opposite* of what needs doing?
Never, in the history of human endeavor, has a system based on scarcity and uniqueness failed to fail. And here is Sylvain re-learning that lesson for the many-bazillionth time albeit his first. And, in the end, the world's delights are as ephemeral as we should all have learned that they are never not by now. What begins badly ends sadly. Again and again and again and again and again.
Author Robson's 2015 novella isn't her first
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publication (her books are listed here); it's a very assured work, told well, thought through thoroughly, and of a length sufficient to set her scene, convey her tale, then leave us wishing for a bit more to enjoy. It feels *right* that Sylvain, her PoV character here, should be an arriviste at the Court. He, like Author Robson with her reader, has left even his own social cronies without the miracle of his plumbing and flush toilets! Saying "no" is dangerous, and denying someone who has your secrets what they ask for is even more foolish.But logic dictates that even a magical creature have limits, and the nixie Sylvain has forced into his service isn't able to do everything. The more pressing question for him now is why does the nixie appear to be doing the *opposite* of what needs doing?
Never, in the history of human endeavor, has a system based on scarcity and uniqueness failed to fail. And here is Sylvain re-learning that lesson for the many-bazillionth time albeit his first. And, in the end, the world's delights are as ephemeral as we should all have learned that they are never not by now. What begins badly ends sadly. Again and again and again and again and again.
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Awards
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novella — 2015)
World Fantasy Award (Nominee — Long Fiction — 2016)
Prix Aurora Award (Winner — Short Fiction — 2016)
Original publication date
2015-06-10
ISBN
9781466888227
DDC/MDS
| Fic SF Robson |