Michele Lang

Lady Lazarus — (2010-2012) Publisher: With the romance of Twilight, the suspense of THE DRESDEN FILES, and the delicious thrills of True Blood, the enthralling saga of Magdalena Lazarus unfolds. Descended from the legendary witch of Ein Dor, she alone holds the power to summon the angel Raziel and stop Hitler and his supernatural minions from unleashing total war in Europe. The Nazis have fighters more fearsome than soldiers, weapons more terrifying than missiles, and allies that even they are afraid of SS werewolves; the demon Asmodel who possesses a willing Adolf Hitler, and other supernatural creatures all are literally hell-bent on preventing Magda from possessing the Book of Raziel, a magical text with the power to turn the tide against Hitler’s vast war machine. Magda, young and rebellious, grew up in the cosmopolitan city of Budapest, unaware of her family’s heritage. When her mother dies, Magda — ready or not — is the Lazarus, who must face the evil that holds Europe in an iron grip. Unready to assume the mantle of her ancient birthright, but knowing that she must fight, she sets out across Europe searching for the Book. Magda is desperate enough to endanger her soul by summoning the avenging angelRaziel. When she sees him in the glory of his celestial presence, her heart is utterly, completely lost…

Forthcoming: Rebel Angels

Lady Lazarus

Lady Lazarus by Michele Lang is a historical fantasy set just before the beginning of World War II, in a slightly skewed version of our world. What makes it skewed is that in this alternate history, magic exists and plays a major role in world events. For example, Hitler’s werewolves are literal here.

Perhaps Lang’s most controversial decision is that Hitler is in league with, and sometimes possessed by, a demon. Some readers may see this as a cop-out. In my opinion, though, Lang wrote this in the only way that isn’t a cop-out. Namely, Hitler is the master, not the servant, in the relationship. Lang doesn’t use the demon to absolve Hitler of anything; this is no “the devil made him do it” scenario. It’s clear that he’d be just as evil without supernatural help and is simply using the demon as an additional tool in gaining power. And the real-life Hitler was interested in the occult, so to me it’s believable that he’d have tried something like this if it had been possible.

The title refers to the novel’s heroine, Magda Lazarus, who is doubly in danger in this increasingly intolerant Europe: she is both Jewish and a witch. Specifically, she is a Lazarus witch, which means that she has the ability to return from the dead under certain circumstances. As Lady Lazarus begins, she learns of the dire fate awaiting her people. She resolves to find the long-lost Book of Raziel in order to save both the world and her own small household, consisting of her fragile, prophetic sister and her non-magical ingenue best friend. Magda is a heroine who isn’t always wise and isn’t always nice, but commands admiration in her willingness to risk not just death but damnation to thwart Hitler’s plans. Also compelling is the plight of the angel Raziel, who wants to protect Magda but is constrained by divine laws regarding human free will, and increasingly chafes at these restraints as he becomes more attached to her.

Lady Lazarus has plenty of action but often strikes an elegiac tone rather than that of a thriller. Magda narrates the events of 1939, but is writing them down in the year 1945, and she strongly implies that not all of her loved ones will survive to the end of the series. She mourns a lost world, too, in the form of the cafes of Budapest. Lang paints an elegant setting, embellished with curls of coffee-steam and cigarette smoke, that would be right at home in an old movie; in fact, I realized at several points that I was picturing people and places in black and white. It wasn’t for lack of vivid description — quite the contrary! — but because it fit the mood Lang evokes. This elegant world is dying as the Third Reich advances, and we keenly feel its loss along with Magda.

The novel has a few issues. Several scenes feel summarized rather than fully shown and might have been stronger if they’d been more fleshed out; the demonesses’ attack on Magda and her training at the hands of Lucretia de Merode are two examples. It’s also sometimes hard to grasp the magical rules, as in why a type of magic will work in this situation but not in that one. More elaboration on Lucretia’s lessons would have helped with that too, come to think of it.

To Lang’s credit, however, these problems feel like minor rather than major annoyances. I noticed them in passing, but on the whole was utterly engrossed in Magda’s adventures and couldn’t stop reading about her or thinking about her. The publisher’s blurb comparing Lady Lazarus to a blend of Twilight, DRESDEN FILES, and True Blood misses the mark; it’s completely unlike those. If I were to place Lady Lazarus at the intersection of three other books, I might choose Katherine Kurtz’s Lammas Night (for its theme of witches vs. Hitler); Annmarie Banks’s The Hermetica of Elysium (for its plot centering on a woman traveling through hostile territory, seeking a book, and learning to wield magical power); and a little bit of Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone (mostly for its Eastern European bohemian cafe atmosphere and maybe for the angel romance, though it’s a very different angel romance).

Lang’s supplemental guide, “The World of Lady Lazarus,” elaborates more on the real history and mythology behind some of her tweaks and on her decision to write about this “third rail” topic. It can be found at Smashwords or for Kindle, and is a fascinating read. Magda’s story continues in Dark Victory.
—Kelly Lasiter

Dark Victory

Magda Lazarus has killed Adolf Hitler’s pet wizard, the Staff, but not before the Staff stole a fragment of the powerful Book of Raziel and used magic to reconstitute a corrupted version that is now in the hands of the Reich. Dark Victory begins as the invasion of Poland is imminent, and Magda is trying to decide on her next course of action.

In the early chapters, it seemed that Dark Victory wouldn’t be as compelling as Lady Lazarus. Magda’s decision-making process is a large part of the problem. She has several choices: stay put and accept a dire fate, escape to safety, or use a dangerous magic to get information from the imprisoned demon Asmodel — a magic that could make everything worse instead of better. It’s understandable that Magda would have difficulty deciding what to do, but it has the side effect of making the narrative itself seem less focused and dynamic than that of Lady Lazarus. Magda is more fun when she’s charging full speed ahead at a problem — even if what she’s doing is a bad idea. The other and smaller part of the issue, I think, is that it briefly seems that vampire politics will play a large role in the story. If there’s one thing we urban fantasy readers have a surfeit of, it’s vampire politics! (I’m pleased to report that this strand of the plot turns out to be much less prominent than it initially seems.)

The book becomes impossible to put down once Magda finally starts to act! This begins when she has the chance to meet Winston Churchill, and even more so when her sister is manipulated into going to Poland and Magda sets out to rescue her. Magda, Gisele, and Raziel wind up working with an underground resistance group there, using their special abilities to save as many people as possible, and later confronting Hitler himself at a stronghold fortified by dark magic. Michele Lang touches upon the horrors of the war but focuses more on the heroism of the resisters. It’s compelling stuff, especially when Magda’s powers enable some of Hitler’s victims to strike at him from beyond. Finally, Magda faces that often-asked question: would you kill Hitler if you had the chance? Adding further tension to the book is the problem of Asmodel. It’s often difficult for Magda to tell whether she’s really doing the right thing or whether she’s being maneuvered into serving Asmodel’s own ends instead.

As for the secondary characters, Gisele is given further depth here, and Eva is largely absent but is involved in an important and hazardous mission that has profound effects on what Magda and Gisele are doing. Lang also introduces several sympathetic new characters in Dark Victory, most of them members of the resistance. The reader’s affection for these characters raises the emotional stakes. The British angel, Albion, is awesome. Raziel, unfortunately, has become flatter. He seems more like a support character for Magda, always there to carry out his part in her plans, but indistinct as a person.

After the first few chapters, Dark Victory is a good read, in which Magda grows in her magical abilities and faces hard choices and horrific situations. I continue to be interested in what happens to her and her loved ones, and to what extent the course of history will be changed by her actions. LADY LAZARUS is a trilogy and will conclude with Rebel Angels, which I look forward to reading. —Kelly Lasiter