Mireille and Catherine are both the Black Queen in their own time. But in the sequel, The Fire, it turns out to be much more complicated, and people actually change sides (which is impossible in an actual chess game, of course). In The Eight, it appears that the Black team represents the forces of good and the White team the forces of evil, since the heroes and heroines are on the Black team and the villains are on the White team. The quest for the Montglane Service is played out as a chess game between opposing Black and White teams. Neville moves back and forth between the two stories, in alternating chapters, so that the novel itself is structured like a spiral or a figure 8. The quest is carried out by two brave, intelligent heroines in two different time periods: Mireille de Remy, a novice nun at the time of the French Revolution, and Catherine Velis, a computer expert for a Big Eight accounting firm in the 1970s. Whoever deciphers the formula will have immense power over the world. The pieces, the chessboard, and the cover for the chess set contain symbols which translate into a formula. This fascinating adventure-fantasy tells the story of the quest for the Montglane Service, a legendary chess set once owned by Charlemagne, which contains the key to a dangerous and powerful secret. The Eight by Katherine Neville is one of my favorite novels of all time.
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