Venus Preserved is a 2003 fantasy/science fiction novel by World Fantasy Award and British Fantasy Award winner Tanith Lee. Set in a doomed state of a fictitious, alternate Venice, Venus Preserved is the fourth installment in Lee's The Secret Books of Venus series. The novel, set centuries in the future, follows the main character, Picaro, as he follows his cursed fate to the undersea city of Venus. Over the course of the story, the city, controlled by a futuristic computer automated network, is experimenting with human revitalization, which ultimately takes a turn for an absurdly shocking worse.
Synopsis
Part 1
The reader is introduced to two main characters: Picaro, who is a professional musician and Flayd, who is an archaeologist. They both visit the underwater city of Venus and upon his arrival, Picaro meets a woman named Cora who idolizes him and his music, and he also meets a woman named India. Flayd insists that he has important information to tell Picaro. In a flashback to 2000 years ago, Jula, an ancient, undefeated, gladiatrix, thinks about her fight with Phaetho, a gladiator she defeats, and her death. Flayd keeps on trying to meet up with Picaro to tell him this important information, but Picaro isn’t interested. Eventually, Flayd informs Picaro that they are bringing back two people from the ancient times: Jula and Cloudio del Nero who is a possible bloodline to Picaro. A dinner celebration is held for Jula. Her master's comrade asks for him to have Jula. Picaro has an encounter with a woman who prophesies his death. Picaro eventually meets Cloudio del Nero and learns that he is a former musician and composer.
Part 2
Part Two opens up with the revival of Jula within the lab. Flayd is there to accompany Jula into her new existence; meanwhile Picaro is somewhere deep in a flashback. The memories are in clear detail; he remembers how his father sat in fear of his mother across the family dinner table. He remembers how his father sent him away to keep him safe from the woman, Simoon, who they believed to be a witch. Picaro then begins reflect on the death of his father. He was just a boy sent home to reunite with his father, only met by the very woman who sent him away. In search of his father at the, Picaro finds him dead; a victim of an aneurysm. Simoon then proceeds to predict Picaro's demise by a large body of water. Picaro cannot forget this not even after Cloudio is brought back to life, a musician who shows potential to be a main antagonist.
Part 3
In the University, Jula mistakes Picaro for the Ethiopian she killed in Stagna Maris and attacks him. Picaro, in and out of consciousness after the attack, learns from Leonillo that Cora was killed by Del Nero's germs. As Jula leaves the University with Flayd, Picaro reflects on his past and of the time he ran away from Simoon after Omberto's incident. Simoon followed him to the city he was living in, but she was sick, her organs turning to rock. She explained that this was a disease inherited from her family and from Picaro's father's, and that Picaro would eventually develop the disease in his thirties. She warned him of three signs: first, at twenty-one, he would see a man fall from the sky; second, at twenty-seven, he would see a gray dog with a pig's face; finally, at twenty-nine, a snake coiled under a flower on his pillow. She also warned that he would die underwater, but not from drowning. Later that night, in his anger, he kills her. All the signs later come true, and Picaro receives an invitation to a concert by Cloudio del Nero that seems poised to kill everyone in the audience.
Part 4
The final book of Venus preserved focusing on the true history of venus. Fallen angels, purgatory, and religion. Characters you thought you knew are brought to the spotlight where their true forms are seem. India, Claudio, and Picaro are angels where as everyone else, except for Flayd and Jula, are fallen angels who have forgotten their history. Stuck in purgatory and hell Venus tells a story that rewrites Catholicism. God isn't a person but an idea. The fallen angels were given the choice to leave and take on human bodies where they would dwell in Venus. After this truth is told to Picaro, Jula, and Flayd they fight one last battle against the evil angel of death, Claudio, before sinking the great city of Venus.