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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Zettel, S. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A World of Magic and Peril
1899, Sand Island, Wisconsin: Bridget Lederle is a lighthouse keeper on this stormy, windswept shore of Lake Superior. One cold night she sees a boat foundering near the island's shoals, and rescues its lone occupant. The strangely dressed sailor tells her a fantastic tale, of Isavalta, a world where magic reigns, and where she is-incredibly-destined to play a key role in a power struggle between the Dowager Empress and her foes.
Isavalta, where magic can be found in the pattern of knots on a string, the colors of a dress, or even smoke in the air, beckons to her. Bridget has the second sight of her family, but the magical land where she will go with the sailor holds far greater marvels, and terrible perils that even she cannot see. For she carries secrets within her that even she doesn't know, secrets that could change the fate of the fabulous magical world that calls her home . . .
Author Notes
Sarah Zettel lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Alternating between her lighthouse-keeper heroine's native Wisconsin and the magic-ridden world of Isavalta, SF author Zettel's (Playing God) first fantasy novel, despite a plodding plot, should please readers eager to leave this dull world of ours behind. In the year 1899, during a gale on Lake Superior, Bridget Lederle rescues a lone sailor, Valin Kalami, who proves to be a visitor from an ethereal realm called Isavalta, the home of Bridget's birth-father, who impregnated her mother during a brief stay on Earth. Her Isavaltan blood explains Bridget's sporadic ability to see both the past and future. Kalami persuades Bridget to travel to his dazzling world, where he is Lord Sorcerer to the Dowager Empress, Medeoan Edemskoidoch Nacheradavosh (a name typical of the book's tongue-twisting nomenclature derived from Russian and various Asian languages), who refuses to hand over rule of her kingdom to her mysteriously ailing son, the Emperor Mikkel, and his new bride, Empress Ananda. Intrigues abound, magic lies hidden within threads, a fox becomes a powerful "Vixen" and the dowager keeps a caged phoenix capable of engulfing the world in flames. Since the old woman simply won't relinquish power, Bridget must fight both her and her traitorous sorcerer. Villains may menacingly twist figurative moustaches, but none seriously threatens the courageous heroine's virtue. This sweet-tempered melodrama will appeal mainly to younger female fantasy fans, who will be sure to welcome the forthcoming sequel. (Apr. 24) Forecast: Zettel's established reputation (1997's Fool's War was runner-up for the Philip K. Dick Award for Best Paperback Original SF Novel), blurbs from such fantasy stars as Sara Douglass, Andre Norton and Elizabeth Haydon, plus national advertising and regional author appearances, will ensure a strong start. Support from romance fans may help keep up the momentum. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Densely plotted beginning of a trilogy blending romance and female empowerment in an unevenly realized world where magic is a tie that binds and reality is just about anything Zettel (Kingdom of Cages, 2001, etc.) wants it to be. It's 1899, and Bridget Lederle, the keeper of a lighthouse on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Superior, is used to rescuing boats and the men who happen to wash up on the rocks. This time, the boat is vaguely familiar, and the strangely costumed man she drags ashore summons odd visions in Bridget's mind of a place called Isavalta, a fairy-tale realm loosely based on pre-Peter the Great Russia. That Bridget is an ostracized mother of a child born out of wedlock makes it easier to accompany the man, a sorceror named Valin Kalami, to Isavalta, where Dowager Empress Medeoan hopes that Bridget will break the spell that makes the Empress's son, Mikkel, act like he's been fed too many tranquilizers. Among the excessive complications awaiting Bridget is Ananda, a princess from Hastinapura, a Mogul-period India. Ananda has been betrothed to Mikkel as part of a political arrangement that will unite the two nations against the Empire of Hung-Tse. Though Ananda loves Mikkel, she hasn't broken the spell-and maybe the Dowager doesn't want her to, having banished Ananda's wiley sorceror Sakra, who has entered into a peculiar alliance with crows that can turn into human form. For Zettel, magic is literally entanglement: sorcerors cast spell by weaving threads, wires, ropes, and hair and, as Bridget wondrously discovers, creating patterns in movement and sound. When Sakra exclaims in frustration, "How am I to hold all these threads?," the reader may wish to conjure a scissor.
Booklist Review
Bridget Lederle's quiet life as a lighthouse keeper changes drastically after she pulls a half-drowned stranger out of Lake Superior. As Valin Kalami recuperates, he tells a fantastic story of the destiny that will be hers as sorceress and savior of Isavalta, a land existing in another dimension, accessible only through magic. Scorned by townspeople because of a dead illegitimate child, and devastated by her parents' deaths, Bridget decides she has nothing to lose by going with the mysterious man. She soon learns, however, that nothing is as it seems in the realm of magic and in Isavalta. She must quickly determine who is and who is not her friend, if she is to survive and keep the heir to the throne alive, and she must learn what her new powers are and how to use them before she and Isavalta are undone by a dowager empress' insane loyalty to a single purpose and a sorcerer's determination to destroy an old enemy. Intriguingly blending well-researched Russian and Chinese folklore, Zettel creates a fine fantasy. --Paula Luedtke
Library Journal Review
Bridget Lederle rescues a strange man from the waters of Lake Superior and accompanies him to another world, a strange land of rival sorceries where a dowager empress strives to protect her world from the cunning grasp of the sorceress Ananda. The author of Playing God and Kingdom of Cages begins a fantasy series set in a world of politics, magic, and intrigue. Drawn from Russian, Chinese, and Indian mythologies, the land of Isavalta offers a unique and exotic atmosphere. Strong characters and superb storytelling make this a solid addition to most fantasy collections. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.