A Sorcerer's Treason

by Sarah Zettel

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312874413
• ISBN13: 9780312874414
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 527 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Fantasy at its best.

Bridget Lederle takes care of the lighthouse on an island in one of the Great Lakes. She leads a lonely life being an outcast from the local community after having had an illegitimate baby who died soon after birth. One night she saves a mysterious stranger from a storm. The stranger claims he is a sorcerer from a place 'beyond the land of death' and he wants to take Bridget back with him. With nothing to keep her on Sand island and with a compulsion she cannot understand, Bridget follows Kalami back to his home of Isavalta where her the story really begins and she finds out more about her past than she could ever have dreamed of. Sarah Zettle, known for her science fiction writing, has proved, with this first book in the Isavaltan trilogy, that she is as capable of producing outstanding fantasy as she is sci-fi. This is fantasy at its best and manages to be that rare beast, an original story in a genre where there are so many tales that are just a variation on a theme.

I loved it!

This was the most enjoyable fantasy trilogy I have read for a long time. Bridget is entirely believable, as are all the other characters. The author draws you in from the first and slowly you are addicted. I loved the settings, from what seemed like some historical town of the old americas, to the very russian fantasyscape of Isavalta and their neighbouring kingdoms very much based on India and China. Briget is a lonely lighthouse keeper who lives isolated from society. She is rejected and vilified, avoided even by her blood kin. At just the right pace, author reveals there is more to Brigets story than solitary Briget is aware. Other realms are reaching into hers, and entangling her in their own plots, which culminate when a man comes to her one dark night to bring her ask for help. Isavalta. A land facing treacherous times -- Medeoan, the aging ruler who has sent this man -- her son, the King, who has been bewitched by his evil wife -- the faithful sorceror, risking all to do his masters bidding. And the otherworld, which takes an unhealthy interest in Isavalta. The culmination and cooking pot of all these frequently misused plot elements is brillant and delightful, as they are stirred into just the right mix of new and exciting. And nothing is quite as it seems. It was so beautifully written. As a trilogy, I would rate it on par with the wonderful collaboration of Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurtis in the Servant of the Empire series. I have given it five stars and if I could rate it higher, I would. It's a fantastic book, you have to read it - a jewel for any collection.

Great!!

I bought this book because I liked the cover (the UK version have beutiful covers) and it looked like other books I liked. It also said "if you loved Robin Hobb, you'll love this!" and they were right!Sarah Zettel has a great language, great characters and a wonderful imagination. After the first chapters you're completely into the story and can't put it down. Her characters have depth and feel real, they all have their reasons and feelings for doing what they do, no one's pure evil or pure good, they are all real people.The first book is in "present" time, the second book is about what happend before the first book. At first it feels a little bit irritating, but after just two chapters you're completely into the book and can't stop reading and don't mind it anymore.The writer has some original ideas, many of them very imaginative. I like writers that really make a new world and have a new idea about magic and fantasy - without getting lost into it and getting pathetic.I can really recommend this series to anyone who likes Robin Hobb, George RR Martin, Diana Wynne Jones, and the like. Great series, I'm so glad I finally bought it!

Buy it!

I wasn't even looking to buy myself a new book, but it just caught my eye as I walked past the shelf in the bookstore where I work - and I can honestly say it's the best few pounds I've ever spent! Having never heard of Sarah Zettel before I didn't quite know what sort of quality to expect, but I found I couldn't put it down - I actually stayed up until 5 in the morning just because I couldn't bear not to finish it! Zettel is a little slow to start, but introduces her characters well and the reader is constantly kept guessing during the first third of the book as to whether Valin Kalami is a good guy or a bad guy - and is the Dowager Empress evil or just plain mad? I really began to feel a bond with Bridget and Ananda and by the end I was in tears! I'm certainly no expert in the field of fantasy novels, but I know what I like and I LIKE this - just one question... what's the next one called?

Wonderful New Fantasy Find!

A Sorcerer's Treason centers around a Wisconsin lighthouse keeper named Bridget Lederle. Bridget is an old maid in 1899 society and lives with her housekeeper and her housekeeper's son. She has made it her mission in life to save as many of the sailors as she can by almost religiously guarding the light. When a stranger is cast ashore wearing strange clothing and speaking a strange tongue, she takes him in - and ends up changing her life forever. Bridget finds herself transported from Wisconsin to the fantastical world of Isavalta (reminiscent of Imperial Russia). She places her trust in Kalami, the handsome sorcerer who was cast upon her shore and persuaded her to go to Isavalta, but is he being honest with her? For, as soon as she travels to Isavalta, she is thrust into the dangerous political power struggle between Medeoan, the aging dowager empress, and Ananda, the foreign princess who married Medeoan's only child, Mikkel. Kalami is on the side of Medeoan, but Bridget finds herself strangely drawn to Ananda's sorcerer, Sakra. When the gods of nature choose to get involved, a new world is about to be born...The reason why I gave this book 5 stars is because of Zettel's stunning characters. Bridget is a strong woman who has been punished for past mistakes and doubts her own abilities - though her choices become quite clear cut at the end, she still struggles to do what she knows she must. Valin Kalami is a foreigner sorcerer, the only one of his race to willingly go to serve the empire of Isavalta who conquered them. Even though he uses Bridget to gain his own ends, the reader still feels empathy for him and hopes that he will succeed in some way. Sakra is Kalami's opposite in that he is completely loyal to his princess. Ananda is a strong-willed foreign princess whose greatest crime was to fall in love with her husband. Even the gods and goddesses get involved including the Vixen, the Crows, and Baba Yaga. Everyone has their own reasons and everyone is torn between difficult decisions.My only complaint about the book is that I would have liked to spend more time with Bridget. Zettel jumps back and forth between different character viewpoints, usually every chapter, sometimes more often. This can be slightly disorienting and a bit offputting as the story loses some of its flow. It is nice to see the story through other characters' eyes, but it made Bridget seem less like the focal point of the story and more like the first person that Zettel chose to tell the story through. I would have preferred that more of the story was told through Bridget's eyes, with supporting views every now and again from other characters.Other than that small complaint, I have nothing to dislike about this book. The world was rich and full of detail. There are many different cultures and plenty of old rivalries that affect the future of Isavalta. The characters are complex and multi-faceteted. I sincerely hope that we will see more of the Isvalta