A Sorcerer's Treason | ||||||||
Sarah Zettel | ||||||||
HarperCollins Voyager, 595 pages | ||||||||
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A review by Sherwood Smith
Sarah Zettel, who gained critical acclaim for her science fiction, makes
her debut in fantasy with A Sorcerer's Treason, which is purported to be the first of a
trilogy. She brings to the fantasy form a strong sense of how myth and
archetype furnish the material for compelling magic. At the very start, a
terrible storm drives a boat onto the rocks below Sarah's lighthouse, and
as she's done times before, she rescues its pilot, Valin Kalami. Almost at
once this man scares Sarah with his intensity, his strange visions, his
insistence that she is the only one to help him -- in another world. Despite
Aunt Grace's warnings, Bridget chooses to go to that world.
Before Kalami can draw Bridget over to Isavalta, we meet Kalami's enemies
and allies in that world, which seems to be comprised of three main empires
reminiscent of Russia, China, and India. We meet rulers, advisers, mages,
gods and shapeshifters, all of them spying on one another in a desperate
and ongoing struggle for power. Kalami's mistress, the empress Medeoan, is
locked in a battle with her daughter-in-law Ananda for control of her son,
Mikkel. Bridget is to be brought, at great cost, to help.
When at last Bridget crosses worlds to Isavalta, she slowly begins to
discover that everything is not as simple, or rather clear-cut, as Kalami
had led her to believe. She questions her own and others' motives at all
times, but never more intensely than when she meets Sakra, the devoted mage
of the empress-to-be, Ananda -- and when she discovers the truth about her
real parents.
Using many points of view, Zettel weaves her story. The pacing is somewhat
slow, almost deliberate, the world absorbingly complex. The characters,
too, are complex: here are no cardboard Evil Mages or Perfect Heroes. We
feel some sympathy for everyone, though by the middle of the book it is
Sakra and Bridget who draw the eye -- and Vixen, the fox goddess. The stakes
build, the choices become more difficult for everyone. Though this book is
a setup for at least two more, it achieves a splendid climax, and resolves
enough to both satisfy and leave the reader wanting more.
Given the slow pacing, the complexity of the cultures and motivations of
the huge cast of characters with their difficult names, A Sorcerer's Treason might be
a challenge for young readers, or readers new to the fantasy genre. But
for the experienced reader, especially one who is tired of the same old
linear quest plot (plucky heroes against the Evil Emperor), Zettel's book
will be a particularly rewarding read.
Sherwood Smith is a writer by vocation and reader by avocation. Her webpage is at www.sff.net/people/sherwood/. |
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