Customer Reviews

Beyond the Pale

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I'm incredibly fond of this book and fully intend to get the 2nd one. Where I utterly detested Brook's Sword of Shannara (he couldn't write, I tell you!) I find this book well written and the storyflow engaging, so much so that I can actually ignore the less than original plotline. The only problem I had with his writing style is that I found it rather difficult to identify the characters. Besides the two main characters, whenever a character reappeared after a certain period of absence in the book I had to flip back to the front just to figure out who it was.

It's also true that some parts are terribly derivative. Melia is a Polgara clone, and that part about seals weakening just screams Robert Jordan at you. We've all seen this magic system somewhere before and the "off to save the world" theme is so prevalent it isn't even amusing anymore.

For me, the bottom line is that Mr. Anthony can tell a good story. His descriptions of castle life imparted a certain feeling of reality to that episode, the characters are fleshed out well enough to make them believable. The book isn't profound or soul-grabbing, it'll never make you ponder the cosmos or the meaning of life, but it really reads well.

Beyond the Pale (1998) is the first Fantasy novel in the Last Rune series. Castle City, Colorado, is an old mining town that has not changed much since the mines petered out a hundred years before. The Mine Shaft Saloon, owned by Travis Wilder, is one of the century-old establishments, although now serving a much tamer type of clientele: the local book club instead of a bunch of drunk, lustful miners. Lost tourists will sometimes find their way to the Saloon, but not very many.

In this novel, Travis notices that strange events are happening around him: the very realistic-looking billboard, the chime of bells, the laughing shadow within the ruins of the old orphanage, and the man in black in front of the ruins. There is also the big circus tent in a field next to the road for Brother Cy's Apocalyptic Traveling Salvation Show.

Later, Travis receives a phone call from Jack Graystone in which Jack declares that he is in grave ... and the phone goes dead. When his truck won't start, Travis walks over to the Magician's Attic. There Jack tells him that a darkness is coming and that he is being hunted. Jack plans to leave town but, as Travis is leaving, a bright glare like a searchlight comes rushing toward them. Jack orders Travis back inside and gives him a highly decorated stiletto to carry. An electric humming comes from the other side of the front door and the door knob turns right, then left, and right again. Then the door is hit twice hard enough to shake it.

Travis is paralyzed with fear, but Jack roars his name and calls him over to the cellar steps. The front door crashes open in a spray of splinters. Jack pulls Travis inside, closing and barring the door behind them, takes him over to another door, tells him it leads to a garden shed out back, and pushes him through. Jack flees through the tunnel and up the ladder just in time to see hot, bright light shining out of the building. Then there is an explosion and flames start erupting out the windows.

Meanwhile, Grace Beckett is an emergency room doctor at Denver Memorial Hospital. It's been a long day already and then an ambulance brings in a man with two bullets in him and a big, dense object directly in front of his heart. They lose his pulse and defib fails, so Grace opens his chest to massage his heart, but he has only a fist-shaped lump of metal where his heart should of been. Then he dies. The body is taken to the morgue, but later returns to the emergency room under his own power.

The walking corpse kills or maims anyone who gets in his way, including a policemen who is thrown, hard, against the wall. A little old lady is stuck in her wheelchair as the corpse nears the outside doors and Grace knows that it will kill her. She pulls the pistol from the cop's body and fires three shots into it, pulping the brain. The man with the iron heart topples to the floor.

This novel is about another reality on the other side of the boundary. Eldh is a world where magic works and advanced technology is either forgotten or never learned. There a monstrous evil is close to breaking the Last Rune and ending the world as we know it. All that is missing is the Runebreaker.

The author combines a number of familiar concepts into an unusual tale of sword and sorcery: alternate worlds, powerful runes, magic stones, enchanted weapons, gods and goddesses, long lost noble heirs, secret societies, angels and demons, and friendly emperors. It is something like a quest game -- the author has previously written in that field -- where the immediate objective is to find a clue to the next level, but so much happens that one loses track of the final goal. The characters also find out things about themselves and discover some new talents and powers, as well as finding clues and objects that facilitate the quest.

A goodly number of reviewers think that the author is too derivative and most mention Tolkien, Donaldson or Jordan. I remember when Tolkien finally published The Fellowship of the Ring twenty years after The Hobbit. Maybe most readers don't know or care, but Tolkien deliberately set out to write an epic tale using the ancient myths of the British Isles. None of the elements or characters were without precursors in legends and folktales. It was the British equivalent of Virgil's Aeneid, a copy of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Nonetheless, this derivative work became famous itself, much like the Aeneid and another British mythical patische, L'Morte d'Arthur. It's not what you got that counts, but what you do with it.

Highly recommended to Anthony fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of adventure and discovery.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I have to admit that I wasn't really expecting much from this book. The blurb on the back cover was what prompted me to buy it in the first place; I'm a sucker for good "advertising" like that when it comes to fantasy novels.

But, surprise! I opened to the prologue, with the unlikely title of "Brother Cy's Apocalyptic Traveling Salvation Show", and was instantly hooked. This is a well-written beginning to a six-book cycle, which apparently concerns threats not only to the other-dimensional world of Eldh, but also to our Earth as well.

Anthony does not seem to develop his two Earthly protagonists too well. I could not get a clear picture of Travis; one could compare him to Clark Kent just beginning to discover his powers, but that's a very broad generalization. And Grace Beckett strikes me as a Vulcan transported to the world of fantasy who is beginning to learn about her emotions. There is also a strong indication that she was abused in some way in her childhood, but nothing definite is mentioned. Hopefully Anthony will expand on their characters in later volumes.

The residents of Eldh, however, are much more fleshed out and well-defined - the Lady Kyrene seemed very sinister, King Boreas is a little more intelligent than his hulking appearance makes him seem, and Durge and Beltan are just a bit more than the standard noble defenders of the realm.

Of necessity there are some characters who are cloaked in mystery. Falken the bard and the Lady Melia, as well as Queen Ivalaine pose more questions than answers at this point. Exactly who are they, and what do they know? Are they trying to save Eldh or do they have other purposes in mind?

I do not see even vague similarities to Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series here, despite several reviewers' claims. In fact, there are far more similarities to David Eddings' "Belgariad" and "Mallorean" cycles than anything else.

I look forward to the next book in this series.

for all of those people who never had time to get into the sword of shannara or wheel of time or some other book series that every one else has read twice and reviewed three more times, Mark Anthony's series are perfect to start out with. small enough so you can read it on the go, yet involving enough that you can't wait to turn the next page. and for anyone who has been ignored can feel travis' pain throughout the early parts of the book. he makes the perfect hero. plus lots of very colorful charcters that you usually only read about in comic books. an excellent choice for just getting started.

I picked up this book when I desperately needed something to do and had $3.00 in my pocket (enough to pay for the book at the 2nd hand shop in our strip mall). I was amazed! I don't usually go for the fantasy genre, but I was immediately drawn in by the intricate plot and interesting characters. I've remained loyal to the Last Rune series ever since. Still working on the 3rd one, but Beyond the Pale and The Keep of Fire were excellent.

This is my first attempt at fantasy/fiction. I usually read mystery/suspense and horror. After reading the back of this book, I found myself ordering the whole series (6), and I'm not sure that was a wise move. I am going to have a positive attitude and reserve any harsh judgement until after I read the second book.

Beyond the pale is about 2 earthlings, a bar owner and an E.R. resident who find themselves sent to a different world full of ancient gods, monsters, sorcery and warriors. What a rude awakening to find there is no deodorant or modern bathroom facilities anywhere to be found! Travis and Grace have been sent to this weird wonderful world to help save it and in saving this strange new planet, they will hopefully save earth as well.

The story starts out great and exciting, but soon fizzles out as character after character is introduced, and the world is described in great detail. This is necessary in order for the reader to understand the storyline, but is rather monotonous. Please do not think this is a bad story, it's just the first in a series and alot needs to be explained. Hopefully, the next book will spend more time on actual story development.

If you love fantasy/fiction, you will probably love this book. It is well written. If you are new to this genre, give it a whorl and if you are not sure, give the second one a chance. I plan to.

This was bought as a gift for me and what a prezzie it turned out to be. This first book in the 'Last Rune' series starts in a backwater town in Colorado where Travis Wilder runs a bar. Everything in his life is humdrum and normal but that is about to change with the arrival of a strange travelling show, headed by Brother Cy. At the same time there is a parallel story about a young doctor, Grace Beckett who feels there is something lacking in her life. She is about to find out what.
Mark Anthony has produced an excellent introduction to a series that moves between Earth and Eldh (a medieval type world). He creates an atmospheric tale that manages to be original and engrossing. His characters have depth and facets to them that make the reader care about them. Highly recommended for any fantasy fan or lover of a good story.

I'll admit it: I'm addicted to Baldur's Gate. After my son goes to bed at night, I shirk my household duties and sit myself down in front of the computer for an hour or two of playing. It's engrossing. But the net result is that, instead of finishing the game in a week or so, it's taking me quite a long time indeed. Which just feeds the addiction, I'm afraid.

What's this got to do with Beyond the Pale? you ask. A legitimate question. The answer is simply this: Cover Art. I was in the bookstore a few weeks back looking for something new to read. As you can imagine from my enjoyment of RPG's, I like a good fantasy or sci-fi tale. I noticed Beyond the Pale not because I recognized the author (which I didn't) or that it was recommended to me (which it wasn't) but because of the cover art. The cover has a central image with 'icons' down the left hand side. Very similar to the Baldur's Gate layout on my computer's monitor. So I bought it, and never mind that they were runestones and not icons. Mark down one sale for Stephen Youll, the cover artist.

Then I started to read it.

And I decided from there on out that I would solicit recommendations before buying another book.

The main problem is that the first few chapters read like they came out of Creative Writing 101. You know: the one where the students give an adjective or two to every single noun, and come up with similies that are jarring and awkward. After 12 chapters of this (which span 60 pages), it becomes almost difficult to avoid laughing at a line like, "She watched transfixed as the [elevator] doors rolled to either side, like an opening eye turned on its side."

Anthony does settle down after a while. A few dozen chapters in and the adjectives are more well-behaved, the similies become few and far between. At that point, you can stop chuckling and start paying attention to the plot. Is the plot any good? Well, from a strict fantasy point of view, it borrows a lot of elements from other, more well-established, works.

People have compared Travis, one of the two fish-out-of-water characters, to Donaldson's Thomas Covenant and, to be honest, I did think of Covenant as I read the book. But mostly these thoughts took the form of "at least Travis isn't as annoying as". So, point for Anthony.

Melia, a sorceress, can be likened to one of David Eddings' matriarchal characters and we can go as far back as Tolkien to see an object (a rune stone) which has a mind of its own.

The biggest problem Anthony has with these story elements is that he's inconsistent in their use. Partway through the book, the aforementioned rune stone suddenly loses it's free will, and not by some means that is evident in the book. It just stops acting out. Again: in one scene Melia is comfortably in charge and, in another, she's being led around a castle, being told where to go, by a character with no clear plan of what to do.

The story could really benefit from a rewrite; cleaning up the first part of it, and making the characters and story elements consistent throughout. Changing one or two ideas here and there would also help in distancing the more obvious "idea borrowing".

This is the first part of a trilogy of books (at least, so far. Trilogies these days have a tendency to go on and on). Unfortunately, there wasn't enough here to make me want to read beyond Beyond the Pale. Anthony wrapped up enough of the plot to leave me comfortable with the idea of not finding out what happens after this.

So that kind of answers the question I asked a few paragraphs ago about the plot. Is it any good? If it were good, if Anthony were a better writer, I'd probably want to read more of it. Maybe after he's gotten his style worked out and he starts coming up with his own stories, I'll give him another shot.

Until then, I'm looking forward to more of Stephen Youll's cover art.

Beyond the Pale was entertaining enough. And competently and grippingly written. I stayed up to finish it. Great summer beach time reading. But, its largely nothing new. Mark Anthony still seems to be finding his own voice and the novel works best when he lets it speak. It is most weak when he is imitating other writers (Tolkein and Eddings come most strongly to mind) The characterisation is weakly written. The "tragic flaws" of the two protagonists are not adequately foreshadowed, shown or explained before the climax, so their successful overcoming of these flaws is not really convincing. Unfortunately, he writes the climax as turning on this very struggle, and (insofar as he foreshadows it at the very beginning) it seems to be a critical theme in his novel. So, that it did not come across as convincing was to my mind pretty damning. The other minor characters are very much stock stereotypes (in particular Melia, Durgas and Falken), derivative of Eddings' work. Fresh and original when Eddings did it, but a little trite now (although Anthony does it better most others). The milleu is largely derivative of Tolkein (but then most are). It's most interesting aspect is how Anthony reminds us of just how harsh, brutal, uncomfortable and elistist life was under a feudal system, which is not something I've seen in any other fantasy work. Unfortunately, he doesn't work the historical realism enough to give it a real edge.

Taken one way, Beyond the Pale is an average fantasy. It's got all the hallmarks of your modern-day "epic". It runs to about 600 pages, it's the first of what will probably be a mega-volume series, and it introduces a host of characters that often, as yet, have little or no impact.

Why buy it? Well, the story features a lot of action and moves along quite swiftly. You'll not be bored reading it. As long as you don't set your sights too high - this is not literature, nor even a well thought-out story - you might well like it.

Taken another way, Beyond the Pale is exceptional. It is, simply put, the most derivative book written since Terry Brooks's Sword of Shannara. Anthony goes even further than Brooks: whereas Brooks copied blatantly from one source (Tolkien), Beyond the Pale is a veritable hotchpotch of derivations. For example, one of Anthony's protagonists (Travis) is simply a pale rendering of Donaldson's Thomas Covenant. Another character (Melia) talks exactly like David Edding's Polgara. At one point in the story, Anthony has a third character (the bard Falken) deliver a speech to a council of rulers which reads like a poor summation of Tolkien's Battle of the Pelennor Fields. At this junction, Anthony actually steals entire sentences from Tolkien (not to mention ideas). It's really quite remarkable.

I remember that, when Terry Brooks first came along, there were those who delighted in pointing out just how unoriginal he was. Anthony should send such people into a fervor. In this sense, he's really much better than Brooks...

I suspose that the bottom line is that Beyond the Pale is fun to read, whichever way you take it...