The Innkeeper's Song [Paperback]

Peter S. Beagle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1994

Searching for his lover in a shadowy, magic world, young Tikat meets three mysterious cloaked women, whose quest involves saving their mentor, a once-powerful wizard, from losing his magic to a treacherous enemy. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this Locus Award-winning novel, young Tikat enters a shadow world of magic and mystery as he searches for the lover whose death and resurrection he witnessed. It's a wild ride that sets him on the trail of three cloaked women who are on a mission of their own.

"A beautifully written tale of love and loss, set in a world of hard-edged magic." --The New York Times Book Review

" A wonderfully astonishing novel... a tour de force." --Washington Post Book World

From Library Journal

Three powerful women (each with her own secret past), a stable boy, a weaver's son, and an innkeeper set in motion a series of events that brings each of them face to face with the forces of magic and the workings of fate. Beagle ( The Last Unicorn , LJ 5/15/68; The Folk of the Air , Ballantine, 1987) uses many voices to tell this tale of love and death and what lies beyond both. A finely crafted piece as well as a rich, evocative fantasy, this novel should have broad appeal.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Roc Trade (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451454146
• ISBN-13: 978-0451454140
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #404,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Weird, troubling, touching, beautiful, unforgettable, October 21, 2001

By 

Pauline J. Alama "Fantasy author" (Rutherford, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Innkeeper's Song (Paperback)

Peter Beagle has a reputation as a young adult's author -- why, I'll never know. I didn't much like him as a teenager, but the older I get, the more I admire and enjoy his fantasies. The Innkeeper's Song is a beautiful book, but certainly better for 30 than 13 -- unless, perhaps, for a 13-year-old who has already had to deal with death. It concerns attempts to cheat death by magic, and the strange and unforeseen consequences, both good and ill, of raising a drowned young woman from the dead. The book is also noteworthy for a varied and unforgettable cast of characters who take turns narrating the story, giving the reader many perspectives on the same events and aiding suspense by concealing certain facts until the narrator shifts to someone in the know. Beagle's writing is so beautiful it's practically musical. I recommend this book highly to anyone who loves fantasy, folklore, mythology, and the grand old tradition of storytelling.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A vivid, bittersweet dream ... but of what?, January 20, 2003

By 

the_smoking_quill (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Innkeeper's Song (Library Binding)

The Innkeeper's Song is a one-volume fantasy for mature readers that is by turns (or even simultaneously) lyrical and maddening. Lyrical because much of its language is, in contemporary fantasy, on par with only Patricia McKillip and Guy Gavriel Kay. Maddening because--despite the full-throttle beginning, intricately woven characters and a world made wondrous without a map or long descriptions but simply by names and prosaic brushstrokes--the promise of the beginning and middle absolutely fizzles to a all-but-incomprehensible anti-climax in which none of the characters' skills, virtues or flaws seem to matter. It's the equivalent of dreaming oneself into a world of rich and dread beauty, flying over that world so freely as to go beyond dreaming entirely ... and then being slapped awake to find oneself flailing at the air and wondering, "What might have been ..."

Sigh.

The tale concerns three women who arrive at an inn in the course of their quest to protect their ancient magician-friend from a renegade apprentice so that he might die in peace and not rise as a tormented ghost. The three are a warrior-nun who has escaped her convent; a legendary thief-sailor-swordsman; and a village girl whom the thief raised from a drowning death with the magician's ring. Added to these memorable figures are the earnest stable-boy; the gruff innkeeper; the nun's companion (a fox); and the stubborn boy who was betrothed to the village girl and follows her in the hope of reclaiming their lost love.

Each chapter proceeds from the first-person viewpoint of a different character (central or not), which works well overall but sometimes proves tiresome, especially when the author chooses (or is forced to) use a minor character as the "camera" for a particular scene or plot development or when the character's "voice" is confusing or not quite right. However, the chapters told by the thief are particularly well done; and she emerges as one of the most admirable, engaging characters in contemporary fantasy. (One actually wishes for more tales of Lal, Sailor Lal, Swordcane Lal, Lal-after-dark.)

Recommended as a library loan for dedicated fantasy buffs, fans of Kay or McKillip, or those looking for something completely different.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Elegant Fantasy Which Transcends Genre, July 22, 1999

By 

R. Isaacson (Boston, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Innkeeper's Song (Paperback)

Beagle is one of the finest fantasy novelists currently writing, and for those who hunger for mature and literate stories his work appears far too infrequently. As in "The Last Unicorn" or "The Folk Of The Air", his writing rises far beyond the typical trappings of sword & sorcery. In "The Innkeeper's Song", Beagle starts us off with what appear to be recognizeable fantasy cliches - the old wizard, hard-bitten mercenaries, the crotchety taverner - and then stands each of them on their heads. Instead, Beagle weaves a subtle, intricate tale of deception, loyalty, and love, in which the characters having the adventure are at least as important as the adventure itself. By writing each chapter from the first-person perspective of a different character, he not only underscores differences in perception, but takes the reader deep inside each of his literary creations. In the hands of a lesser writer, this would be nothing but an annoying gimmick. But under Beagle's masterful guidance, it serves to make these characters living, breathing people. From hard, competent swordswoman Lal, to the dreamy stableboy Rosseth, to fat, cynical innkeeper Karsh, the reader comes to know them like old friends. A marvelous story which will linger in the mind long after the last page is read.