Seeker's Bane [Mass Market Paperback]

P. C. Hodgell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Seeker | Publication Date: August 31, 2010

Two epic novels of fantasy adventure in one volume:

     Seeker’s Mask: After an epic adventure that will become the stuff of legend, Jame has been reunited with her older brother Torisen and with her people, the Kencyrath. But when she is placed in the Women's Halls and expected to become a normal, quiet Kencyr lady, normal and quiet are not what the Women’s Halls are going to get. Shadow Guild Assassins, ghosts, and other strange beings are soon after her, sprung not only from her own adventurous past but from the tragic, mysterious events that nearly annihilated her family in her father’s time.

     To Ride a Rathorn: Jame’s adventures continue as she arrives at the randon military college Tentir to face cut-throat competition and find even more buried, poisonous family secrets. The Kencyr have a phrase, “to ride a rathorn,” referring to a task too dangerous either to accomplish or to give up. This is true for Jame both figuratively, given her military career in a college which no Highborn girl has ever attended before, and literally, in that she is being stalked by one of these murderous, ivory-clad creatures whose mother she killed and who is now after her blood.

     All in all, Jame’s school days are shaping up to be anything but golden.

 

“Hodgell has crafted an excellent and intricate fantasy with humor and tragedy, and a capable and charming female hero. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal

 

Publisher’s Note: Seeker’s Bane has been previously published as two separate novels, Seeker’s Mask and its sequel To Ride a Rathorn.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pat Hodgell can't remember a time when she wasn't passionately interested in science fiction and fantasy. She's sold stories to such anthologies as Berkley Showcase, Elsewhere III, and Imaginary Lands and has also published four novels. God Stalk and Dark of the Moon, the novels included in The God Stalker Chronicles, begin her critically praised fantasy saga which is concerned not! only with high adventure, but also with questions of personal identity, religion, politics, honor, and arboreal drift. She earned her doctorate at the University of Minnesota with a dissertation on Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, and is a graduate of both the Clarion and the Milford Writers Workshops. Recently retired, she was a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in modern British literature and composition, and teaches an distant training course on science fiction and fantasy for the University of Minnesota. Pat lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in a nineteenth-century wood-framed house, which has been in her family for generations. In addition to writing and teaching, she attends science fiction conventions, collects yarn, knits, embroiders, raises cats, makes her own Christmas cards and blogs at www.pchodgell.com.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 1168 pages
• Publisher: Baen; Reprint edition (August 31, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439133808
• ISBN-13: 978-1439133804
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #126,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical

More About the Author

Pat Hodgell can't remember a time when she wasn't passionately interested in science fiction and fantasy. She's sold stories to such anthologies as Berkley Showcase, Elsewhere III, and Imaginary Lands and has also published four novels. God Stalk and Dark of the Moon, the novels included in The God Stalker Chronicles, begin her critically praised fantasy saga which is concerned not! only with high adventure, but also with questions of personal identity, religion, politics, honor, and arboreal drift. She earned her doctorate at the University of Minnesota with a dissertation on Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, and is a graduate of both Clarion and the Milford Writers Workshop. Recently retired, she was a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in modern literature and composition, and teaches an audio-cassette-based course on science fiction and fantasy for the University of Minnesota. Par lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in a nineteenth-century wood-framed house, which has been in her family for generations. In addition to writing and teaching, she attends science fiction conventions, collects yarn, knits, embroiders, raises cats, and makes her own Christmas cards.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome return of excellent author, ignore the horrible covers., August 17, 2009

By 

V. Chan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seeker's Bane (Paperback)

I'm very pleased that Hodgell has found a home for her excellent books after many vicissitudes, including the abrupt death of her previous publisher Meisha Merlin. Her elegant prose, interesting characters (no cardboard neurotics here, her heroine is clever, determined, brave, good in a fight, kind and quite often terrifyingly non-human, which is fine, because she isn't) and a splendid originality of world-building make these books that I have appreciated for decades. Who wouldn't be interested in a world where leaves migrate south for winter (without their trees) and a desert sometimes forgets itself and reverts to being a sea instead? It's a finely observed, scary society, and an even scarier world, and Hodgell combines humour and horror and unexpected beauty with unsettling ease.

Ignore Baen's covers, which fully live down to the usual standards of hideousness from that publisher. The books are very worth reading, just get some brown paper. I am very much looking forward to "Bound In Blood". It's a pity Baen isn't reissuing Hodgell in hardback, but at least they're back in print. She's been a connoisseur's taste for decades, it would be nice if she got some popular acclaim too.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best fantasy series ever, July 17, 2009

By 

Chris Chittleborough (Naracoorte, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seeker's Bane (Paperback)

I'm very glad to see Baen republishing this wonderful series. This book contains the 3rd and 4th of the Kencyrath novels. The first two novels are available from Baen as The God Stalker Chronicles; if at all possible you should read the series in order, to get the full richness of Hodgell's intricate world and deep plot lines.
(The series is far from complete. The 5th novel, Bound in Blood, should be published in 2010, with more to come.)

The Kencyrath series combines superb plotting, characterization and world-building. It also stands out by being a wholly original creation, drawing directly from folklore and mythology instead of from other fantasy stories, not even from Tolkien. Moreover, Hodgell skillfully adds a strong element of mystery to perplex her characters (and her readers!).

These two books focus on Jame, a young woman who creates trouble and scandal everywhere she goes (there's a reason for that) but could create an even bigger ruckus just be telling people her full name. Dealing with the people she encounters in normal life would be hard enough by itself, but she also has to deal with deadly enemies from her family's past. And arboreal drift.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful series!, July 16, 2009

By 

G. Kibble "book maven" (NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seeker's Bane (Paperback)

The book that started this series, God Stalk by PC Hodgell, is one of my favorite books of all time. The world Hodgell has created is fresh, innovative, and mysterious. Ever since God Stalk was published in 1982 I've been eagerly awaiting publication of the sequels to learn what happens next in the life of Jame. It has been a long 25+ years for loyal fans and for the author as she completed her PhD, taught college classes, and had her publishers go out of business several times.

Seeker's Mask (the first half of this collection) was difficult for me at first. Jame is mistreated, misunderstood, and very unhappy trying to "fit it". It was painful to read this. But finally Jame decides, enough, she will be herself, and the book moves into high gear as Jame escapes and weird things start happening to the River Valley as she travels. This book brings back old friends left behind in God Stalk and introduces the reader to powerful nature gods that belong to the world as opposed to the Kencyr who are the aliens.

"To Ride a Rathorn" follows a similar pattern. Jame tries to fit in at a cadet school and is poorly treated. She refuses to give up and grows in confidence in her abilities. As expected things come to a boil, dark secrets are revealed, and healing comes out of destruction.

Please encourge PC Hodgell to continue writing this series by buying this collection!