Customer Reviews

A Sorcerer's Treason (Isavalta, Book 1)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had really high hopes for this story after reading a review at a website for writers. I expected Birget to be whisked away to another world, well okay she was, but I didn't expect it to take nearly a third of the book!

A slow start isn't so terrible, but Birget is supposed to be this woman with an amazing capacity for magic. Great! I like that kind of thing, but when I read this I found everyone BUT Birget doing it! She is supposed to be the heroine of the story and she hardly does anything!

The two sorcerers Kilami and Sakra steal the show. Kilami is a bad guy and is well fleshed out, and Sakra is the good guy. To my mind Sakra is the hero not Birget and should have gotten top billing. Birget could have been so much more, but the way she is written she comes across as a waste of space! If she is to be the heroine, shouldn't she be heroic? At least she should DO something instead of watching the world go by!

By the way, the second book (Usurper's Crown) is a waste of time. Don't buy it unless you like prequels. It is about Birget's mother and just rehashes everything revealed in this book about Ingrid and Avanasy all be it in greater detail.

Mark E. Cooper
Author of The Warrior Within (ISBN: 0954512200)

Bridgt Lederle, a lighthouse keeper on Lake Superior, finds she has a destiny in a land called Isavalta. She discovers that she is a powerful sorcereress but is caught in the intrigue of an aging dowager, intrigue and betrayal.

I read the first book, and couldn't wait to read the next. While there are many similarities, this one took a different turn. The pace was good, there was a mapped out story, but I was left unsatisfied at the end.

There were too many rabbit trails i.e. Land of Death, Baba Yaga/Vixen, Bridgit's aunt, etc. that were never really completed. Too many areas were touched on that seemed interesting, but took you away from the main story. I also thought that Bridgit was not really the main character, the driving force of the book, nor was she the one that I admired most. She was supposed to be a powerful sorceress, but she hardly did any magic herself. If I were to choose my favorite character, it would be either Sakra or Ananada. There were also too many characters to remember and keep track of. The story lacked the driving focus of the climax; derailed so many times by those rabbit holes. It merely concluded, and then the story ended.

Sarah Zettel did try hard to weave the myths and story of Isavalta together, and it is compelling reading. It would be a fine book to get lost in if you don't mind the rabbit trails.

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!

Sarah Zettel moves from SF to Fantasy in this novel, and I at least am glad she did. Her characters are, as always, deftly drawn, and her world building is exquisite. My only complaint, and the reason for four stars instead of five, is a matter of plot timing. She spends a long time drawing us into the convoluted problems of Isvaltan politics, and how even the people with the best intentions and motives end up doing awful things just to survive, thereby rendering it almost impossible to tell who is a friend and who is an enemy. I was waiting with bated breath to see how Bridget (our heroine) was even going to survive, never mind suceed, in the morass she'd been thrown into. Then, once Bridget actually arrives at the Isvaltan court, her amazing powers and quick thinking manage to resolve almost every difficulty in record time. She is never once trapped into the kind of Catch-22 that the others characters have spent years living with. It's deftly managed, and reasonably believable, but it feels like a little bit of a cop-out. I wanted Bridget to have some serious doubts and difficulties figuring out whose side she should be on, and that never happened. Other than that, it's an excellent read, with a lot of interesting people and places, and very rich fantasy. I look forward to the next book.

"A Sorceror's Treason" follows the story of Bridget Lederle, a young woman who discovers the truth about her heritage and is whisked away to another world, Isvalata. There, she is swept up in the political and magical schemings between representatives from three kingdoms and a set of mysterious spirit powers. Amidst the confusion, Bridget must learn to discern truth from lie, ally from enemy, and how to deal with the strong magics within her.

The plot itself is not original, but it keeps you entertained nonetheless. There is a rich background for many of the characters, which I thought was one of the more interesting aspects of the book. There are deep loyalties and betrayals, hopes and regrets, and you can't really bring yourself to despise any of the characters, even the villans. That being said, there are many characters you can't bring yourself to like, either, but there is a nice mix of characters and interactions.

A few of the things that I didn't like: the writing style could be very amateurish sometimes. The author used some idisyncracies that just bothered me (for example, referring to characters whose name we didn't know yet by some attribute, so a person with a white beard was called Santa Claus, etc). The reasonings behind some of the events were often cliched, and outcomes predictable. Descriptions were vague when it mattered, and superfluous when it didn't. Much of the plot was supported by the interactions between the three kingdoms of Isavalta, Hung-Tse, and Hastinapura, but there were no maps to give the reader a geography.

The magic in the novel also had its ups and downs. The author used a concept of "weaving" magic, which I thought was very interesting. But there was no rhyme or reason to its use. Certain things were simply impossible in come cases, and in others, a character would use some ingenious spell to get themselves out of trouble. It was very erratic. Also, despite the claims to the use of Chinese and Indian mythology, the only references to this were the Phoenix and the name of the land Hastinapura. Nothing else was used, and I was a little disappointed by it.

Then there were the spirit powers, which were vaguely defined. They actively interfered in lives, and laid out their own plans, but it was never explained who these beings were or why they did the things they did. They were purposely left in mystery, which I suppose has its uses, but I found it annoying. Some plot twists were created by the actions of these powers, but without having any reasoning behind it, readers were simply left to shrug their shoulders and go along with it.

Despite these flaws, this was not a bad novel. The pace flowed smoothly, and like I mentioned earlier, there were some interesting concepts to chew on. Although I would not classify this as a great or memorable book, it is still an enjoyable read - think light entertainment.

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.

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.

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?

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 series to come as the end left you hungry for more.

Bridget Lederle is the lighthouse keeper on Sand Island, Wisconsin in 1899. She's an outcast, having had a baby (which died) while she was single. One night she saves the life of mysterious Valin Kalami whose boat crashed onto the rocky shore of Lake Superior.

It turns out that Kalami is a sorcerer sent from the kingdom of Isavalta to find Bridget -- who doesn't realize that she has a tie to this parallel world and some powers of her own. With not much to keep her on Sand Island, she agrees to return to Isavalta with Kalami. There she finds a world full of political intrigue, treachery, and magic. The state of things isn't exactly how Kalami described it back in Wisconsin, and it's very hard to know who to trust.

The Plot: A Sorcerer's Treason winds up slowly until Bridget gets to Isavalta, and then it becomes fast-paced. There is plenty of intrigue and treason going on in the Isavaltan court, but Bridget uncovers it for us too early in the plot -- we aren't left wondering who are the bad guys for long. There were several plot elements that seemed only loosely tied to the story. I didn't really understand the motives of the Vixen and Baba Yaga, for example, and I wondered why they were included at all. Perhaps this is made clear in future installments, but it has me confused so far. The ending scene was strange and, I think, kind of cheesy. It was one of those triumphant "I've dealt with my past and now I can move forward" kind of scenes.

The Characters: Sarah Zettel writes some wonderful and believable characters. Ananda, the dowager, Mikkel, Sakra, and Kalami are all interesting and I would have liked to read more from their perspectives. Unfortunately, Bridget, whose perspective we mainly follow, is not so admirable. There's nothing wrong with her, but there's not much interesting, either. For the most part, she gets passively pulled through the plot and doesn't actually do much herself, even though we're told that she's a very powerful sorceress. There was plenty of tension and many problems for her to deal with, but mainly they resolved themselves quickly with little conscious effort on Bridget's part. I was hoping to see her rise up to her potential, but she never did.

The World of Isavalta: Before choosing this book, I'd heard much about the unique setting of glorious Isavalta, but I didn't experience much of it in A Sorcerer's Treason. Isavalta is only briefly described. I think the references I read must be for other books in the Isavalta series. I'm tempted to read one just to find out more because it sounds like Sarah Zettel's world has wonderful potential.

The Magic System: The magic system involves weaving spells with fabric, hair, etc. and I liked it at first. However, I soon realized that it seemed to have no clear rules. When we don't know the rules, we can't anticipate what can and can not be done with magic. Therefore, the author can get the characters out of tight spots too easily by just adding a new magic spell. In contrast, consider the rule-based systems of J.K. Rowling, Brandon Sanderson, or Janny Wurts. When you know there are limits to the heroes' powers, not only does this make them more understandable, but it makes us worry and fret when things go bad for them. And, of course, that makes us connect with them emotionally. In fact, the characters I liked best in A Sorcerer's Treason were the ones who had no powers at all. I can't give you specifics without spoiling the plot, but those two had the best scene in the book -- I actually had to dab at my eyes with a hanky.

The writing: Sarah Zettel's writing is pleasant, easy, and understandable, but not particularly gorgeous. My Tor hardback edition had multiple distracting editorial mistakes -- mostly words missing.

Conclusion: A Sorcerer's Treason is light standard epic fantasy from an independent, but somewhat soft, female protagonist's perspective. Its strengths are the suspense and multi-textured plot. I'd recommend it to those looking for a mysterious and easy read.