The Usurper's Crown: A Novel of Isavalta [Hardcover]

Sarah Zettel (Author)

Book Description

Series: Isavalta | Publication Date: April 1, 2003

In a sweeping new epic of breathtaking excitement and adventure, Sarah Zettel, author of A Sorcerer's Treason, tells the enthralling story of a courageous woman from small-town Wisconsin caught up in a maelstrom of empire-shaking politics and sorcerous conspiracy on a dazzling world far removed from our own.

It is 1872. Ingrid Loftfield and her sister Grace are living uneventful lives with their family on Sand Island, Lake Superior, until the day Grace nearly drowns. Grace becomes inexplicably ill, for she has been saved by the spirit of a drowned sailor which rests uneasily beneath the water. Ingrid can only watch as her sister drifts toward death, lured by the restless spirit, until an immegrant Finnish fisherman, Avan, helps Ingrid release Grace from the spell that binds her.

Having rescued her sister, Ingrid herself begins an odyssey stranger than she could imagine. For Avan is not what he's assumed to be. He's Avanasy, a powerful sorcerer who's been banished from another world, Isavalta, where he tutored Medeoan, the princess-heir to the empire until she married a prince of a rival realm.

Prince Kacha has won Medeoan's heart, and with the aid of his mentor, a subtle and ambitious sorcerer, plans to win Isavalta, using sweet Medeoan's love and an array of magical means to usurp her crown.

Once Avanasy is gone, Kacha acts swiftly to isolate Medeoan from other allies, and to weave a spell that will weaken her so he can rule in her stead. When Medeoan discovers Kacha's treachery she flees, determined to win back her crown. She can only succeed if Avanasy, her oldest friend and most powerful ally, will return to help her. BBecause Avanasy loves Ingrid Loftfield and she loves him, together they must cross the vast gulf that separates our world from the magical realm of Isavalta. to rescue Medeoan, and fulfill a destiny far beyond Ingrid’s wildest dreams.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The second, tragedy-tinged Isavalta novel (after 2002's A Sorcerer's Treason) from Zettel (Reclamation) crosses a number of genres, moving from Lake Superior in 1872 through the fairy-tale Land of Death and Spirit to the high-fantasy court intrigues of Isavalta. Along the way, figures from Russian, Chinese and Indian myth intervene in the young empress Medeoan's struggle against her Hastinapuran consort, Kacha, who's plotting to control her through magic. In order to save her realm, Medeoan must turn to her mentor, Avanasy, a sorcerer who's been living in exile in Wisconsin. Ingrid Loftfield, who has fallen in love with Avanasy, persuades him to allow her to accompany him back to Isavalta. Caught between warring spirits and between this world and Isavalta, Ingrid has to decide whether to follow her heart or her conscience. Zettel achieves subtle effects, whether in the magical workings based on weaving or in the balanced understandings of her protagonists' motives. She reserves fireworks for a few climactic scenes, while the story is at its weakest when characters act cinematically. Romance readers should welcome this one as eagerly as fantasy fans.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

When Medeoan, the young sorceress-empress of Isavalta, marries for love and political reasons, she defies her lifelong teacher and mentor Avanasy's strong opposition. What's more, blind with love for Kacha, she exiles Avanasy. But the teacher's reservations about Kacha are confirmed a few months later as, now in total control of Medeoan and Isavalta, he prepares war against neighboring Hung Tse. Meanwhile, finding refuge in Sand Island, Wisconsin, Avanasy falls in love there with Ingrid. When Medeoan's desperate message begging Avanasy to return arrives, Ingrid agrees to accompany him. Then things get dire. Hung Tse releases its ancient and deadly guardian, the Firebird, which puts the survival of Isavalta at risk. Only Baba Yaga knows how to defeat the Firebird, and she will only if a request of her own is met. No one is more surprised than Ingrid herself when Baba Yaga designates her for the job. For love of Avanasy and their unborn child, Ingrid sets forth on a perilous journey through the Land of Death and Spirit. Paula Luedtke
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312874421
• ISBN-13: 978-0312874421
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,944,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable prequel, October 3, 2004

By 

Kotori (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Usurper's Crown: A Novel of Isavalta (Hardcover)

I was reluctant to read this when I learnt that it was the story of Avanasy and Medeoan... there are things which we already know, but as is revealed, knowing of them and knowing the WHY of them are completely different. The tradgedy is in Medeoans blind love for Kasha and his complete contempt for it.. We learn what can make Medeoan so completely ruthless, and how it happened... Absolutely fascinating and VERY Enjoyable.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Isavaltan History, March 31, 2003

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Usurper's Crown: A Novel of Isavalta (Hardcover)

The Usurper's Crown is the second novel written in the Isavalta series, following A Sorcerer's Treason, but is the first in internal order. In the previous volume, Bridget Lederle is a lighthouse keeper on Sand Island on the shore of Lake Superior in 1899. Her father and her love-child have died, she has never know her mother, and she is estranged from her aunt. Moreover, she has been accused of her infant daughter's death and shunned by most of the town of Bayfield. Then she rescues a stranger from drowning and he convinces her to return to Isavalta with him.

In this novel, Ingrid Loftfield follows her sister Grace to a meeting with a drowned man's ghost on the shores of Sand Island in 1872. When Ingrid separates the ghost from Grace, she is saved from the ghost's wrath only by Avan, a foreigner living on the island as a fisherman. They return Grace to the family home, facing hostility from Ingrid's father, mother and brother, but later find a way to meet and exchange stories. Avan is really Avanasy Finorasyn Gorianaiavin, a sorcerer and former tutor of Medeon, a powerful sorceress and the High Princess of Isavalta. Medeon had fallen in love with Prince Kacha of Hastinapura and had become betrothed to him. However, Avanasy had found evidence of falsehood in Kacha and warned Medeon, but she believed Kacha, banished Avanasy and married Kacha. Now he is in exile, but still can perform sorcery with great effort and subsequent extreme weariness, so he struggles to weave a net to overcome the ghost and thus free Grace from its power.

Meanwhile, in Isavalta, Medeon's parents, the Emperor and his consort, have died of a mysterious illness and she has become Empress, with Kacha as her consort. While looking for a cure for his withered hand, Medeon has accidentally discovered Kacha's treachery and then she looks for allies to escape him, among whom are Peshek, Captain of the Imperial House Guards, Bakhar, Keeper of the Imperial Godhouse, and Iakush, Lord Sorcerer of Isavalta. Medeon manages to flee to Hung Tse, but Kacha detects Iskush's duplicity and kills him, yet Iskush uses his own death to bring warning to Avanasy.

When Avanasy prepares to leave for Isavalta, Ingrid insists on accompanying him. On the voyage there, she finds that the touch of the ghost has allowed her to see into the spirit world and to separate her spirit from her body. She is drawn away from the boat through the Land of Death and Spirit. She encounters the Vixen along the path, but is allowed to continue to the house of Baba Yaga, where she and Avanasy's spirit confront the witch and refuse the demand to assist in the recovery of something stolen.

When Kacha discovers that Medeon has fled, he announces that she is pregnant and in confinement, for it is very difficult for a sorceress to bear a child. He has replaced all Medeon's loyal maids in waiting and Chekhania, the first among these ladies, is his minion, scripting notes in Medeon's hand to authorize his actions. Kacha is fairly well pleased that Medeon has fled, but still has the army search for a mad woman who believes she is the empress.

This novel is the backstory for A Sorcerer's Treason. Bridget is Ingrid's daughter by Avanasy and so has great powers. Another novel, The Firebird's Vengeance, is planned to complete the trilogy. One would presume that it will be a sequel to this novel.

This series takes place along the shores of Lake Superior within our timeline, but also in a mythical world wherein the analogs of Russia, China, and India content for supremacy through force of arms and magic. With both Isavalta and Hastinapura taking arms against Hung Tse, the Nine Elders summon one of the four great protectors, the Firebird.

Recommended for Zettel fans and anyone who enjoys tales of exotic cultures, political intrigue, and unusual magic.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Isvalta of the past, February 8, 2004

By 

Katrine Berg "book addict" (Copenhagen, Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Usurper's Crown: A Novel of Isavalta (Isavalta, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

I must say, that I at first was disappointed, when I learned that this book was a prequel to "A Sorcerer's Treason". Now though I would not have missed it. It is true that you know how things between Avanasy, Ingrid and Medeoan will end, but still this time you get the details and get to know the characters on their own accord.
So I ended up liking the book, it's well written, and I think "The land of death and spirit" are a very interesting mythology.
But I do hope that the last book in the series takes us back to Bridget.