The Veil of Years [Hardcover]

L. Warren Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 26, 2001

LIFTING THE VEIL OF YESTERYEAR

The young apprentice mage, Pierrette, discovers that the pages in the history books are fading away. Like stars going behind a passing cloud, the events that define the sunny world she loves are winking out one by one, and the shadows of ancient headless Gauls -- souls of the dead whose heads once adorned the pillars of the city of Provence -- are seen by night ...

Is the Black Time coming, when evil will reign supreme? The answer lies in the long ago when Provence was wild -- and Pierrette must brave the otherworld to travel there.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Roman Gaul can be endlessly fascinating or, as here, it can be textbook dull. In the continuing saga of Pierette the sorceress and scholar, introduced in the well-received prequel, The Sacred Pool (2001), the heroine now takes on the task of saving the Roman Empire. Pierette's studies have taught her two nifty spells that take her across Europe she can light fires with her fingers and she can travel through time by reciting a quick incantation. Her principal objective is to fix a part of history that has somehow gotten off track, but first she has to figure out how and where to go. In her journey she meets Celts, Greeks, early Christian pilgrims, more Gauls and some strange fant?mes. Unfortunately, the story is not only a bit disjointed but also peppered with historical terminology that should be fascinating but instead becomes increasingly uninteresting. Douglas (Simply Human, etc.) tells us a lot about city names and how they change from age to age, besides providing some glimpses into how early Europeans lived, ate and dressed. Most annoying, though, is that Pierette doesn't seem to actually do anything. Yes, she travels. She even performs a couple of spells. But while she figures out what she needs to do to save the world, the reader doesn't feel the emotion or the thought processes that go into her actions. Usually someone else rescues her and tells her what she needs to do next. This thinly plotted book fails to pull the reader into what could be a very exciting epoch, and that's too bad. (July) Forecast: Most fans of the first book in the series will grab this one, too, but the third volume will need to be stronger to keep their loyalty.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

When the young mage Pierette notices that the events in her history books are changing before her eyes, she realizes that powerful magics have surfaced in her world. In order to restore the truth, she must travel in time to a period in which her native Provence lay in the hands of the empire of Rome. Douglas's sequel to The Sacred Pool continues the story of a resourceful young woman whose knowledge of history, magic, and the old religion provides the key to fighting the emergence of the Black Time. The author's meticulous historical research and his grasp of the relationship between early Christianity and ancient paganism should attract fans of historical fantasy. A good choice for most libraries.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Baen; First Edition edition (June 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671319973
• ISBN-13: 978-0671319977
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,091,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The tale of Pierrette continues..., July 20, 2002

By 

Kelly (Fantasy Literature) (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Veil of Years (Mass Market Paperback)

In the first volume of the Sorceress's Tale, _The Sacred Pool_, L. Warren Douglas gave us a fascinating look at a Dark Ages world where the nature of magic is shifting along with human philosophies, and where the young girl Pierrette must train in the magical arts in order to save the world from destroying itself. Her story continues in _The Veil of Years_, which is not the intellectual tour de force that _Pool_ was--since Douglas has already done most of the necessary world-building--but which is more action-laced than its predecessor.

Pierrette has saved her sister from the demon that haunted Citharista, but her patron goddess Ma nags her to keep up her work--for the Black Time is still threatening, though she set it back for a brief while. Pierrette's spirit friends, Guihen and Yan Oors, need her help as well, for they are being reviled by villagers who blame them for the work of malicious ghosts.

The ghosts, it turns out, are issuing from a change of history. Satan, Eater of Gods, has discovered a historical linchpin at which he can create the world to his own liking--the time of Provence's conquest by Rome. Already, history books are fading out at that point, for it is now uncertain how history will transpire. Pierrette journeys back in time and discovers that the ghosts are being created by Druid sorcerers in a last-ditch effort to drive away the Romans. But only Pierrette knows what the dire consequences of the magic will be--Gaul will be saved from Rome but will lose its soul.

Disguised as a veleda, a prophetess, Pierrette must try to convince both the Romans and the Gauls to hear her warnings. Along the way, she also has to deal with her own sexual awakening, which threatens her powers of sorcery.

The Sorceress's Tale gains a wider sweep with this book; I'm eager to see Pierrette's battle go worldwide in book three.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Exciting Sequel, August 3, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Veil of Years (Hardcover)

An enchanting novel to follow "The Sacred Pool." It was so captivating, I hated to put it down. I am anxiously awaiting the third in the series.