An award-winning science fiction author, Sarah Zettel proves equally adept at high fantasy with The Sorcerer's Treason, her fantasy debut. This compelling novel, which blends elements of Russian, Chinese, and Indian myth to create a complex and believable new world, should please Zettel's fans and earn her an appreciative new audience.

A lonely, vision-haunted outcast, Bridget Lederle maintains a Lake Superior lighthouse. A vision leads her to rescue a strangely dressed shipwreck victim who claims to be from another world--a world which, he says, Bridget is destined to save. Impossibly, Valin Kalami knows she has visions of the past and future--and he too has visions. After seeing his visions of Isavalda, Bridget agrees to sail with him across the Land of Death and Spirit to his world. There she discovers she may not trust Valin--or anyone else in the treacherous, intrigue-tangled imperial court of Isavalta.

Zettel's SF novels are Reclamation, winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel and a Philip K. Dick Award finalist; Fool's War, a New York Times Notable Book; Playing God; The Quiet Invasion; and Kingdom of Cages. --Cynthia Ward


From Publishers Weekly
Alternating between her lighthouse-keeper heroine's native Wisconsin and the magic-ridden world of Isavalta, SF author Zettel's (Playing God) first fantasy novel, despite a plodding plot, should please readers eager to leave this dull world of ours behind. In the year 1899, during a gale on Lake Superior, Bridget Lederle rescues a lone sailor, Valin Kalami, who proves to be a visitor from an ethereal realm called Isavalta, the home of Bridget's birth-father, who impregnated her mother during a brief stay on Earth. Her Isavaltan blood explains Bridget's sporadic ability to see both the past and future. Kalami persuades Bridget to travel to his dazzling world, where he is Lord Sorcerer to the Dowager Empress, Medeoan Edemskoidoch Nacheradavosh (a name typical of the book's tongue-twisting nomenclature derived from Russian and various Asian languages), who refuses to hand over rule of her kingdom to her mysteriously ailing son, the Emperor Mikkel, and his new bride, Empress Ananda. Intrigues abound, magic lies hidden within threads, a fox becomes a powerful "Vixen" and the dowager keeps a caged phoenix capable of engulfing the world in flames. Since the old woman simply won't relinquish power, Bridget must fight both her and her traitorous sorcerer. Villains may menacingly twist figurative moustaches, but none seriously threatens the courageous heroine's virtue. This sweet-tempered melodrama will appeal mainly to younger female fantasy fans, who will be sure to welcome the forthcoming sequel. (Apr. 24)Forecast: Zettel's established reputation (1997's Fool's War was runner-up for the Philip K. Dick Award for Best Paperback Original SF Novel), blurbs from such fantasy stars as Sara Douglass, Andre Norton and Elizabeth Haydon, plus national advertising and regional author appearances, will ensure a strong start. Support from romance fans may help keep up the momentum.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Bridget Lederle rescues a strange man from the waters of Lake Superior and accompanies him to another world, a strange land of rival sorceries where a dowager empress strives to protect her world from the cunning grasp of the sorceress Ananda. The author of Playing God and Kingdom of Cages begins a fantasy series set in a world of politics, magic, and intrigue. Drawn from Russian, Chinese, and Indian mythologies, the land of Isavalta offers a unique and exotic atmosphere. Strong characters and superb storytelling make this a solid addition to most fantasy collections.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Bridget Lederle's quiet life as a lighthouse keeper changes drastically after she pulls a half-drowned stranger out of Lake Superior. As Valin Kalami recuperates, he tells a fantastic story of the destiny that will be hers as sorceress and savior of Isavalta, a land existing in another dimension, accessible only through magic. Scorned by townspeople because of a dead illegitimate child, and devastated by her parents' deaths, Bridget decides she has nothing to lose by going with the mysterious man. She soon learns, however, that nothing is as it seems in the realm of magic and in Isavalta. She must quickly determine who is and who is not her friend, if she is to survive and keep the heir to the throne alive, and she must learn what her new powers are and how to use them before she and Isavalta are undone by a dowager empress' insane loyalty to a single purpose and a sorcerer's determination to destroy an old enemy. Intriguingly blending well-researched Russian and Chinese folklore, Zettel creates a fine fantasy. Paula Luedtke
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"A Sorcerer's Treason is a gem of a book, artfully blending the windswept magic of late nineteenth century Lake Superior with that of the mystical realm of Isavalta."--Elizabeth Haydon

"A sumptuous tale of subtle magic, malevolent sorcery and twisted loyalties where nothing is at it first."--Sara Douglass



Review
"A Sorcerer's Treason is a gem of a book, artfully blending the windswept magic of late nineteenth century Lake Superior with that of the mystical realm of Isavalta."--Elizabeth Haydon

"A sumptuous tale of subtle magic, malevolent sorcery and twisted loyalties where nothing is at it first."--Sara Douglass



Book Description
A World of Magic and Peril

1899, Sand Island, Wisconsin: Bridget Lederle is a lighthouse keeper on this stormy, windswept shore of Lake Superior. One cold night she sees a boat foundering near the island's shoals, and rescues its lone occupant. The strangely dressed sailor tells her a fantastic tale, of Isavalta, a world where magic reigns, and where she is-incredibly-destined to play a key role in a power struggle between the Dowager Empress and her foes.

Isavalta, where magic can be found in the pattern of knots on a string, the colors of a dress, or even smoke in the air, beckons to her. Bridget has the second sight of her family, but the magical land where she will go with the sailor holds far greater marvels, and terrible perils that even she cannot see. For she carries secrets within her that even she doesn't know, secrets that could change the fate of the fabulous magical world that calls her home . . .



About the Author
Sarah Zettel is the author of A Sorcerer's Treason, and has also written five science fiction novels, including Reclamation, winner of the Locus Award for best first SF novel, Fool's War, runner-up for the Philip K. Dick Award for best paperback original SF novel, and the recent Kingdom of Cages. She lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Sarah Zettel, renowned for science fiction novels like Reclamation (which won the Locus Award for Best First Novel), Playing God, and The Quiet Invasion, tries her hand at fantasy with A Sorcerer's Treason.

The story begins when a lonely Wisconsin lighthouse keeper named Bridget Lederle rescues a strangely dressed man who has been shipwrecked on the shores of Lake Superior. The man, named Valin Kalami, claims to be a sorcerer from a magical realm called Isavalta and tells Bridget that she is destined to play a part in saving the parallel world and its people from destruction. After the enigmatic Valin tells her things about herself that no one else could possibly know, she agrees to accompany the sorcerer across the Land of Death and Spirit to Isavalta. Once there, she begins to learn much about the dangerous power struggle within the magic saturated realm -- and much more about herself.

Fans of Zettel's science fiction novels should be pleasantly surprised with her excursion into the fantasy genre, which draws heavily on Chinese, Indian, and Russian folklore. She continues the story of Bridget in The Usurper's Crown and will complete her Isavalta trilogy with The Firebird's Vengeance, scheduled for release in 2004. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Bridget Lederle resides in the lighthouse she's tended since her father died. Here, on the rocky shore of Lake Superior, she's alone with the bitter ignominy of her birth, the shame of her love child's death, and the ghost of a mother she never really knew." "That all changes on the wintry night she rescues a mysterious, charismatic stranger whose boat is nearly dashed upon the rocks. After she's nursed him back to health, he tells her a fantastical tale ... of another world, where somehow only she can save the beleaguered Empress from sorcerous plottings to usurp the throne." "His tale is wildly fanciful, yet Bridget feels somehow drawn to his world, to the empire of Isavalta. Kalami, her handsome, charming patient, transports her with him from Lake Superior to a dazzling world that seems like a dream." "But if Isavalta is a dream, Bridget's new life is a nightmare. Caught in a magical crossfire between the powerful Dowager Empress, her daughter-in-law, and the sorcerers who serve their mistresses and other more subtle ends, she doesn't know whom to trust, whom to beware." With the fate of an empire at stake and her heart torn by conflicting desires, she becomes a reluctant player in a deadly game of politics and magic with rules as hard to untangle as the knots in a silken tassel or the threads of a woven rug.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Alternating between her lighthouse-keeper heroine's native Wisconsin and the magic-ridden world of Isavalta, SF author Zettel's (Playing God) first fantasy novel, despite a plodding plot, should please readers eager to leave this dull world of ours behind. In the year 1899, during a gale on Lake Superior, Bridget Lederle rescues a lone sailor, Valin Kalami, who proves to be a visitor from an ethereal realm called Isavalta, the home of Bridget's birth-father, who impregnated her mother during a brief stay on Earth. Her Isavaltan blood explains Bridget's sporadic ability to see both the past and future. Kalami persuades Bridget to travel to his dazzling world, where he is Lord Sorcerer to the Dowager Empress, Medeoan Edemskoidoch Nacheradavosh (a name typical of the book's tongue-twisting nomenclature derived from Russian and various Asian languages), who refuses to hand over rule of her kingdom to her mysteriously ailing son, the Emperor Mikkel, and his new bride, Empress Ananda. Intrigues abound, magic lies hidden within threads, a fox becomes a powerful "Vixen" and the dowager keeps a caged phoenix capable of engulfing the world in flames. Since the old woman simply won't relinquish power, Bridget must fight both her and her traitorous sorcerer. Villains may menacingly twist figurative moustaches, but none seriously threatens the courageous heroine's virtue. This sweet-tempered melodrama will appeal mainly to younger female fantasy fans, who will be sure to welcome the forthcoming sequel. (Apr. 24) Forecast: Zettel's established reputation (1997's Fool's War was runner-up for the Philip K. Dick Award for Best Paperback Original SF Novel), blurbs from such fantasy stars as Sara Douglass, Andre Norton and Elizabeth Haydon, plus national advertising and regional author appearances, will ensure a strong start. Support from romance fans may help keep up the momentum. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

VOYA - Lynn Rutan

On a dark and stormy night in 1899, Bridget Lederle, Keeper of the Lighthouse on Sand Island in Lake Superior, pulls an oddly dressed man from the wreckage of his boat. He turns out to be Valin Kalami, lord sorcerer to her Grand Majesty, the Dowager Empress of Isavalta. He tells Bridget that he has come to take her back to Isavalta, where her powers are needed to save the country from the machinations of the Dowager's new daughter-in-law, Ananda. Bridget, who has borne and lost an illegitimate baby, is the subject of gossip and scorn by the local people. Lonely and grieving the death of her parents, she decides she has nothing to lose and sets sail with Kalami through the land of Death and Spirits to his strange snowbound world. As her own magical powers begin to unfold, Bridget finds the royal court to be a seething tangle of intrigues, schemes, and double-dealing. Bridget must discover whom she can trust and who she really is. Zettel, winner of science fiction's Locus Award for Reclamation (Warner, 1996/VOYA December 1996), turns her hand to fantasy in this first book of a projected trilogy. Rich descriptions; well-integrated elements of Russian, Chinese, and Indian mythologies; plots within plots; conniving villains; spunky heroines; and even a hint of romance to come will easily convince fantasy lovers that Zettel is at home in this new genre. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P J S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2002, Tor, 528p,

KLIATT - Sherry Hoy

Bridget Lederle, a single unwed mother in 1899 Wisconsin (an unenviable position even though her baby girl died shortly after birth), has taken over the keeping of the lighthouse at Sand Island from her deceased father. Bridget has always had meaningful dreams but when the sailor she rescues from a small, strangely painted foundering boat tells her she will play a key role in the power struggle in the mystical realm of Isavalta, she is stunned. With nothing to keep her at Sand Island, she accompanies him to Isavalta and immediately becomes embroiled in myriad intrigues in the Dowager Empress' court. She grabs the attention of many outside, more insidious characters, like the Vixen, the firebird, and even denizens of the Land of Death and Spirit. She also begins to test her own magical powers and abilities that are prodigious. The ending (or non-ending) sets up the sequel in which Bridget must return to Isavalta if she wants to control her own destiny. An unusual combination of cultures: Lake Superior and a pseudo Russian-Chinese folkloric realm. The separate yet intertwined strands of the plot sometimes get confusing, but all do come together at the end. This will be best for mature fantasy fans looking for something a tad different. KLIATT Codes: SA-Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Tor, 499p., Ages 15 to adult.

Library Journal

Bridget Lederle rescues a strange man from the waters of Lake Superior and accompanies him to another world, a strange land of rival sorceries where a dowager empress strives to protect her world from the cunning grasp of the sorceress Ananda. The author of Playing God and Kingdom of Cages begins a fantasy series set in a world of politics, magic, and intrigue. Drawn from Russian, Chinese, and Indian mythologies, the land of Isavalta offers a unique and exotic atmosphere. Strong characters and superb storytelling make this a solid addition to most fantasy collections. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews