Beyond The Pale: 1st in the 'Last Rune' series of books

Anthony, Mark

ISBN 10: 0671021915 / ISBN 13: 9780671021917

Published by Simon & Schuster / Earthlight, 1999

About this Item

© 1998: 1st in the 'Last Rune' series of books. 1st printing of 1999 edition:- Synopsis: Walk between the worlds. On a world called Eldh, an ancient gate of iron weakens. A darkness that has slept for a thousand years - the Pale King - stirs once more. On a world called Earth, a preacher of the Apocalypse blows into a Colorado mountain town with a message for those who dare to listen: the darkness is coming. Travis Wilder, bar-owner and drifter, is given a mysterious stone by a friend. Grace Beckett, an ER doctor in Denver, finds a gunshot victim with a heart of iron. Both Travis and Grace must step beyond the pale, beyond the boundaries of the world they have known. As doors are opened for each of them, they enter Eldh, a world where they are caught against their wills in an age-old struggle between good and evil. A world of magic, runes and death:- Review(s): "Mark Anthony's fantasy world deserves the highest plaudit: it seems as realistic as Earth, despite the huge differences. The first volume in a massive saga, 'Beyond The Pale' takes the reader far away from the lands they know. Join the journeyers" / "He writes fluently and descriptively, and his ability to add just the right amount of the strange and bizarre really works - this reader has a hunch that he is going to be a big name" - Ottaker's SF and Fantasy Newsletter:- (original cost £6.99).

Seller Inventory # 16.999.00035

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Beyond The Pale: 1st in the 'Last Rune' series of books
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster / Earthlight
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671021915
• ISBN 13: 9780671021917
• Binding: Paperback: 7" x 4¼"
• Illustrator: Cover Art: Stephen Youll
• Edition: 1999 Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Very Good: Light signs of wear
• Weight: 0.29 kilograms
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fantasy

About this title

Synopsis

On a world called Eldh, an ancient gate of iron weakens. A darkness that has slept for 1000 years - the Pale King - stirs once more. On a world called Earth, a preacher of the Apocalypse blows into a Colorado mountain town with a message: the darkness is coming.

Review

Travis, a bespectacled barkeep from Castle City, Colorado, and Grace, a regally beautiful ER doctor from Denver Memorial, wormhole their way through a magical billboard into... a Robert Jordan novel. Well, sort of. Sure, in Beyond the Pale, it's a chilling winter--not a sweltering summer--that's gripping the land. And the seals (little stone disks, no less) are weakening on the prison of the Pale King, not the Dark One. But, surprise--Travis finds that he's the first man in centuries to successfully wield the One Power... er, runes, that is... and is the sole hope of keeping the Pale King at bay.

Beyond the Pale isn't entirely derivative of Jordan's wildly popular Wheel of Time series: if nothing else, Anthony sets himself apart by having things actually happen in his book. Travis and his fellow earthling Grace end up in Eldh after surviving run-ins with the Pale King's servants on Earth. Grace, mistaken for a fairy queen, is quickly shanghaied as a spy for King Boreas, who has just convened a council of Eldh's rulers. After a series of adventures, Travis joins Grace, and the two must tangle with the mysterious Raven's Cult and a bunch of iron-hearted bad guys who are trying to derail the Council of Kings and hasten the PK's return. --Paul Hughes