The Sacred Pool

Rating:
Summary: Scientific magic? It works for me
Review: As a Christian, I was offended by some parts of this book, but that in no way detracts from Douglas' amazing ability both to tell a story and to recreate the past.

I enjoyed accompanying Pierette on her journey through life and regretted parting company when I reached the last page. Sacred Pool is the first book by L. Warren Douglas and I am eager to read others. The author has a rare genius for storytelling, innovative ideas, and obviously knows his history. While the idea that gods and magic depend on humanity's collective belief in them is not a new one, Douglas takes this paradigm to amazing extremes, reality and time itself is mutable and dependent on human perception.

Sacred Pool cannot be categorized as a single genre: it's either a fantasy with elements of science fiction or a sci-fi book that reads like fantasy, its the story of a young woman trying to discover herself and the world, and its a recreation of midevial France so realistic you can almost hear the crashing waves and see the Eagle's Beak in the distance as you read. The book is also filled with the historical origins behind many of the truthes and traditions embraced by today's religions, and though I remain a Christian, Douglas has openned my eyes to many things I had taken for granted.

I recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Best Book I've Read this year
Review: I am a lover of fantasy and historical fiction. This has been my favorite book this year. It even prompted purchase of the second book in the series.

Rating:
Summary: The Sacred Pool¿Fantasy and More
Review: In The Sacred Pool L. Warren Douglas has achieved two goals. He has told a well-characterized coming-of-age story about a young woman who is also a sorceress, set in a historical context not widely visted in this genre before. He has also begun a process of exploring the very nature of language, cultural perceptions, and how both of those change the nature of religion and magic in our minds and in the world around us. Without espousing a single belief system, it makes the nature of divine forces as important a component of the story as the characters and their actions.

Gripping as this story is, it is also one that will make the reader stop to think about how they look at the world. This book is the first volume in a trilogy, and it looks as though the exploration of the natures of perception and the world will continue with the following volumes.

What may startle many is that the story is easily accessible, and the author's scholarship is not obtrusive. This is a fun book to read. Enjoy it. Think about it. Read it again, as I already have. This isn't just for the reader, but for sharing with the people the reader likes to discuss their best discoveries with.

Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking
Review: The nature of magic changes, this novel theorizes, as human beliefs change. First there was matriarchal paganism, then patriarchal paganism, then the coming of Christianity, then reason and science, and each of them affected people's assumptions about how the world works. In medieval Provence, where all of these belief systems co-exist, a worker of magic never knows for sure who or what she will call up when she casts a spell. For some spells don't work anymore, and others work in frightening new ways. And with the rise of Christianity, and the idea that everything is either absolutely good or absolutely evil, the old gods and spirits are in trouble. They meet one of two fates: They either become prim Christian saints, or are subsumed into the figure of Satan. Needless to say, the practice of magic is perilous these days, and a sorceress must always be on her toes.

Enter Pierrette, an intelligent young girl who sees an apocalyptic vision of the future. She can only save the world by training to become a sorceress, and _The Sacred Pool_ is the story of her education. Pierrette must experiment with long-forgotten spells and newfangled science in order to defeat a demon that plagues her sister, and in the long run, to save magic itself from being destroyed.

This book starts out slow, but gets interesting once Pierrette begins her studies. It is thought-provoking and intelligent, and one of the few novels dealing with paganism and Christianity that says anything more profound than that one is "good" and one is "bad" (take your pick which is which; there are plenty of books taking each side). If you like fantasy that makes you think, check out this tale of magic, belief, science, and philosophy.

Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking
Review: The nature of magic changes, this novel theorizes, as human beliefs change. First there was matriarchal paganism, then patriarchal paganism, then the coming of Christianity, then reason and science, and each of them affected people's assumptions about how the world works. In medieval Provence, where all of these belief systems co-exist, a worker of magic never knows for sure who or what she will call up when she casts a spell. For some spells don't work anymore, and others work in frightening new ways. And with the rise of Christianity, and the idea that everything is either absolutely good or absolutely evil, the old gods and spirits are in trouble. They meet one of two fates: They either become prim Christian saints, or are subsumed into the figure of Satan. Needless to say, the practice of magic is perilous these days, and a sorceress must always be on her toes.

Enter Pierrette, an intelligent young girl who sees an apocalyptic vision of the future. She can only save the world by training to become a sorceress, and _The Sacred Pool_ is the story of her education. Pierrette must experiment with long-forgotten spells and newfangled science in order to defeat a demon that plagues her sister, and in the long run, to save magic itself from being destroyed.

This book starts out slow, but gets interesting once Pierrette begins her studies. It is thought-provoking and intelligent, and one of the few novels dealing with paganism and Christianity that says anything more profound than that one is "good" and one is "bad" (take your pick which is which; there are plenty of books taking each side). If you like fantasy that makes you think, check out this tale of magic, belief, science, and philosophy.

Rating:
Summary: I really enjoyed this
Review: This book is brilliant. Although the concepts of magic and myth are fictional, they make complete sense. I came away from this feeling as though I had learned a great deal about the world. The ending dissapointed me though. I want to know about the rest of Pierette's life. This book obviously took a lot of time and patience, and I think that it is definitely worth reading. It is also worth re reading because there are a lot of details that the reader may not pick up the first time.

Rating:
Summary: Best Book I've Read this year
Review: This trilogy examines the duality of good and evil in the context of the spread of Christianity. Historically accurate and very engaging, you will learn much and have cherished beliefs challenged in an intellectually refreshing story. Good stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Are good and evil a valid dichotomy?
Review: This trilogy examines the duality of good and evil in the context of the spread of Christianity. Historically accurate and very engaging, you will learn much and have cherished beliefs challenged in an intellectually refreshing story. Good stuff.