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The Adventures of Kate #1-3
The Heartlight Saga
Join Kate on an epic adventure...
Starring a heroic young woman named Kate Gordon, and featuring T. A. Barron’s trademark mastery of language and setting, The Heartlight Saga collects three of Barron’s beloved novels into a single volume. The stories follow Kate as she travels to a distant galaxy to save the life of her astronomer grandfather in Heartlight, goes back in time to a lost Native American tribe in The Ancient One, and ultimately down to the very bottom of the sea in The Merlin Effect. Weaving together mystery, mysticism, and magic, and exploring themes of mortality, interconnectedness, and the fragility of the environment, The Heartlight Saga is a testament to the power that each of us has within us to make a difference in our world.
"Bold, original . . . this book shines!"—Publishers Weekly
Starring a heroic young woman named Kate Gordon, and featuring T. A. Barron’s trademark mastery of language and setting, The Heartlight Saga collects three of Barron’s beloved novels into a single volume. The stories follow Kate as she travels to a distant galaxy to save the life of her astronomer grandfather in Heartlight, goes back in time to a lost Native American tribe in The Ancient One, and ultimately down to the very bottom of the sea in The Merlin Effect. Weaving together mystery, mysticism, and magic, and exploring themes of mortality, interconnectedness, and the fragility of the environment, The Heartlight Saga is a testament to the power that each of us has within us to make a difference in our world.
"Bold, original . . . this book shines!"—Publishers Weekly
864 pages, Paperback
First published February 6, 2014
9 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
About the author
T.A. Barron
72 books1,312 followersT.A. Barron grew up in Colorado ranch country and traveled widely as a Rhodes Scholar. He is the winner of the de Grummond Medallion for “lifetime contribution to the field of children’s and young adult literature” and many other awards. T. A. Barron is the author of more than 30 highly acclaimed books, many of which are international bestsellers. They include The Lost Years of Merlin (now being developed into a feature film), The Great Tree of Avalon (a New York Times bestselling series), The Ancient One (the tale of a brave girl and a magical tree), and The Hero’s Trail (nonfiction stories of courageous kids).
Though he’d dreamed as a young man of becoming a writer, he couldn’t find anyone to publish his first novel. He joined a successful business, eventually became president, then decided to try again. So in 1990, he surprised his business partners by moving back to Colorado to become a writer and conservationist.
In 2000, he founded a national award to honor outstanding young people who help their communities or the environment: the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, which honors 25 highly diverse, public-spirited kids each year. He recently produced a documentary film, Dream Big, profiling seven winners of the Barron Prize. When not writing or speaking, T. A. Barron serves on many boards including Princeton University, where he helped to create the Princeton Environmental Institute, and The Wilderness Society, which recently honored him with its highest award for conservation work. His favorite pastime is hiking, camping, or skiing in Colorado with his family.
Though he’d dreamed as a young man of becoming a writer, he couldn’t find anyone to publish his first novel. He joined a successful business, eventually became president, then decided to try again. So in 1990, he surprised his business partners by moving back to Colorado to become a writer and conservationist.
In 2000, he founded a national award to honor outstanding young people who help their communities or the environment: the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, which honors 25 highly diverse, public-spirited kids each year. He recently produced a documentary film, Dream Big, profiling seven winners of the Barron Prize. When not writing or speaking, T. A. Barron serves on many boards including Princeton University, where he helped to create the Princeton Environmental Institute, and The Wilderness Society, which recently honored him with its highest award for conservation work. His favorite pastime is hiking, camping, or skiing in Colorado with his family.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 27, 2015
the best way I can describe this book is the feeling you get when you wake up from a dream and you think 'that was a pretty good dream, but it made no sense'. It wasn't necessarily BAD, just a bit too strange for my taste.
October 15, 2025
This book contains 3 in it. The first was poorly written with contradictions for the characters and the worst sci-fi I've ever read. The next two books are fantasy and change the genre. The next two are much better but it is supposed to be a saga and none of the books connect. I will say, the second was the best out of the three for me. I think it had the most fun plot but sadly dropped the ball at the end and the ending felt like it was slapped together just to finish it with plot threads that were just dropped. The third was probably the best written and was a good way to send off the character of Kate.
June 2, 2022
DNF page 106. So I have come to realization that me and T. A. Barron are never going to get along, he alway talks about God in a way that I find is very disrespectful. He simultaneously talks about millions of years and God in this book, you can’t believe in both. This is the second time he has done something related to God that is completely wrong, so I’m done with him, I gave him a second chance and there will not be a third.
November 9, 2018
Good read for a younger crowd of fantasy fans. (Really any age!) But as I read, I kept thinking, this is a good "introductory fantasy book." Kate goes on adventures, learns some incredible life lessons, deals with loss, and becomes stronger through her experiences.
January 7, 2019
Everything about this book was terrible. Each story started out strong but then fizzled out.
Currently reading
June 3, 2015Read the books separately years ago and liked them enough to buy my own copy of the anthology. The plot lines are strange, but Barron is a master of description and imagery.
October 5, 2015
Good book! Pretty simple to read.
January 5, 2016
Painfully stilted. The writing style lacked artistry to the point that I couldn't get into the story.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews