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The Last Rune #1
Beyond the Pale
A strange rift in ordinary reality draws saloon owner Travis Wilder and ER doctor Grace Beckett into the otherworld of Eldh--a land of gods, monsters, and magic that is sorely in need of heroes.
620 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
82 people are currently reading
1496 people want to read
About the author
Mark Anthony
43 books190 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Mark Anthony learned to love both books and mountains during childhood summers spent in a Colorado ghost town.
Later he was trained as a paleoanthropologist but along the way grew interested in a different sort of human evolution—the symbolic progress reflected in myth and the literature of the fantastic. He undertook Beyond the Pale to explore the idea that reason and wonder need not exist in conflict.
Mark Anthony lives and writes in Colorado, where he is currently at work on his next writing project.
Also writes under Galen Beckett.
Mark Anthony learned to love both books and mountains during childhood summers spent in a Colorado ghost town.
Later he was trained as a paleoanthropologist but along the way grew interested in a different sort of human evolution—the symbolic progress reflected in myth and the literature of the fantastic. He undertook Beyond the Pale to explore the idea that reason and wonder need not exist in conflict.
Mark Anthony lives and writes in Colorado, where he is currently at work on his next writing project.
Also writes under Galen Beckett.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
August 11, 2022
There were individual parts of this book that I liked quite a bit. For example, Grace needing to learn how to weave before she could learn magic was a very evocative way of introducing how the magic of witchcraft worked. Falken singing in front of the council of kings also captured me with its image. Travis's reveal of his tragic past was genuinely moving; I actually got teary. Having queer and disabled characters casually present as part of the cast was meaningful. And some of the secondary characters were genuinely charming—initially just Aryn, but both Durge and Beltan genuinely grew on me. In short, there were a lot of sparks of potential and things I wanted to see more of.
However, there was a lot that I found wanting in this book as well, and I found it very hard to get through. The pacing was bad, many scenes were too derivative of previous works of fantasy, the foreshadowing was so unsubtle that that twists rarely worked as twists, and the narrative was purple to the point of… well, "Her breasts were two ripe fruits in the pearled basket of her bodice." Very few characters were allowed to be people rather than plot devices (frequently including our protagonists), and while I was glad there was less rape than in a lot of epic fantasy, it was definitely still there. There's a certain amount that I'm willing to acknowledge as unpleasantly just super common as part of the set piece of high fantasy especially in the 80s and 90s, and it didn't really cross that line, but it was still tiresome.
There were extremely large stretches (to the tune of 200 pages) where essentially nothing important happened; you could probably cut out most of the middle of the book with minor revisions and not really lose much actual content. Contributing to this feeling was the problem with characters just being archetypes; both Falken and Melia were intended to be Mysterious by the narrative, which meant that they would frequently seem to realize something and then leave Travis and the reader out of their discussions entirely while we got to read about… Travis being sulky that they were whispering together. Key exciting moments would often end with everyone deciding "Let's talk about this tomorrow", and then the conversation would be offscreened and explained briefly in narrative only.
There was a certain derivativeness, as well. It was easy to see the inspiration especially of Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Shakespeare, but also Disney's Aladdin, the Darwath trilogy, the Belgariad, and even Sailor Moon. Now, I believe each author will handle a concept differently, and concepts don't 'belong' to anyone as long as scenes aren't lifted wholesale. But this book just barely reskinned some things before dropping them into its own narrative. For example, Travis holding the Magic Item That The Evil Overlord Wanted because it made him want to take it out, which caused wraiths to attack his group where they were camped in the shadow of an old ruin on a hill. For another example, Puck's infamous closing monologue from the Midsummer Night's Dream is given by fairy actors, rephrased but with the same content. It's nothing that I'd call plagiarism, but as someone who's read those works, it was distracting, and it happened enough that it undercut its original content—during some of the more stand-out scenes, I couldn't help but wonder if it was referencing a story I wasn't familiar with.
There was also a weird royalist sentiment throughout—repeatedly, nobility is described as something you can tell by just looking at someone… to the point that the entirety of Grace's plot hinges on the fact that she is assumed to be royalty from their own world by literal kings and queens of Eldh, because she's just got that Air Of Nobility to her, despite the fact that nobody has ever heard of her or where she claims to be from. (The combination of this, the archetypes, and the derivativeness honestly makes me pretty sure of twists that'll happen in later books, in fact — surely Falken is too much of an Aragorn-like figure to not be the secret heir to the kingdom that fell a thousand years earlier?)
I originally picked this book up because, as a queer fantasy reader who was a teen in the 90s, the presence of LGBT+ characters in mainstream fantasy was extremely helpful to me, and I'm always willing to find out about books I hadn't heard of and try them out now. I'm given to understand that a m/m romance (I believe with one gay character and one bi character) happens later on in this six book series. The on-page LGBT+ content in this book was: 1. The seductress sorceress archetype, who enacted the bad stereotype of being bisexual-but-only-so-they-can-seduce-men-together and 2. Two separate male characters both who are in a masculine virility cult which has rumors that its members sleep with boys, both of whom are described by these rumors in derisive/insulting ways. For the second of these male characters it's more confirmed that yes, he is gay (and I'm 99% sure he is going to be part of the romance later) and, honestly, he's a decent character who is one of the well-written secondaries and I'm glad he exists on-page, but given that he's occasionally a POV character, and that we have spent at this point 600 pages with his close friends who are also POV characters, I do wish we could have had at least this one reveal that was through their casual or friendly narrative, rather than through the insults of a villain.
By the end, I admit I was curious about what would happen later in the series, and I would be interested to see those two characters develop a relationship. I'd like to see more of Grace, too, and her friendship with Aryn. But all in all, weighing the parts I liked and the parts I didn't, I don't think I'm likely to read further.
Edit: I read some other reviews (which confirmed my belief some of the stand-out scenes were also derivative, just of series I wasn't as familiar with) and some other plot information online that has cemented my desire not to read further. I'm definitely tapping out of this one.
However, there was a lot that I found wanting in this book as well, and I found it very hard to get through. The pacing was bad, many scenes were too derivative of previous works of fantasy, the foreshadowing was so unsubtle that that twists rarely worked as twists, and the narrative was purple to the point of… well, "Her breasts were two ripe fruits in the pearled basket of her bodice." Very few characters were allowed to be people rather than plot devices (frequently including our protagonists), and while I was glad there was less rape than in a lot of epic fantasy, it was definitely still there. There's a certain amount that I'm willing to acknowledge as unpleasantly just super common as part of the set piece of high fantasy especially in the 80s and 90s, and it didn't really cross that line, but it was still tiresome.
There were extremely large stretches (to the tune of 200 pages) where essentially nothing important happened; you could probably cut out most of the middle of the book with minor revisions and not really lose much actual content. Contributing to this feeling was the problem with characters just being archetypes; both Falken and Melia were intended to be Mysterious by the narrative, which meant that they would frequently seem to realize something and then leave Travis and the reader out of their discussions entirely while we got to read about… Travis being sulky that they were whispering together. Key exciting moments would often end with everyone deciding "Let's talk about this tomorrow", and then the conversation would be offscreened and explained briefly in narrative only.
There was a certain derivativeness, as well. It was easy to see the inspiration especially of Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Shakespeare, but also Disney's Aladdin, the Darwath trilogy, the Belgariad, and even Sailor Moon. Now, I believe each author will handle a concept differently, and concepts don't 'belong' to anyone as long as scenes aren't lifted wholesale. But this book just barely reskinned some things before dropping them into its own narrative. For example, Travis holding the Magic Item That The Evil Overlord Wanted because it made him want to take it out, which caused wraiths to attack his group where they were camped in the shadow of an old ruin on a hill. For another example, Puck's infamous closing monologue from the Midsummer Night's Dream is given by fairy actors, rephrased but with the same content. It's nothing that I'd call plagiarism, but as someone who's read those works, it was distracting, and it happened enough that it undercut its original content—during some of the more stand-out scenes, I couldn't help but wonder if it was referencing a story I wasn't familiar with.
There was also a weird royalist sentiment throughout—repeatedly, nobility is described as something you can tell by just looking at someone… to the point that the entirety of Grace's plot hinges on the fact that she is assumed to be royalty from their own world by literal kings and queens of Eldh, because she's just got that Air Of Nobility to her, despite the fact that nobody has ever heard of her or where she claims to be from. (The combination of this, the archetypes, and the derivativeness honestly makes me pretty sure of twists that'll happen in later books, in fact — surely Falken is too much of an Aragorn-like figure to not be the secret heir to the kingdom that fell a thousand years earlier?)
I originally picked this book up because, as a queer fantasy reader who was a teen in the 90s, the presence of LGBT+ characters in mainstream fantasy was extremely helpful to me, and I'm always willing to find out about books I hadn't heard of and try them out now. I'm given to understand that a m/m romance (I believe with one gay character and one bi character) happens later on in this six book series. The on-page LGBT+ content in this book was: 1. The seductress sorceress archetype, who enacted the bad stereotype of being bisexual-but-only-so-they-can-seduce-men-together and 2. Two separate male characters both who are in a masculine virility cult which has rumors that its members sleep with boys, both of whom are described by these rumors in derisive/insulting ways. For the second of these male characters it's more confirmed that yes, he is gay (and I'm 99% sure he is going to be part of the romance later) and, honestly, he's a decent character who is one of the well-written secondaries and I'm glad he exists on-page, but given that he's occasionally a POV character, and that we have spent at this point 600 pages with his close friends who are also POV characters, I do wish we could have had at least this one reveal that was through their casual or friendly narrative, rather than through the insults of a villain.
By the end, I admit I was curious about what would happen later in the series, and I would be interested to see those two characters develop a relationship. I'd like to see more of Grace, too, and her friendship with Aryn. But all in all, weighing the parts I liked and the parts I didn't, I don't think I'm likely to read further.
Edit: I read some other reviews (which confirmed my belief some of the stand-out scenes were also derivative, just of series I wasn't as familiar with) and some other plot information online that has cemented my desire not to read further. I'm definitely tapping out of this one.
July 1, 2010
3.0 stars. It has been a while since I read this and I actually plan to re-read it as some point. I recall this being a good solid fantasy story that what pretty well written.
February 12, 2017
It's probably more of a 3.5 star book, because it started out pretty slow. I didn't even add it to 'currently reading' on here till I was 37 pages in aka was pretty sure I would finish it. Still, I didn't really get invested in this story till around 100 pages in. Luckily, the patience has paid off and now I'm impatiently waiting for the next book to arrive at my doorstep.
This is a traditional 'humans from our world go/fall through a portal into a medieval fantasy world' story and sometimes that's just exactly what one needs!
The two main characters from Earth are Travis, a barkeeper and Grace, an emergency room doctor. After some supernatural surprises of the murderous kind happen to them, they both separately meet the same weird people who give them some cryptic messages and possibly magical trinkets before they send them off to Eldh.
There they meet several people (who, by a stroke of luck, are all friendly) whom they become friends with, which is a whole new feeling for both of them.
Travis sadly gets stuck with the travelling part of traditional fantasy novels and while it has its interesting parts, especially the beginning is kind of boring. It's the reason why I doubted that I would finish this book at first.
Luckily Grace shows up a few pages later and she's not only a much more engaging character from the beginning (it evens out with time), she also happens to end up in a castle pretty much right away, getting mistaken for royality. Court intrigue is definitely much more interesting than endless trudging from village to village. She was basically my SAVING GRACE... *gets shot*
Both of them have strong hidden magical powers, because of course... but because I knew what kind of book I was reading, I was never bothered. It also helped that both characters stayed very human through the course of the book. They kept asking questions someone from another world might ask - but not enough to bog the story down of course.
I have to say that I enjoyed the characters in general. Don't think there was anyone I disliked. I also liked that they were all of different ages, build and that while there were probably a few more men around, there was a good amount of female characters, who were also all different in looks and temperament. Of course there were quite a few very pretty people around, but characters were allowed to be deformed, have ugly scars or have thinning hair (it was a bit funny how that got mentioned a lot for one character), too. And they were not the evil ones. There was even a point made that evil would try to hide the ugly inside of them, while blending you with a perfect exterior.
Extra note: This book has loads and loads of characters, but I was able to keep them all straight without a problem.
Eldh is a solid fantasy world. The reader gets thrown into it along with Travis and Grace and learns as they learn. Rules of society, history, religion, traditions, superstitions -nothing is murky and there is even an explanation why our Earthlings understand the language. I was pleased.
The plot itself took quite some time to get going what with half of the main characters wandering through the lands. Of course they also encountered minions of the villain, but when there is a conspiracy and maybe even a murder plot involving nobles around, my attention is definitely on that. It even mostly kept me on my toes, even if the crime novel reader in me could pretty much guess who was behind things.
All in all a pretty solid read. I'm looking forward to reading the next books and am thrilled that I found them so late. This way, I will only have to wait for the postman...
This is a traditional 'humans from our world go/fall through a portal into a medieval fantasy world' story and sometimes that's just exactly what one needs!
The two main characters from Earth are Travis, a barkeeper and Grace, an emergency room doctor. After some supernatural surprises of the murderous kind happen to them, they both separately meet the same weird people who give them some cryptic messages and possibly magical trinkets before they send them off to Eldh.
There they meet several people (who, by a stroke of luck, are all friendly) whom they become friends with, which is a whole new feeling for both of them.
Travis sadly gets stuck with the travelling part of traditional fantasy novels and while it has its interesting parts, especially the beginning is kind of boring. It's the reason why I doubted that I would finish this book at first.
Luckily Grace shows up a few pages later and she's not only a much more engaging character from the beginning (it evens out with time), she also happens to end up in a castle pretty much right away, getting mistaken for royality. Court intrigue is definitely much more interesting than endless trudging from village to village. She was basically my SAVING GRACE... *gets shot*
Both of them have strong hidden magical powers, because of course... but because I knew what kind of book I was reading, I was never bothered. It also helped that both characters stayed very human through the course of the book. They kept asking questions someone from another world might ask - but not enough to bog the story down of course.
I have to say that I enjoyed the characters in general. Don't think there was anyone I disliked. I also liked that they were all of different ages, build and that while there were probably a few more men around, there was a good amount of female characters, who were also all different in looks and temperament. Of course there were quite a few very pretty people around, but characters were allowed to be deformed, have ugly scars or have thinning hair (it was a bit funny how that got mentioned a lot for one character), too. And they were not the evil ones. There was even a point made that evil would try to hide the ugly inside of them, while blending you with a perfect exterior.
Extra note: This book has loads and loads of characters, but I was able to keep them all straight without a problem.
Eldh is a solid fantasy world. The reader gets thrown into it along with Travis and Grace and learns as they learn. Rules of society, history, religion, traditions, superstitions -nothing is murky and there is even an explanation why our Earthlings understand the language. I was pleased.
The plot itself took quite some time to get going what with half of the main characters wandering through the lands. Of course they also encountered minions of the villain, but when there is a conspiracy and maybe even a murder plot involving nobles around, my attention is definitely on that. It even mostly kept me on my toes, even if the crime novel reader in me could pretty much guess who was behind things.
All in all a pretty solid read. I'm looking forward to reading the next books and am thrilled that I found them so late. This way, I will only have to wait for the postman...
April 14, 2025
Travis Wilder has been living in Castle City for some years when strange things start to happen: a disturbing meeting with an old preacher, mysterious signs on doors, the violent death of his friend Jack, an iron box with a dangerous content.. and at last Travis falls through a billboard into the foreign world Eldh.
Grace Beckett, a doctor at Denver Memorial Hospital is confronted with a medical impossibility: a man with an iron heart coming back from the dead. To rescue others from the murderous undead Grace kills him for a second time but is now in danger herself. Other iron hearts are on her heels and she can only flee with the help of Hadrian Farr, a mysterious man from an organization called "The Seekers". Somehow she ends up at Castle City where she finds her way to Eldh too…
Here in Eldh Travis and Grace finally meet after many adventures in Calavere where they have to save this world from the rising of the Pale King.. and confront their own pasts which both try very hard to forget..
Well, I can´t say I´m very impressed by the main characters. Travis is a whiny thirty-three year old teenager, running around with hunched shoulders, feeling all the time sorry for himself and constantly scratching his beard in confusion (I really started to hate it). Grace is most of the time speechless or paralyzed of fear to do anything but stare but in the end I was warming up more to her character than to Travis´. I have just read the first book of this series and my hope is that there is some character development in the future. I was also very astonished how fast Travis shut the Iron Gate to refuse the Pale King admittance to the dominions of Eldh…but only after Beltan was almost killed and Travis stopped quarreling with his fate and DID something. He HAS the power but acts like a fool all the time.
The story as such isn´t that bad and quite entertaining although the plot is nothing new (people of the earth save an other world, etc.) and I´ve read it in similar form many times before but the author tries to describe life in a castle very realistic (smell, mud, cold, etc) although I wouldn´t have minded if he had refrained from describing the knight Beltan with thinning hair and deep furrows at his brow – I´m sorry but I like knights in shining armor at least a little bit handsome, that´s just a romantic vision of mine but I can´t help it. It was much work to replace this imagine with my better looking one in my mind…lol. I will start to read the second book in hope Travis will develop for the better… six books with a whiny character would be really too much.
Homepage of the author: http://www.thelastrune.com/
Grace Beckett, a doctor at Denver Memorial Hospital is confronted with a medical impossibility: a man with an iron heart coming back from the dead. To rescue others from the murderous undead Grace kills him for a second time but is now in danger herself. Other iron hearts are on her heels and she can only flee with the help of Hadrian Farr, a mysterious man from an organization called "The Seekers". Somehow she ends up at Castle City where she finds her way to Eldh too…
Here in Eldh Travis and Grace finally meet after many adventures in Calavere where they have to save this world from the rising of the Pale King.. and confront their own pasts which both try very hard to forget..
Well, I can´t say I´m very impressed by the main characters. Travis is a whiny thirty-three year old teenager, running around with hunched shoulders, feeling all the time sorry for himself and constantly scratching his beard in confusion (I really started to hate it). Grace is most of the time speechless or paralyzed of fear to do anything but stare but in the end I was warming up more to her character than to Travis´. I have just read the first book of this series and my hope is that there is some character development in the future. I was also very astonished how fast Travis shut the Iron Gate to refuse the Pale King admittance to the dominions of Eldh…but only after Beltan was almost killed and Travis stopped quarreling with his fate and DID something. He HAS the power but acts like a fool all the time.
The story as such isn´t that bad and quite entertaining although the plot is nothing new (people of the earth save an other world, etc.) and I´ve read it in similar form many times before but the author tries to describe life in a castle very realistic (smell, mud, cold, etc) although I wouldn´t have minded if he had refrained from describing the knight Beltan with thinning hair and deep furrows at his brow – I´m sorry but I like knights in shining armor at least a little bit handsome, that´s just a romantic vision of mine but I can´t help it. It was much work to replace this imagine with my better looking one in my mind…lol. I will start to read the second book in hope Travis will develop for the better… six books with a whiny character would be really too much.
Homepage of the author: http://www.thelastrune.com/
October 3, 2012
One of the coolest unknown fantasy series. Found this by accident and decided to read the rest of the series (5 more books) based on the excellence of this one. I can't believe that this series is out of print! The writing is quality, the fantasy world is original, and the characters are interesting and memorable. Great stuff and thoroughly entertaining!
June 30, 2014
Beyond the Pale starts the Last Rune series, and tells the story of Travis Wilder and Grace Beckett as they are transported from modern day Earth to a fantasy world. The first half of the book detailed their separate and parallel adventures as they learn the lay of the land in a strange world, and adjust to the fact that they're not in Kansas anymore (or in this case, Colorado), and that they both need to immerse themselves in the Dominions in order to make sense of their current situations. Travis falls in with Falken, a wandering bard, and his travelling companions Melia and Beltan, as they race against time to convince the kings of the Dominions that they need to prepare for war before the Pale Lord regains his freedom and tries again to conquer the world. Grace finds herself in the court of one of the kings, mistaken for a foreign noble, and forced to serve her host as a spy to learn the motivations of the visiting dignitaries and kings.
Along the way, both Travis and Grace discover that they may have been sent to this world for a reason beyond just chance, as Travis finds he has powerful rune magic at his beck and call, and Grace is a fledgling witch. As they both begin to learn to use their powers, they also meet and find that they must take the initiative to unravel the plots of the Pale Lord's agents and give the people of this world a fighting chance against a powerful evil. To do so, they not only need to figure out the dangers hidden and arrayed against them, but they must confront the traumas in their past, to overcome them and start to believe in themselves as well.
Along the way, both Travis and Grace discover that they may have been sent to this world for a reason beyond just chance, as Travis finds he has powerful rune magic at his beck and call, and Grace is a fledgling witch. As they both begin to learn to use their powers, they also meet and find that they must take the initiative to unravel the plots of the Pale Lord's agents and give the people of this world a fighting chance against a powerful evil. To do so, they not only need to figure out the dangers hidden and arrayed against them, but they must confront the traumas in their past, to overcome them and start to believe in themselves as well.
January 16, 2011
This is the third reread I had of this novel. This has been one of my favorite fantasy series that I never finished. I love the characters, and the setting. Rune magic is very interseting to me and the magic in this series works well too. These are not heavy action novels, they are more about relationship building, some heavy dialog, and about the bigger quest. I look forward to reading the rest again.
July 28, 2022
3/10 - I so wanted to like this book. So much.
I had it for few years on my shelf and I've always been curious and eager to start it, I've always seen good feedback, nice reviews, the covers were all fascinating (even bought the sequel before starting reading the first) and it promised a future gay romance later on. My first thought was "Sweet, another fantasy series like The Nightrunners."
Nope.
I unfortunately abandoned the book 40% in, it's not my cup of tea, but I kind of see why people liked it, although I'm going to share why this is not for me, because it got me mad.
First of all, the writing style. The book started off nicely, good scenery descriptions, solid introductions of the characters, yet the more I got forward, the more it sounded like it was a tv show. I don't mean it as a negative thing, but it was incredibly distracting and many times I had to pause to absorb the moments that sounded a bit ridiculous. One example that impressed me is when Grace has to shoot a bad guy that was escaping and surprise, surprise, random granny on wheelchair is stuck right in front of the automated door exit which constantly opens and closes, bad guy is ready to kill her and forces Grace into a situation that meant life or death.
Another example comes shortly after this episode, when Grace at the police station has a meeting with the detective (if I remember the title correctly). The dialogue is ok, looks right, but then she's locked in, left alone in the office, a random guy from a special squad breaks in, tells her to not trust the guy since he's an ironheart like the guy she shot and he wants her necklace for the rune it has on, he leaves locking the door and the detective comes back. The dialogue tone between Grace and the detective totally flips, unnaturally so, he's now too focused on the rune and talks like a villain from a bad cartoon saying she wouldn't make it, "they" would find her. I was quite baffled how dumb it sounded.
At some point there was a phrase containing "Beyond the pale" and my first reaction was "He said it! He said the title!" like in a tv show...
The pace bothered me as well. I was still expecting to be slow, which I personally don't mind as long there's an interesting development, yet I wasn't ready to see it so damn boring...
40% in and the two main characters haven't met yet and the plot so far could be summarised in man and woman get sucked into another world, he travels with a group, she learns how to queen. Almost nothing else happens. I don't mind having two stories going separated until eventually meeting later on, but it felt an eternity...
The characters... blank as fuck. I cannot describe Travis if not as a piece of wood, he has no personality and once he gets into the new world, he just gets dragged along with the bard, the lady and the knight and there's seem to be absolute no development of any connection among them. The bard and the lady talk about him even with him present and it's annoying even to Travis, but if I was in his shoes I would have reacted 10 chapters earlier. With the knight there's little word shared and this last character seems the one with nice potential of being likeable (later on I discovered he and Travis had to have the romantic relationship, although I don't see how the knight would fall for Travis at all). I don't mean to have them being all best friends, but at least something had form since they travelled for weeks, instead the atmosphere among them felt very negative.
On Grace's side there was a little more of an intriguing factor, I liked the lady helping her out, but at the same time it was very odd that Grace had been seen as a queen and the king had asked her to be his spy over all the other royals or whatever titles.
The dialogues got often odd and frustrating, they dragged on repeating certain things we discovered way earlier and skipped on what could be interesting to read, like world building. Often it was Character 1: "Ok, let me say this thing again and let me tell you about this other big thing." I was there nodding, ok let's hear this, it could be something new. And then just skipped it with "Char 1 told char 2 about it." That made me quit.
I rarely abandon books, but this one had me frustrated, mad and disappointed and I'm very sorry about it because I really wanted to enjoy it. Although I'm glad there are other people who did enjoy it and the rest of the series, but I'll leave these books to them.
I had it for few years on my shelf and I've always been curious and eager to start it, I've always seen good feedback, nice reviews, the covers were all fascinating (even bought the sequel before starting reading the first) and it promised a future gay romance later on. My first thought was "Sweet, another fantasy series like The Nightrunners."
Nope.
I unfortunately abandoned the book 40% in, it's not my cup of tea, but I kind of see why people liked it, although I'm going to share why this is not for me, because it got me mad.
First of all, the writing style. The book started off nicely, good scenery descriptions, solid introductions of the characters, yet the more I got forward, the more it sounded like it was a tv show. I don't mean it as a negative thing, but it was incredibly distracting and many times I had to pause to absorb the moments that sounded a bit ridiculous. One example that impressed me is when Grace has to shoot a bad guy that was escaping and surprise, surprise, random granny on wheelchair is stuck right in front of the automated door exit which constantly opens and closes, bad guy is ready to kill her and forces Grace into a situation that meant life or death.
Another example comes shortly after this episode, when Grace at the police station has a meeting with the detective (if I remember the title correctly). The dialogue is ok, looks right, but then she's locked in, left alone in the office, a random guy from a special squad breaks in, tells her to not trust the guy since he's an ironheart like the guy she shot and he wants her necklace for the rune it has on, he leaves locking the door and the detective comes back. The dialogue tone between Grace and the detective totally flips, unnaturally so, he's now too focused on the rune and talks like a villain from a bad cartoon saying she wouldn't make it, "they" would find her. I was quite baffled how dumb it sounded.
At some point there was a phrase containing "Beyond the pale" and my first reaction was "He said it! He said the title!" like in a tv show...
The pace bothered me as well. I was still expecting to be slow, which I personally don't mind as long there's an interesting development, yet I wasn't ready to see it so damn boring...
40% in and the two main characters haven't met yet and the plot so far could be summarised in man and woman get sucked into another world, he travels with a group, she learns how to queen. Almost nothing else happens. I don't mind having two stories going separated until eventually meeting later on, but it felt an eternity...
The characters... blank as fuck. I cannot describe Travis if not as a piece of wood, he has no personality and once he gets into the new world, he just gets dragged along with the bard, the lady and the knight and there's seem to be absolute no development of any connection among them. The bard and the lady talk about him even with him present and it's annoying even to Travis, but if I was in his shoes I would have reacted 10 chapters earlier. With the knight there's little word shared and this last character seems the one with nice potential of being likeable (later on I discovered he and Travis had to have the romantic relationship, although I don't see how the knight would fall for Travis at all). I don't mean to have them being all best friends, but at least something had form since they travelled for weeks, instead the atmosphere among them felt very negative.
On Grace's side there was a little more of an intriguing factor, I liked the lady helping her out, but at the same time it was very odd that Grace had been seen as a queen and the king had asked her to be his spy over all the other royals or whatever titles.
The dialogues got often odd and frustrating, they dragged on repeating certain things we discovered way earlier and skipped on what could be interesting to read, like world building. Often it was Character 1: "Ok, let me say this thing again and let me tell you about this other big thing." I was there nodding, ok let's hear this, it could be something new. And then just skipped it with "Char 1 told char 2 about it." That made me quit.
I rarely abandon books, but this one had me frustrated, mad and disappointed and I'm very sorry about it because I really wanted to enjoy it. Although I'm glad there are other people who did enjoy it and the rest of the series, but I'll leave these books to them.
August 21, 2017
I finished this book only because a very good friend gave it to me. I was ready to lay it down after 100 pages (more than I normally read if I don't like a book). My main problem with the book is the writing (duh). The comments, reactions and "feelings" of the two main characters just felt wrong. And much of the writing just seemed off to me "His voice was like a horn"...Say what? At the very end, the book got slightly better but it just doesn't click with me. Problem is that I have the following 5 books in the series, which I bought on the hope it would be good. So do I dump them or try to carry on? Hmmmm, 2 Stars
April 26, 2013
"I liked it."
This is a really good example of how a book without a single original idea at all can still be really enthralling and enjoyable based solely on the merit of its characters.
I got Beyond the Pale because I am such a huge fan of Mark Anthony's books under his pen name, Galen Beckett. The Wyrdwood trilogy starting with The Magicians and Mrs. Quent may actually be my favourite fantasy novels of the new millenium and represent everything that I love about recent fantasy: new ideas, new settings, inspiration drawn from sources totally unrelated to JRR Tolkien, diversity of sexuality and gender, and strong female characters. I would never have picked up Beyond the Pale if I hadn't adored the author's Galen Beckett books so much, because the premise just doesn't appeal to me at all. And insofar as that angle was concerned, I wasn't surprised or proved wrong. While the first section actually did have a lot of cool new ideas, the rest pretty much come off like Anthony had read Lord of the Rings, the Belgariad, the Chronicles of Narnia, and some general European myths, and then made the world's most derivative plot from them. Dark Lord sealed away, seal breaking, dark lord's evil servants hide in plain sight and prepare the way for his return, heroes must convince Kings to act against Dark Lord before it's too late, blah blah blah. I really can't stress just how few original thoughts exist here on the plot side of the things.
But what elevates this book and made me give it a solid positive review and my commitment to the series is that the characters are really just fantastic. Grace Beckett and Travis Wilder, the ER doctor and barkeep who get pulled into the world of Eldh are genuinely deep, complex, and sympathetic characters with tragic backstories that we wait all book to get ahold of. The way that their lives have intertwined without them ever having met each other is a great little touch that explores the six degrees of separation theory in a fantasy context. Travis's dyslexia and Grace's PTSD are both handled super well and actually contributed to the story in a really cool way. As for the Eldhish characters, they're derivative as hell, just like the world they're living in, but they're just as enjoyable. The mysterious Falken Blackhand and Melia are actually really mysterious and fascinating and I'm full of theories about their abilities and histories and where they really come from. Aryn is a sweet and wonderful female character who is very feminine and girly without being weak. The gloomy knight Durge may be a little one-note, but he's incredibly endearing, while Beltan, the knight who is revealed to be a Bastard Prince who renounced his claims to the throne to avoid a war, is a fascinating and complex character who may be hiding a secret about what sort of equipment he prefers on his bedmates. I loved all of them! And the longer the book went along, the more I loved them.
By the time it reached its big finale, I was so on board with the whole thing I was bouncing in my seat and couldn't put it down. I cared about what happened to these people -- I cared a lot. The ending brought a few tears to my eyes and I was forced to realize how much I'd come to care about this amazingly derivative fantasy classic shit that I really do consider myself long since over.
So yes, it gets a star knocked off for being generally just awful in the worldbuilding and plot and concept go. I would have been more okay with it if Grace and/or Travis had been like haha this is like a bad fantasy novel from the 70s or something, because come on. Not acknowledging it made it so much worse. You're not allowed to not be genre savvy when you're literally aware of what the term "genre savvy" means. I also took some points off for how much I hated how the book treated Kyrene -- oh, a sultry female character who wears lowcut gowns and flirts a lot? I BET SHE'S GONNA BE EVIL. And honestly it's just not that good. But the characters, oh, the characters. The second book will be the real test for if my affection for this can overcome the fact that it's all heading towards a big fantasy war, my least favourite thing in the entire world, but at least it made its way firmly onto my "to read" list.
This is a really good example of how a book without a single original idea at all can still be really enthralling and enjoyable based solely on the merit of its characters.
I got Beyond the Pale because I am such a huge fan of Mark Anthony's books under his pen name, Galen Beckett. The Wyrdwood trilogy starting with The Magicians and Mrs. Quent may actually be my favourite fantasy novels of the new millenium and represent everything that I love about recent fantasy: new ideas, new settings, inspiration drawn from sources totally unrelated to JRR Tolkien, diversity of sexuality and gender, and strong female characters. I would never have picked up Beyond the Pale if I hadn't adored the author's Galen Beckett books so much, because the premise just doesn't appeal to me at all. And insofar as that angle was concerned, I wasn't surprised or proved wrong. While the first section actually did have a lot of cool new ideas, the rest pretty much come off like Anthony had read Lord of the Rings, the Belgariad, the Chronicles of Narnia, and some general European myths, and then made the world's most derivative plot from them. Dark Lord sealed away, seal breaking, dark lord's evil servants hide in plain sight and prepare the way for his return, heroes must convince Kings to act against Dark Lord before it's too late, blah blah blah. I really can't stress just how few original thoughts exist here on the plot side of the things.
But what elevates this book and made me give it a solid positive review and my commitment to the series is that the characters are really just fantastic. Grace Beckett and Travis Wilder, the ER doctor and barkeep who get pulled into the world of Eldh are genuinely deep, complex, and sympathetic characters with tragic backstories that we wait all book to get ahold of. The way that their lives have intertwined without them ever having met each other is a great little touch that explores the six degrees of separation theory in a fantasy context. Travis's dyslexia and Grace's PTSD are both handled super well and actually contributed to the story in a really cool way. As for the Eldhish characters, they're derivative as hell, just like the world they're living in, but they're just as enjoyable. The mysterious Falken Blackhand and Melia are actually really mysterious and fascinating and I'm full of theories about their abilities and histories and where they really come from. Aryn is a sweet and wonderful female character who is very feminine and girly without being weak. The gloomy knight Durge may be a little one-note, but he's incredibly endearing, while Beltan, the knight who is revealed to be a Bastard Prince who renounced his claims to the throne to avoid a war, is a fascinating and complex character who may be hiding a secret about what sort of equipment he prefers on his bedmates. I loved all of them! And the longer the book went along, the more I loved them.
By the time it reached its big finale, I was so on board with the whole thing I was bouncing in my seat and couldn't put it down. I cared about what happened to these people -- I cared a lot. The ending brought a few tears to my eyes and I was forced to realize how much I'd come to care about this amazingly derivative fantasy classic shit that I really do consider myself long since over.
So yes, it gets a star knocked off for being generally just awful in the worldbuilding and plot and concept go. I would have been more okay with it if Grace and/or Travis had been like haha this is like a bad fantasy novel from the 70s or something, because come on. Not acknowledging it made it so much worse. You're not allowed to not be genre savvy when you're literally aware of what the term "genre savvy" means. I also took some points off for how much I hated how the book treated Kyrene -- oh, a sultry female character who wears lowcut gowns and flirts a lot? I BET SHE'S GONNA BE EVIL. And honestly it's just not that good. But the characters, oh, the characters. The second book will be the real test for if my affection for this can overcome the fact that it's all heading towards a big fantasy war, my least favourite thing in the entire world, but at least it made its way firmly onto my "to read" list.
April 12, 2012
Beyond the Pale is one of the first fantasy books I've read in a long while. I found that it was quite interesting of the author to start out in modern day Colorado and shift to a different, world called Eldh. While I can't pronounce the name of the world, Anthony does a pretty good job of describing how it is similar, yet different to our familiar Earth and making the reader feel connected to this place.
Characters
The story itself also had intrinsic features of a fantasy novel. Travelling bards, gods, fairies, knights, heroes and some pretty awesome villains. The heroes are from Colorado and Eldh alike. The heroes from Colorado, quite naturally, are somewhat awkward in character. Grace is a nurse and orphan, thus has some emotional baggage with her to deal with along her journey. Travis, a saloonkeeper, has more than a few self esteem issues and a bad case of guilty consciousness that he deals with along the way to confront the evil before him.
The rest of the heroes are more secondary cast characters that help these two along. A bard, a mage, a pair of knights, and a baroness all make up the cast of good guys set to fight against the villains. I can't really say much about them as there was not much character development amongst the secondary characters, but it isn't like they are totally forgettable either.
The villains are somewhat unique to me, but also familiar. It seems as if many of the twisted creatures he describes, such as feydrim and wraithlings, are a subtle change from familiar fairy tales. However, I've not come across bad guys with lumps of iron in place of their hearts. These villains are led by "The Pale King", which we never meet in this book.
Story
Now, as for the bases of the storyline,it's pretty familiar. Evil is trying to break out of the eternal jail cast around them a millennium or more ago, and the people of today have totally forgotten the perils of this time. Along comes the bard to ruin their day, start the novel, and provide the hook and line to drag the reader along. I do mean drag as the beginning of the book was quite slow until the bard shows up to start explaining things here and there. Really, the reader doesn't get the full idea of what is going on (and hence why you should read the book) until about the middle. It's only then you find out how evil is bursting it's seems and trying to get into the world.
Once you get to that point in the middle, though, it's a really good story with a quick pace. There is just enough mystery to keep you guessing, but just enough action to keep you reading.
Thoughts
It's not a good idea to keep the reader hanging and wondering what's the story line until the middle. It took me a long time to get to that point, which is not a way to get reader to keep reading.
Anthony does do a good job in creating a new world with some "new" things. He does this by describing these things in familiar way, and saying something like "the trees are like aspens, but not quite" and then going on to describe how they were different and using the names often enough to remember.
Characters
The story itself also had intrinsic features of a fantasy novel. Travelling bards, gods, fairies, knights, heroes and some pretty awesome villains. The heroes are from Colorado and Eldh alike. The heroes from Colorado, quite naturally, are somewhat awkward in character. Grace is a nurse and orphan, thus has some emotional baggage with her to deal with along her journey. Travis, a saloonkeeper, has more than a few self esteem issues and a bad case of guilty consciousness that he deals with along the way to confront the evil before him.
The rest of the heroes are more secondary cast characters that help these two along. A bard, a mage, a pair of knights, and a baroness all make up the cast of good guys set to fight against the villains. I can't really say much about them as there was not much character development amongst the secondary characters, but it isn't like they are totally forgettable either.
The villains are somewhat unique to me, but also familiar. It seems as if many of the twisted creatures he describes, such as feydrim and wraithlings, are a subtle change from familiar fairy tales. However, I've not come across bad guys with lumps of iron in place of their hearts. These villains are led by "The Pale King", which we never meet in this book.
Story
Now, as for the bases of the storyline,it's pretty familiar. Evil is trying to break out of the eternal jail cast around them a millennium or more ago, and the people of today have totally forgotten the perils of this time. Along comes the bard to ruin their day, start the novel, and provide the hook and line to drag the reader along. I do mean drag as the beginning of the book was quite slow until the bard shows up to start explaining things here and there. Really, the reader doesn't get the full idea of what is going on (and hence why you should read the book) until about the middle. It's only then you find out how evil is bursting it's seems and trying to get into the world.
Once you get to that point in the middle, though, it's a really good story with a quick pace. There is just enough mystery to keep you guessing, but just enough action to keep you reading.
Thoughts
It's not a good idea to keep the reader hanging and wondering what's the story line until the middle. It took me a long time to get to that point, which is not a way to get reader to keep reading.
Anthony does do a good job in creating a new world with some "new" things. He does this by describing these things in familiar way, and saying something like "the trees are like aspens, but not quite" and then going on to describe how they were different and using the names often enough to remember.
November 17, 2024
I can't decide if this book is a 3.5 or a 4 for me, but it floats somewhere beyond the pale. I came in expecting one thing and was surprised when I got something slightly different. The main character Travis is a wooden board of a person, Grace was a far better and engaging character overall. Also, as someone who is in this field, I do want to give props to whoever wrote Grace describing someone taking their hat off as 'doffing', it's a term only people in medicine would even think of using. Clever little detail there.
This story starts off slow with a capital Molasses, but the political intrigue mixed with a fantasy style whodunnit was quite interesting. By the end I was impressed with just how many cards fell. Each character (aside from one - guess who) was quite well fleshed out and enjoyable to read. If I had any nit picks it would probably be the relationship between Travis and the pair of Melia and Falken. From start to finish, I don't think they gave any cares for the guy. They whispered amongst themselves constantly about something, talked about him to his face, refused information, and were just all around bad. Why did they take him in at all? There was no friendship there, no respect in the least. I ended up disliking the two by the end which I don't think was the intended result.
MINOR SPOILER
Got very worried when someone is injured and my 'bury your gays' radar started going off, thank you author for not using that trope.
MINOR SPOILER OVER
The writing was also strange in that, for example, we don't learn Beltan or Durge's ages until page 564/620 and both numbers are dropped within the same chapter for seemingly no reason. Why are we learning how old they are at the end of the book?? Also this quote "Grace hadn't - she had barely had a few minutes between the council and her lesson with Kyrene to search - but both Beltan and Travis had had success". That is FIVE times 'had' was used in one sentence.
Also, why does Travis have NO question on why he can hear his dead friends voice in his head, talking to him??? And other characters lecture him on asking too many questions! Man's doesn't ask ANY.
In conclusion, I didn't actually mind this book. It was an interesting adventure from two outsider perspectives (one far better than the other) with some wild twists when doves hit the fan (those who read know what I mean by that), maybe because I'd come in with low expectations that changed how I received this book. Either way, I'd recommend to someone who enjoys slow diet-Tolkien tales.
This story starts off slow with a capital Molasses, but the political intrigue mixed with a fantasy style whodunnit was quite interesting. By the end I was impressed with just how many cards fell. Each character (aside from one - guess who) was quite well fleshed out and enjoyable to read. If I had any nit picks it would probably be the relationship between Travis and the pair of Melia and Falken. From start to finish, I don't think they gave any cares for the guy. They whispered amongst themselves constantly about something, talked about him to his face, refused information, and were just all around bad. Why did they take him in at all? There was no friendship there, no respect in the least. I ended up disliking the two by the end which I don't think was the intended result.
MINOR SPOILER
Got very worried when someone is injured and my 'bury your gays' radar started going off, thank you author for not using that trope.
MINOR SPOILER OVER
The writing was also strange in that, for example, we don't learn Beltan or Durge's ages until page 564/620 and both numbers are dropped within the same chapter for seemingly no reason. Why are we learning how old they are at the end of the book?? Also this quote "Grace hadn't - she had barely had a few minutes between the council and her lesson with Kyrene to search - but both Beltan and Travis had had success". That is FIVE times 'had' was used in one sentence.
Also, why does Travis have NO question on why he can hear his dead friends voice in his head, talking to him??? And other characters lecture him on asking too many questions! Man's doesn't ask ANY.
In conclusion, I didn't actually mind this book. It was an interesting adventure from two outsider perspectives (one far better than the other) with some wild twists when doves hit the fan (those who read know what I mean by that), maybe because I'd come in with low expectations that changed how I received this book. Either way, I'd recommend to someone who enjoys slow diet-Tolkien tales.
July 29, 2014
Beyond the pale has several things going for it, and it's one of those books that I feel like I would have given a higher rating in my younger days, as it spoke to me on many levels of 'nostalgia'.
To start with it's a portal fantasy, something I've always been partial to. That is a fantasy that starts in the 'real' world, with the characters being transported to a fantasy realm. Unlike some such fantasies, it spends a good deal of time detailing the initial 'world' of it's two main heroes, but also has the fantasy world tumbling into ours in a covert sort of way, such that plot elements from the early chapters pop up again much later after we've entered the 'fantasy realm'. Unlike say Narnia, the two worlds feel very connected, and you get the impression there are consequences for the occurrences in both worlds, and plot threads left dangling in one might be picked up again later.
In short, Grace is a Doctor in a Hospital Emergency room, and as good a healer as she is terrible at social interaction, the mortician one of her few friends. When she finds a man with a literal heart of Iron, her world is torn upside down and old memories, fresh horrors and new adventure await her. Travis is a Tavern owner in a small Colorado town who suddenly begins to experience strange events which mount one on top of the other until he too is torn into this new world. The pair of them, starting from separate places, end up together against dark forces operating in both worlds.
The book for me had many ups and downs. As the first in a series it did lay out plenty of idea's, concepts and characters I found very interesting. Sadly many of them seem destined to remain undressed until some future book. While this can be good for a series, it did mean that parts of the book felt a bit disjointed. While the beginning and the ending of the book are very strong, the middle seemed to suffer a little. The transition from the real world to the 'fantasy' world was well executed, and the principal characters seemed neat, if falling into a few of the typical fantasy cliché's.
To start with it's a portal fantasy, something I've always been partial to. That is a fantasy that starts in the 'real' world, with the characters being transported to a fantasy realm. Unlike some such fantasies, it spends a good deal of time detailing the initial 'world' of it's two main heroes, but also has the fantasy world tumbling into ours in a covert sort of way, such that plot elements from the early chapters pop up again much later after we've entered the 'fantasy realm'. Unlike say Narnia, the two worlds feel very connected, and you get the impression there are consequences for the occurrences in both worlds, and plot threads left dangling in one might be picked up again later.
In short, Grace is a Doctor in a Hospital Emergency room, and as good a healer as she is terrible at social interaction, the mortician one of her few friends. When she finds a man with a literal heart of Iron, her world is torn upside down and old memories, fresh horrors and new adventure await her. Travis is a Tavern owner in a small Colorado town who suddenly begins to experience strange events which mount one on top of the other until he too is torn into this new world. The pair of them, starting from separate places, end up together against dark forces operating in both worlds.
The book for me had many ups and downs. As the first in a series it did lay out plenty of idea's, concepts and characters I found very interesting. Sadly many of them seem destined to remain undressed until some future book. While this can be good for a series, it did mean that parts of the book felt a bit disjointed. While the beginning and the ending of the book are very strong, the middle seemed to suffer a little. The transition from the real world to the 'fantasy' world was well executed, and the principal characters seemed neat, if falling into a few of the typical fantasy cliché's.
January 10, 2016
It's realistically a 3* novel, but I just couldn't bring myself to give it less than four. Many people remarked upon two things about this novel: Using the most classical of fantasy tropes (character and story wise) and it having surprisingly warm characters that grow on you. I found both to be true. First off, I should mention I'm a big fan of "portal fantasy" and I never minded cliches or classical tropes if they were done right. I really can't put my finger on what it is about this series (I'm well into the second book) that keeps me glued to the books. I just loved it. I like the slightly messed up characters, I like the magic and Eldh itself (although all could stand a fair bit of fleshing-out). Both main characters from Earth, Travis and Grace, are excellent mouth pieces and the difference in their personality and world-views gives the story a lovely human(e) touch. The author is very comfortable in the skin of both male and female hero. What I also find interesting is that the nature of the approach of the characters is slightly reversed, because Travis is more fluid and emotional, and Grace more focused and even stern.
Also a note to the people drawn by the LGBT tags, yes, there are (apparently) gay characters, but it is not in the forefront or treated as a defining trait for said character(s). Which I personally like. There are no steamy, cheesy sex scenes. :) The treatment is very refreshing.
The eldish supporting cast is also fun, and very easy to love. Aryn and Durge especially. With Beltan and Melia a strong second. The villains are a bit clear-cut but there is an explanation to it in the story itself. The Seekers (and further developments with them in the second book) are also a nice touch, evoking memories of Anne Rice's Talamasca.
All in all, liking the series so far and will continue to read.
Also a note to the people drawn by the LGBT tags, yes, there are (apparently) gay characters, but it is not in the forefront or treated as a defining trait for said character(s). Which I personally like. There are no steamy, cheesy sex scenes. :) The treatment is very refreshing.
The eldish supporting cast is also fun, and very easy to love. Aryn and Durge especially. With Beltan and Melia a strong second. The villains are a bit clear-cut but there is an explanation to it in the story itself. The Seekers (and further developments with them in the second book) are also a nice touch, evoking memories of Anne Rice's Talamasca.
All in all, liking the series so far and will continue to read.
February 25, 2021
This is the book series that got me into writing in the first place many years ago. An engaging story with relatable characters, written in a style that isn't overly complicated, but doesn't insult its audience either. The first book of the series sets up a great start to the rest. I have very fond memories of this series, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to get into the fantasy genre, who would otherwise avoid it for fear of it being too "heavy" or "confusing".
January 11, 2017
Sich mit der Freundin das Buch vorlesen, das für sie in der Jugend super wichtig war, weil fantastische Elemente + queeren Hauptcharakter! Hat sehr Spaß gemacht, auch wenn es hin und wieder anstrengend wurde, weil die Charaktere mehr monologisieren statt miteinander zu reden. Leider ist die Queerness auch nicht benannt und wird nur sehr subtil behandelt. Ich mag, dass der Hauptcharakter Travis sehr mit seiner Unsicherheit kämpft (er hat Legasthenie) und dass die andere Protagonistin Grace zu ihm eine schöne freundschaftliche Beziehung hat, die platonisch bleibt.
January 2, 2019
I decided this is a good year to reread this whole series. I've read it a zillion times over the years, but it's been probably ten years since I've read it beginning to end. I'm curious to see if I love it quite as much as I did when I first got my hands on it.
July 26, 2017
Though this was very cliche and trope-filled, somehow I enjoyed it anyway. Well enough that I'll at least read the next in the series. I liked the side characters more than the two mains, due to the fact the main characters were often paralyzed by fear and indecision to a frustrating degree, the villains were flat and predictable, and things were resolved a little too neatly and quickly in the end.
Also,
Overall, I liked it, but some things were frustrating.
Also,
Overall, I liked it, but some things were frustrating.
November 12, 2019
I first read this book probably close to twenty years ago, and I absolutely loved it. It would not be inaccurate to say that it helped shape my preferences within the fantasy genre, and it definitely influenced some of the world-building I did for my Dungeons & Dragons campaign. It then sat on my shelf along with the rest of the books in the series for many years and through multiple moves, until author Christie Golden recommended the series on Twitter. Since I had just finished my previous book, I decided that this would be a good time to revisit a series I had loved as a teenager. And, I must admit, for the most part it did not disappoint.
Beyond the Pale is a very well-crafted story with fleshed-out characters and interesting magic systems. Though the real villain is less a character and more of a distant threat, his minions are much more real and devious and the book does a good job of keeping you guessing at who can and can't be trusted. Though some elements seems perhaps a bit cliched or stereotypical now, it's still an enjoyable read - especially since I'd forgotten a fair amount of the twists. Though I remember more of the major moments of the next book, I'm nonetheless eager to dive into it again as well.
Beyond the Pale is a very well-crafted story with fleshed-out characters and interesting magic systems. Though the real villain is less a character and more of a distant threat, his minions are much more real and devious and the book does a good job of keeping you guessing at who can and can't be trusted. Though some elements seems perhaps a bit cliched or stereotypical now, it's still an enjoyable read - especially since I'd forgotten a fair amount of the twists. Though I remember more of the major moments of the next book, I'm nonetheless eager to dive into it again as well.
February 18, 2022
A lengthy fantasy of 2 modern earthlings being dropped in a medieval world where their latent magical abilities become apparent and have to be used to save the world from the evil Pale King.
Overall, I rate the book average. There are good parts, particularly in the middle and when related to Grace's character. And there are poor parts, particularly the very slow start to the book and when related to the boring & depressing Travis. But what really taxed me was the telling of the ending which felt childish, superficial and simplistic.
I mean, there is the "fellowship of the black knife", which is conjured up on a whim, but peddled like the next coming of Tolkien's Fellowship of the ring. Then there are the many fight/battle/danger scenes which seem to be told in slow motion. The author creates multiple situations of great urgency, only to then take 30-40 pages for the last meter or the last minute to happen. And there are plenty of "James Bond scenes" where the bad guy has to explain (over and over) why they are doing something ... and of course they always take too much time and something interferes with their dark plans.
Overall, I think this is more for a younger public that does not demand a bit more depth in their stories.
Overall, I rate the book average. There are good parts, particularly in the middle and when related to Grace's character. And there are poor parts, particularly the very slow start to the book and when related to the boring & depressing Travis. But what really taxed me was the telling of the ending which felt childish, superficial and simplistic.
I mean, there is the "fellowship of the black knife", which is conjured up on a whim, but peddled like the next coming of Tolkien's Fellowship of the ring. Then there are the many fight/battle/danger scenes which seem to be told in slow motion. The author creates multiple situations of great urgency, only to then take 30-40 pages for the last meter or the last minute to happen. And there are plenty of "James Bond scenes" where the bad guy has to explain (over and over) why they are doing something ... and of course they always take too much time and something interferes with their dark plans.
Overall, I think this is more for a younger public that does not demand a bit more depth in their stories.
July 23, 2019
OK, so I finished this book. It was a very good read and well worth it....so much so, that I am on my way into the second book of this series. Another reader asked if there is m/m romance involved. I can now say...not really. There is one relationship that looks promising for the future, however. I can also say that early in the second book, there is a scene where the author makes it clear that Mr. Anthony is not bashful about same sex relationships. There is also a scene in the first book where it looks like there might be some action with two females. However, this book is not focused on romance. Hopefully future books will have some more, but in the mean time..
This is just a really nice epic fantasy. Its not as thorough as Tolkien in its world building, but more in depth than most. It reads fast and I would recommend it. Just remember, fantasy novels that focus too much on sex can be dull and uninteresting, even if they are stimulating. This one is a very enjoyable read. My action of going on to the next means I recommend it!
This is just a really nice epic fantasy. Its not as thorough as Tolkien in its world building, but more in depth than most. It reads fast and I would recommend it. Just remember, fantasy novels that focus too much on sex can be dull and uninteresting, even if they are stimulating. This one is a very enjoyable read. My action of going on to the next means I recommend it!
May 7, 2025
Dear Beyond the Pale,
My husband wanted me to read you, so I read you. You were long, and slow, but your last 100 pagesnwere paced much better. You had so much world building and development of magic in your first 300 pages, that your plot was slow to develop. I might continue to read the series, after giving myself some time away from your pacing and clunky prose. That being said, once I was able to get to know them, I liked Travis and Grace and all the new friends they meet in Ehld. My hope is that the next books in your series are better paced and have more character development.
My husband wanted me to read you, so I read you. You were long, and slow, but your last 100 pagesnwere paced much better. You had so much world building and development of magic in your first 300 pages, that your plot was slow to develop. I might continue to read the series, after giving myself some time away from your pacing and clunky prose. That being said, once I was able to get to know them, I liked Travis and Grace and all the new friends they meet in Ehld. My hope is that the next books in your series are better paced and have more character development.
Read
November 12, 2025It started out great, but swiftly went downhill. First thing that gave me pause the sheer number of Mysterious Figures appeared to bestow a Significant Object onto the main characters. Then it seemed like as soon as they traveled to the new world, all traces of personality were extinguished. They did not feel like characters in their 30s. (29 for grace I know) Travis was the worst offender. Read more like a 16 year with all the character of a sack of flour.
I got bored. Even the promise of queer romance couldn’t get me to stick.
I got bored. Even the promise of queer romance couldn’t get me to stick.
December 3, 2018
This was a book club choice and I didn't expect to like it as well as I did.
I like the characters, especially Grace and Travis and I love how descriptive the writer is... when he describes life in the castle, you can almost smell it.
There are 6 books in the series, I am compelled to at least read the next one.... I want to know what happens ! Fantasy just maybe something I have to look into further.
I like the characters, especially Grace and Travis and I love how descriptive the writer is... when he describes life in the castle, you can almost smell it.
There are 6 books in the series, I am compelled to at least read the next one.... I want to know what happens ! Fantasy just maybe something I have to look into further.
July 2, 2025
Wow! I picked this book up at a Thrift Store and who knew it would end up one of my favorite Fantasy books of all time! I am going to purchase the other books in the series. Wonderful characters, nice plot surprises, heroes, villains, etc. The author does a great job of making you actually concerned for the main characters. It is over 600 pages, but I got through it in a very short time. Many, many kudos to Mr. Anthony for such a great imagination & putting this great story together.
August 11, 2018
A DNF for me, as a strong beginning turned into a tedious grind. What I thought were interesting characters became so passive and useless that I couldn’t take any more of them. Grace in particular started out awesome and ended up pretty pathetic. Got halfway through before I gave up on them becoming cool again. It’s a shame as I really loved the first quarter or so.
July 26, 2018
This is a weird, weird series that I will probably finish. The way it portrays relationships between character is very refreshing, men and women here hug, confide in each other, and hang out without romance. How amazing is that and how sad is the fact that I have to point it out as a rarity.
September 23, 2018
The Last Rune series is my favorite fantasy series of all time. Mark Anthony describes things wonderfully, and keeps the plot moving forward so you don't get bored. The characters are all unique and it's lovely to watch as their relationships grow and as they learn to face their inner demons.
January 25, 2022
This might not necessarily deserve 4 stars. It happens to be one of the first adult fantasy books I ever read and loved so it might be a nostalgia rating ;). Still love it though, after all these years.
July 13, 2023
I read this in high school, and had thought about it for a long time afterward. Once I decided to reread it, I realized I misremembered a lot about it. There is no moral, other than I guess don't meet your heroes? Let sleeping dogs lie?
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