The Sacred Pool

by L. Warren Douglas

Book Overview

A MILLENNIUM IN PROVENCEA lost little girl weeps in the high wilderness, and her cries are heard...Is her rescuer a crazy, lonely woodsman, or a timeworn Celtic god, and she his only believer? Does an... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671319566
• ISBN13: 9780671319564
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Baen Books
• Length: 402 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.6" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Best Book I've Read this year

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.

Are good and evil a valid dichotomy?

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.

I really enjoyed this

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.

Scientific magic? It works for me

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.

The Sacred Pool?Fantasy and More

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.