From Publishers Weekly
As the first in Douglas's projected trilogy the Sorcerer's Tale, this highly literate, intricately allusive alternative Dark Ages fantasy ingeniously explores the evolution of myths that sprang from various pagan roots to blossom into Christian tradition. Douglas's delightful heroine, Pierette, lives in coastal Provence sometime between the eighth and the ninth centuries A.D., when a succession of pillaging invadersDSaracens, Christians, Huns and VikingsDleft their marks (and not a few offspring) on the native Proven als. Child of a cowardly olive-grove farmer and an ethereal woods-dweller stoned as a witch by scapegoat-seeking villagers, Pierette eventually grows into a full-fledged sorceress capable of shaping reality to her requirements. Buoyed by the sacred spring, Ma, where her mother's spirit guides her growth, Pierette learns to pierce the Veil of Years, traveling through time and space to an early Stone Age tribe and to the Atlantean Fortunate Isles. Pierette's quest is to undermine the "terrible sameness" of skepticism that institutionalized Christianity induces. Douglas brilliantly highlights many of the pagan foundation-stones that supported the early Christian church through characters loosely based on historical and mythic figures as well as his own creations. His central philosophical preoccupation concerns the coexistence of good and evil, which he presents as two sides of the same concept, rather than two opposing forces. Immensely readable and elegantly simple in execution, this vivid reimagining of Western humanity's turbid adolescence engages, enchants and enthralls. (Jan.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Raised as a boy for her own protection and to preserve her father's lands, the child known as Pierrette or Piers becomes the focus of a grand quest for knowledge. Pierrette's uniqueness results in a journey of discovery and self-awareness at a time when Christianity wars with older religions for prominence in Roman-occupied Europe. Based on research into the history and language of France's Proven al region, this work by the author of Simply Human details a little-known era of history, portraying a world infused with the magic of religion and nature and caught in a crucible of changing beliefs. For most fantasy collections. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Near the end of the first millennium, Pierrette, the younger daughter of an olive grower in southern France, sees her mother slain as a witch. She then disguises herself as a boy, her father's apparent heir, and learns, from Christians, pagans, and Muslims and from the living and the dead, the ways of magic common to three religions. This proves fortunate when her sister, Marie, is possessed by a demon after suffering the jus primae noctis at the hands of the local lord. Still, gathering the power to restore Marie is a long, involved, and extremely demanding process, which Douglas enlightens with dazzling displays of historical, theological, and folkloric scholarship and of world building. His narrative technique is less impressive, clogged by the large number of characters whose origins only a folklorist would recognize. The yarn seems to promise that the series it inaugurates will be a good, somewhat flawed example of fantasy used to speculate about the history of faith and myth in human affairs. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
A MILLENNIUM IN PROVENCE A 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 ancient female deity live beside the pool, among the ancient trees of the cool beech grove, or is she little Pierette's "imaginary friend," a poor substitute for a murdered mother? Will the Black Time come, when dark, evil machines tower over the sunny little harbor of Citharista and all the goodness of the world is locked in an ebon box, or will young Pierette indeed become the great sorceress of her dreams, with fire at her fingertips to stem the evil tide? Journey with her across the ancient landscape, wander among the bleaching limestone bones of dragons that lie still atop the hills, and see for yourself whether the old gods yet endure.... The Sacred Pool stands at the midpoint of a vast historic tapestry, looking both forward and back: From the sea-girt Paleolithic caves of Sormiou and the enchanted forests of ancient Gaul, to the steamy swamps of Midicor IV, a million years hence; from old Polybius in his leather tent at the siege of Numantia, to Achibol the Charlatan in a cybernetic fortress buried beneath the Columbia Icefields of Alberta, L. Warren Douglas is there -- and he takes his readers with him.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A 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 ownly believer? Does an ancient female deity live beside the pool, among the ancient trees of the cool beech grove, or is she little Pierrette's "imaginary friend," a poor substitue for a murdered mother?

Will the Black Time come, when dark, evil machines tower of the sunny little harbor of Citharista and all the goodness of the world is locked in an ebon box, or will young Ierrette indeed become the great sorceress of her dreams,with fire at her fingertips to stem the evil tide?

Journey with her across the ancient landscape, wander among the bleaching limestone bones of dragons that lie still atop the hills, and see for yourself whether the old gods yet endure...

The Sacred Pond stnads at the midpoint of a vast historic tapestry, looking both forward and back: from the sea-girt Paleolithic caves of of Sormiou and the enchanted forests of ancient Gaul, to the steamy swamps of Midicor IV, a million years hence; from old Polybius in his leather tent at the siege of Numantia, to Achibol the Charlatan in a cybernetic fortress buried beneath the Columbia Icefields of Alberta, L. Warren Douglas is there—and he takes his readers with him.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

As the first in Douglas's projected trilogy the Sorcerer's Tale, this highly literate, intricately allusive alternative Dark Ages fantasy ingeniously explores the evolution of myths that sprang from various pagan roots to blossom into Christian tradition. Douglas's delightful heroine, Pierette, lives in coastal Provence sometime between the eighth and the ninth centuries A.D., when a succession of pillaging invadersDSaracens, Christians, Huns and VikingsDleft their marks (and not a few offspring) on the native Proven als. Child of a cowardly olive-grove farmer and an ethereal woods-dweller stoned as a witch by scapegoat-seeking villagers, Pierette eventually grows into a full-fledged sorceress capable of shaping reality to her requirements. Buoyed by the sacred spring, Ma, where her mother's spirit guides her growth, Pierette learns to pierce the Veil of Years, traveling through time and space to an early Stone Age tribe and to the Atlantean Fortunate Isles. Pierette's quest is to undermine the "terrible sameness" of skepticism that institutionalized Christianity induces. Douglas brilliantly highlights many of the pagan foundation-stones that supported the early Christian church through characters loosely based on historical and mythic figures as well as his own creations. His central philosophical preoccupation concerns the coexistence of good and evil, which he presents as two sides of the same concept, rather than two opposing forces. Immensely readable and elegantly simple in execution, this vivid reimagining of Western humanity's turbid adolescence engages, enchants and enthralls. (Jan.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

VOYA

This inaugural book in a projected trilogy, The Sorcerer's Tale, brilliantly explores the commonalties that form the underpinnings of Western theological, folkloric, and philosophical thought. The heroine, Pierrette, the younger daughter of an olive grower and pagan woods-dweller, lives in coastal Provence during in the eighteenth century. Pierrette witnesses her mother being stoned as a witch by villagers and is guided by her mother's spirit as she grows into a powerful sorceress. Initially, Pierrette performs simple magic, lighting the way at night or making her father's olive grove fruitful. She learns eventually to pierce the Veil of Years, traveling through time and place to gain knowledge from the great thinkers and mages before her time in her quest to understand the coexistence of the early Christian concepts of good and evil and how these concepts evolved through the ages. Pierrette uses this knowledge to free her older and more devoutly Christian sister, Marie, from a demon that possesses Marie following her rape by a village lord. Douglas necessarily casts a large number of characters from centuries of history and myth to tell his intricate and enchanting story. Because of the depth and length to which he goes, this title is recommended for strong readers at the high school level. Each chapter opens with a short vignette excerpted from "The Sorcerer's Tale," written by the village bishop, who is friend, mentor, and possibly Pierrette's biological father. These entries frame the tale that the engaging Pierrette lives. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult andYoung Adult). 2001, Baen, 402p, $24. Ages 16 to Adult. Reviewer: Cynthia Grady SOURCE: VOYA, August 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 3)

Library Journal