Product Description

Reality is unraveling in the dusty Colorado town of Castle City.  Strange symbols are carved into storefronts, and ancient legends come to life.  

Saloonkeeper Travis Wilder is handed an ornate iron box and a mysterious mission.  And in Denver, where dead men walk, ER doctor Grace Beckett is witness to a terrifying and inhuman scene of carnage.  Theirs is a destiny shrouded in a coming darkness, a destiny that draws them into the otherworld of Eldh....  

Eldh is a land of gods and monsters, myths and runecraft, conspiracy and blood.  It is a world that has secretly coexisted beside ours for millennia.  But now the boundary between worlds is crumbling in the face of a monstrous evil.  And Travis and Grace must save this strange land in order to safeguard their own world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #548710 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-02
• Released on: 1999-11-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 640 pages

From Amazon.com
Travis, a bespectacled barkeep from Castle City, Colorado, and Grace, a regally beautiful ER doctor from Denver Memorial, wormhole their way through a magical billboard into... a Robert Jordan novel. Well, sort of. Sure, in Beyond the Pale, it's a chilling winter--not a sweltering summer--that's gripping the land. And the seals (little stone disks, no less) are weakening on the prison of the Pale King, not the Dark One. But, surprise--Travis finds that he's the first man in centuries to successfully wield the One Power... er, runes, that is... and is the sole hope of keeping the Pale King at bay.

Beyond the Pale isn't entirely derivative of Jordan's wildly popular Wheel of Time series: if nothing else, Anthony sets himself apart by having things actually happen in his book. Travis and his fellow earthling Grace end up in Eldh after surviving run-ins with the Pale King's servants on Earth. Grace, mistaken for a fairy queen, is quickly shanghaied as a spy for King Boreas, who has just convened a council of Eldh's rulers. After a series of adventures, Travis joins Grace, and the two must tangle with the mysterious Raven's Cult and a bunch of iron-hearted bad guys who are trying to derail the Council of Kings and hasten the PK's return. --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly
Launching a new fantasy series, Anthony, an erstwhile Forgotten Realms author (Curse of the Shadowmage, etc.), makes use of the classic premise of humans from our mundane world transported to a fantasy milieu; in this case, the travelers are two Coloradans, bartender Travis Wilder and ER physician Grace Beckett. The pair are not wholly surprised at their journey, as the world of Eldh has made several bloody visitations to Colorado already, but the reality of Eldh, full of political intrigues, is still terrifying, despite the protagonists' ability to work magic there. Anthony's pacing is spotty, frequently slow?there is just not enough matter here to justify the sheer mass of words. His characterizations are also uneven, sometimes exceedingly original and moving, other times relying on simplistic fantasy archetypes. He lays down exceptionally exciting action scenes, however, particularly those set in Colorado, as when Travis must escape an onslaught of fierce creatures from Eldh. This novel is only a so-so series kickoff, but if Anthony pumps up the pace and writes to his strengths in future volumes, the series could gain many a fan. Agent, Shawna McCarthy (Danny Baror for foreign rights).
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Mysterious runes appear scratched into doors all over Castle City, Colorado, just before the equally mysterious Jack Graystone summons his friend, bar owner Travis Wilder. Jack gives Travis an iron box, and somehow inscribes a rune on his palm before falling beneath the onslaught of a horde of unearthly creatures. Travis escapes and, pursued by the creatures, falls through a magic billboard into another world. Meanwhile, ER doctor Grace Beckett treats a gunshot victim who turns out to have an iron heart; he doesn't stay dead, either. And soon Grace too falls into the world of Eldh. She's rescued from the snow by a knight, Durge, and taken to Castle Calavere. The inhabitants think she's a fairy princess, while their king, Boreas, puts her to work winnowing the castle's many intrigues and conspiracies. She also develops witchcraft, or Weirding, abilities. Later, Travis and companions show up. Somehow, Jack has given Travis the capacity to work rune magic; the stone in the iron box is a magical Great Stone. The evil-rune Raven Cult are attempting to free the Pale King, imprisoned in Imbrifale behind the Rune Gate. Travis must master the rune magic in order to lock and secure the Gate, while Grace's Weirding talents keep a lid on the troubles within the castle. Intermittently intriguing and gripping, with frequent plot wobbles and irritatingly dysfunctional leading characters: imagine a Robert Jordan/Stephen R. Donaldson hybrid and youll get the idea. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

While waiting for A Feast for Crows...
As most reviews have mentioned, this book is NOT very original. Since that's out of the way, I must say it was a lot of fun to read. There is a lot of action, the characters are charmingly flawed, if somewhat predictable. I really enjoyed the high drama, and rather silly plot twists...just as someone is about to say, do, or discover something important, they are interrupted by a completely bizarre event. (Action! Swordfights, fires, storms, attacks by evil creatures, translocations--that type of thing.)The lead characters are irritating in many ways, but for some reason, this made me like them! Travis is unbelievably passive, and really upset...about his PAST! Grace is an ice princess, who feels DEEPLY, and can't quite express herself. And, as mentioned in other reviews, Melia is a virtual clone of Polgara this sorceress, even calling people "dear" the way Polgara does. If you can get past these flaws, however, you will find an enjoyable read, with nice touches of humor. It's not a gourmet meal, it's more of a takeout pizza with everything on it. Sometimes, that's just the thing.

Good book that needed to trim about 100 pages
I definitely enjoyed reading this, and once I started I was hooked. HOWEVER, this was a relatively looonnnngggg book that could have easily been trimmed by 100 or so pages. There were some very nice dark fantasy elements that gave this a bit of an edge over other fantasy I've read. And I enjoyed Travis's journey (and that of Grace), but I would have liked to read more about Travis and his "pals", not to mention a bit more action. Travis came across as too wimpy throughout the entire novel. Maybe book 2 shows him dealing a little better with his newfound powers. Grace was a very interesting character, but it wasn't very plausible why she considered herself such a loner, such a social outcast. Everyone she met was struck by her incredible beauty. Seriously, how many gorgeous women are social outcasts? All in all, a fun read, and at some point in the near future I'll have to check out the second book.

AMAZING
If your into wizards, magic etc... this is the book for you. Marc Anthony is the best author I have ever read, since JK Rowling, of course.... This is a book you'll want to read over and over again, so don't just rent it from the library, BUY IT!!!!