Product Description

The Fey are gone... and with them, magic. At least, that is how things seem at the conclusion of the award-nominated novel Chasing the Bard. ~ Lord what fools these mortals be. ~ Penherem is a quaint, sleepy English village where people go to escape the 21st Century. Hiding from the world of laptop computers, the Internet, and wireless communication, is Ella. A writer, now barren of ideas and drive, she resigns herself to a quiet life of solitude. Everything changes with the arrival of a shapeshifting thief. Suddenly, everyone begins to change--from the local librarian to the lady of the manor--revealing their true natures and dangerous secrets. Something in this sleepy English village is awakening... something that might be better left alone.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #864396 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-01
• Released on: 2008-07-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781896944883
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

"From the outset of [Chasing the Bard] I was captured by the story and remained curious throughout reading. Ballantine has done an excellent job of describing and explaining the characters so that they really came alive for me and I had a clear picture in my head of what each looked like. It's an original story and I loved it!"
- Amazon.com

"From the outset of [Chasing the Bard] I was captured by the story and remained curious throughout reading. Ballantine has done an excellent job of describing and explaining the characters so that they really came alive for me and I had a clear picture in my head of what each looked like. It's an original story and I loved it!"
- Amazon.com

"From the outset of [Chasing the Bard] I was captured by the story and remained curious throughout reading. Ballantine has done an excellent job of describing and explaining the characters so that they really came alive for me and I had a clear picture in my head of what each looked like. It's an original story and I loved it!"
- Amazon.com
--Reviewer on Amazon.com Referencing Chasing the Bard

About the Author
New Zealand's Philippa Ballantine has always loved the fantasy genre, fostered by an early introduction to Lord of the Rings as a bedtime story. She has been writing her own novels since the age of thirteen and melds her love of history and fantasy together in her work. Her first novel Weaver's Web was e-published, where as her second Chasing the Bard, in which Shakespeare finds himself in his own midsummer nightmare was published in 2005.

Customer Reviews

A Delightful Sequel Surprise
It's the late 21st century, and things aren't good. Advances in genetic engineering and neurosurgery have yielded plagues, eternal beauty and artificial longevity for the rich, and cyberpunk netunning avatars. Wars are fought for precious natural resources and small countries are suddenly bereft of protectors and must unleash nightmares to protect themselves. The world seems bent upon self-destruction, dying by its own foolish hands... and yet --

There is magic in the air.

In New Zealand, a child rescues her village from a murderous war robot with help from the Elder Folk -- for a price. In an England nearly covered with the sprawl of city, cybernet, and decay, an intrepid hacker and daring thief discover a new Art, a Digital Magic.

Phillippa Ballantine's sequel to her award-winning novel "Chasing the Bard" is unexpected, refreshing, surprising, and masterfully crafted as she weaves together many diverse threads into a stunning mixture of post-modern science fiction, high fantasy, and just plain fine writing.

Don't miss it.

Wonderful cyberpunk fantasy
If William Gibson suddenly decided to create a D&D-style universe something like Digital Magic might pop up, but it would definitely not be as good as "Digital Magic". In this book Pip Ballantine blends Cyberpunk and Fantasy so perfectly that you are left wondering why the two genres have been ever separated. The story grips you from the first page to the last. Whether you are a fan of Fantasy, of Cyberpunk or (as in my case) of both genres you will definitely enjoy this book.

Even though this is a sequel to Pip's previous book, Chasing the Bard, it is not required reading to enjoy "Digital Magic". However, it is also a great book and will fill in the backstory and increase your enjoyment of this book tremendously.

The only reason I don't give this book 6 stars is because Amazon's rating system only goes up to 5.

MINDF***
There is only one word that works for Philippa Balantine's Digital Magic. It's one I've used a lot lately. MINDF***! It's a complete and total mindf*** and it doesn't get any better than this.

Knowing this story took place much later than Chasing the Bard I could only hope it would repair my feelings about the end of the first book. It not only repaired them, it blew me away. The writing is tight and wraps you up in a world that is half D&D and half Cyberpunk.

What I found enjoyable about it is that you don't have to have read Chasing the Bard first. You can read this then go back to the original. Things in Chasing the Bard just might make more sense if you read Digital Magic first, but that's just my two cents. Still, no matter how you slice it, Digital Magic is a fantastic book for fantasy readers.