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The Legend of Sarah
At fourteen, Sarah is an accomplished pickpocket and knows all the backstreets and boltholes of Monn. She steers clear of Brother Parker and his Church of True Faith, knows better than to enter the Inn of The Honest Keeper, and avoids the attentions of Butch, the Miller's son, as best she can.
For Sarah, the one bright spot in her day is the storyteller's tales of the Old People, of their magically easy lives. And as darkness falls, if one of the wealthier listeners should happen to be so intent on the storyteller's voice as to become careless of his own purse, well so much the better. Inspired by the storyteller's narratives, Sarah often conceives of her own life as the stuff of legend for some future troubadour.
Only, such daydreams could never have prepared her for becoming embroiled with a witchy Phile, an agent of the devil come seeking the Old People's places. How could Sarah have known picking the wrong pocket could strand her in the middle of a power-struggle between Brother Parker, the Governor, and the encroaching Phile spies?
For Sarah, the one bright spot in her day is the storyteller's tales of the Old People, of their magically easy lives. And as darkness falls, if one of the wealthier listeners should happen to be so intent on the storyteller's voice as to become careless of his own purse, well so much the better. Inspired by the storyteller's narratives, Sarah often conceives of her own life as the stuff of legend for some future troubadour.
Only, such daydreams could never have prepared her for becoming embroiled with a witchy Phile, an agent of the devil come seeking the Old People's places. How could Sarah have known picking the wrong pocket could strand her in the middle of a power-struggle between Brother Parker, the Governor, and the encroaching Phile spies?
- GenresFantasy
292 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 1988
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 6, 2026
Becky and I decided to go to a used bookstore in Waldport and each grab a random book based entirely on its cover. I wanted some pulpy sci fi trash. This book wasn’t that, and I wouldn’t say I liked what it was, but it was still kind of quirky and charming in its own way.
Loremasters is a high-concept, soft sci fi novel in which humanity has been divided between technophobes and technophiles. The so-called “philes” spend their days walled up in enclaves, looking at computer monitors and doing other sciencey stuff, while the “phobes” outside live in a self-imposed dark age. Literally. Like, it’s medieval times outside.
This book is very blunt and contains a ton of very heavy-handed exposition, so it’s made clear that the central question driving this concept is, “What if the gulf between rational, high-minded academics and the uneducated, religious masses grows to its greatest possible extent, such that the two can no longer co-exist?” It’s a fun concept, and the right treatment could yield some interesting insights that could be very relevant to current social issues.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s what we get here. From start to finish, it’s pretty clear that the pro-science “philes” are the good guys and the anti-science “phobes” are the bad guys— or, at least, are clearly wrong and backwards in their way of life. While there are some half-hearted attempts to make things a little less black and white than this, one would be forgiven for reading this and only taking away that science/technology = good and religion/superstition = bad. As a general rule, the extent to which “phobe” characters end up being good guys is the extent to which they open their minds to the usefulness of science and technology and/or begin to question their own culture. There is really no demonstration put forward of the merits of the Phobes’ culture or way of life; they are just the impotent rubes that get in the way of the Philes’ search for resources. The Philes unequivocally do not need the Phobes for anything.
As a consequence, the more you lean into a thematic reading of this book, the stinkier it seems. Even if you ignore the vaguely colonial vibe this dynamic gives off, the metaphor for the education gap also feels snobbishly disconnected from reality. No matter how much disdain you have for the uneducated masses, they do, in fact, contribute a great deal of the necessary labor for the ivory tower to exist in the first place. And considering the technologies currently being aggressively advanced by real-world technophiles, this uncritical presentation of technology prevailing over superstition just didn’t hold up for me.
So what if we resist a thematic reading and just enjoy the world and the story? When I do that, it’s just okay. For a story so focused on sociology, the cultures are pretty boring. The Philes are just standard near-future North Americans, and the Phobes are just a caricature of medieval Europeans. And because of the huge power imbalance between the two, the stakes always feel pretty low. Thrown in to the mix, we have a half-baked love triangle, a weirdly large cast of half-baked characters, and a ton of implausible exposition. On the other hand, the story is kind of cute and endearing. The medieval flavor and its juxtaposition with high-tech civilization is fun at times. And the relationship between “magic” and ignorance is explored in a somewhat shallow but often entertaining way.
My takeaway from this experience: it is very interesting to take a random sample from a genre you enjoy. While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book, I do recommend you try an experiment like this.
Loremasters is a high-concept, soft sci fi novel in which humanity has been divided between technophobes and technophiles. The so-called “philes” spend their days walled up in enclaves, looking at computer monitors and doing other sciencey stuff, while the “phobes” outside live in a self-imposed dark age. Literally. Like, it’s medieval times outside.
This book is very blunt and contains a ton of very heavy-handed exposition, so it’s made clear that the central question driving this concept is, “What if the gulf between rational, high-minded academics and the uneducated, religious masses grows to its greatest possible extent, such that the two can no longer co-exist?” It’s a fun concept, and the right treatment could yield some interesting insights that could be very relevant to current social issues.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s what we get here. From start to finish, it’s pretty clear that the pro-science “philes” are the good guys and the anti-science “phobes” are the bad guys— or, at least, are clearly wrong and backwards in their way of life. While there are some half-hearted attempts to make things a little less black and white than this, one would be forgiven for reading this and only taking away that science/technology = good and religion/superstition = bad. As a general rule, the extent to which “phobe” characters end up being good guys is the extent to which they open their minds to the usefulness of science and technology and/or begin to question their own culture. There is really no demonstration put forward of the merits of the Phobes’ culture or way of life; they are just the impotent rubes that get in the way of the Philes’ search for resources. The Philes unequivocally do not need the Phobes for anything.
As a consequence, the more you lean into a thematic reading of this book, the stinkier it seems. Even if you ignore the vaguely colonial vibe this dynamic gives off, the metaphor for the education gap also feels snobbishly disconnected from reality. No matter how much disdain you have for the uneducated masses, they do, in fact, contribute a great deal of the necessary labor for the ivory tower to exist in the first place. And considering the technologies currently being aggressively advanced by real-world technophiles, this uncritical presentation of technology prevailing over superstition just didn’t hold up for me.
So what if we resist a thematic reading and just enjoy the world and the story? When I do that, it’s just okay. For a story so focused on sociology, the cultures are pretty boring. The Philes are just standard near-future North Americans, and the Phobes are just a caricature of medieval Europeans. And because of the huge power imbalance between the two, the stakes always feel pretty low. Thrown in to the mix, we have a half-baked love triangle, a weirdly large cast of half-baked characters, and a ton of implausible exposition. On the other hand, the story is kind of cute and endearing. The medieval flavor and its juxtaposition with high-tech civilization is fun at times. And the relationship between “magic” and ignorance is explored in a somewhat shallow but often entertaining way.
My takeaway from this experience: it is very interesting to take a random sample from a genre you enjoy. While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book, I do recommend you try an experiment like this.
August 15, 2019
Full review to come!
December 20, 2023
The Legend of Sarah was first published in 1988 under the title Lore Master. It has now been republished in this third edition by Shadowpaw Press Reprise based out of Regina. Myself and anyone else smart enough to grab a copy of The Legend of Sarah will be grateful that it was chosen for republication. A few minor references were changed to make them more up to date but the novel is otherwise unchanged. The Legend of Sarah is as relevant today as it was 35 years ago.
The title character is a 14-year-old who lives a rough life. Sarah survives on the streets of the fictional town of Monn, rigorously trying to avoid trouble. A storyteller she regularly encounters weaves formidable tales, unknowingly providing inspiration for Sarah to aim for a better life. But of course things are never simple. She gets caught up in the crossfire of numerous evil and negative forces that aim to muscle their way into her world, trying to pull Sarah to a darker side. Boiled down, she is trapped between two cultures.
Sarah is an interesting character. She is a tenacious young thing, working hard every day to better herself. You can't help but root for her to make it. She is an underdog that you hope will come out on top.
I’m not sure what time period this book takes place in, or its location, or if it’s another world altogether. It is a cross between a fantasy and a science fiction read so perhaps it’s another place and time. Silver is used for currency, they use torches for lighting, and have tribe raids. One location in the book is built over an abandoned missile base. Yet they also have a cool food service where you order from a menu and a delivery service drops the food items outside your door. People travel from place to place via pods. There is talk of witches, wizards, gremlins, gnomes, and witchcraft. Mystic energies abound. The entire book is a fascinating mixture of contradictory nuances.
Gadallah was educated as a chemist and has written popular science articles and served as a technical editor. She has four science fiction novels on her resume as well as numerous short stories. With the quality of The Legend of Sarah, it wasn't surprising to learn that she is accomplished in the writing arena.
This fictional work is 371 pages, plenty of space to give readers a fully fleshed story with well-developed characters. I highly recommend this book about the clash of cultures, one a technological ideology and the other the opposite. This is a superb example of classic yet timely Canadian science fiction.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
The title character is a 14-year-old who lives a rough life. Sarah survives on the streets of the fictional town of Monn, rigorously trying to avoid trouble. A storyteller she regularly encounters weaves formidable tales, unknowingly providing inspiration for Sarah to aim for a better life. But of course things are never simple. She gets caught up in the crossfire of numerous evil and negative forces that aim to muscle their way into her world, trying to pull Sarah to a darker side. Boiled down, she is trapped between two cultures.
Sarah is an interesting character. She is a tenacious young thing, working hard every day to better herself. You can't help but root for her to make it. She is an underdog that you hope will come out on top.
I’m not sure what time period this book takes place in, or its location, or if it’s another world altogether. It is a cross between a fantasy and a science fiction read so perhaps it’s another place and time. Silver is used for currency, they use torches for lighting, and have tribe raids. One location in the book is built over an abandoned missile base. Yet they also have a cool food service where you order from a menu and a delivery service drops the food items outside your door. People travel from place to place via pods. There is talk of witches, wizards, gremlins, gnomes, and witchcraft. Mystic energies abound. The entire book is a fascinating mixture of contradictory nuances.
Gadallah was educated as a chemist and has written popular science articles and served as a technical editor. She has four science fiction novels on her resume as well as numerous short stories. With the quality of The Legend of Sarah, it wasn't surprising to learn that she is accomplished in the writing arena.
This fictional work is 371 pages, plenty of space to give readers a fully fleshed story with well-developed characters. I highly recommend this book about the clash of cultures, one a technological ideology and the other the opposite. This is a superb example of classic yet timely Canadian science fiction.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
June 2, 2014
This is an updated edition of Lore Master, a brilliant Canadian SF novel I'd been lecturing about for 25 years or more. When the opportunity came to re-issue the novel, I was invited to write the introduction and afterword, analyzing what makes novel such a remarkable exemplar of Canadian SF. We fixed the anachronisms that had crept in since it had been originally published (e.g., having to change "Bush Wars" to "Brush Wars" since people would otherwise think it referred to President Bush, when in fact there hadn't been a President Bush when the book first came out)but otherwise it's the same novel. The story is about a young girl who is caught between two cultures, one high tech and the other not. Fascinating, page-turning YA adventure of cultural clash but with Canadian-style characters and Canadian themes: which is to say, realistic heroes and heroines who screw up as often as they get it right, and an optimistic ending, but not the one the protagonists had quite expected. This has been a favorite of mine since it first came out, and I am extremely proud to have been associated with its release in this new incarnation.
August 22, 2024
Continuing my quest to read more science fiction written by women, next up is Canadian sci-fi writer Leslie Gadallah’s 1988 novel, THE LOREMASTERS.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, in a land named Monn, fractured into two main ideological camps: the Phobes, who reject and revile technology in all its forms and see it as witchcraft, instead opting for religious Puritanism; and the knowledge-hungry Philes, who live within technologically advanced enclaves, which have continued to prosper as the remnants of the Old People.
But all that is the foundation for the actual plot, which is ultimately a love story about Sarah, a teenaged Phobe girl who survives the hard conditions of her world all thanks to her kleptomaniac tendencies. This addiction to petty thievery serves as the impetus for her meeting Reese, an undercover Phile who is searching for new areas within Phobe territory to launch secret archaeological digs. She falls in love with him, though deep down she knows it could never work—even if he felt the same way, even if he were single. But she hopes and she dreams it will one day be true.
Personally, this is a case where I feel both the title, the cover, and even the back-of-book description let the book down. Originally the book was meant to be called “The Legend of Sarah,” which is maybe still not that great, but it is a tad more fitting than The Loremasters. I'm not sure if the term “loremaster” was even used once, to be honest.
It features some truly beautiful writing, and the lead characters are nicely developed. The world is interesting and has a lot of surprises it slowly reveals. The elements of occult mysticism peppered here and there were also quite cool.
All in all, a solid, compelling read.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, in a land named Monn, fractured into two main ideological camps: the Phobes, who reject and revile technology in all its forms and see it as witchcraft, instead opting for religious Puritanism; and the knowledge-hungry Philes, who live within technologically advanced enclaves, which have continued to prosper as the remnants of the Old People.
But all that is the foundation for the actual plot, which is ultimately a love story about Sarah, a teenaged Phobe girl who survives the hard conditions of her world all thanks to her kleptomaniac tendencies. This addiction to petty thievery serves as the impetus for her meeting Reese, an undercover Phile who is searching for new areas within Phobe territory to launch secret archaeological digs. She falls in love with him, though deep down she knows it could never work—even if he felt the same way, even if he were single. But she hopes and she dreams it will one day be true.
Personally, this is a case where I feel both the title, the cover, and even the back-of-book description let the book down. Originally the book was meant to be called “The Legend of Sarah,” which is maybe still not that great, but it is a tad more fitting than The Loremasters. I'm not sure if the term “loremaster” was even used once, to be honest.
It features some truly beautiful writing, and the lead characters are nicely developed. The world is interesting and has a lot of surprises it slowly reveals. The elements of occult mysticism peppered here and there were also quite cool.
All in all, a solid, compelling read.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5
March 8, 2016
Solid and interesting, but lacking a plot that is truly rivetting. The setting does include the institutions of a credible society ... on the Phobe side, state, church, commerce, art (storytelling), etc. While less explained, on the Phile side, we do see the democratic state, references to the spiritual, industry (agriculture). This lends the setting some credibility that I find missing in many such works.
There are some issues I have with how the author elaborated her world. I don't feel I really got to know the main Phile character, what makes him tick, why he takes such poor decisions that put him at such great risk ... what does he know that we don't that leas him to think running such risks is acceptable? Likewise, it seemed to me that the Phobes lack a touch of incredulity ,.. there's a freaking "Witch Road" running through their town, complete with a bridge spanning a river ... why does the One True Church never try to tear it town given it is an affront to god-fearing life? Why don't the secular authorities try to tear it down to use its cut stone? Why don't they try to figure it out?
That said, it was refreshing to read something where the fate of the entire world isn't at stake.
I found the essay at the end (not by the author) daft and ignorant.
There are some issues I have with how the author elaborated her world. I don't feel I really got to know the main Phile character, what makes him tick, why he takes such poor decisions that put him at such great risk ... what does he know that we don't that leas him to think running such risks is acceptable? Likewise, it seemed to me that the Phobes lack a touch of incredulity ,.. there's a freaking "Witch Road" running through their town, complete with a bridge spanning a river ... why does the One True Church never try to tear it town given it is an affront to god-fearing life? Why don't the secular authorities try to tear it down to use its cut stone? Why don't they try to figure it out?
That said, it was refreshing to read something where the fate of the entire world isn't at stake.
I found the essay at the end (not by the author) daft and ignorant.
April 11, 2014
I was given this book complimentary from LibraryThing.com in e-book form in return for my honest review. Everything stated in this review is of my own opinion and I was not compensated monetarily for providing this review.
I am not normally a fan of SF but this was an enjoyable book, not one of those you are going to beg a sequel but enjoyable. I read it quickly during lunchtime at work and in the evening. If I come across anything else by the author I will pick it up, probably for a long flight and would recommend this book for similar
I am not normally a fan of SF but this was an enjoyable book, not one of those you are going to beg a sequel but enjoyable. I read it quickly during lunchtime at work and in the evening. If I come across anything else by the author I will pick it up, probably for a long flight and would recommend this book for similar
November 13, 2011
I read this book while in economy class on United Airlines, and nothing else to read. The building of the characters was poor. The plot predictable and unrealistic. There was a few interesting things, like comments about "Bush's Wars" that over ten years after publishing date sounds prophetic.
The auther is Canadian and has a different view point than expected. There are better ways of spending time than reading this.
The auther is Canadian and has a different view point than expected. There are better ways of spending time than reading this.
May 17, 2014
This dystopian novel follows a street urchin known as Sarah in the city of Monn. When an archaeologist from outside the city comes to look for sources of power, she finds herself attracted to him and essentially becomes his sidekick. When he is captured by the monks and accused of being a witch, she must team up with other archaeologists to try save him.
This novel is not my usual genre to read. I found it interesting and did enjoy it.
This novel is not my usual genre to read. I found it interesting and did enjoy it.
April 12, 2014
Quite enjoyed it but it wasn't rivetting. A clash of cultures between technologically advanced one and a feudal, superstitious one, with a young woman trying to make sense of it - is it magic or not? The plot follows on believably but the characters could be more developed - I could not connect to either of the women - one was unsympathetic and the other too young for what she wished for. Still, I finished it..
September 11, 2014
Classic Canadian science fiction. This novel has been reissued in 2014 in a revised and updated (i.e., anachronisms removed) edition as THE LEGEND OF SARAH from Five Rivers Publishing, with an afterword on author Leslie Gadallah's contribution to and significance in Canadian SF.
July 26, 2011
A well-written and imaginative story set in a post-apocalyptic landscape that is just familiar enough and likely enough to be very creepy.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews