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Tarr, Judith (1955– )
Judith Tarr began writing fantasies during the
1980s, initially in a fairly traditional format, but
her interest in history has become a progressively
more significant influence on her work, which
quickly evolved into historical novels with varying
degrees of fantasy content, sometimes almost un-
detectable. Her debut came with two trilogies,
both appearing between 1985 and 1989. The first
includes The Isle of Glass(1985), The Golden Horn
(1985), and The Hounds of God(1986). During the
age of Richard the Lionheart, war between humans
and fairies seems inevitable, and the latter prevail
upon a human monk to act as their representative.
The story moves to the besieged city of Con-
stantinople in the middle volume, and a duel be-
tween sorcerers dominates the climax. Two more
volumes were added later, Alamut(1989), in which
a warrior falls in love with a sorceress who for her
part is determined to destroy him. A halfling and a
human sorceress seek dispensation to marry in The
Dagger and the Cross (1991), which puts them
squarely in the middle of a political and cultural
struggle.
The second trilogy consists of The Hall of the
Mountain King(1986), in which a man lays claim
to a throne, arousing the wrath of a goddess in ad-
dition to his political enemies, The Lady of Han-
Gilen(1987), in which a female warrior joins the
fray, and A Fall of Princes(1988), wherein the situ-
ation must be resolved by warfare. Tarr returned to
this setting for Arrows of the Sun(1993), which
also involves a contested throne, Spear of Heaven

(1994), which expands the boundaries of her imag-

ined world, and Tides of Darkness(2002), which

encompasses a myriad of interconnected universes.

Tarr began to mix stand-alone novels with se-

ries from this point forward. A Wind in Cairo

(1989), still one of her best, is set in ancient

Egypt. The protagonist crosses paths with a sor-

ceress, who changes him into the form of a horse,

in which guise he has various adventures. Ars

Magica(1989) chronicles the life of an apprentice

magician who steals his master’s books of knowl-

edge and eventually rises to a prominent position

in the Christian church. Lord of the Two Lands

(1993) deals with the conquests of Alexander the

Great and has only minor fantastic content. His

Majesty’s Elephant(1993) pits a young boy and a

magical elephant against a sinister plot to assassi-

nate Charlemagne.

White Mare’s Daughter(1998) was the first of

three related novels. In the first a goddess incar-

nates herself in order to pay a visit to a prehistoric

culture that is ruled by women. In the second,

Lady of Horses(2000), a young woman challenges

the cultural mandate that says that only boys

should be taught to ride horses. A female warrior

helps lift a curse set upon a king in Daughter of Lir

(2001) in a somewhat disappointing final volume.

Although there had been feminist elements in

some of Tarr’s earlier novels, they are a much more

dominant theme this time. She later used a very

similar situation as the basis for her historical ro-

mance The Mountain’s Call (2004), which ap-

peared under the pen name Caitlin Brennan.