published 1988, Baen

Plenty of people get married and then find themselves in unfamiliar territory, and Alis Rasmussen's characters manage to do this more literally than most. After dropping a wedding-present tarot deck on the floor of an elevator, newlyweds Seejay and Chryse are magically transported to a parallel universe, in which the Industrial Revolution is just getting underway.

Rescued from an unruly mob by a couple of roving rakes in top hats, the newlyweds are quickly welcomed into the house of bored aristocrat Julian Haldane and his frock coat-clad friend Kate. Their immediate concerns allayed, Seejay and Chryse discover that the price of an escort back to their own world is nothing less than the discovery of the secret treasure of the Labyrinth.

From this point on, the novel resembles a Victorian archaelogy dig of epic proportions, complete with absent-minded researchers, dutiful daughters, and rebellious laborers, not to mention the sinister Earl of Elen, who is funding the expedition, his price being the virgin daughter Maretha's hand in marriage. Rasmussen renders these stock characters with humor and grace, developing them into engaging personalities who we want to see rescued from the archetypal consequences of the friezes they uncover at the labyrinth. The tension is nicely balanced by the sense of urgency the characters are working under; they have to get to the treasure before the Queen Regent can complete her evil plans of usurpation.

I've always enjoyed fantasies in which the author drops people from our world (or someplace similar) into a more fantastic place, especially one like Rasmussen's Anglia, where magic works and women have social superiority. It gives Rasmussen a chance to jab us with some social consequences, such as exposing the true horror of mechanization. In this story, it literally drains poor working children of their souls. Despite dealing with heavy mythological and social themes, the overall tone of this novel remains light and humorous, as the characters deal with their situations with intelligence and wit.

Review by Becky Parkhurst
Reviewed July 2, 1996

ISBN 0-671-69793-5

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