The Innkeeper's Song
core novel 1993 The Innkeeper's World
Record
| First published | 1993 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.89 (2,784 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780451452887 |
Synopsis
The Innkeeper's Song follows several strangers who converge at a remote inn and become entangled in an aging, dying wizard's sorcerous duel with his most gifted and dangerous former student, a conflict that has been building for years and is now reaching its breaking point. Among those drawn to the inn are Lal, a skilled storyteller, sailor and fighter with a fierce independence and a past she reveals only in fragments, and Nyateneri, an enigmatic woman with ties to a fanatical monastic order she has gone to considerable lengths to leave behind. Narrated through the alternating perspectives of the inn's own staff and the mysterious travelers themselves, the novel gradually reveals how each guest's hidden history connects to the growing magical confrontation closing in around them.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Innkeeper's World
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Peter S. Beagle
Awards (verified)
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 1994: won; locusmag.com's own online archive does not reach back to 1994; confirmed instead via two independent sources, Worlds Without End's own award-record page and Wikipedia's dedicated Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel article (which lists Beagle as that year's winner), per this project's fallback-to-independent-cross-check practice when a primary results page is unreachable.
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 1994: nominated; Per Worlds Without End's own award-record page. Did not win.
- Mythopoeic Award (Adult Literature), 1994: nominated; Per Worlds Without End's own award-record page. Did not win.
Notes
- Roc, 1993. Multiple-narrator quest novel; the sole full novel in this continuity, per the LOTR-analogy single-work convention.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within The Innkeeper's World (standalone work): position 1 of 3: next Giant Bones (1997)
Sources
- Worlds Without End: The Innkeeper's Song
- Wikipedia: Peter S. Beagle
- https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/literature-and-writing/innkeepers-song-peter-s-beagle
- Wikipedia: Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel
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