Latest Book Reviews and Comments
Against all prejudicies concerning sequels to finished series The Prodigal Mage is able to catch up with where The Awakened Mage (Innocence Lost) ended. A notable achievement in itself, without the mention of a tormenting blub which leads the reader in a "merry" waiting and turns out to be (as could be guessed)quite different from the expectations. AND never to forget Karen Miller's apparent knack of nasty turnings sending shivers down your spine.
Carol Berg has been one of my favourite fantasy authors for a long time. She's always been a good writer, because her books are entertaining and addictive. In my opinion The Spirit Lens is a great example of how well she can write entertaining and addictive fantasy books. The Spirit Lens is an entertaining fantasy book, because the characters are fascinating (I liked the main character very much) and the story is simply fantastic (it was a pleasure to read Berg's lush descriptions). This book combines fantasy and mystery elements in a perfect way - once you start reading this book, you won't stop until you've reached the final page. The Spirit Lens is a perfect book for readers who enjoy reading entertaining fantasy books. This book is so good that it causes sleep deprivation (if you start reading this book in the evening, you'll read it all through the night). ;)
Arms-Commander was an interesting Recluce book. I've enjoyed reading all the previous Recluce books and I also enjoyed reading this new book (I have to confess that I'm a Recluce fan). I liked the characters (Saryn was an interesting character) and I also liked the story. I think it's amazing that the author can still write good and interesting stories, because he's already written several Recluce books (not every author can write like this, but Modesitt can). I think that Arms-Commander is a "must read" book for all Recluce fans. If you've read the previous books and enjoyed them, you'll like this book.
Promise of the Wolves was a book which I wanted to like, because I enjoy reading animal fantasy books, but unfortunately it was a big disappointment. When I read this book I couldn't help but wonder if the author had intended to write a young adult fantasy book for adults. This book reminded me too much of Richard Adams' Watership Down, but it lacked the depth and originality of Adams' charming and touching story. I think that young adults will probably find this book interesting, but adults who have read Watership Down won't like it. In my opinion this book is too light for adults. If you're looking for good animal fantasy, you should read Richard Adams' Watership Down or William Horwood's Duncton books (and also the two wolf books), because they're enjoyable books - they're much better than this book.
I first read these books many years ago in school and still have all the rather worn copies. This is the ONLY 'urban fantasy'/vampire series I have ever liked. This omnibus edition contains both one of the best and the worst books in the series. I think everyone who has read these books agrees that "Dark Angel" is the weakest book in the series. Anyone reading this version who is new to Night World, I reccommend reading the other two books in the omnibus first so you know how good these books can be. Read "Dark Angel" first and you might not bother with the others, which would be a shame.
When I read Vellum a couple of years ago, I had mixed feelings about it. After careful consideration and some digestion I decided to give Vellum four stars, because it's quite an interesting book. Vellum is a challenging and different kind of book. It isn't a linear book, so it must be read with thought. That's why some readers will love this book and others will hate it. I personally like Vellum, because it's something different and it's quite an ambitious book (there aren't many writers who can write this kind of books). I can recommend Vellum to readers, who enjoy reading challenging books. It's a unique reading experience, so don't be afraid to read it.
When I began to read The Law of Nines I was a bit worried about its quality, because I was very disappointed with the amount of philosophical preaching in the last Sword of Truth books. I hoped this book would be good and interesting, but unfortunately Terry Goodkind repeated the same old things and the book turned out to be a big disappointment. The Law of Nines was basically a new and modernized version of Wizard's First Rule. The main characters were almost exactly like Richard and Kahlan and that was very annoying. This book has been called "stunningly original", which is quite amazing, because in my opinion this book is "stunningly repetitive" (Goodkind recycles almost everything in this book). I also have to say that I wouldn't call this book thriller, because it's much nearer to urban fantasy than thriller genre. I can't recommend this book to anybody, because there are much better urban fantasy writers (for example Rob Thurman and Jim Butcher write good urban fantasy books and they don't preach about certain things). I honestly hope that the author of this book will try to write something new and original in the near future, because I've had enough of this kind of books.
This book surprises. Somehow Mr. Horowitz has turned an ordinary fantasy story to something more. It makes you want more, and keeps you interested until the last page. Scarlett's story is a bit scary and exciting at the same time. Raven's gate was very good, Evil Star wasn't as good as it, Nightrise could have been better, but this one was great work. Very nice book, easy to read, makes you smile and send shivers down your spine. Can you ask much more? ^^
Le Guin is an ashtonishingly versatile writer, and this collection of short stories is a good illustration of her wide range. The Compass Rose mixes science fiction with fantasy, alternative history with feminism, and sometimes just knocks you over the head with a good, plain, old-fashioned fairy tale. Some of these stories don't really come within the realm of 'speculative fiction' at all, and I think it's these that show Le Guin's mastery most clearly. Her characters remain well-rounded even without gadgets and sorcery, the language is precise and the tone often delightfully mischievous. However, it's the sheer inventiveness that makes me really like The Compass Rose; Le Guin blasts open calcified ways of storytelling and challenges her reader as well.
This review is counterbalance for Seregil of Rhiminee's review. It's not just about how the writer writes, or how beautifully the writer has made the characters or how "good quality" the book has. It's about what you're looking for. I can believe that some people don't like Dark Lover and it's sequels. But I'm sure that there are many people who like. If you have read hundreds of books and while reading you look specifically for quality, skillfully made characters and extraordinary storyboard, you probably don't think this book is very good. Or you think (like he does) that this is "definitely the worst book he've read this year". When I read, I want to enjoy. Sometimes it's very nice to have those complicated storylines and intense characters hanging around, but sometimes you want something more... light? Easy? Entertaining? All of those. And the characters are enough good to be entertaining. I'm not looking for philosophising or the ultimate questions. Dark Lover is not for young (adults) like Twilight-saga is. This is more for adults, and much more... rough. I could write reveral lines of text more about this, but I won't do so. I think my opinion is clear enough by this. I simply say that If you are looking something like this, read this. If you [b]know[/b] that you won't like it, that you don't like books like that, don't read. It's useless. If you do like romantic books, I think you'll like this. But I like books like this, and I like this. And that's enough for me. This is not c*ap. ;)
This omnibus edition of The Lord of the Rings trilogy is an excellent fantasy book. It contains all three books (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King), so the reader can easily read the whole trilogy from start to finish. There are lots of omnibus editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Some editions are illustrated, but others aren't. All editions are good books, but the best editions contain beautiful illustrations and paintings by Alan Lee. No matter which edition you read or buy, you can be sure that they're all worth reading. The Lord of the Rings has always been one of my favourite fantasy books. It's a timeless classic, which hasn't lost its appeal over the years. The Lord of the Rings has had an enormous effect on the fantasy genre and many fantasy authors owe a lot to it, because it has inspired several authors to write their own fantasy books. I think that every fantasy reader should read this book, because it's the cornerstone of traditional fantasy. Some readers, who are used to modern fantasy, may say that the story is too traditional, but in my opinion the story is very good and fascinating (I've always been fascinated by Tolkien's world and the history of Middle-earth). If you haven't read this book already, you should definitely read it.
I decided to give Laurell K. Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures a try, because I read good reviews about it. I'm glad that I read it, because it turned to be an entertaining urban horror fantasy book. Guilty Pleasures wasn't a perfect book (it was far from it), but it was nice and enjoyable entertainment for warm summer days. I don't normally read this kind of fantasy books, but they're good entertainment every once in a while. The main character, Anita Blake, was interesting and the character development was okay (the character development could've been better, but it didn't bother me much). The plot was interesting and the writing style was quite good. I can recommend this book to readers who like urban fantasy.
In my opinion J. R. Ward's Dark Lover is one of the worst vampire books I've ever read (and it's definitely the worst book I've read this year). I usually like vampire books, but I didn't like this book at all. Although this book can be called horror fantasy, it's much closer to paranormal romance than genuine horror fantasy, which is a bad thing. This kind of romantic horror fantasy may appeal to some readers, but I don't like it (if somebody wants to read good horror fantasy, I can recommend Anne Rice's first vampire books - they're excellent books). In my opinion Dark Lover is a good example of how not to write horror fantasy books. The writing was below average, the character development was horrible, the plot was almost non-existent etc... I could write several lines of text about the badness and low quality of this book, but I won't do so. I simply say that do yourself a favour and don't read this book.
Actually, I like this book more than other three books. The style of writing changed and that was odd. But the change was not bad - I prefer this new writing style to the older one. I liked the ending, happily ever after was the thing I expected and got. There was still few things I didn't like, Jacob's love with you-know-who for example. But I liked so many things that I have to be "young&stupid teenage twilight fangirl" and give five stars. :p I liked it. Really.
The Ancient Track is an excellent collection of H. P. Lovecraft's poems. S. T. Joshi has done a great job by collecting all the possible poems to this collection. It's great that Night Shade Books published this collection, because Lovecraft's poems are difficult to find. I loaned this book from a fried of mine a couple of years ago, but now I finally decided to buy it. I'm glad that I bought it, because it's nice to have a good collection of Lovecraft's poems. In my opinion the second category of this collection, Fantasy and Horror, contains the best and most famous poems. His weird poems are fascinating and the writing style is excellent. I can recommend The Ancient Track to all Lovecraft fans. If you enjoy reading Lovecraft's short stories, you'll probably like his poems too.
Stephen Deas' debut fantasy book, The Adamantine Palace, was a good and enjoyable book. I enjoyed reading this book, because the plot was interesting and complex enough to keep me interested in it. The story moved fast forward, which was nice. Although I liked this book, it wasn't a perfect book because it had some flaws. The worst flaw was that there was no map of the world in the hardcover edition (epic fantasy books should always contain a map of the world). I also found the characters to be a bit one-dimensional. The chapters of this book were quite short, but that didn't bother me much, because the writer concentrated on the story and didn't fill the pages with descriptions of scenery etc (to be honest, I would've liked to see a bit more descriptions in this book). In my opinion this kind of fantasy is quite easy to read. I can recommend this book to readers of epic fantasy, because it's an enjoyable book. I'm sure that readers, who like fast moving stories, will like this book.
I felt rather good about Bella and Edward after the trilogy and started to read this fourth installment with high hopes. From the start I was just astounded by how much the style had changed, and not for the better. Did someone else write this book? While reading I felt like watching a train wreck, but just couldn't make myself stop, wishing it wasn't happening. The characters lost their hold on me, I no longer knew who they were. Some of my Twilight fan friends will crucify me for saying this but.. In my honest opinion, the story should have ended with Eclipse. Meyer could have tied up the lose ends right there. Going this far was unnecessary and left me feeling rather sad that the sometimes rocky journey I took with the characters had to end this way, me hoping I'll never hear from them again.
I hoped the writing would have gotten better in this second part. It hadn't. Luckily, the story did improve although my fondness of Bella went down the drain. I could relate to her, but still felt like shaking and slapping her back to reality.. But I guess that black&white tunnel vision is what makes the teenage romance so unconditionally and irrecoverably wonderful. In this rehash of Shakespeare's most tragic love story, I seriously rooted for Paris.. How about that Jake Black fanclub??
It's easy to understand why Twilight Saga has created such a buzz and sold millions of copies. On the other hand, it baffles me how Meyer got away with such horrible writing. I'm not a native English speaker but still some of the parts were just absolutely horrendous. Maybe I'm too old but I didn't quite fall head over heels for Edward. His smoldering eyes left me totally cold, on the other hand I did like Bella's character. In the end, the story is what counts. Drawing from the old classics, Twilight is hardly an original, but it had enough appeal to make finish it in a day and buy the next part.
I finally managed to buy a hardcover edition of Return of the Crimson Guard, so I had to read it last night. I simply couldn't stop reading it, so I stayed up late and finished reading it after 4 am. In my opinion Return of the Crimson Guard is an excellent book. Although Ian C. Esslemont isn't as good a writer as Steven Erikson, he knows how to write good stories. This book had enough depth and the story was interesting. The writing style wasn't always as fluent as it should've been, but that didn't bother me much, because other things made up for it. I can recommend this book to all Malazan fans. If you've read Steven Erikson's books and Ian C. Esslemont's previous book (Night of Knives), you'll enjoy this book. Before reading this book I strongly recommend that you read Erikson's books, because you need to know certain things about the Malazan Empire in order to enjoy this book.
The story was easy enough to get into. Couple in love who find a perfect lovenest but not everything is not what it seems to be. It all starts quite nicely, but after a while you'll start missing some action. There's lots of hints of what is about to come, but when it comes it's no suprise. There is a big end final, but meanwhile very little happens and book endings like this remind me of Twiligh book where all the action is backed to last pages after the few hundred boring ones. Readable yes, but the idea would have had much more potential than this.
I read this book last month in the USA. My good friend loaned it to me and said that it's a good and interesting book. Well.... He was totally wrong about the goodness of this fantasy book. It had some good things, which you don't see in many other books (gay things for example), but nothing more than that. This book was total s**t. Do yourselves a favor and don't ever read this book.
This book is FANTASTIC! :) I had no idea that I'd love this book this much, but I do and I must recommend it to others. Eldon Thompson's fantastic and simple fantasy story has all the necessary fantasy elements, which are absolutely necessary to make a good adventure. The simplicity is often a very bad thing, but in this case it's a necessary and one hell of a good thing. I admit that this book has some annoying things in it. The main characters are a bit goofy and the book is quite simple in many ways, but who cares about that? It's the entertainment value that counts. =) This book certainly has lots of entertainment value and I love it! This book doesn't contain many cliches and Thompson clearly tries to avoid them as much as he can (I wish other writers would do so too, why don't they?). There are some cliches, but not as much as in some other books (for example Brook's, Jordan's, Williams' and Paolini's books are sometimes full of them). This kind of fantasy adventure gets full ten points and lots of recommendations from me. The plot is highly addictive and the text is very easy to read..... That's why I love this book very much. It's not perfect high fantasy or should it be called epic fantasy, but it's a damn fine book! Read this book and give it a chance. =)
I finished reading The Emperor of Dreams a couple of days ago. I decided to read this short story collection, because his stories have often been compared H. P. Lovecraft's stories. The Emperor of Dreams was an excellent short story collection and it was a good introduction to the weird fiction of Clark Ashton Smith. I liked Clark Ashton Smith's writing style very much. His prose was rich and well written. In my opinion his writing style was quite similar to Lovecraft's writing style. So far I've read only some stories by Clark Ashton Smith, but if his other stories are as good and fascinating as these stories, I'll read all of them.