Latest Book Reviews and Comments

I loaned With a Single Spell from my friend two days ago. I decided to read it, because I liked The Misenchanted Sword. With a Single Spell was an entertaining and well written fantasy book. In my opinion it was excellent light fantasy. Lawrence Watt-Evans' writing style was fluent and the story was good enough to keep awake until 3am last night. I can recommend this book to all readers, who want to read good light fantasy.

I loaned The Misenchanted Sword from a friend a couple of days ago and I finished reading it today. It was a nice and simple fantasy book. It wasn't a masterpiece, but I liked it very much (it's nice to read this kind of light fantasy every once in a while). If you want to read an entertaining fantasy book, The Misenchanted Sword is a good choice. It's not a great book, but it's very entertaining.

Jasper Kent's Twelve was an interesting historical fantasy/horror book. It was also a fascinating history lesson about life in the old Russia during the Napoleonic Wars. I liked Twelve very much, because it was a different kind of vampire book. There are many urban fantasy books about vampires, so this kind of historical vampire books are quite rare nowadays. That's why this book was a breath of fresh air to the horror genre. It was great that the author used enough time to describe the main character and his life - it added depth to the book. The story was fascinating and Kent's writing style was fluent. I gave Twelve four stars, because it was a good and enjoyable book. I can recommend this book to all readers, who like historical fiction and vampire books.

This review is for all The Night Angel Trilogy books: The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge and Beyond the Shadows. When I began to read this trilogy I didn't have much information about these books. I think it was good that I didn't know much about them, because it helped me to like them. In my opinion these books were entertaining and easy-to-read fantasy books. There were some minor problems/flaws and the writing wasn't always as fluent as it should have been, but the plot was interesting. Although these books were quite thick (600+ pages), I read them fast. For a debut trilogy, The Night Angel Trilogy was pretty good. The flaws were a bit annoying sometimes, but the books were readable and likable. Here's some information about the flaws: The adult themes were nice, but I would've liked to see more depth in certain scenes. The writing style was okay, but not as good as it could've been (it was easy to see that these books were debut books). And here's some information about the good things: The plot was pretty good and interesting. I also liked the action. Although these books weren't perfect, I consider them to be good entertainment. If you're looking for an interesting, entertaining and easy-to-read fantasy trilogy, The Night Angel Trilogy is a good choice. You'll probably enjoy reading it.

The Judging Eye is a great new book from R. Scott Bakker. After reading this book I can say R. Scott Bakker is definitely among the best epic fantasy writers I've ever read and he can be compared to George R.R. Martin and Steven Erikson. I had high expectations from this book, because I enjoyed The Prince of Nothing series very much. I was a bit worried if Bakker could ever write something as good as The Prince of Nothing, but fortunately he managed to write another good book. All my expectations were fulfilled and I was very pleased with the quality of this book. The writing style was excellent and the plot was interesting. I can highly recommend The Judging Eye to everybody, who has read R. Scott Bakker's The Prince of Nothing series, because this book is amazingly good.

Every once in a while you read a book you want to recommend to all of your friends. This one was one of them for me. I have two words for you. Read it. You can get it for free (and legally) online just by Googling it. I did just so, but now after finishing it I'm going to go to a book store and buy a copy of it to keep in my shelf. It is a young adult novel but offers some serious food for thought for older audience too. It's placed in a a present/near future environment but the theme is timeless.

Last Dragon was an interesting debut fantasy book, because it was written in a different way than other fantasy books. This book consisted of letters (memories), which were written by the main character. This book was like a jigsaw puzzle, because the story opened gradually through the letters. Some people may not like this kind of writing style, but I liked it. At first it felt a bit weird to read short letters, but I got used to it. I enjoyed reading Last Dragon, because J. M. Dermott's prose was beautiful and he handled all the pieces of the story amazingly well. It was refreshing to read a fantasy book, which avoided all the usual clichés and plot twists.

A Cruel Wind is an omnibus edition of the first three Dread Empire books (A Shadow of All Night's Falling, October's Baby and All Darkness Met), which were published before The Black Company books. I think it's great that Night Shade Books decided to publish this omnibus edition, because these books are difficult to find nowadays. These Dread Empire books were quite small and compact, so it didn't take long to read them. They were interesting, well written and fascinating fantasy books for adults. Although these books weren't as excellent as The Black Company books, they were quite original and enjoyable books. I think it's great that Glen Cook doesn't recycle basic fantasy elements in his books. He has his own voice and he knows how to write top quality fantasy (I think I could say that these books were more interesting than many other fantasy books). I can recommend A Cruel Wind to all Glen Cook fans and other fantasy readers. If you've never read any books by Glen Cook, this omnibus edition is a good starting point.

Lesley Ann Moore's debut fantasy book, Griffin's Daughter (the first book of the Griffin's Daughter Trilogy), is quite an interesting book. I think it's the best romantic fantasy debut I've read this year. Lesley Ann Moore writes good and fluent romantic fantasy. Griffin's Daughter is more original than many other new romantic fantasy books. I don't normally read romantic fantasy (I usually read epic high fantasy books), because some books are quite horrible and boring, but this time I found myself enjoying the story and wanted to read the whole book. It was quite nice to read something different. Although some people might consider this book to be a young adult fantasy book, I think it's adult fantasy. The writing style is quite close to YA writing style, but there are some things, which make it adult fantasy. In my opinion Griffin's Daughter was an entertaining book and after some consideration I decided to give it four stars for its entertainment values. If you're interested in reading entertaining romantic fantasy, this book is a good choice.

The Spawn of Cthulhu is an interesting anthology of Cthulhu fiction. It's a bit difficult to find these old anthologies nowadays, so I'm glad that I managed to buy this book. The best short story in this anthology is H. P. Lovecraft's The Whisperer in Darkness. It's one of the best Cthulhu stories ever written, because it's a weird, fascinating and creepy story about the backwoods of Vermont. It's an excellent blend of horror and science fiction. I also liked Clark Ashton Smith's The Tale of Satampra Zeiros, Robert E. Howard's The Children of the Night and August Derleth's The Return of Hastur. The other short stories were also good, but none of them can be compared to Lovecraft's story. Lin Carter's notes and comments were interesting. They provided good information about Cthulhu mythology.

Now, after reading first six books of kushiel's legacy during three weeks, I think this was probably the weakest book in the series. Thing making it worst of the series? On my opinion the fact it has most magic in the set. For a long time I've thought that magic as a major plot element ain't that good idea. Especially in a book based on intrigue. It's problematic because reader knows how the world works, but magic is an endless well from which to draw unexpected plot twists. Another problem albeit quite small is structure of the books in series. It get's a little repetitive after reading six books in a row during short time. So I recommend keeping reading something else between Phédre and Imriel story arcs. About the plot I can only say don't be scared of introduction up there. Plot really ain't that simple. Tale of the books 4-6 is a basically a growth story of a boy changing it's focus to love forbidden by politics and old hatreds somewhere around the middle. But now, to the good thinks about the book. I like Carey's writing style and use of words, although english ain't my native language. I'm learning new words constantly which is actually quite rare. List of characters at the beginning of book is quite long, which is good in a series containing lots of court intrigue and politics. Characters are interesting and their actions are logical most of the time. In the end I enjoyed reading this book and that's the only thing that matters. First three books were certainly better, but if one compares this to other books in fantasy genre in general it's definately near the top. I'll elaborate this more at later date.

This book is by far the BEST book I've read this whole year. Brent Weeks has a natural gift for weaving characters in and out of his books, and these books are just the beginning. Beyond the Shadows is a great ending to this series, and I can't wait to read more from Weeks.

The cover text for Acacia: The War with Mein promised the regular fare, royals in distress, nation in peril, assassins and magic. Durham writes beautifully without being too ornate. He has written historical novels and Acacia feels like one too. The author builds up a complex and deep world with believable background. Description is this novels strength but also the weakness. The story flows through the landscapes and events and there are real gems, stunning pieces of narrative. But while there's plenty of that, dialog is scarce, leaving some characters rather flat. The story turned out to be more than the cover lead me to expect, well constructed and skillfully written fantasy novel, promising an interesting sequel.

I recently re-read the first two books (The Crimson Sword and The Obsidian Key) of The Legend of Asahiel and I also read the third book (The Divine Talisman), so this review is meant for all of these three books. I enjoyed reading these books, because they were entertaining fantasy books. I think I can say that there's always going to be a little boy inside of me and he's always going to like entertaining fantasy adventures. I've always been fascinated by fantasy adventures and I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoy reading all kinds of fantasy books - in other words, I enjoy reading heavy fantasy books and lighter fantasy books. I know that this series can't be compared to the works of George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb or Steven Erikson, but why should it be compared to them? It's nothing like them. I like heavy fantasy books very much, but sometimes it's nice to read something totally different. I've read so much heavy fantasy books recently that it was very relaxing to read these books, because they're pure entertainment for fantasy fans. The writing style is mostly nice, but there are some rough spots. The Legend of Asahiel is Eldon Thompson's first fantasy series, so the rough spots are quite understandable. Every new writer has to struggle with some things, but all new writers always develop their writing skills during the writing process and so has Eldon Thompson. I think that he's developed nicely while he's been writing The Legend of Asahiel. I think I could compare his writing style to Terry Brooks' writing style, because it's a bit similar. This series is an exciting, enjoyable and fast moving fantasy adventure for readers, who like good adventure stories. The first book starts moving forward quite fast and everybody who enjoyes adventures will be thrilled to read the rest of the book as fast as they can. If you like Terry Brooks, you should seriously consider reading these books, because you'll probably like them very much. If you like heavy and gritty adult fantasy, you could try to read something different for a change, because you might find that you'll like these books.

It is a small wonder to begin with that I even picked up this book after the previous one (Shadow of a Dark Queen) had been such a disappointment. The start wasn't promising either, in fact, it was pretty terrible.. So, it was another miracle that I actually got past the first two chapters. As a whole, I would compare this novel to a runner, who after a slow and clumsy start accelerates to rather nice speed, clearing some difficult hurdles with impressive skill just to fall flat on his face before the finish line. Surprisingly the middle was this novel's best section. Even while keeping in mind that this book is a part of a series, I think the transitions from the previous story to the next one were handled poorly. The beginning and the ending were, sadly, very bad writing. Another thing that irked me was the repetition of expressions. If I had played a drinking game whenever someone 'exchanged glances' or 'an ample bosom' sailed in view, I'd be having serious problems with my liver right now. A slight improvement compared to the first installement, recommended for readers who are already fans of Midkemia.

In the first book, Brent Weeks laid down the complex web of the characters. Now, in the sequal, he puts them to use. Each story over lapping one another in a spell-binding maze that never seems to end. This is a fabulous bridge from the first book to the third. I wait in agonizing pain for the next book. And I do not regret it.

This is a beautiful coffee table book for all fans of Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. In the beginning there's a collection of portraits of House Targaryen. I found this part especially interesting, because although the series is about time after these rulers, there is often references to them. Rest of the book is divided by location and contains scenic pictures and character portraits. What I really like that the artwork is from bunch of different artists, not just one person's interpretation, some of them well known, some enthusiastic fans. The downside is that the quality varies, and some of the pictures are little more than just black and white sketches. A big portion of the pictures can also be found online, so if you've done some surfing you've probably seen many of them.

It took some time after finishing the previous part, Deadhouse gates, before I was ready to tackle Memories of Ice. Reading these novels easily becomes a full time job since they are getting pretty thick and at least for me, hard to put down. I liked the two first books and this third one topped them with ease. With Erikson you learn to expect the unexpected and still be surprised. This story has more layers than ten average series combined. Still extremely violent, sometimes laugh out out funny and thought-provoking throughout. But be avare, with its staggering body count and extreme adult content it's still not for everyone. I also think that the writing has improved, with more fluent style and easier structure to follow. My head was still spinning because of the scope and pace of the story but at this point I've grown so attached to the characters I'd follow them to Hood's gates. And beyond.

When I had first read this, I loved it. Now that I see people everywhere who seem to be brainwashed with this series, I grimace when I hear the name. Now, whenever someone mentions vampires the first thought is: "Oh my god, Edward!" Twilight does NOT define what a vampire is. Never has and never will.

This is a great way to play on every writer's fear: A crazed fan who literally couldn't get enough of their work. Not many people would have liked to be in Paul Sheldon's place, me included. But King saw an opportunity and he grasped it with everything a writer should.

I loved this series dearly. As I have posted in a previous comment, I devoted five months to this series and have no regrets whatsoever. The twists are what kept me going, and this book holds the largest twist of all that I will not give away. All I can say is that the twist is worth the thousands and thousands of pages.

This series is something that you'll never be able to forget. It took me all of five months to actually read all of this series and I most certainly do not regret it. What Seregil says it true, unfortunatly. The rest of the series was not the best and the ending is somewhat disappointing, but it's worth the read. I also agree that you can not call yourself a sci-fi fan if you've never read this.

I first read this series when I was in fourth grade. It was my first fantasy series that actually had chapters. It has stuck with me for all these years, and I can't ever seem to forget it. I suggest that those who are young and have never before read a fantasy book, or wish to get into fantasy, to read this for it is a wonderful introduction.

This book was hard to put down. The depth of his characters yanked me in and kept in perfect bliss the whole time, even at the most depressing of times. For those who love assassins, corrupted power figures, twisted politics, and disturbing magic, this is the book of all books.

This is the second book by Esslemont situated in the Malazan world which he is co-author with S.Erikson. Unlike the first book, Night of Knives, which is more of a prequel this one is set right in the middle of the story and it would be best read after The Bonehunters. The story follows Quon Tali rebellion against Malazan empire, and The Crimson Guard who is also set to destroy the empire. There are some familiar characters from the previous books and a lot of new ones, and we see some legendary characters which were often mentioned dead or missing in the previous books. Writing style was sometimes off, and I had a bit of a struggle at the beginning to follow the story, cause there was lot of jumping from one character to the other. Still it's a very good addition to Malazan world and essential one for the overall story, cause some pretty surprising and rather important events occurred in it.