Science Fiction Fantasy Books

This is a very good adaptation of the best part of "The Gunslinger" and the entire "Wizard & Glass." I read the single issue first, but unlike some of my fellow reviewers, I did not miss the extra background material that has been cut out. It is not as good as some classic graphic novels (like "The Watchmen"); however, it is still an excellent telling of a classic story. This is fine work by both King and Marvel. I would recommend it to any fan of King, Marvel, or graphic novels in general.

never read a graphic novel before-- thought this was excellent read- art work suited story content

This does not compare to some of the great graphic novels, however the story remains true to the Dark Tower series. Perhaps they were simplifying the story a little for the first one, but I think they can make the story line a little more complex, more like a Stephen King novel. If you like the Dark Tower series, however, you should probably pick this up.

The Dark Tower, those three words have a great deal of power at least for me. My ears perk up, my heart beats slightly faster and a grin spreads across my face. Stephen King's Mid-World and all it encompasses has spread to comics, The Gunslinger Born is a retelling of the flashback Roland finally shares with his new ka-tet in "Wizard and Glass" (book 4) It is a tale of love, brother-hood, villiany, and of course a bit of gunslinging.

I would highly recommend this to fans of Stephen King's masterpiece, however I would advise readers that have not yet journeyed through all 7 Dark Tower epic novels to read those first. The talented creative team behind this comic book did a fantastic job however there is a lot of stuff you miss, some events don't have the gravity in the comic that is present within King's novel. Which is understandable, I feel this would have been a lot better had they fleshed things out more. Seven issues to cover Roland's journey from apprentice gunslinger to true love then to a possible breakdown. If it was 10 issues I strongly believe it would have been quite a bit better.

Although for the picky fan like myself there will always be something missing, something more the team could do to capture the full feel of the original material.

This is a comic so you get to not only read what transpires but also watch it unfold, the artwork is gorgeous and fits well with the story and world of the Dark Tower however (did you know that was coming? picky fan emerges once again) it removes your imagination from the equation. I had a very different image of Alain and Susan than what is seen here. Honestly I had a different image for everyone except maybe Steven Deschain. How many people read the Dark Tower series and envisioned this characters,? Countless. So is this a valid complaint? No I don't think it is.

I have to commend the creative team behind this book, they have captured the feel of King's series both visually and with the writing. Sure there is lines lifted right from W&G, it is an adaptation right? The aspect of this that grabbed me the most was the narrator bits. I won't say anymore because its better if you read it yourself.

Longtime Dark Tower and King vets will eat this up, I sure did. I think the problem I had with it is I read this right after reading W&G, a few months back I dived back into the books. So with W&G fresh in my mind I could pick out things that were off, there's one part in particular with good old Steven Deschain that really felt off. Read the end of W&G (after Roland's tale is done, right after the ka-tet reach the Green Palace) then this and you will know what I am talking about.

The best part of this book is the fact that it is only the first arc(story) in the Dark Tower series of comic books. The Long Road Home is the second, Treachery is the third. The fourth is yet to be announced. I hope this continues for a couple years.

This comic book version of Stephen King overall has been an entertaining experience. It sometimes seems that the author goes a little overboard trying to emulate the speech of the characters in the original novel, but it doesn't really detract from the enjoyment of reading the comic. The illustrations are fabulous. I would recommend it to any die-hard Stephen King fan. It was well worth the money.

I had been wanting to buy the entire set in hardback but didnt want to spend too much. This set is great and I couldn't find a better price anywhere, it's about half the cost than what the big bookstore chains charge.

The books arrived sooner that expected which was a great surprise and they were brand new just as promised. =) Overall Excellent buying experience.

Was very pleased with the way this package of books arrived. All sealed in plastic and protected by a thick carboard slipcover.
Seller said these books were new and that is what I received.
Would buy from them again.

We purchased this set of Harry Potter books for my nephews to read while on summer vacation. They absolutely loved it!

If you're in the market for the Potter Books, you definitely want to get either this 6-book set or the 7-book set that's available. It's a great value and works-out to about $17 per book shipped (for the 6-book set). I saw the same set at Barnes & Noble for $170 so this is a steal.

The box that it comes in isn't anything special, and you can throw it out if you'd like, but it does do a nice job of keeping the books protected if you don't feel like putting them on your shelf.

Briggs is super, and her story here does not dissapoint. The other 3, however, were barely disguised fantasy porn. 2% plot, 98% soft core sex scenes. Meh. Not really my thing.

The Briggs story was good, alot of romance though.. i would have liked more "meat" to the stories..
Sunny's story was just erotica..Not much in the way of a story.
I did like Eileen Wilks and Chances book. Chances got kinda confusing but hers usually are..
If you are going to read Cry Wolf, Read this short story by Briggs first otherwise the book will be confusing.. I did and was..

I originally purchased this book for the Patricia Briggs "Alpha and Omega" short story, which begins the tale her novel "Cry Wolf" continues, and was delighted to find it contained characters from her other Mercy Thompson series. Hopefully that will help me endure the wait until "Bone Crossed" becomes available for my Kindle. In the mean time I also discovered Eileen Wilks and enjoyed another Karen Chance story. I'm not familiar wtih the author Sunny, but that is the shortest story in this book so there's plenty to enjoy if you don't get hooked on the last tale.

urban fantasy anthology

contains:
"Alpha and Omega" by Patricia Briggs
"Inhuman" by Eileen Wilks
"Buying Trouble" by Karen Chance
"Mona Lisa Betwining" by Sunny

I bought this anthology for the story by Patricia Briggs, as I had heard that it is set in the same world as her Mercy Thompson series. I am glad that I did, as the story was very good. Anna is the lowest level werewolf in her pack in Chicago. She has been abused and raped by most of the men in the pack, in an effort to break her spirit. Only the lead female, who took her under protection, has kept her from killing herself.

But when serious weirdness starts happening, Anna screws up her courage to call the Marrok, king of all werewolves, at his home in Montana, for help. He sends Charles, his son and executioner, and a powerful alpha in his own right, to Chicago in response. Charles immediately realizes that Anna is an omega wolf - an empath and emotional healer - the rarest sort of wolf, and invaluable. There is no excuse and reason for her pack to have treated her in such a foul fashion.

Anna and Charles must face down her pack together.

Great story, with a new novel recently released about these two characters.

The stories by Wilks and Chance were both faily solid. Wilks needs to backpedal the politics a bit, but otherwise they were both enjoyable stories that dealt with the fae world. I would read other things by both authors if I run into any of their books.

The story by Sunny was a plotless Mary Sue soft core porno fest in the worst tradition of Laurell K. Hamilton. Yuck. It really did not fit with the other three stories in any way, shape, or form. I do not think I would ever be willing to read anything by Sunny ever again - though at least she spells and uses grammar better than Hamilton. LOL.

I only read Patricia Briggs' story to prepare myself for Cry Wolf, Anna and Charles. This story was fantastic, I couldn't put it down.

The audio books are really fun to listen to. If you are busy and are unable to sit down and read the books, this is a great option and you are able to get through them very quickly. Great for the car especailly if you have a long drive. I took the Twilight audio book with me on a road trip I took with my boyfriend and he even admitted he liked it after I got him to listen to it. You won't be disapointed if you buy.

I loved reading the books and I love listening to the audio books even more. I listen everyday over and over. My daughter was reading these books and one day I had to take my other daughter for a 2 hour dental appointment and took Twilight with me to read and I was hooked. For the next 13 days I didn't lay the books down until I was finished with all four.

I was thrilled with the story, however, several of the disc were damaged and I was unable to hear some of the story, had to jump futher on the disc to get them to play. They had permanet prints on the disc, and could not even clean them. The Story is great and a good young person adventure. (I'm old and enjoy this tale too) I paid $26.00 for this with Amazon, so this product was suppose to be new. First time poor quality from Amazon.

The CD's are great. They don't capture every bit of the books, but any Twilight lover should have both the Audio and the books. LOVE THEM!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to these while working. After reading the books, I had to listen. BUY BUY BUY You won't regret it.

The first book A Great and Terrible Beauty in this series is irrevocably my favorite book. I felt the second book Rebel Angels was somewhat lacking. It was a great story but not such a great novel. The Sweet Far Thing is my second favorite. (*Spoiler Alert*) It is, of course, sad that Kartik dies. The reader is left in mourning. This I think is necessary. Truthfully I was saddened but also satisfied by the ending. Had Gemma and Kartik married and had the happily ever after, etc. (which would have proved interesting if not impossible in that era), I would have come away from this trilogy (sadly) even more saddened. It would have been too easy. Neither the second nor the third would have matched up to my great opinion of the first.
Some (if not all) fans may be screaming to wrench my hair out after me saying "it's necessary" for Kartik to die. To make my point short, to end such a beautiful story, it was necessary for the hero to make a sacrifice and in this the reader learns the trueness of their love.

I love this series and the last book is no exception. It is quite long but I was glad for the extra pages as I wanted to spend as much time as possible in this fictitious world. I am a sucker for happy endings so I was upset to hear that perhaps this wasn't going to be a fairy tale ending. I even put reading the book off, nervous that the end would ruin the whole series for me. Luckily I decided to read it, and I am definitely glad. While everything may not end up peachy keen, I think it helps to deliver a subtle message in the book that most YA novels are lacking...*hint - has to do with feminism.* I loved this series and The Sweet Far Thing was a great final installment.

To get one thing out of the way, like a previous commenter, I read YA novels as an adult because I find "adult" literature to be over saturated with promiscuity and explicit sex/violence/drug use. I am interested in a good story, not cheap thrills. I got a little wary when Kartik and Gemma were getting more alone time, but thankfully Ms. Bray did not veer into Harlequin territory. For that, I thank her. As for themes of incest, self-mutilation, drug use, and homosexuality; these things have been present since ancient times. The fact that they were so thoroughly hushed up during the Victorian era does not mean they didn't exist, and I think Ms. Bray introduced them in a consistent and thoughtful manner.

I plowed through this book in four days, so I'm certain I must have enjoyed it. However, I remember my overarching feeling while reading was that of frustration. Ann and Felicity were so selfish and petulant for most of the book, unable to spare any compassion or thought for Gemma's feelings, that I found myself hoping Gemma would just tell them off and go on her merry way. I know Felicity had her reasons but she was particularly odious right up until the last 100 pages or so.

I don't have the anger the younger readers might have over the Kartik storyline because I was never that invested in it. I found that burgeoning romance to be a bit gimmicky and a way to shoehorn the issues of race, caste, and sexual repression into the novel. On the other hand, I never expected Gemma and Simon to end up together, but discovering that Simon was a pawn in someone else's game seemed to steal a lot of the weight from the second novel (Rebel Angels, which I enjoyed very much). It also seemed like an afterthought, given the reason why Gemma split with Simon. If he was really recruited for that purpose, shouldn't he have given the right answer to continue the ruse and gain the Rakshana's end?

More than anything else, I had a problem with the pacing of this book. There were numerous drawn-out passages of "parties" in a moldering castle where the girls always danced in circles while Gemma felt left out, then when Gemma did something like travel all the way from London to Spence into the realms up the mountain to the well of eternity, it would be covered in one paragraph! That got a bit confusing, as one minute Gemma would be in bed and the next talking to Circe and I'd have to re-read to figure out what the heck happened. I had a tough time believing Gemma wouldn't realize Circe could use magic to escape from the well after everything, especially when Circe pressed her repeatedly to say she gave the magic of her own will. The endless waiting for Gemma to make a decision about what to do in the realms was quite annoying as well. She never really did decide, either, it all just sort of happened at the end.

I was ok with Ann and Felicity's endings, they seemed somewhat believable. I was glad Ann grew a spine in time to seize her chance, and Felicity has the fortune and force of personality to make her way. Gemma's ending is the one that bothered me. It seemed to come out of nowhere. Seemed a little cheesy and overwrought. Feminism hooray! All the "corseted minds" stuff seemed pretty forced and Disney-fied. One minute she's looking forward to her debut and altering Grandma's mind for the extra-fancy dress, the next she's done a complete 180.

One final observation, I agree with the reader who noted that the girls got away with far too much. The way Gemma was acting she would have been packed off to a Sanatorium long before the halfway mark. The girls were very closely watched when it served the story, then sent alone into a gypsy camp full of men when that was useful.

I feel like they didn't give Ms. Bray enough time to prune and fine-tune. I'd rather have a great read than one that met the deadline.

I enjoyed the final installment of the Gemma Doyle trilogy very much. I didn't mind the length at all, I savored every minute of it. Gemma has definitely become one of my favorite literary heroines; her independent spirit and desire to do things differently was refreshing during a time when women weren't often taught to have a voice. The Sweet Far Thing, like its predecessors, was once again magical and enchanting, but incredibly heart-wrenching toward the end. Overall, it was a beautiful conclusion to the trilogy, and one of my all-times favorites.

I didn't like the ending to this book for one reason. And that reason made me so sad. Kartik dies! How dare that be the end. I hated that. Yeah I know he died for Gemma and that it was true love. But why couldn't they have made it Felicity or Ann who dies? I did really love the travel to the end. It was filled with ups and downs. You learn more about the realms. This book is twice the romance, twice the advanture and twice the magic. To each his own magic! Fans of the previous books will love the ending to the Gemma Doyle seris. I was dissapointed in the end, but this is still one of my favorite books! People who love Harry Potter and people who love the Twilight saga will love this book. Because the Gemma Doyle seris is a cross between the two, Harry Potter because of the magic and Twilight because of the romance. A Sweet Far Thing has many different twists and suprises. Even though the ending is tragic this a great ending to the seris!

I purchased this book for a friend on the basis of some strong reviews I had seen on Amazon, then got around to reading it myself over the last couple weeks. I immediately called and apologized for inflicting it upon him. To think that Butcher continues with these characters over a dozen more books is incomprehensible to me; it literally makes me wonder if they are all this bad. Fortunately, I'll never find out.

I started to get worried in the first chapter: a gumshoe, scorned by the world and late on his rent, gets a call from a distressed woman offering big money? "Ok," I thought, "That's a little campy, but I'm sure the fact he's a -wizard- will drive this story." Boy, was I wrong. One character after another surfaced, all lacking any original qualities. The hard-nosed lady cop who sticks her neck out for the P.I. and her skeptical partner, the well-spoken mob boss, the silent barman, the nosy reporter, and-- get this-- a rich, desperate housewife. Butcher even manages to make Morgan and Bob uninteresting, and that's tough to do.

The plot begs to be made into a short-lived, low production value television series. An action sequence where Dresden is naked and his date is under the influence of a heavy-duty love potion? Oh, how droll. It doesn't take a genius to figure that the two cases he is working that appear totally unrelated are, , the same case! Even Keanu Reeves would have a tough time issuing a "Whoa".

In short, apart from a couple one-liners and some mildly interesting magical interludes, this is the same gumshoe paperback perpetrated by a thousand other authors. If you have seen or read any other escapades of a low-life private investigator, it's probably better than this, and if it actually does happen to be your first escapade into this genre: don't get discouraged. There actually are better incarnations than Butcher's Harry Dresden. Now, go watch Chinatown.

I wasn't sure what to expect when purchasing this book but having a dry run from my favourite authors I thought I'd give Jim Butcher a try. I felt it was surprisingly high in emotional content for a male author (sorry I know that's a bit of a cliche), I was expecting much more action and less emoting. The result was a very satisfying read, I was able to understand the characters' motives and reactions and was able to become immersed in the story. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy and suspense.

This was such a fun book. It is not perfect, however leaves you rooting for our protagonist, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden.


This was such a fast read for me (I would rip through 20 pages and be like, OH WOW, what time is it?) My only complaint is the final chapter, an epilogue of sorts, that felt out of tone with the descriptive, beautiful language of the rest of the novel. It felt like it ramped up to a climax, delivered, but then fell off the cliff of story-telling. I wished I knew what happened to the people a little more (although there is book 2)

If you are looking for a great sci-fi story, including Vampires, Wizards, Demons, and talking skulls, this is a great book that will have you thinking and guessing right up until the end. You won't want to miss a single page of the action. So much fun. Enjoy!

I really enjoyed this read, and I would definately recomend this book. The positives are many - the book is at times funny, at times suspenseful, at times action filled. It is paced fairly quickly and is an easy read.

The central character, Harry Dresden, is well fleshed out by the time the book comes to a conclusion with many insights into a complex character, and yet much left unexplored for future novels.

There is also much that is unique and original, a particular favorite of mine being the 'spirit' that serves as sort of a computer database for him, and lives inside of an old skull.

The negatives? There are some. I won't give plot spoilers away, but it is not long before who the main bad guy is becomes quite apparent. This is compounded by the utter stupidity of Mr. Dresden in failing to realize this until the near end of the book, despite it's being obvious to any half-way clued in reader.

Also, some of the secondary characters are a little two-dimensional. There is definate hope of them being more fleshed out in future installments (which I will be begining as soon as I finish this write up for that matter). The fact that Dresden himself is fairly well fleshed out by the end leaves the hope and promise that this will happen soon for the leading secondary characters.

All-in-all then it was a very enjoyable read and one that should definately be picked up I would think.

I was recomended this book on goodreads and Im very happy that I read this book! I now have a new favorite series I was totally engrossed from the 1st page I read it in one sitting loved it!I highly recommend this book to fantasy/horror/thriller readers it has a little of everything!
If you like wizards and alot of action with a humorus twist then pick up the 1st in the Dresden Files series and let Harry into your heart!

After delving back into comics and graphic novels from a 15 year hiatus, I embarked on a quest to find books that would suit a mature reader in his 20s and lo and behold this is such a book! I had read the overwhelmingly positive reviews left for "Preludes and Nocturnes" and decide to give it a go, and boy am I glad I did! I have to say when I opened the book initially I was a bit put off by the art style but after going through the first two issues in the book I began to appreciate the beauty of the style because it suits the story so well.

As far as the story it is quite compelling for the most part but a couple aren't so exciting. My personal favorite stories are the ones involving the character, Dr. Destiny which are truly a twisted set of tales! I also really enjoyed how Gaiman (the writer) seamlessly intertwines several different mythologies together such as judeo-christian and some Dante and Milton stuff...very interesting. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the 2nd and 3rd volume of the series if they can capitalize on the great foundations left by "Preludes and Nocturnes" then I'll be hooked! Definitely pick this up if you like fantasy or literature!

Blood and Rain
Blood for the Masses

As originally published by SavageNight E-zine

The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes, Volume 1
The Sandman: The Dolls House, Volume 2
The Sandman: Dream Country, Volume 3

Written by
Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by
Sam Keith, Mike Drinzenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Buchalo, Michael Zulli, Steve Parkhouse, Charles Vess, Colleen Doran

Reviewed By
B.L.Morgan

5 Stars

After reading Sandman 1, 2 & 3, I am now officially a fan of Neil Gaiman. I don't usually like to be a fan of anyone. Gaiman is an exception. he proved to me in these volumes that comic books can be elevated to a fine art form through inventive storytelling and dialogue that is both poetic and a perfect fit to the scene and action taking place.

The artwork in all three volumes was extremely consistent considering how many different artists work was on display. The illustration style reminded me of the Creepy and Eerie magazine that I grew up loving in the 1970's. One thing that was extremely impressive were the proportions of the people and creatures in these books. There were none of the enormous [...] for every female and huge muscles for every male that we see in most comic books. These people looked realistic. And whenever there were animals from the real world in a story, they looked like they came from the real world.

This gave the stories a lot of extra sting when something happened to that character. It's like when Spiderman gets knocked through a wall. Well, you see all those muscles and figure, if I was built like that, that wouldn't hurt me all that much.

But when you see The Sandman in the first story, looking all skinny and scrawny, locked up in a glass cage that he's been in for decades, you feel sorry for him. That's because he looks human. He looks like one of us.

The first book: Preludes And Nocturnes, tells us how The Sandman got to be who he is. It tells of how he lost all his magical powers and how he regained them. It was very interesting, very good reading.

The second book: The Dolls House, takes us farther into the mythos of who The Sandman is and how at different times he's affected history. A few of the stories do not directly feature The Sandman, but they are really fine stories anyway.

The third book: The Dream Country, takes the series in directions that no one can see coming. Some are set in the modern day. Others are in medieval Europe. One is even told through the eyes of a cat. All the stories are thought provoking.

If you've never read any of The Sandman books I'd highly recommend you find one and take a look. Neil Gaiman is a master storyteller. Let his Sandman take you on a guided tour through the Dark Land of Dreams.

I love the Sandman series. All of them are clever and well written. the art is beautiful... there's not just very much wrong with this series.

After reading some reviews and being told this was in the Pantheon of graphic novelizations, I figured I would give it a shot.

I think what I have learned is that I like the idea of graphic novels, but when push comes to shove, I prefer to actually read a good book instead.

This collection (Vol 1) is OK, but I just couldn't justify spending close to $100 to get all of the rest of these and read the whole thing.

Thus, this review is a warning to those in my shoes who aren't familiar with the concept. Don't buy all of them at once... Get one, then decide.

This piece of fiction is one of my favorites of any genre, not just graphic novels or comics. Sandman is compelling and original in its characters especially in the way Neil Gaiman weaves myth and traditions into an unfolding scene. There are very few books I can read or movies I watch were I can't either predict what will happen next or predict the end. With Sandman Preludes I couldn't predict anything and it was great to be taken on a trip with dream.

Which brings me to the five reasons for 5 stars:

1) The showdown in between Chorozone, the High Duke of the Eighth Circle and the Dreamlord. This was a very, very interesting twist on the old "shoot out at the OK coral." I loved it.

2) The reaction John Constantine has to Dream and then their working together to find dust in the second quest. Very original.

3) Mr Burgess, the occult leader, wants to control death. (who doesn't) He ends up failing and ends up unintentionally bringing a sleep sickness onto the world. This is a twist in storytelling I hadn't seen before.

4) The return of Doctor Destiny, is very interesting. But be warned this is an extremely dark and disturbing place. He has the finally element the Dreamlord seeks to restore order and it gets all screwed up.

5) How weirdly indifferent, yet human the main character and his sister are. Even though they are not humans you will recognize them and their compassion, however, that side is juxtaposed against cold, unfeeling or maybe unknowing side of inhumanity. In the final chapter you meet her, the one none of us what to meet. Death.

This is not just a light reading comic book, this is a dark graphic novel. You get taken on a trip, an adventure worthy of a vivid Dreamlord. It has some humor but I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone feeling dark already.

The art work, ink colors and backgrounds are all fantastic and only serve to enhance the story. This is a great graphic novel!

While I will not deny that this book is as fun of a read as any of the Potter's series, its weaknesses are hard to not recognize next to the other six novels. The novel sticks pretty closely to the formula of the Sorcerer's Stone. While it has all of the workings of a Rowling novel it does have a tendency to fall a little flat. The character of Professor Lockhart, while cute, pales in comparison to the other Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers (I'm excluding Quirrel from the Sorcerer's Stone because he is by far my least favorite). Also, this book seems less interested in furthering the story of Harry Potter unlike the remainder of the series. It is virtually a story within itself and could probably be skipped and the series would still be fully comprehensible. While I still give it four stars because it is an entertaining read, it does feel mainly to be a filler. It almost feels like Rowling was not quite sure where the series was going to go with this novel. The epic-ness of the story really begins with Prisoner of Azkaban and capitalizes in Goblet of Fire. Still worth reading but not nearly an signifcant as the remainder of the series.

I am quite pleased with this product. The quality of the sound and the packaging was wonderful. With this audio it has thrown me into the world of Harry Potter. It is as if I am there experiencing this every moment. I intend on purchasing each one of these so that I can escape the muggle world and leave my cares behind if only for a few moments

Harry continues his adventures as he learns more about his background. This is just as entertaining as the first novel, and was definitely able to keep my attention.

Summary: 3.5 to 4 stars
Harry Potter's second year at Hogwarts is chronicled in the book. The adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermeine are documents for everyone's enjoyment. The book is a quick-read, enjoyable and a good follow-up to the first Harry Potter book. You can tell J. K. Rowling has created an interesting world that you want to know more about.

Setting:
The strength of the Harry Potter series is in the new fantasty world created by J. K. Rowling -- a twist on the normal and fey world...magically with humans and beasties vs. non-magical people. The book does an ok job of describing the world; the scene designers and artists for the movies have done a tremendous job of filling in this world. If you would not have the context of the movies, the books descriptions seem lacking to me.

Characters:
The character development is interesting and decently done through the mixture of the characters actions in a wide range of moral dilemnas and dangerous situations. The use of consequences for the characters actions is lightly done but it is nice to see that being done still.

Plot:
The plot is tight and well-thought out. The story is linear but it makes sense for the target age range for the books. Clearly, J. K. Rowling has developed a complex story line with this just being an element on the storyline -- the develop of background comes through.

Action:
The action is quick and to the point -- a nice feature for a book where you want to find out more about the setting as well as have the characters advance along in school to get more developed, more interesting/multi-faceted and see how the dynamics of various characters evolve.

Prose:
The prose style is clean, simple and effective. The simplicity vs the effectiveness of the prose shows a good command of the English language and a distinctive enjoyable style. It is not a great literary work by any stretch of the imagination but one does not expect that from this type of book.

Summary:
Setting: 3.5 to 4 stars -- I would give it 5 stars but only because of the world created and desribed in the movies but the book descriptions are thin and not well developed.
Plot: 4 stars -- good for a child's book
Characters: 3.5 stars
Action: 3 stars
Prose: 3 to 3.5 stars

This, the second book in the Harry Potter series, is better than the first, but not as good as the others. But that is just my opinion. In this book, Harry is beginning to wonder if he belongs at Hogwarts after a series of unfortunate events. I won't say anything else, exept that the series is a must read.

Before They Are hanged (lower case "h" mistake on cover) continues the story of 6 rag tag individuals traveling to the end of the world. Great fight scenes continue, Joe Abercrombie describing the landscape like a Cormac McCarthy novel and the same humor we've come to expect. No substantial new characters. What this trilogy really needs is a map.
"A good cook was almost as good as a fighter. Not Here. Bayaz could just about get his tea boiled, Quai could get a biscuit out of a box on a good day. Logen doubted Jezal would have known which way the pot went up and he reckoned Ferro was used to eating her food raw. Perhaps while it was still alive".
The reason Bayaz assembled this group is explained somewhat during their journey (all except one) and the fight scenes in Aulcus are like a scene in the video game Gears of War.
West is still frustrated about the group he's with and protecting the clueless Prince. Lord Marshall Burr and whole whole indigestion thing does get as tiring as Grim always saying nothing more than, "Uh".
Quai is Bayaz' apprentice, but has less lines than the Navigator.
Logen asks if anyone knows any stories while they're all together around the campfire and Quai tells a brutally depressing tale about feuding brothers and sommoning magic from the other side which is forbidden and ultimately destroys an entire civilization then asking Logen if he liked the story. "I'd been hoping for something with a few more laughs, but I'll take what's offered". Not much of the first book is *re-explained* so reading the first book is a must and for those who liked The Blade Itself, you won't be diappointed.

Mature, fantasy readers must read this. If you haven't read The First Law trilogy, go buy it. Now. Abercrombie has an amazing style, characters and plot development, and more importantly...the entire series doesn't have a single character or word more than it needs. Absolutely the best I've read, in any genre, for a long time.

The 2nd book in the series is really a continuation of the first, and should be viewed that way, rather than as a stand-alone book.
Character development continues and there are hints of other forces and players as the prime group struggles halfway around the world to recover an artifact of great power.
More and more it becomes evident that each character has a dark side, and who is good or bad becomes a matter of viewpoint. Each person is the hero of their own story - trying to do the best they can, but is it best to surrender a city and live under foreign rule, or suffer a long siege, starving, when it is clear the defender will eventually fail with great loss of life and the city be sacked. Dead hero or live chicken ?

I can't say this enough. Buy this series. I said the first book was one of the best fantasy novels I have EVER read (and I have read a few) but this one is even better. It prompted me to A) write a review, which is a rarity for me and B) write the author, which is unheard of for me.

This book was actually very well written--the best of the three in the trilogy; I enjoyed the inlay of humor even during serious scenes. The character development is flavorful in its variety--several good characters well developed and completely different than the next and these characters are brought to new places where you can see their personalities effected by their circumstances. I must admit the profanity got me down, I'm such a prude, and that's why I originally knocked it from a 5-star to a 4 1/2, but it got shanked down to a 2 because the last book of the trilogy was awful, simply awful.

What do I mean awful? Five main plots/subplots and only one of them turned out worth the ink used on the paper, and that one was just okay, not great. Personally, I just hate it when a good story gets a lousy ending...ruins the whole thing for me...makes me sorry I bothered with the first two books even though they are pretty darn good. It was so bad, that it inspired me to write this review, and I don't usually write reviews. I'd go into details, but I hate spoilers worse than I hate horrible, HORRIBLE endings.

But if you can get over a LAME ending to the trilogy, don't mind an f-word thrown here and there, a very explicit sex scene thrown in the mix (although I don't mind that, I know some do) then read this book, because by itself, it is good stuff, leaves you wanting more, so you'll buy book three and it will SERIOUSLY crap on your book reading experience just like it did mine.

Michael Shaara's magnificent historical novel on the Battle of Gettysburg is history at its finest. Shaara gives us a study of leadership which gives us a personal perspective of courage and leadership. Union Colonel Joshua Chamberlain shows us a man of books thrust into war and how he handles a very critical moment when the fate of the battle hangs on what he decides. We witness Confederate General Longstreet struggle with personal tragedy and the curse of being strategically ahead of his time. The study of leadership on both sides is of such quality that today many collegiate R.O.T.C. programs have made Killer Angels a required text. A must read for any Civil War buff.

Okay i got into the civil war when i was an adolescent -- i loved the ken burns book/documentary and glory... I read the killer angels and loved it... granted i was twelve... i guess i wasn't into characters, and didn't see when they were poorly developed... i liked the military history, but didn't know that the author's portrayal of history was indeed FICTIONAL...

Zoom to today... i study the civil war in college now... i recently read the killer angels again... but i shouldn't have... i should have left my childhood affinity for that book alone... the re-read was a disappointment for several reasons:

#1 - I get into the technicalities of military history and the importance of certain troop movements & fights, however i think some of the most important details are wrong, or omitted... I know this is fiction, but really, it seems like it's trying to be historically accurate... but it falls short of that by succumbing to the same old biases and embellishments that plague Civil War history... For instance, I believe the significance of the Iron Brigade's fights on the first day were the fiercest and more historically important to the outcome of the battle than the other two days (just look at the 70% casualty rate). In comparison, to day 1 fighting, Chamberlain & the 20th Maine's fight was a skirmish. The actions of dead Western (Midwestern) men mentioned briefly in this fictional story, were the reason many a Maine man survived to tell their tall tales. Also the significance of Reynolds actions, the politics of rank between Hancock and Meade & him so integral to the Gettysburg story, are ignored as well. There are so many really touching, tragic & dramatic stories in Gettysburg, but this book focuses on few of them.

#2 - This is a poorly written piece of commercial literature. There's no real insight into any characters. The dialogue is laughable.


I will give it two stars, only because there is still a soft spot for it in my heart, because i read it when i was young... same with movie Gettysburg... just watched that again recently... ugghhhh.... everything bad and wrong about that book was magnified in the movie... i should have left my fond memories of that movie alone too....

I recommend: The Iron Brigade (Alan T Nolan), In the Bloody Railroad Cut at Gettysburg (Lance J Herdegen), and Noah Trudeau's thorough chronological study of Gettysburg... also, Herdegen has a brand new book out called "Those damn black hats" about the Iron Brigade at Gettysburg.

This book is great. The point of view is that of the other person. I had to buy this book for AP US History and I don't regret it!

Michael Shaara isn't a well-known figure in American literature. He spent most of his writing career producing short stories, mostly science fiction. He only wrote three novels while he was alive, the current book, a boxing novel titled "The Broken Place" and a futuristic doomsday thriller titled "The Herald". The boxing novel was critically successful but didn't sell well, and "The Herald" was an abject failure. He had one novella, "For the Love of the Game" which was published after his death, and made into a sappy Kevin Costner movie. However, among historical novelists, especially those writing about the Civil War, Shaara has a stellar reputation, right up there with Stephen Crane. "The Red Badge of Courage gets assigned to students to read sometimes, I'm sure, but "The Killer Angels" gets assigned also. The question is, why does the book have such a stellar reputation? The answer is because it's a very good book, was ground-breaking when it was written, and is relevant even now.

"The Killer Angels" re-examines the Battle of Gettysburg. The author doesn't recount the course of the whole battle, instead focusing on a few of the main participants in the fighting, and what they saw and did. On the Confederate side, he spends most of his time discussing Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate army, and his chief subordinate, James "Pete" Longstreet. On the Union side, the high command of the Union army is almost absent from the plot. George Meade, the commander of the Union army, has only a few lines in the story and does really nothing. Winfield Scott Hancock, Meade's chief subordinate, is a minor character too. Instead, the action focuses on more junior officers: a cavalry general named John Buford, primarily, and a college-professor-turned-army -colonel named Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Buford--without definite orders to do so--started the fighting by opposing the advance of Confederate troops into Gettysburg. Chamberlain helped defend Little Round Top, the hill that anchored the southern end of the Union line, on the second day of the fighting. These two events, Buford starting the fight and Chamberlain saving the right flank, are the focus of the first two-thirds of the book. They are followed by Pickett's Charge, which is the climax of the book.

"The Killer Angels" has had critics over the years, those who don't like the writing style and those who don't like the liberties that Shaara took with the characters. He *did* make a few outright errors: Buford's men, for instance, weren't armed with repeating rifles. Shaara did something else, though, something significant. He changed the historical narrative, at least in emphasis, considerably. Prior to the publication of "The Killer Angels" no one paid much attention to John Buford's role in the battle. It was usually noted that he started the battle, but Buford got little credit for what followed. Anyone who knows anything about the course of the Battle of Gettysburg knows that the terrain heavily favored the Union defense against the Confederate attacks, even after the Confederates drove the Union from their original defensive positions. Here, finally, Buford got the recognition he deserved, and historians since are obliged at least to explain why they don't think he deserves credit, though most instead think he deserves it.

Also, the role of the spy, Harrison, was only briefly touched upon prior to this book. Almost nothing is known about Harrison, with even his first name being uncertain. What research has been done, what knowledge there is, can be traced back to people hungry for more information because of Shaara's book. There have actually been articles written discussing Harrison's identity (with photos of people who *might* be him). He's now entered the pantheon of minor characters of the Civil War, along with George St. Leger Grenfell, Abner Doubleday, the Comte de Polignac, and Hiram Berdan. Harrison can thank Shaara for this.

Third, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was a celebrity in late 19th-Century Maine. He was governor for multiple terms (the Democrats conceded that he was too popular to oppose, and endorsed him). He was an upper-level educational reformer, attempting to turn his school (Bowdoin College) from a school for preachers into what became a modern, liberal arts campus. But Chamberlain fell into obscurity in the early 20th century, and though there was actually a book written about the 20th Maine (Chamberlain's regiment at Gettysburg) in the 60s, almost no one, even Civil War buffs, had ever heard of him. For whatever it's worth, "The Killer Angels" made Chamberlain famous, in ways he probably never anticipated.

This is, in spite of its flaws, a truly great novel. It influenced the writing of other historical fiction considerably. I'm sure someone could discover a separate, earlier instance of the multiple-points-of-view narrative style on a battlefield, but I'm unaware of any, and regardless of that, "The Killer Angels" popularized it, so that almost no one tries the old single narrator style any more. Shaara's son Jeff and Philip Crocker ("To Make Men Free") use the same style and shamelessly copy Jeff's dad. Crocker dedicated his first book to Shaara, and acknowledges his debt at the front of the book. "The Killer Angels", however, is still the best.

If you want to put a face to the American Civil War start here. Sits on my nightstand and have read it over a dozen times to date.