Science Fiction Fantasy Books

I have been reading this series to my four children at bed time. It has captivated their attention as well as mine. We catch ourselves reading up to seven chapters some evenings. John Flannagan does a superior job holding our attention, plunging us into the story to the point that we don't want to put the book down. This is the second book in the series. It is well written. It puts my children on the edge of their beds, and I am captivated as well. Mr. Flannagan, is fantastic with character development. You feel as if you know Halt, Will, Horace, Baron Arald and Sir Rodney on a personal level. My children often reflect on qualities they share with the characters. The story line heightens with intrigue in every chapter. This is a must read series for young readers that have enjoyed the likes of Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia.

This whole series is absolutely fantastic. I would recommend it for ages 9 & up for level of understanding and interest. The books build on each other with a sort of "to be continued" at the end of each one, so make sure to get all together otherwise you'll be making multiple trips to the store or library. Although you won't find it cheaper anywhere else as Amazon has the best price.
The books are short and entertaining enough to be great as a vacation read for adults, yet just the right amount of pages to keep a boy happily engaged reading it for hours.
Each story follows the young hero, Will, who learns the values of integrity, hard-work and dedication. The characters throughout each of the stories are believable and thoroughly interesting. This author knows what he's doing! I won't disclose the story itself because Amazon has the "search inside" that gives you just the right amount of reading to spark an interest.

I haven't read it myself, but my 12-year-old son (who I almost always have to continually prompt to read something) was picking this up everyday on his own and reading much longer than he is usually willing to. This was not the case with the first book in the series. He hasn't been this into a book since Harry Potter, and I've tried quite a few. I only hope the rest of the books in this series are as engaging.

I couldn't just stop at The Ruins of Gorlan. I will read the entire series. I like the author's acknowledgement that ordinary young people can rise to the occasion and be brave and heroic. In this story Will and Horace must travel on a special mission to the neighboring villages of the kindgom to assess the fate of the villagers. They face constant danger. New characters are introduced that add interesting twists and dimensions to the storyline. In the end, Will is taken prisoner by a viking clan, and Halt has vowed to find him.

This book was incredible. So much action and events happen in the one book. Some times, when authors try to cram lots of stuff in one book, it comes out okay. BUT, this book is the exception. This book makes you think about it all day! You can't get it off your mind. This is one of the best books, I've ever read.

It actually helps fill in some of the tiny, tiny gaps in the story. simply because words carry that innate ability, but pictures leave it up to interpretation.

This novelization of the new film The X-FIles: I Want To Believe is an excellent companion piece to the movie now in theaters for a price that's less than a movie ticket. The novel follows the story of the film closely, with a few additional interesting scenes and lines of dialogue. If you were confused about the plot, this book clears things up. It also gives some insight into character motivations that might not have been apparent from the film. It would be great if Chris Carter included some of these scenes in an extended edition DVD release of the movie. Definitely worth reading this book either way though.

First of all, I loved the movie. And I do believe it was misunderstood by the wider audience who expected something completely different. The movie rocked, no matter what some critics may say.

Now, about the book. I'm torn. I'll start with the pros:
- the book is extremely faithful to the movie, what is especially notable as it was being written while the movie was being shot. When you read it, you can see the movie playing in your mind's eye. That's nice.
- There is one (if I'm not mistaken) extra scene and a handful of other scenes extended.
- Adds more clarification to some elements of the plot that might have escaped the audience, especially during the first viewing of the movie (and all you x-philes know what I mean ;))
- Tries to tie The X Files history (Samantha, William) to the events taking place in the movie.
Ok... And now cons..
- I can't honestly say the book is well written. Some sentences and descriptions are actually bordering on being childish, as if I was reading a 10-year-old's essay on the movie.
- Weird syntax and use of italics. Bad editing job. I'm pretty sure there are grammar mistakes. I was actually surprised to see the author having received some awards. Hopefully the writing he received them for was better.
- The paragraphs that are not part of the story, but supposed to explain X Files history seem like they were thrown in at the very end, just for the heck of it. They do not read well.

Over all, I don't regret buying the book. It'll be nice to reach for it sometime in the future. Good treat for the fans, especially after such a long period of depravation.

I agree with the previous poster that this book is VERY similar to the movie that came out. I would say it is almost like reading the transcript of the movie plot. It is a good deal considering the cost of a movie ticket is rising and the price of the book is indeed cheaper. The book is less ambiguous compared to the movie. I did leave the theater a little confused with the whole Russian scientist plot, but the book explains it better. Also, for those who missed the scene after the credits are rolled at the end...the book has a spoken dialogue that actually addresses that rather than what Mulder ends up saying to Scully in the movie. There are a lot of shipper moments in the book that may have been overlooked in the movie. I do hope these extra details are included in the DVD when that comes out. Overall, good read!

Le Guin proves her literary prowess once again in this brilliant rethinking of Virgil's classic The Aeneid. With a beautiful simplicity of prose, Le Guin recreates the world of Lavinia, destined mother of the Roman Empire, and gives voice to a character who lacked a single line of speech. This book is gorgeous, and I could not read it fast enough.

There is a scene in Aeneid X where Juno pleads with Jupiter on behalf of her protégé Turnus who is doomed to die: "Change for the better the plans you have made for him - for you can do it!" (...et melius tua qui potes orsa reflectas).
Only Jupiter can change a preordained fate. Other deities can delay, hinder or help, but the outcome cannot be changed.
Jupiter can do it - but so can the poet. Vergil, who invented fates for all the characters in his epic, could have changed them at will. He invented Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus, destined to marry the foreigner Aeneas rather than an Italian prince, and become the founding mother of the Roman race. But he left her unfinished, a mere name, a shadowy figure without a voice.

But now Ursula Le Guin plucks her from obscurity and gives her a voice. Young Lavinia tells us how she encountered the shade of Vergil ("my poet") at the sacred spring where her father goes to consult the ancestral oracle. He speaks to her, tells her about the epic he wrote. He regrets some of the omissions and misjudgments he made: she corrects his misconceptions. He asks her to tell him about her life in pre-Roman Latium, before the arrival of the Trojans - and thus we are drawn into a Bronze Age culture we know very little about.
Le Guin combines a flair for historical fantasy with the skills required for anthropological research. (No surprise here: she is the daughter of Alfred Kroeber, the anthropologist).

The gods of the Graeco-Roman pantheon mean nothing to Lavinia. Juno and Venus, the rival goddesses of the Aeneid, who constantly interfere with the action, are nothing but foreign names to her. She believes in omens, in oracles, in the spirits and wisdom of ancestors. She has a strong sense of 'fas' and 'nefas', of right and wrong. She delights in the daily rituals entrusted to her - tending the storerooms, minding the servants, preparing sacrifices, spinning and weaving : the realm of the penates, the household gods.

In her retelling of the main events of the Aeneid, Le Guin follows the Vergilian text pretty closely. Lavinia learns from Vergil what happened before; but after the Trojans have landed, she becomes a participant in the action. Knowing what fate has in store for her, she never wavers in her conviction that the prophecy must be fulfilled. She is not meek - she asks plenty of questions and voices her own opinion. But her 'pietas' (the same quality that distinguishes Aeneas) overcomes all obstacles.

Queen Amata's infatuation with Turnus, her scheming against Latinus and Lavinia, her mad Bacchic revels in the hills above the city are spun into colorful episodes.
There are touches of whimsy: Turnus brings Lavinia a monkey as a gift. Euryalus wears a red Phrygian cap...

Vergil's Aeneid ends with the slaying of Turnus - to the dismay of generations of readers who would have liked to see the wedding of Aeneas and Lavinia. Well, Le Guin gives us the wedding, and more: Aeneas builds a city, Lavinium, begets a son, Silvius, and rules wisely, together with Latinus, over his new tribe. Trojan warriors marry Latin women, babies are born. True love blooms in the marriage of the Trojan leader and the Latin princess.

I would have liked it to end here, but Le Guin presses on: Aeneas dies an inglorious death at the hands of a cattle thief whom he has spared ('parcere subiectis' - spare the defeated - had been one of the injunctions given him by his father Anchises; he had ignored the warning when he killed Turnus). There is trouble with Ascanius, Aeneas' Trojan son. Lavinia is exiled and raises her son Silvius in the woods (as envisioned by Anchises), but in the end, Silvius becomes king, and Lavinia is restored to queenly status.
'Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem' - it was so much trouble to found the Roman race.

At the very end of the novel, we realize that Lavinia, the girl, the woman who told us her story, who seemed so real, so down-to-earth and level-headed, has become a spirit herself, a ghost whispering to us from the oak tree near the sacred spring.
She has attained immortality.

This is a wonderful adventure. A womans view of life, love, marriage and war. Ursula LeGuin give a voice to a character not previously heard from.

I probably would have enjoyed this book had i ever read the Aeneid, but the author tells us enough of the story to fill in the blanks.

Two reasons I enjoyed the book. First, the language is beautiful. Le Guin writes graceful, evocative prose. Second, the author has evoked a far distant culture with a respect for their beliefs and a careful attention to details of their lives. Lavinia, though definitely of her time and place, is at the same time a real and sympathetic figure.

For Lavinia, the heroine of this novel, for a long time, love, or the possibility of it seems lost until she meets Aeneas, the handsome and virile Trojan hero, a foreigner from the other side of the world who sails up the Tiber into a country that will soon become Italy and whom Lavinia is eventually fated to marry. A fully independent spirit and a king's daughter, Lavinia is also a marriageable virgin, obedient and ready to a man's will.

We first meet Lavinia living a charmed and mercurial existence, keeping the storerooms of the Kings house while she frolics in the meadows of Latium with her best friend Silvia. Lavinia's ageing father Latinus is devoted to her and she provides a solace for him, but her mother, Amata harbors a bitter resentment towards her daughter after illness claimed the lives of Lavinia's two infant brothers. For years Lavinia has gotten by without the love of her mother, a woman who has buried herself in the crimp of loathing and a type of desolate scornful fury.

Fuelled by grief Amata, wild with her manner and imperious, while also willful and hot-tempered sees a match with her nephew, the splendidly handsome blue-eyed Rutulian King Turnus who arrives, well-made and muscular, young man with rife with "hot blood running through his veins." Already wooed and won by him with his tales of exploits, and triumphs and skirmishes, Amata fanatically pressures for a marriage even as Lavinia becomes a shrinking silent maiden. Lavinia readily admits that she hadn't given any thought to love and marriage for "my realm was virginity and I was at home in it." Feeling false, frightened, incredulous, scornful and alone with her mother silently turning her rage against her, Lavinia's marriage to Turnus seems inevitable, "to accept another suitor would be to bring civil war to the Kingdom." Turnus has to win and be the master and he would never let another man have woman he had claimed.

But then in a sacred pace, where the stinking sulfur water comes up from under the earth to make pools on the earth, a wraith appears in the form of a dying man who had not yet been born and who knows about Lavinia's past and her future. As he buries deep into her soul he tells Lavinia of the prophecy that a man is coming and that she would marry a true hero. The man is Aeneus, but he is no ordinary man having led his people for seven years across the land and sea. Now he is bringing his gods with him, and guided by omens and oracles, he is destined to rule the whole country and to found a glorious everlasting empire.

But Lavinia also learns of another prophecy, of a great city that lies in ruins, utterly destroyed and burned, the earth itself burned with "black oily clouds," and that her beloved Aeneas must die only after three years and widow her. Yet it is in this sacred world, full of gods, and portents of great powers and presences that Lavinia faces her most difficult choice: being loyal to her true love, the hero or the poet, her husband, the beautiful man whose flesh her flesh encloses, or listening to the other: a whisper in the shadows, a virgin's dream or vision, yet the author of all her being. Thrown into a fuming pot of petty feuds, both Lavinia and Aeneus find themselves at the mercy of the machinations of Amata and Turnus, both hero and heroine caught up in an epic battle and quickly embroiled in a clash of Turnus' own ambitions to rule and his desire to be with the woman who will cement his power.

Of course the final epic battle is drenched in blood and the sweat of Etruscans, Greeks and Trojans with armies of men with their swords rising and falling, the horrible noise of soldiers screaming even as both Aeneas and Turnus try to match their strength to the bitter and bloody end. Le Guinn paints these scenes with a type of hellish and heroic grandeur complete with battlement sieges, slaughter and rape, slave-taking, towns burning, and also men who rant and boast and then kill more men. In the end, the fury of bloodlust is overcome in battle, turning Aeneas reluctantly into a mindless indiscriminate slaughterer.

Even when the delicate truce is broken, the poor Lavinia must still follow her fate as the poet had told it. With bees that writhe in a cloud of smoke, humming and droning, Lavinia's blazing hair, scattering parks and smoke, and Aeneas' shield with its mysterious foreshadowing of mighty buildings and endless wars, the fates in this novel continually spin out their measured thread of what was to be. Holding fast to Virgil's own epic poem of the Trojan warrior, this book is awash in myth and legend and delivers some powerful messages about the nature of honor, heroism, loyalty and love. Mike Leonard August 08.

I am currently on the 5th book in the series (I am hooked), but this has been my favorite so far. I love the characters! I felt like I got a little closer to them when I read this one.

Ok, bad - I wasn't really ever into the Vampire Erotica. Thankfully it only seemed to crop up once per novel a bit like it was the "obligatory erotica". Of course, that's the genre the book is supposed to be in so it's not like I wasn't warned or had the opportunity to not read it - nothing I consider offensive just not my thing. The good part of that aspect was, it seemed fairly well done and not excessive.

The good - there was quite a bit of it mostly in the stories. Some items were a bit abbreviated but it wasn't really until around the 5th book of the series that I began to catch on to the overall story line of this series. No, not dense, it's just that in the earlier books much of the story had the feel of "fire and forget"...complete stories that had a feeling of being done. I'd call it a lack of cliffhanger endings - again, however, the stories felt like they hadn't been condensed at the end nor were dozens of pages left on the editing room floor because it was too long. Call it "just right".

A few elements didn't fit well but seemed to be things that had to happen to get the main protagonist where she needed to be for the next book in the series. I'd label one of those as the death of her Vampire Boyfriend. It could be I was just disappointed because it seemed like a relationship that was intended to last, but it clearly made her available for what happened in the new few hundred pages (including in succeeding books).

The story line had potential to be exciting, and the book started off with action. Unfortunately the author developed the lead character, Rachel Morgan, into a sex starved witch who evaluated each male (elf, werewolf, vampire, even demon) she encountered from a sexual standpoint. It was really annoying when it became so pervasive, maybe she was writing to other women.

Additionally, the author allowed the lead character to squeak out of mistakes through luck instead of clever intelligence. And the constant whining by the lead character of negative events that were affecting her also annoyed me. I wanted the lead character to take charge and develop into a strong person, and kept listening to the book because of tantalizing moments of action in which the heroin succeeded in overcoming the challenge of the moment.

Still frustrating waiting for those moments, and having to listen to the constant whining and sexual evaluations of the males in the book.

I love the concept behind this series but, it seems to me that Rachel just gets dumber by the minute. How many deals can one person make with demons. It seems that she never thinks about the consequences of her actions. She only deals with the aftermath of what she has done after the fact.

I am not even going to comment on the "Ivy" factor. I feel bad for her and I don't think that Rachel takes into account her feelings or how the way she flaunts her "male" relationships in front of her affects her.

I do hope that as the series continues she finally gets a clue!

This series is a wonderful surprise. I read this in one gulp of fresh air - it's humorous, very real and the characters are so detailed that you actually feel that you know them in your real life!
So many reviews here compare it to Anita Blake, but I read the first few books in that series - and NOTHING compares to Rachel Morgan.
First off, Rachel Morgan is a much more complex individual, and Harrison creates a world of characters that you actually care for. In Anita Blake, I didn't feel any sympany for her or anything bad that happened to her . Moreover, the story is so stupidly plain and simple that leaves no room for imagination.
I also tried to read the Dresden files (read 2 books) - AWEFUL!!!!!!
The closest I could find to the style of writing and the intricate little things that happen all around in the book is the Sookie Stackhouse series which I also am thorouly enjoying right now. Can't wait for the next book in the Rachel Morgan series!!!

These books sparked my daughters intrest in reading chapter books. I started reading them with her in kindergarten and by first grade she was reading them on her own. I would read each chapter as she completed it, then ask her questions. She has really good comprehension of these books and lots of laugher while she is reading. She is a rising third grader now and still enjoys the Fairy book series.

NIMH is a great book for young readers (11-13). The book is a great story about survival, sacrifice, and challenged me to root for a mob of rats.

Mrs. Frisby is a very sympathetic character that shows that regardless of species in literature, moms are moms, and they'll do whatever it takes to take care of their family.

I think that young readers will enjoy this book, but older teenage readers could balk at the subject rather wanting to read something more intuned to their interests.

The cover art shipping now (July '08) is the beige one in the alternate images -- a useless and dull cover compared with the exciting view of Mrs. Frisby and the crow Jeremy against blue on display at this page. I wish I'd bought this in a bookstore instead, and might have had another choice of cover art. At least the interior art is the excellent classic version.

I've read this book over and over again since I was a kid and it continues to be one of my favorites.

O'Brien, who frequents the sci-fi-esque world, has totally translated it into a surprisingly belieavable world dominated by rats, crows, and other critters of the woodland. Fused with this is the concept of... lab rats, held in captivity by the very real National Institute of Mental Health.

Simply put, this is a story about a widowed mother mouse who needs to help her family. It's charming and exciting enough, but it all becomes deeper as she involves herself with the one group that can help her--The Rats of NIHM.

Here the story becomes a stunning fantasy and a close look at how people (vermin or human) act and think. In some ways it's a social commentry, but first and foremost it is just an incredible story.

What a fabulous story! This is truly a book for animal lovers of all ages.

I'm not sure why I got it, but Mom got me a comic book trade paperback of "The Secret of NIMH" when I was a kid. Later, my aunt got me "Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH, but I didn't really get started into it. I saw "The Secret of NIMH" for sale at my store a while ago, and decide to read the book instead. What a joy!

First, I love rats. I used to have eight of them. Why I didn't give them a NIMH name, I don't know, didn't think of it. The rats of NIMH are a small stretch. Rats are smart, charming, social animals, each with their own personality traits and a lot of fun to watch.

And the story is charming and fun, appealing to the child and the adult in me. It has a real sense of discovery, achievement, adventure, and worldview.

Mrs. Frisby is a widowed field mouse with a big problem. Her youngest son is very ill, but Farmer Fitzgibbons is getting ready to plow his fields soon, and she must leave her home. Contemplating her problem, she meets a crow who advises her to consult an owl, who in turn sends her to the rats under the rosebush. When the rats realize they have a common bond, they agree to help her.

The mysterious rats, years ago, escaped from a lab that injected them with drugs that greatly extended their lives and dramatically increased their intelligence. The rats resettled into the rosebush, and are preparing to move again. A schism has arisen in their ranks. Meanwhile, Mrs. Frisby still needs help.

After reading, I may give the movie another go. I haven't seen it in almost 15 years.

Ms. Kenyon owes me the time it took me to read this. The only minor positive things were the references to Greek Mythology - but I'm not sure they are correct. The sex encounters were fairly well done and one wonders where she gathered the material for those. The plot development was poor at best.
I'm happy to have this behind me. It was a struggle to slog through it.

I would sneak into my parent's library collection and borrow their huge volumes of hardcover Readers Digest books. The ones that held the intrigue of my young mind were all of the stories pertaining to Greek Mythology. Reading this book brought me back to that old childhood obsession. It was pure candy for a reader such as myself. I never give spoilers but I do wish to add that after I finished this book, I had an immense craving for a vat of melted chocolate!

I absolutely love the Dark Hunter series but this book was dry. The relationship between the story's main characters was poorly put together. I felt like I had to push myself to read it. I did enjoy the insight into Katra and how Kenyon did some back story into her idea of Atlantis. I love Tory and I hope Kenyon develops a good relationship between her and Acheron in his story. I suggest reading this book only for insight in further books but do not hope for a good read.

I liked dream-hunter. I laughed at Geary's sarcasm and the insults passed between Arikos and Solin. It didn't get five stars because it wasn't as great a read for me as some of Kenyon's other novels, but it was good. I am an avid Dark-Hunter series reader, so it was enough to tide me over along with the other dream hunter novels until the next Dark Hunter release. Keep up the good work Kenyon

Write on, read on.
N.M. Phillips

Prepare to sit for awhile--I did not want to stop--fell asleep reading it and dreamed about it !!It grabs you from the first and you live the story as you read it.

"I stumbled upon this book in my school library looking for a good book for a book report. I had no idea it was going to be so good! Even though it's fantasy, it is written so well you could almost believe it being real! This book had many mind-boggling ideas included, but that just made the whole plot more interesting! I don't know how anyone could not absolutely love this book! This is almost a monument in human literature."

Wow, this book is exciting and thrilling! If you are interested in adventures, you will love this book. Join Ben, Tom, Lindy, and the Professor as they try to travel to Whangdoodleland.
These children met the professor in an animal zoo and they discuss what animal they would have if they could have something unusual. The professor spoke about the unique Whangdoodle, and the children seem to be interested. However, the professor kept it a secret about how he knew about the Whangdoodle. On Halloween, Lindy, Ben and Tom went to a "haunted house," but to their surprise, the professor owned the creepy house. The children started visiting the professor, who began teaching them how to get to Whangdoodleland, an imaginary place where imagined creatures roam free, including the Whangdoodle! It took many tries, but they used their scrappy caps and imagination to succeeed. If you would like to meet some imaginary creatures, like the Whiffle Bird, read this book!
Some of the themes, or lessons we learned, were not to prejudge others, that your imagination is a really important thing, that you should always believe in yourself, and that you should never give up even if you feel greedy, selfish, or weak. A big theme is that genetics and cloning are difficult and controversial. If you want to learn more about these lessons, you have to read The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles!

I first discovered this book while working in a bookstore about 20 years ago. We had one dusty hardcover edition and employees were allowed to borrow hardcovers so long as we were careful to keep them in salable condition. I was intrigued by the flap description and began to read. Two hours later and by the end of the book I caught my breath and wanted more. I bought it because I couldn't stand the thought of not having it in my library. And then I ordered two more for the bookstore. Whenever anyone came in looking for "just the right book for a gift" I lauded it as "a book that will be the one they will never forget and will love forever". Over and over I would have customers come back to thank me for recommending "The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles" because it turned out to be the Most Favorite Gift of the child receiving the book. Quite often they would buy another copy for themselves or another child. If you don't have this book in your library, you should. In fact, you might want to buy two. One to keep, one to loan. You will treasure it in your heart for the rest of your days.

Last year, my daughter read this book and came home saying it was the best book she had ever read. She recommended it to me. At first, I was a little bit skeptical. I thought it was just a little fairytale for children, but I was wrong. My daughter began learning and sharing new and healthy lessons with me that she had learned from the book. Now, I can't wait to read it.

I read this to my 7yo son and 8yo daughter. I enjoyed it as much as they did!

I rarely find authors who really grip me from first to last in a book. Most fizzle out with a strong opening that steadily goes downhill, or a nice ending to an otherwise blah book. The Cassandra Palmer series is the exception. All of the books start strong and stay that way throughout, making for a very enjoyable read. I really liked the first in the series and was happy to see that the sequel had all of my favorite characters back and in better form than ever. Love Billy, Cassie's crazy ghost sidekick, and of course, Mircea the master vampire. Pritkin is even starting to grow on me, which was a surprise. I have Embrace the Night in my tbr pile and will shortly be getting to it as I really want to know where this series is going.

I read the first in the series (Touched by Dark) when it first came out in 2006, and I remember liking it, but not what it was about. Chance did a great job revisiting the first story without it being redundant or obvious. This was a great paranormal romance. It has the tension of possibility but doesn't focus only on that. The story has action out the wazoo with the heroine being on the run at the same time chasing down her own ghost and trying to save lives. I like the fact that even though she has the power to kill, she doesn't devalue life and chooses not to kill. Even those who seem deserving. I'm looking forward to reading the third.

This book is like a bad casserole. Everything you ever heard about in the paranormal genre is here messing around and making a conglomeration
that is not only hard to swallow, but annoys the mental digestion. So we got a friendly ghost over here, an unfriendly golem over there, we gotcha' basic dark fae and light fae, we got houses that fly like in the Wizard of Oz and of course, vampires and too many war mages too count. But what we don't have is a plausible story line that one can follow in any kind of linear fashion. We don't have a clear vision of who the bad guys/good guys are and finally, why the heck do we care about any of these people? Where are the EDITORS out there?? Still, I was interested enough to buy this book and the next one--so cha-ching--who's the bigger fool?

Hands-down the best fantasy-romance with a slightly, but not obnoxiously, dark and twisted sense of humor I've read recently. It's the aspect of Laurell Hamilton's early books that I miss so much in her current stuff, and in most of her heirs in the dark fantasy and vampire romance genres.

Undead Elvis was missing half his cranium during his act and the women in the audience DIDN'T NOTICE! The King was amusing, but the description of the audience was so much funnier. Plus the fact that a secondary character kept giving the heroine drinks throughout the scene because the alcohol would help with the after-effects of dimensional travel...

I thought it was great. Can't wait for the next book.

I love this book. Karen Chance has great ideas and such. I love her characters. But in some parts of this book, I had to re-read because it's was confusing. It seemed bundled together.
But overrall... Great novel. I recommmend it.

Once again, Drizzt is back and just as kicka@$$ as ever. Great book and i had been waiting for it for a long time now, and it did not disappoint, recommended to anyone who likes Drizzt(who doesnt?) or the Forgotten Realms world in general.

(Spoiler Free Review)

This book begins with a Prelude that spoils parts of the book. But it really has nothing to do with the actual events in the story, so you should SKIP IT! I wish someone told me to SKIP THE PRELUDE. I would have enjoyed the book a lot more. If you really want, you can read the Prelude after you finish the book.

Chapter 1 picks up, right where The Hunter's Blades Trilogy ended. Obould is camped right outside of Mithril Hall. Tensions are high as Buenor, Drizzt, and Company search for answers in the ancient city of Gauntlgrym. The dark elf Tos'un Armgo is still on the loose. The story progresses from there.

I have to admit, the last trilogy felt repetitive. Part of me actually started rooting for the orcs to kill one of the heroes to shake things up a bit. Well, this book shakes things up... quite a bit. The characters develop more in this book than any of the preceeding books; and it's a great change of pace.

I'm really looking forward to the next book, Pirate King.

The action ranges from overly complex to very good in this book. By overly complex, R.A. Salvatore describes some of the attacks in too much detail and it bogs down the action. In other parts, the action is what you'd come to expect in a Drizzt Novel: Very Good.

The book is well written and well paced. I'd say it's one of the better Drizzt novels. If you're a fan of Drizzt and you've been keeping up, then you'll really like this book. If you stopped reading Drizzt a while back, this book is a good reason to catch up again.

I've enjoyed all of the 19 Drizzt Books and I've got to say that R.A. Salvatore hasn't written a bad one yet. Some are better than others, but none of them are bad. That's pretty amazing.

I must say that even though I love this series, the past few trilogies have been repetitive, very repetitive and somewhat bland. The Orc King is different than those others: it reshapes virtually everything we have come to know in Salvatore's world.

For example (without spoiling):

-Boundaries are shaped.
-Revelations are made
-A character's plot is finished or at least halted
-A character comes to look at battle in a whole new light (and I must say I love this little turn and have been wondering why a character didn't turn this way previously)

Read this book! It will not disappoint.