Science Fiction Fantasy Books

I was surprised by all the negative reviews. I guess I wouldn't of been reading the eleventh book unless I really enjoyed the series but I found it a total joy. I was thrilled to be spending more time with Richard, Khalan, Zedd, Nicci, Cara, and all the rest of the bunch. In my opinion Goodkind has created some of the greatest characters of all time. Please don't let negative reviews keep you from another chapter of this great series. I was very sorry to see the ride end for these characters that I have come to love.

I have been waiting to finish this series for years. I really liked the beginning books...the middle ones got to be a little drawn out, but the story flowed. The biggest problem was that as each book came out, I had forgotten the previous storyline and where it left off. So I finally just bought each book as it came out and left it on the shelf waiting until the series was complete. After years of collecting/patience to gather the series, the final book finally arrives in "Mass Market Paperback" (I do paperbacks, not hardcovers). So I get to a book store (sorry, not Amazon this time) and I grab the book off the shelf (the new Confessor books are all in a special display, not mixed with others). I get the book home and low and behold...its a 1/2 an inch taller than all my other paperbacks! What is that all about? Luckily, I didn't read it yet, so its going back, until its published in a normal paperback size.

So if you collect as well as read these "paperback" books, be careful at this point. :-)

So of course all the other books in The Sword of Truth series I read in break-neck speed, I was excited and couldn't wait to read what was next, but not this one. I held on to every word, couldn't bare to turn the page because I knew it was drawing me closer to the last. I let myself absorb and enjoy every bit of it not wanting to miss a thing, I was completely satisfied with the way good ol' Goodkind chose to end this adventure. It came to a nice slow end, exactly what I was hoping would happen, did. The only thing that saddens me is that indeed it did end. I encourage anyone who is interested to read them all so you can end up here with The Confessor.
Brittney

After reading a bunch of the posted reviews for this book, I can't help but think that all these people missed the point of the series. I don't know how you can make it to book 11 and still think that Goodkind is writing an epic tale of magic. The series has been about reason, and the people who choose to use it or turn from it, from the very beginning. Did Richard triumph over Darken Rahl using superior magic and force in Book 1? No, he used logic and his ability to reason. Magic and fantasy are the tools that Terry has used to preach his message, not the point.

If you take offense to many of the things goodkind has to say, I can't help but wonder why. If you have a disagreement with one of his views, and you have a rational understanding of the disagreement, then you'll be confident enough in your own view to not care. If you don't know why you disagree or your disagreement is based on wishes and whims...well, to quote Zedd, "People who for whatever reason don't want to see the truth can be acutely hostile to it and shrill in their denunciation of it."

That said, I found Confessor to be one of the more action packed novels of the series. I never felt it dragging like Pillars of Creation or Naked Empire. I was thoroughly entertained throughout, and I really enjoyed the Ja'La tournament. I thought the book was a fitting end to a fantastic series.

For any of you who enjoyed the concepts and idea's presented in this book, I would reccomend reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. I think you'll find that the latter half of this series is severely influenced by her writings. Richard's monologue at the end of this book (the one lots of people are complaining about) is basically a condensed version of John galt's speech towards the end of Atlas Shrugged.

Let me just say that anyone who gave this (or the last few books in the series) anything higher than 2 stars is crazy. The series started out very good, but throughout the course of his writing Mr. Goodkind apparently forgot he was writing a fantasy series. Many of the coolest characters and extras, like Gratch the Gar and Scarlet the dragon are completely forgotten until brief cameos in Confessor. Goodkind repeats himself so much in these final books that I actually felt my intelligence insulted. He would literally have paragraphs that were the same sentence paraphrased 4 different ways. The imperial order is by far the most uninspired, unbelievable, simplistic enemy I have ever heard of. Not to mention the seemingly racist undertones of the evil dark-skinned brutes from the "Old World" attacking the nice white folks of the "New World". Anything worth reading in the series has long since been left in the dust. However, if you are like me you have to finish a series once started, just make sure to get it from the library.

Definitely the better of the two books (so far). Couldn't put it down. I admit I'm a bit miffed that I have to WAIT for the third book to see what happens! Highly recommended.

The Magician does not disappoint as a continuation from the first book, The Alchemyst. Scott really does a remarkable job of blending history and mythology and magic all into one amazing adventure.

In this installment Sophie and Josh run into more trouble and adventure while both of their powers' grow stronger, while Nicolas and Pernelle grow weaker by the hour. I'm so looking foward to the third installment of this series!

this is a good book, delivered well by amazon.punctual time delivery, and it's a very good service from amazon.com

I bought the first part of the series "The Alchemist" for my 13 year old daughter. We loved it so much that I have purchased "The Magician", and... hid it away from her, so I could read it first. It is a great, imaginative story with lots of twist and turns. Each chapter delivers another great adventure and ends with unexpected suspension . But - and this is why I really liked it for my daughter - all of the action discreetly TEACHES. Michael Scott is not only a great writer but also acknowledged scholar of legends, history, ancient gods and goddesses, hence all imaginative characters in the book are somehow "real". What a great way to introduce 13-year old to ancient history, religion.
And to top it all, the story is delivered without the dark gore, bloody mess and age inappropriate content. Just one may hope that Hollywood will not convert this great and captivating story into another gruesome movie...

I enjoyed this fast reading sequel as much as the first book...cant wait for the next.

I've been a massive fan of Misty's Valdemar series for over a decade. I enjoyed the latest installment, Foundation, but felt the story itself just didn't dig deep enough into the characters or the world to be of an equal caliber as some of her earlier works.
Like some of the other reviewers, I was bothered by the canon inconsistencies. While an author certainly has the freedom to do what they want with a world, I just didn't feel the inconsistencies helped move the story forward. I was also surprised by the way Mags' Companion planted so much information into his mind. The explanation for it seemed weak and, to me, it was too convenient Mags assimilated and learned so quickly.
I look foward to another installment in the series, but I hope that there is more attention to character and plot development. It would help make an enjoyable read into a great one.

Like most Mercedes Lackey fans I anticipated the book's arrival.

I did like how the "First Years" of all three branches formed friendships, and hope that continues to grow.

Knowing this is the start of a new vein of Valdemar stories I expected a few snags,unfortunately it left me a bit lacking. There was no map that usually accompanies the books, I kept referring back to the time line due to the fact Stephan would have died about that time period, yet a vague reference was mentioned only once.

Remembering how much Talia did/accomplished in her first year was the only thing that kept me from crying foul.

I hope the following books in this new series knock the rust off her Valdemar lore and come up to the standards of Talia, Vanyel, and Skiff.

Like the others here, I waited a long time for another installment of the Heralds of Valdemar books and thought this one fell short. I won't recap what other's here have said, but their statements are valid. I got the impression this book was written to fill a contractual obligation instead of being a story that needed to be told.

I have no doubt this book is the first of at least one more, if not two knowing Misty and her penchant for trilogies, just because it really went no where at all.

The biggest dissapointment for me was that there seemed no way you could become emotionally attached to the main characters in the book. This is not normal for Mercedes Lackey's books, she usually has you emotionally involved with in a couple of chapters. All of the major players in the book were so emotionally stunted themselves, I don't know if you could become attached.

There was a glimmer of hope in a couple of the supporting characters, Amily for instance, but that part of the story just kind of dissapeared before it was really begun.

I do have to defend Misty on one point though. Someone mentioned that Mags was the best at everything he laid his hand to, even his gift was stronger than any of the others. Misty generally tells the story of the extrodinary Heralds and non Heralds in her world. Talia and her empathy, Vanyel and Elspeth and the mage gift, even Kerowyn, Albrech and Tarma were the best fighters of their times and Skif the best theif.

I am beginging to believe the series should have a name change though, from the Heralds of Valdemar to "The Lives and Times of Rolan."

In summation, I don't know how or why Mercedes Lackey lost her passion for this world, but I hope she gets it back.

Mags is a carefully-chosen and virtually ideal narrator for a book that concentrates on teaching the reader about a time period and a group of people. Because of his isolation from society, his youth, and his lack of education, he has few preconceptions and everything has to be explained to him, and by extension to us, the readers. The one down-side to this is that much of the explanation comes in the form of thinly-disguised info-dumps, where Mags's magical horse-like Companion explains everything to him as it happens.

One of the truly fantastic things about this book, particularly if you read primarily to explore characters rather than for high-paced action, is the exploration of Mags's rather unique world-view. His childhood left him with an incredibly different perspective on life, and Lackey does an amazing job of conveying this. Similarly, she possesses a wonderful skill for conveying a world, and it's easy to imagine and see what's going on as you read.

If you're a long-time fan of Valdemar and have been looking forward to reading about the founding of the Collegium, this book will definitely not disappoint. There's a ton of information on the whys and wherefores, plenty of interesting side characters from around the Collegium and the surrounding institutions, and so forth. There's very little resembling a plot until perhaps two-thirds of the way through the book, but I'm guessing that if you're coming to this looking specifically for the Collegium background, that'll be okay with you.

The only problem is that if you really aren't familiar with the world, there are some unstated assumptions underlying the book that are likely to confuse first-time Valdemar readers.

I won't go into much detail at all on the plot since it doesn't rear its head until late in the book, and makes very little progress before the end, which means that almost any detail would give too much away. All I'll say is that it ends in a rather unsatisfying place, and while I'm sure the next book will help to answer some of the glaring questions it left me with, it would have been nice if they'd at least been raised before the end of this book.

Whether or not you'll want to read this book is highly dependent on your preferences as a reader. As for me, consider my rating to be a 3.5.

It's been awhile since there's been a new Valdemar book, and I'd been really eager to read it. Unfortunately, this newest book just doesn't hold up.
Firstly, the writing style is overly simplistic. It almost reads like a Young Adult book. I think it's to try and showcase the main character's general ignorance about the world at large, but since the book is still written in the third person, it brings the whole book down. Speaking of the main character, he's a bit flat....and also seems to be near perfect at everything he does with little struggle. There also isn't much in the way of story...very little really happens. I suspect that's because this is more of a just prologue for more books to come, especially since the ending kind of came out of nowhere and left things unexplained.
The most glaring problem for me though, as a long time reader of the series, are the many places that it contradicts things that are stated in other books, and that even though it's supposed to be taking place hundreds of years in the past (from the "present day" Valdemar reign of Selenay), some things actually seem to be more advanced, and the rest seem exactly the same, as if the passing of time has very little effect.

It's also worth noting that if you've never read a Valdemar book, this is not the one to start with. Most of the other books offer at least some background, information, or explanation of the general aspects Valdemar...this one very much does not, and just assumes that you already know. You particularly would want to read The Last Herald Mage trilogy before this one.

Wow. Just ... wow. That was an awesome ending, and I was marveling the whole time at how everything fit together with the first two books.

I loved the little reveals throughout the book... as mysteries brought up in 1 and 2 were solved in 3. You can tell that Sanderson wrote all three at once.

Essentially, if you've read Mistborn 1 and 2, you need to pick this up. If you haven't read Mistborn 1 and 2, it will be worth your while to start at the beginning.

Sanderson is a fantastic writer, inventive and creative. I can't wait to see what he does next.

Sanderson's greatest accomplishments may be his ability to create rich worlds that avoids the cliches of the fantasy genre. From his standalone novel, Elantris, to the entire Mistborn trilogy, Sanderson continually surprises with innovations that capture the imagination.

The biggest complaint I saw about the earlier novels was the lack of secondary character development and it was well founded. It's obvious that he listened and the work in the final book surpasses that of the previous two. Sanderson has become a much more mature writer, working the characters and plot with equal care.

Despite this progress, Sanderson still has a long way to go. A lot of the characters still feel like afterthoughts, thrown into the story without their true potential being realized. Some of the pacing needs that little extra touch to take some of the awkward flow away. And for such a promising, original series, the ending might be underwhelming to many.

I look forward to Sanderson's work down the road. I had some trepidation after reading his first books, that he would be finishing the final novel in the Wheel of Time, but he has left me a lot more secure after reading The Hero of Ages. Pick it up for a wonderful quick read. It's good stuff, but his books down the road look like they could be great!

I was lucky enough to get an advance reading copy of this book a while back. And I have to say that Sanderson's storytelling keeps getting better and better.

Simply said, Brandon Sanderson's books are so good that they're starting to piss me off. It just doesn't seem fair that someone should be about to write this well, this fast.

I don't believe in spoilers, so I will say simply this. Everything comes to good resolution in this final book. It all fits. It all makes sense. But at the same time I didn't see it coming. That doesn't happen very often.

I just finished reading my copy of Hero of Ages, and can't say enough about how good it was. Apart from one desultory chapter in the early going, Sanderson's book is a page-turner that'll blow you away with action, razor-sharp pacing, and revelations that there's no way you will have seen coming. Sanderson connects all the dots by the end, and leaves nothing unanswered. It was a pleasure to read a trilogy that in no way is going to keep going.

At least I hope it doesn't keep going. The ending was terrific, and one more chapter would have ruined the series.

I have spent many hours with Jack and Annie.These books are so interesting and my favorite one is number 14.I have almost completed the whole series.I have been reading them for 2 years.I wish I could live in the magic tree house too.I love Magic tree house.

This is an excellent series to interest struggling readers in beginning chapter books. The series also has an educator's activity guide that is helpful.

The Magic Tree House series is a great stepping stone between picture books and chapter books. Most books written for a pre-k listening level take place in a realistic setting, like school. Not so with the magic tree house, it takes Jack and Anne throughout time and space: from the time of the dinosaurs to the future when men have colonized the moon. The books are exciting to read: Jack and Anne are often in real danger, though you know they will always make it back home. These books are also available in an audio format. I recommend reading at least the first four books. If you, the adult reader, gets bored, try playing the audio versions.

I also think this box set makes a great birthday present for 4 and 5 year olds. At first the child can be read aloud to, and when they start reading, they can use it as an early reader.

The audio version of these books (read aloud by the author) is also worthwhile.

Pros: Fine for read aloud. Exciting stories for young (K-1st) grade children who are ready for chapter books.

Cons: Serious grammar and usage problems that may rub off on the children's own writing. Poorly-developed plotlines with not enough "meat" for the age level of children they are meant to target.

I have used these books as read-aloud for my two children. Currently I am reading them aloud at nighttime to our daughter, age six. Our daughter reads on a second-grade level, however, and has started reading these books independently, only coming to me for help with words she cannot sound out.

I didn't mind the grammar and phrasing problems when using these books strictly as read aloud, because I could correct the problems on my own as I read. However, Mary Pope Osborn seems to really enjoy the use of incomplete sentences, particularly those starting with "and". As a former second grade teacher this really, really gives me a nervous twitch in my eye! This is only the most egregious and obvious of the grammar and phrasing problems that, for whatever reason, go unnoticed by Ms. Osborn's editors and by Ms. Osborn herself.

I won't go ahead and give specific examples, since this has been well covered by previous reviewers. However, I do want to add my voice to the voices of those parents and educators who worry that this modeling of incorrect grammar may well rub off on young fans of the series. When I was teaching second grade, the students would have been expected to catch and then edit these type of mistakes out of their Writer's Workshop stories by about mid-January. I certainly expect a published author to be able to have as much respect for grammar and readability as my second grade students! I can respect an author's "style" to a degree, but I do believe that an author of children's literature should at least use correct grammar rather than "dumbing down" the sentences in what I suspect is a misguided attempt to make them easier for the children to read. (Children are smarter -- and better educated -- than you think, Ms. Osborn!)

On a positive note, the stories do keep our daughter engaged and excited, as they did our son when he was her age. However, the plots are extremely simplistic, bare bones, just plain not well developed. The actual reading level appears to be that of an average late first to second grade reader, yet my experience is that second graders expect a bit more "meat" to their stories. I know that by late second grade our son had, for example, moved on to the Chronicles of Narnia. The Magic Tree House set is, in my opinion, excellent for read aloud for kindergarten and first grade readers and perhaps as independent reading for first graders, struggling second graders, or those children who have problems with attention span. However, the teacher or parent of any independent reader will have to take care that Ms. Pope's writing style does not negatively impact the emerging writing skills of the child.

In short... Ms. Osborn, please correct your grammar!

I have mixed feelings about this series. My children (boys 5 & 3) love the books. They are easy enough for the younger one to follow, but exciting enough that the older one isn't bored. My biggest problem with them is the grammar. I would never let my children read these books themselves because I would never want them to think that the writing is correct. Luckily, by reading them aloud I can correct the mistakes without them even realizing it. Seriously though, the grammar is so poor that had not all the books been that way I would have assumed it was just something wrong with the printing machine. The author literally does not know what constitutes a sentence and she has no concept of the comma. Here are just a few examples (all found a single page no less!!):
1. "Let's leave the scroll on floor. And go," he said.

2. They walked together. Across the room. To the glowing gold box.

3. They stopped in front of the box. And they peered inside.

In all those cases she created fragment sentences instead of one regular sentence. She does this all the time. I think it was either in the first book or the second that I couldn't find a single page that didn't have a grammatical error. Both the author and the publisher should be ashamed of themselves.

Excellent book! I've read every book in the Dark Series. For anyone who is a fan of the Carpathian books, you have to read this one. Not only do you get interaction from past characters and romance, but the plot finally thickens leaving you begging for the next installment. Christine Feehan is a very creative author and I have no doubt the next book will be great.

Christine again manages to create a great story! You can really tell some storylines are tying in together. But she also kind of leaves an open ending. Plus you don't have to have read all the other Carpathian novels, but if you have you will enjoy this one a lot more!

Christine Feehan's 16th book in the Carpathian Series introduces Lara Calladine, a ice cave explorer who has come to the Carpathian mountains to discover answers to her frightening past. Nicholas De La Cruz encounters her at the local inn, and knows she is his other half and his future. Their story has many exciting twists and some welcome new developments which will intrigue Carpathian fans, and this novel also marks a definite return to the great storytelling of Christine Feehan. For those who thought the series was getting too far off track or getting boring, this book is classic Carpathian and yet new and fresh. If you have not read Christine Feehan this is a great book to start with, and if you love it, you can go back and read the rest of the series. Also included in this book is more development of the Carpathian language -- of great interest to the author and probably limited reading audience -- there if you do like that sort of thing but does not detract from the story.

I enjoy all of Christine's Dark books. The series is fantastic. This book really gave us a big clue to what has been happening all of these years. It kept you in suspense throughout. There was plenty of romance as well as mystery, adventure, and action. I'm anxiously waiting the next book, because this one left us with somewhat of a cliff hanger.
As always, Christine introduced us to some new characters, but did an excellent job of bringing old characters back. She also gave us a deeper look into some of the character's personalities. Great read and if you are like me you can't wait for the next book.

Like everyone who loves Feehan I thoroughly enjoyed the early books. The characters stand out vividly in my mind and I could tell recognize each one of them by a brief description. In the last few books the characters all run together and Lara and Nicholas are the worst. She's a whiny cry baby and he's just bland period. And I am so sick of the whole mage line of the story. But the foreign language part is the worst. I have always loved the words the men used to bind their mate. Now the whole rhythm and beauty of their chant is broken because she is obsessed with this new language. It pulls you out of the story and adds nothing but losing your place as you skip it to find English words again.

I thought it would be so interesting to find out why they were losing children but instead it was just boring. So many parts of the book were boring. I read steadily through the first third of the book and then just started skimming and skipping pages. I never do that!

I know people complained that the early books were too much alike so she had to add some new elements but I find the early books much more interesting. When I need a Feehan and Carpathian fix I'll just stick with the first eight or ten books. I still love re-reading those books. The books after Destiny I'll never open again. Once was more than enough for such forgettable and boring reads. But Oh, Gregori, Julian, Darius, Jacques, Lucian, and Gabriel? Now those were the days.

Bright artwork and a very, very cute story! My toddler loved it (and we liked it, too!)

So does my four year old. But it is my favorite Halloween book out of his big stack. The cadence is perfect and the drawings are fun. I highly recommend this book!

When I yanked this off the shelf because one of my students demanded a Halloween book, I didn't think it would be so adorable and so well-written! That afternoon we read it for our story time, and I was just as amused as the kids. It's a simple but clever story of friendship and loyalty written in sing-song rhyme with a brilliant rhythm and enchanting pictures. Great writing!

this is one of my son's favorite halloween stories. the illustrations are colorful and fun, and the story is nice. In this story, as witch flies by on her broom, she drops something (her wand, the bow from her hair, etc). She lands on the ground to search for the lost item, and meets a new friend who finds the item for her and asks for a ride on the broom. The broom gets pretty crowded, with a cat, a dog, a bird, a frog, and snaps in half. When the broom crashes to the ground, the witch finds herself in trouble and her new friends come to her rescue.

There is one semi-scary dragon in the story, but it didn't seem to bother my 4yo. We love this story and I would absolutely recommend for preschool aged kids.

I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend. It is a wonderful story and very entertaining! My 4 yr old loves it and while a little advanced for my 2 yr old he is starting to get interested in it.

The book is written as a historical documentary of the war against the zombies, AKA World War Z. It is made up of perhaps 125-150 stories, each focusing on a particular individual. Thruout the individual tales, the larger narrative becomes clear, but because of the manner in which it is told it conveys a sense of realness I've never experienced in any zombie book or movie.

There are numerous individual stories which would make for quite a good movie, but by focusing on some many people of different ages, backgrounds, careers and opinions, it avoids the typical cliches that all zombie movies are forced by design to include. I think this would make an excellent movie but only if it is filmed as a documentary. As I read the book, I was reminded in particular of of the documentaries we've seen in the past few years about 9/11. Some of them have focused on the plane which crashed in PA and the fight of the passengers with the hijackers, but most focus on the day as a whole. The better ones do more then then rehash what happened, with recreations of the terrorists in hotels in Paterson, NJ, they let people tell what they saw, how they felt, and they reacted. It's more about what happened to all of us, then what happened onboard those planes or inside the twin towers.

This is why this book is so successful. Rather then focus on the specific details, we learn how it affected people personally. I would gladly pay $10 to see this movie.

The oral history format enhances the suspense, drama and story. A great zombie novel.

For a book with they "silly" premise of a zombie uprising threatening all of humanity, the stories contained within are poignant, touching, and most important believable.

The book was so engrossing, I purchased it and had it completely read in a single weekend.

It's hard to describe the emotions this book stirred up. Anger, remorse, pride, all of these things. And joy at discovering someone making a daring escape. Sorrow when learning that the person being interviewed has lost a bit of his or her mind because of what they've been through.

I didn't know what to expect when I purchased this book. Not really. I have had the Zombie Survival Guide for a while. When I bought it, it was in the "humor" section. "World War Z" took the tongue-in-cheek approach from that book and turned it on its head, taking itself completely seriously and *pulling it off!*

Only a few bits of data truly date the story (such as Fidel Castro being around at the end of the war).

The audio-book will be my next purchase. I've heard the few clips from the website and I feel that will give the story even more impact.

This book makes you see how the war against the living dead was seen on several fronts. Highly recommended, a must have.

WWZ is the first piece of zombie anything that actually scared me! It's not just the horrifying way the Zeds are described, but the collapse of society that sends a realistically chilling shudder through you. A must have for any fan of horror!

Whit a history, from a time that`s are long gone. Where dragons almost are history, a world in war. Where we find a boy, who is more then a orphan child.

This book is a great fantasy book. I am sure that the writer, is going to have a bright future like a Fantasy arthur.

After all the buzz, I finally decided to give this series a try. It is shallow, linear, simplistic and boring. Don't buy this book if you are looking for something along the lines of Tolkien, LeGuin, or even Rowling. You will be sadly disappointed.

I gave this book three stars because, I did enjoy the story at some points, but many times I felt like the story was going to slow. The characters in Eldest were very flat and one-dimensional. Also, Eragon the character was just unreasonably fake in this story for a number of reasons. He learned like a billion things that would take normal people years to learn such as learning languages, magic, etc...
What made this book worth reading was that the author actually split the story into two perspectives which were Eragon and his cousin Roran. It just made you look forward to reading the parts about the minor characters for some reason.
One thing that I noticed while I was reading the second book was that Eldest seemed to me almost identical to the story lines of Lord of the Rings, Pern, and Star Wars. This was a major put down and you could easily guess what was going to happen next in the story. You could easily relate every single character in Eldest to a character in LOTR, or Star Wars.

When reading the other reviews on this site for this book, I was overwhelmed by the negative response.

It's not that bad.

That being said, there are many ways Paolini could have made this better. It just dragged on for way too long at parts. And worst of all, the ending was clearly forseeable.

Eldest provest to be a less linear, slightly more abstract sequel to Eragon, a very good debut for such a young rider.
Now, on to Brisingr,

Like the first in the series 'Eragon', I found Eldest to be very engaging and interesting. The plot was predictable, but it was predictable in good ways. I find this series very interesting and easy to read.

Looking forward to the third.