Science Fiction Fantasy Books

These books are great and to have them all in one is even better. It starts off great and ends even better each chapter is better than the last!

I love the book! It was recommended through a christian ministry, and I never thought that I would enjoy the fairytale! I highly recommend it for children young and old!

This is a great family movie. I love the way it parallels to the story of Jesus and how he paid the ultimate price for our sins!

It is a full hard covered book. The total unabridged version. A great read for a parent to read with their child. Worked great for parents as reading partners.

This is a nicely packaged hard cover edition of the classic series by CS Lewis. A great read for children and adults alike.

Jamin P. review of The High King by Lloyd Alexander, March 19, 2008

The book I read, The High King, was great. The time, setting and plot all fit together quite nicely. The story takes place in Medieval Times but it is a fantasy world. Taran, an assistant-pig-keeper, is now a great warrior and he is the leader of an army of horsemen against Arawn-Death-Lord. There is a catch though Arawn has stolen the sword of Dyrawyn- the most powerful weapon in the kingdom of Prydain. Taran and is companions have set out to claim the sword back for the diabolical Arawn. They have to go to Arawn's lair, which is at the top of Mount Dragon. After many bloody battles they are able to retrieve the sword for Arawns Lair. At the end they end of the book some of Taran's companions go to the Summer Country, while some stayed on the now peaceful and prosperous land of Prydain.

Pig boy gets over it, the sword, the girl, the knowledge and the administration job.


Taran finally gets organised as far as the princess is concerned, but, as these things goes, is rudely interrupted by the goings on caused by your usual dark lord of the underworld.

A fantasy hero has to deal with that first, befor eany nuptials, as well as all the nicking off of the supernatural types and a decision for the woman of the piece.

The order came in a few days which was great. The person I orded this for was happy with the book and enjoyed reading it. All in all the order was fast and I was a satisied costomer. Cyndi

The High King, like the four volumes leading up to it, is an entertaining read to say the least. Sadly, I was 17 before I discovered the chronicles of Prydain, so a lot of the magic and wonder was lost for me. Still, It never took more than two sittings to polish off any of them. So, for those of you thinking about a purchase, I will share the thoughts of an older reader.

For starters, this is probably the darkest of the series by far. There are some genuinely touching, although not totally unexpected, moments that draws you into a deeper connection with Taran and a couple other characters. Though Lloyd Alexander lacks the extensive descriptive capabilities of Tolkien, The High King does well to give a definitive image of who everyone has become throughout the course of their journeys. There are even a few decent battle scenes, something lacking in the previous installments.

Thankfully, the characters are as likable as ever, still providing a chuckle or two every once in a while. By this point, however, a sense of repetetiveness has more than taken hold. If you were annoyed by the running gags up to this point, then you will be doubly so with The High King. I suppose this is one of the things that declares this more a middle-school book than anything else.

Perhaps the most annoying thing about this entire series is its similarities to another work of fiction set in a little place called middle earth. From the moment I opened The Book of Three, I dubbed this series "Lord of The Rings for Dummies" and indeed it constantly justifies this title. Though, I suppose that it would be better to replace Dummies with Kids, as that is probably what Alexander was angling for. Regardless, it still gets annoying, and at one point down right infuriating, of how muck like Lord of The Rings this series is. I would like to think that I would have been able to get past that weakness if I were in about the fifth grade, but at that time I had already read quite a bit of Tolkien's work, so I doubt it would have changed anything.

I find the end of this series comes much as any other ending of any truly good book/books: a rush of joy at having concluded a good story coupled with a great sadness like the loss of an old, dear friend. Indeed, The Chronicles of Prydain, The High King included, deserves a place somewhere between Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter on the shelf of anyone that loves fantasy or just a good read in general.

It is NOT my intent to be inflammatory or insulting with this review. However, as humans, we live and die by comparing and contrasting, so I can't help it if I do so. Please don't shoot the messenger because I rate Alexander's series according to personal standards.

Second, I am not merely reviewing The High King here; this is the best place to review the entire Chronicles of Prydain, and so I shall.

I have also heard a little rumor recently that Alexander's books have been recommended in reference to Harry Potter, and I have nothing against Harry Potter other than it is a lukewarm, morally tepid tale in which the characters, magic and plot are only occasionally consistent; however, the likeness between Harry and Taran are, in short, the difference between heroism by circumstance and heroism by choice.

Now to the review and to more (unintentional) offense: The Chronicles of Prydain slightly resemble (especially in the first part, The Book of Three) The Lord of the Rings because they are both drawn from the same Welsh roots. The Chronicles of Prydain are better, hands down, no questions asked. I have always regarded Tolkien as the untouchable master of Fantasy, until now. Here is why Alexander tops the unbeatable:

1. His characters are closer, more human, and more real. They are all easily accessible. They are all ingeniously well-defined. I am not as well-read as I should be, but I have never read a more likeable, fleshed-out and consistent, large cast of characters. His genius shines through.

2. Where Tolkien is mythology, Alexander is what mythologies are made of. The Chronicles of Prydain cut right to the core of the greatest human stories and their humanity--their sacrifice. The individual acts of sacrifice in each of the books are heartrending, and somehow, almost in an act of divinely-inspired propitiation, heart-mending. Frodo's act of sacrifice at the end of Return of the King pales in comparison to the multitude of sacrificial acts that culminate with Taran's decision at the end of The High King. It is awe-ful.

3. The female characters are superb. Eilonwy is a likeable, strong and strong-willed female who is consistently Eilonwy, the perfect foil to Taran, and perfectly balanced. Alexander did not make her a shrew, a feminist, or anything overboard to the point of ruining the character, the story or the consistency. She is wonderfully written and no less a hero than Taran, though the spotlight is not always on her. Alexander was truly ahead of his time in making a female hero so real, so approachable, so likeable, and truly heroic.

4. The plot is seamless. Books one through five fit together as in a panoramic puzzle, with each thing building on the other. Granted, Tolkien wrote in the style of the medieval, and he did so without flaw, but with Alexander, every scene serves the plot. There is not one wasted word, and few unanswered questions, if any.

5. The plot is character-driven. Unlike Harry Potter, where the deus-ex-machina is unbelievably heavy, the plot in the Chronicles of Prydain is character-driven, and hinges on the characters making the right decision without regard to their personal desires. I have only seen one other author in whose books this trait is so pronounced (see Nicole of Prie Mer: Book One of the Latter Annals of Lystra, to start) and so perfectly wielded. However, it makes for the most satisfying plot resolution possible.

6. The characters are hopefully complex and dynamic. I have never read of so many characters that are redeemable--and indeed, we see many of them redeemed. I can only hope to look on life with the optimism that Alexander must have had. His characters, even many of his bad ones, are so lovingly handled, I must hope that my Author chooses to deal with me so mercifully. The Mercy offered in these books goes beyond the pity offered to Gollum and into the redemptive work of One who can transform lives. It is extremely powerful, and the same reason so many of the minor characters are beautifully real and dance off of the pages.

I could go on and on, and fortunately for you, I won't. I am so lucky to have found these books. I hope many receptive hearts will continue to find them for several generations. May Alexander rest peacefully, and I hope that somehow, somewhere, he knows that his Taliesin is smiling.

Australian Author Garth Nix writes a trilogy of charter magic, necromancy, the power of life and death and the thin line that seperates both.

Fantastic series, great for adolescent and young adult readers.

Garth Nix has always been one of my top favorite authors, and his Abhorsen trilogy is definitely why. These books kept me so enthralled, it was impossible to pull away. They made such an impact, I still remember every scene. I have read these again and again, and I never tire of them.

Nix's world is always familiar enough enough to be comfortable but always different enough to feel completely fresh. His style leaves a hint of mystery to his characters and world that carries through the entire trilogy. I bought it becuase a friend told me that it has the most satisfying ending to a trilogy that she'd ever read, and it didn't disappoint.

The only point I disagreed with her on is that Mogget is cooler than the Disreputable Dog. Not by much, but enough.

I found the first book, Sabriel, readable, if not fantastic. The second book, Lirael, is really quite awful, and I only made it 100 pages or so. The writing is poor....blocky sentences and remedial storyline. Anyways, the love fest for this trilogy needed some perspective.

This is a very fast paced novel. I have only finished the first book in the trilogy but have found this to be an enjoyable fast read. I look forward to the next two books. The world Nix creates is different from any other. If you like fantasy or video games even, I believe you will like this series. I felt a bit like I was playing a video game with all the magic gadgets, spells, characters and secret places.

This is the second in the "Multiverse" series by Dave Weber and Linda Evans and follows on from the excellent "Hell's Gate."

Tells the story of contact and increasingly of conflict between two civilisations, both spanning multiple universes.

Between one and two centuries before the events of these novels, portals start to open between different versions of the planet earth - apparently between parallel timelines. Most of the different universes are not inhabited by intelligent life, but two have human civilisations. Both start to explore the new worlds to which their homeworlds are suddenly connected. At first neither finds any sign of intelligent life.

Then on a world new to both civilsations, a lone scout from a military survey party of the Union of Arcana encounters a single member of an armed civilian survey party from the world called Sharona. Nobody, including the reader, would ever know for certain who shot first, because one was killed and the other mortally wounded. At first each side believes it has been attacked.

Both civilisations now spread over hundreds of worlds, and their cultures have more in common than either realises, but their technology is utterly different. Sharona's is broadly similar to our science, and their engineering and construction abilities are in most respects about where our Earth was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including railways, machine guns and heavy artillery. They don't have radio but do not need it because their scientists have discovered how to train people to use certain psionic talents such as telepathy.

Arcana, by contrast, has very little of what we would call engineering - the most advanced weapon they which does not use psi-abilities/magic is the crossbow - but they have formidable weapons of a completely different type. Firstly they have trained creatures from their world, such as flying, fire-breathing dragons, which are just legends in ours: and their magical/psionic talents, while operating on different principles, are far more powerful than those of the Sharonians, and include the ability to store energy and information in crystals so as to be able to use them like a handgun or a laptop computer.

So when these two utterly different civilisations find themselves at war, each is able to inflict surprise after surprise on the other.

At the start of this book the two civilisations have made a temporary truce after a series of clashes of arms. Negotiations are under way, which the decent people who are a majority of both sides want to succeed. Unfortunately both sides have their share of wicked individuals. On the Arcanan side, a country called Mythal is ruled by a hereditary caste of magic users called the shakira caste, who resent the fact that the Union of Arcana constitution gives the other castes some rights and restrains the power of the shakira.

An evil conspiracy of these shakira has some of its people in key positions among the the Union of Arcana army units and diplomats who are dealing with the Sharonians. These individuals decide that provoking a war with the Sharonians is the best way to trigger the conditions which will let them launch a bid for total power in Arcana ...

Soon both sides will have more victims to mourn and more stories of atrocities, mostly true on the Sharonian side, mostly black propaganda on the Arcanan, will lead to a downward spiral of ever-greater anger between these to nations and an increasingly nasty war.

Before I read these books I thought they might be just another rehash of John Barnes' "Timeline wars" stories of the battles against the Closers (e.g. Patton's Spaceship etc). Having now read the first two "Multiverse" books I think that does Weber and Evans an injustice. If you do like Barnes' "Timeline wars" books you will probably love this series but it's not just a rehash of the same idea, there are a lot of very original aspects to the clash of civilisations in these books.

I can strongly recommend both "Hell's Gate" and "Hell Hath No Fury."

Leaves you hanging like a "B" movie serial. Sad, a waste of time and money

As he did in the final 2-3 books of the Honor Harrington series, Weber gets so wrapped up in geopolitical maneuvering that the book bogs down in places. The characters that I became interested in in the first book are absent or minimalized and little actually happens for all of the battle scenes that appear. I found Off Armageddon Reef a much better read, and I'm hoping that its sequel does not fall into this same pattern of talk, talk, talk with the subsequent loss of interest in the characters and a paralyzed plot.

Picked up these books on a whim - I've been a David Weber reader for close to two decades not including an old game system that he and Steve White wrote. What I found was a bit disappointing.

First, I didn't really appreciate the cliffhanger endings - yes they're formula, but this seems to be more the influence of Linda than David. Not exactly a glowing display of writing style although I'm not really talking about that they wish to leave plot elements unfulfilled. My issue is, it just seems incredibly obvious where (for example) the end of the second book is going.

Such as - the marriage - it's obvious that we'll be introduced to some facet of Uromathian/Ternathian custom/law with emphasis on some portion of the Unification documents that defeats the intent of the Uromathian Emperor (although it's probably as simple as - the girl rules, the guy is merely a consort/present)

Second, it also seems rather obvious that the enventual end of the series will be some sort of stalemate. The why's are already advertised - blatant and re-washed plot elements involving multiple universes...that somehow the physics/laws of any given universe dictate or allow certain abilities to exist - it seems likely that Arcanan magic will falter or fail the closer they get to Sharona and vice versa...psionics & chemistry (gunpowder) will fail near Arcana. Not to mention the vastly different logistics capabilities suggest that Sharona will likely only be able to push back to the universe with all the gates.

Expected twists would include things like the introduction of a third race/group/nation that drives them to coordinate.

I guess you can say I just feel like I've read this entire story before - in snippets here and there, some from Weber, some from many others, and it's all just a matter of how it's going to be re-washed and re-combined. Will I continue to read the series...perhaps. If it extends in length like Robert Jordan's...I'll probably lose interest. Dave really has himself overcommitted to too many projects that has put him in a situation where he wants to please everyone but can't produce new books without all but suspending multiple other long running series. Personally, I'd prefer to see him put this one down, hand it off 100% to Linda and some other party if necessary - back out and go back to his core competencies.

Hell Hath No Fury is an excellent read; even better than Hell's Gate. I am really looking forward to the next one, if it ever comes out.

This is a great series, a creative look at faries not as just fantasy, but as a part of our modern world...

The Artemis Fowl Files is a guide on the first couple books to the Artemis Fowl series. The hundred-page book included two short stories on the lives of Corporal Holly Short and the somewhat successful theif Mulch Diggums, before Artemis Fowl revealed his threat the the fairy world. These two stories are must-reads to Artemis Fowl fans, because of the old charecters put into younger points of view that keep the main points, such as Holly's stubbornness to Mulch's not-so-flattering comments, so that they see the two and their enviornment afresh in a loving way.

Also included are diagrams of the LEP helmet and a few other inventions, a quiz to see what type of fairy you are most like, and interviews on Holly, Artemis, Root, Butler, Mulch, and Foaly.

Find out extras on Artemis Fowl at artemisfowl.com

This book was pretty cool. It had a decoder thing for those symbols at the bottoms of the pages of the Artemis Fowl books.
If you love Artemis Fowl, this book is a must-have.

What happened before Peter Pan met Wendy? That's what Berry and Pearson try to address in this book. And it's a lot of fun to read about. This book is the first in a trilogy about the orphan Peter and the Starcatchers.

Peter and his orphan buddies are shipped off on a rickety old boat called the Neverland. They are going to be slaves to the king of far off country. Peter befriends a girl on the boat named Molly, who is a starcatcher. When Peter bumps into Molly near a mysterious trunk on the Neverland, things start to get crazy.

This book had lots of things that young children will love. Lots of action, pirates, falling stars, magic, and danger. It was a great book and a fun read. Some parts might be a bit scary for little kids. There is some walking the plank and people held at gunpoint; but it's all part of the wild adventure to obtain the magic trunk.

I look forward to reading the next book in this series!
karissabooks.blogspot.com

Now I can't compare this prequel to the original Peter Pan because I have never read it and since this is really connected to Disney's and I only have vague recollections of the movie so I can't judge on how it compares. It is a strong fantasy story. Character's aren't as defined as I liked and I felt like it was missing some things. I have come to realize that my favorite character from Peter Pan is Tinker Bell and I missed her in this. I also wanted to know more about the Starcatchers I feel like they could have expanded more on them and their mystical treasure. The book is okay and I am not sure I will read the other books in the series written by the authors because basically if I do, it would be to say I read them and not because I loved the series. I thought there would be more humor since author Dave Barry was co-author. There was some humor but could have it could have been lighter.

This is an excellent book for older kids (8+) and adults. My husband and I read it ourselves and then read it to our son. Which is the best way. I enjoyed it even more the second time read out loud. Since then we've bought all the books in the series. I hope this duo goes on to do other books together.

The story in this book and its sequals is far more entertaining than the Disney movie from which they are based. I have read these books with my nine year old daughter and it has been a great experience. Be warned that the ick factor is more on par with Harry Potter than with the original Disney movie, but the realism that it adds is definitely worth it.

If you like the notion of Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, etc. this series is really excellent. I don't use the word WONDERFUL much, but they're a great read. They really do carry on the story of Peter and his friends in a believable and fun way. Really AWESOME and you won't be disappointed. The entire series is highly recommended - all three books so far.

I think this is a good under rated book for teens who are into dark fantasy and romance like Twilight. The story is centered around Vivian, who lives with her werewolf clan while they try to coexist with humans. It shows the character change as Vivian goes from hating and feeling superior to humans and then leveling with them.

This may just be the nerd in me speaking but I find werewolf novels to have less logic problems than vampire novels. For example - in a vampire novel, what would happen if a vampire sucked another vampire's blood? Or what about someone with a blood-related disease? So I tend to prefer werewolves in the long run.

I know the ending is rather controversial with people simply because it fails to be cliched. The heroine does not end up with her first true love and the message may come out mixed. Does this mean that love can conquer all or does this try to give teens a better message about the real world? Love is wonderful but it can't conquer real issues like debt for example, which is one of the biggest causes of divorce in America. I'm a realist so I prefer this ending rather than the lovely dovey, pink bubbles and hearts endings that seem so popular now.

Plot: B Okay, so the basic story "human meets creature" is overdone but the spin, especially the end is good.
Characters: A The main characters have different sides and they're rounded out.
Readability: A It reads simple and sweet.
In short: A Buy it. Its a nice good read.

Ultimately this book had promise. It started off well and the characters were engaging, but it started to fall flat when the romance between Vivian and Aiden suddenly happened with little to no build up. But that seemed to be the case with the entire story. None of the action had much tension. Furthermore, characters were introduced with little purpose that left me wondering why they were brought into the story. Scenes were included that didn't facilitate the plot (the one at Aiden's house with his father in particular). And shouldn't something have happened between Vivian and Kelly? What was the point of having tension between them if it was never going to go anywhere? On top of that, the behavior of the characters seemed inconsistent, particularly that of Aiden, who in the end acted nothing like one would expect.

Which brings me to the ending. --Spoiler-- Like the previous reviewer pointed out, the message was essentially "stick with your own kind." It's not that I think every story needs a happy ending. I wouldn't have had an issue had it just not worked out between Vivian and Aiden, even if the reason was the same (that Aiden couldn't handle the truth). But the ending essentially reaffirmed his prejudice by showing Vivian choosing one of her own kind - and one she hadn't shown any interest in for the entire story - because that was who she "belonged" with. That's a weird message to leave your readers with.

Overall, this book started off well, but lack of suspense, inconsistent characterization and an ending that left a bad taste in my mouth made it not quite the supernatural-thriller-romance I had hoped for.

I agree very much with E.R.'s review of this book- it is a wonderful story with a very engaging plot. I disagree with it being banned, especially when in comparison to today's television programming, but I'll leave it at that.

If you don't mind a book containing what I believe is on par with today's teenage community, then I suggest reading this book.

I myself have always liked vampires more, but this book drew me into werewolves, which was a difficult task to accomplish.

The third in my top 3 fiction novels, this deserves at least a screening. Also, please look into Companions of the Night and The Silver Kiss - both vampire fiction, both amazing books.

Three stars because I take into account a heroine, Vivian, that's not Mary Predictable Sue, the unique circumstances of the book, the understanding of wolves, and the decency of writing ability. I somewhat enjoyed the book.

Only somewhat enjoyable because Vivian is so far gone as a wolf, stuck on her instincts, that she couldn't converge into a realistic teenage lifestyle to deepen her character and the story.

Instead, forced by the constraints of too much wolf and not enough human, an unlikely romance forms between herself and Aiden, this romance is totally void of any substance and human emotions excluding lust. This relationship is a big part of the premise for the book. But it's a cracked foundation that lends a helping hand on knocking off the two stars in my rating.

Also it seemed to me that most of the characters were too extreme. There were no likable human qualities- only vices. It didn't feel like Vivian was a person. To add to that I felt the book was too methodical. Everything was planned to work out with the ending and so I lost the hint of a grip on the already bad characters. They became puppets.

Overall I think this book had a lot of potential but I didn't really enjoy reading it.

Annette Curtis Klause, Blood and Chocolate (Laurel Leaf, 1997)

After all the flap over the film version of this novel (and its subsequent bombing at the box office), I figured I'd give the book a shot to see just what all the fuss was about. And fussworthy it is, though I'm not entirely sure I found it such for the same reasons as most folks. I will warn you at the beginning of this that in order to talk about what really bugged me about this book, I will have to reveal its ending, in part; I will cloak it as much as possible, but certain portions of this review could be considered major spoilers. Thus, if you are planning on reading the book and haven't yet, skip to the last paragraph.

Vivian Gandillon is a werewolf. At the opening of the book, her pack's inn is set afire, and the surviving members of the pack are forced to flee; they end up in suburban Maryland. (Yes, suburban Maryland.) Everything's going about as well as can be expected until Vivian meets Aiden, a human high-school student with whom she instantly feels a connection. Soon, they're dating and the inevitable question arises: should she reveal her true nature to him, or keep it a secret? Would he accept her and love her for what she is, as no human has loved a werewolf as long as the pack's memory can discern?

All well and good, and the book does seem as if it's going toward the whole Romero-and-Juliet "love as thou wilt" path, but Klause does a one-eighty at the end of the book and drops the "loving outside your [race, creed, color, fill in the blank] is bad, mmmkay?" moral in our laps. I really had hoped, as human beings, we'd gotten past that sort of neanderthal thinking. What had been a previously interesting, if not terribly well-written, novel suddenly, in its last few pages, turned deeply offensive. It's probably worse that in order to do so, Klause had to have her main character also do a one-eighty and simply give up all her beliefs in order to make the moral work. (She does give a reason for this, but it's a bit of a stretch, to understate the case.) I just couldn't bring myself to buy it, though it did fit in with many of the book's other flaws, such as its inconsistent characters and generally loose, lackadaisical writing style.

Still, despite all this, as with most plot-based books of this stripe, it's written in such a way that one can't help but keep turning pages in order to see how this is all going to come out. (This, again, makes the ending all the more of a pain; you've gone through all this to get to... that.) And because of this, I've certainly read worse books in the recent past, from the point of readability; I can't think of one, however, that seemed as much of a letdown as this one was. **

This book is somewhat difficult to follow. It's possible that I just didn't get the connections, but it transitions abruptly between a semi-dystopic future into a swashbuckling past, without any real connection between the two eras. In addition, the third section of the novel, which returns to the first time period, doesn't seem to mesh quite well with the first section. I think that it might have been better if the third and second sections were reordered, and the second section edited to allow for more continuity. I wasn't quite sure how the sailor & Easter Island fit into the whole scheme of things.

This is the best book I've read from Winterson in quite a while. It's much more science-fiction than her other works. Think of an Asimov plot with Winterson's style and language. And queer characters. The middle sections threw me off at first, but it comes together at the end. btw, for anyone who wants to learn more about easter island, check out collapse by Jared Diamond.

Strongly written, a mind bending plot, and a robot head who, even though carried around under the protagonist's arm, still manages to get away for a little sex. Excellent.

a pleasant and enjoyable book with powerful ideas sprinkled through that make it well worth reading. while the political issues are timely as the world slides further into the destructive ideology of violence, these are not treated with much depth, nor are the characters very thoroughly crafted. great pushing of conceptual boundaries of sexuality for those who do not live in metropolises where we've seen (done? ;-) it all perhaps. implausible plot points occasionally bordering on silly. that said i'd still recommend it for the interwoven aspects of truly deep, touching, and thought provoking associations between characters and existential concepts.

I bought the book because I was especially interested in one of the three stories: Planet Blue. I wanted to discover how the author would handle the SF subject of humanities dilemma facing a dying planet. I was highly disappointed. From the style of the writing to the plot, nothing appealed to me. I forced myself to read through it to see how the end would turn up, which proved a waste of time. The story suggests a handful of intriguing ideas but these are never properly developed leaving you with the feeling of an incomplete novel.

Everything is odd and awkward in the story. First, there is a "love" story between the main (female) character Billie and a female robot named Spike that goes nowhere. Then, the robot is showing more desire to be human than the humans themselves (?) - a theme already brought in by Data in Star Trek The Next Generation, and hardly developed in this novel. It goes on with the author's attempt to create a universe half way between 1984 and Blade Runner (?), which only results in serving the reader cliches after cliches of the typical gloomy modern and decadent civilization that humanity is heading into. Next, the captain of the ship en route to Planet Blue decides it is a great idea to modify the course of a meteorite to hit Planet Blue in order to destroy unwanted dinosaurs (?) - yeah right, like I will believe that - this humanity would have the technology to push a meteorite off from its trajectory not even thinking that it would obviously jeopardize the chance of the new humanity's settlement on the planet, but they don't have the technology to simply kill the dinosaurs with a virus or other much more direct methods (?); SF is not an open genre for anything at the push of a button, is it? And the choice of the meteorite is a pathetic attempt to "emulate" a still much debated theory that might have taken place billions of years ago on earth. And then we have the choice of names for the characters like "Handsome" for the captain of the ship transporting our main characters, who barely displays the charisma, composure, and leadership expected from a captain. Can you imagine this dialogue: "Hello Captain Handsome, this is Darth Vader here, how's things with your dinosaurs in your neck of the woods? Don't hesitate to send me an email if you need my help with that, I am good at destroying things. How about you, what are you good at Captain Handsome? Is Handsome a nickname or your mommy really thought it was going to be groovy?" I made my point. Finally there is the writing style with long winded confusing and boring sentences, trying to be more poetic than realistic, and the choice of narration in the first person, which locks the reader in the mind of one character and one character only (?). First person is a narration style that I find totally inappropriate for this story - the use of multiple point of views would have broadened the story and brought depth to the many intriguing yet unexplored SF elements of the plot. Everything in the story contributed to an awkward and mediocre ensemble.

There is so much better SF out there, don't waste your time with this book. I can't imagine how an agent or an editor could have accepted such pale imitation of Science-Fiction.

This is the 4th book in the Malazan series. This is the book that introduced one of my favorite characters in the Malazan series, Karsa Orlong. He makes a grand entrance and does not let up. Any fan of Erikson will love this book.

As you already know this book follows Deadhouse Gates (Book 2), so you know where this book takes place. And it mentions events of Deadhouse Gates all the time, so do not read out of order.

When I first started to read this book I was thinking it would take me 2 months to read if not longer. Why you ask? Deadhouse Gates was good but slow, so I was not all that interested in the events in Raraku. But with the end goal of reading the whole series.... I started it. WOW it was a good book, keep my interest throughout the whole book. In the end I read it in just under one month.

Breakdown:
Begining ~ Nothing to do with Raraku, very entertaining.
Middle ~ A little slow, but with enough going on to hold your attention.
End ~ Best part of the book, you will learn a lot and its fun to read how everything falls apart.

If you have already read the first 3 books you will read this one, just be content to know that this one will keep you picking up the book everyday.

Enjoy!

The further I have gotten in this series the more I like his books and writing. His characters and dialogue are great and the plots seem to flow better now than they did in the first couple of books. There is still some confusion with multiple warrens/worlds,characters, powers, etc. that leave a lot of questions but I think I am begining to feel that is a more realistic approach to storytelling. We do not always get all the answers. I do sometimes wish his descriptions of creatures/people were a little better occasionally.

In this book I really liked the introduction of Karsa Orlong and did not see his story as detracting from the series as some others have.

Great world, great characters, great dialogue, good action, great thinking, good plot all adds up to a 5 review and a wonderfully enjoyable and thoughtful series.

See my review of Deadhouse Gates for context if you wish.

Erikson's first book was a fun, if confusing fantasy novel. His 2nd book was a gore and rape filled horror slog through hell. I understand some of that was necessary for the point he was trying to make, but I felt it was over the top.

With the third and fourth books of the series he has finally found the balance he needs to bring all his elements together. He is still 1/2 horror novelist, 1/2 fantasy novelist, but the mix of these two elements comes more naturally and there is more humor, and pleasant characterization going on. The plot is intensely complicated, and each book adds even more characters to learn about. Read the other reviews for plot elements and such, but here are the few things you really need to know:
Erikson is a great writer of very complex stories. If you like world building you will be wildly impressed, but often confused!
He likes war, soldiers, strategy, gods and magic and the books are FULL of these elements
He dislikes romantic stuff. People do care for each other and there have been some meaningful story lines that have a relationship bent, but in general he avoids them. Even when it happens it is never "romantic"
He has a sarcastic and cutting sense of humor that I really enjoy

Try the first three books (you'll make it through the 2nd I promise... jsut keep going) and you'll know exactly what you're going to get.

I loved the first book of the series, Gardens of the moon. Unfortunately each new book is a little bit less then the previous one, and this one is the worst of the 4 i've red so far.

First, how annoying is it to have new major charachters in ever single book? What's the point of sequels if i have to deal with hundreds of boring pages that bring new charachters to life over and over again? By the time you reach the forth book of epic fantasy, it's inexcuable.

Second, since Deathhouse gate the story drags to much. The whole books consist of one little element that is streched thru enitre book, at the end of which only 10% of developed polots are concluded, making you feel like an idiot for reading 800 pages to find out almost nothing - pretty cheap trick from Mr. Erikson to ensure a million sequels. In which the same thing starts over again.

And finaly, since Gardens of the moon, there has been to much characher's invards thoughts, particularly consiting of cheap philosphy. Do we really need that in fantasy books? The whole series it starting to get a little bit to "outthere", to apstract, almost like he's losing touch with ceirtan forms of reality that are desirable in fantasy. Wonder if he'll come up with a fifth race now, that is even more ancients than the already superpowerfull ons that followed them.

This book is the first where i actually started to skip pages because it was to boring and pointless...i knew i wouldn't miss anything since the story drags so. Well, the whole Mhybe thing in the third book was wreched as well, but there were other charachters that more than made up for it.

Those are the bad things, however there is a lot of good things that continue over from previous books so by now you should know them. Overall i love this series and will place an order for books 5&6, hoping they will be as good as book number 1, or at least not as bad as book number 4. Thou i was shocked some people dare compare it to Martin. We need faster turn of events with less dancing around the subject, charachters we love on regulars basis, less introspection of such constant basis and more substance and conclusion per book. Then we can talk about this series being a contender for top3 places of modern epic fantasy.

I was really looking forward to this book. It was a painful process admitting to myself that I didn't like it.

The book has a nice start; an interesting main character, nice pacing, good setting/interesting society/etc, but it just doesn't go anywhere as a whole. Our man Severian has well written, if somewhat random, adventures and recollections.

For myself the main shortcoming is the linear plotline and single point of view, e.g. I was here and I did this, then I woke up there and did that. This is covered up somewhat by frequent jumps to other points in time as the book is told as someone writing their memoirs. There are occasional references to a particular goal but they seem tacked on and have little relevance to the scene in which they are mentioned.

There are terrific scenes, great partial plot lines and stories but the epic is missing. Like Chinese food from the supermarket; it looks good in the case but in the end it just doesn't satisfy. Unfortunately the first half (this book) is the better of the two.

How come Wolfe isn't more popular? I love Gene Wolfe's masterpieces and plan on reading everything he's ever written, or at least all the great ones. Are his writing styles and vocabulary just too deep for the masses? There are so many made up animals mentioned in the books that leave it all up to the imagination, what's an arsinoither? I love some of the amazing beings in the books that make it so bizarre, like the cacogens(aliens who pose as humans), cyborgs(who also try to be human), and zointhropes(animals that gave up their humanity). The story is often confusing and the scenery constantly changing, Severian does most of his traveling on foot and covers whole continents. What happens if you don't succeed? You get your manhood taken away. Talk about motivation to succeed.

Call me a simpleton, but I thoroughly enjoyed the novel without any knowledge of its biblical allusions, or others that may exist. I was actually enthralled with the plot in itself the entire way through. As far as the diction and syntax are concerned, I did find that certain sections were a bit confusing, and I also found that the quality of the writing fluctuated at times. However, when it is taken into account that the text is written by Severian, such inconsistencies, while still frustrating, end up adding to the overall mystique of the text. Just for arguments sake, even if the blame were placed on Gene Wolfe himself, I found that the well written sections captivated me like no other text has. At times, I found myself experiencing something similar to a dream like state, where that ineffable combination of awe and confusion took hold of me. Typically, when I finish a novel, I put it down for good. Yet, as soon as I finished Book of the New Sun, I felt the urge to re-read it. Not because I want to understand its complex literary allusions or because I desire to expand my vocabulary, but because, quite simply, it moved me.

I have just finished The Book of the New Sun, and all I can say is WOW. Not since Dune have I read a SF book that was as amazing as this is. I simply cannot wait to read it again. I'm amazed I have passed over this author until now. This is one of the best modern novels I have read.

Sword and the Citadel and the last two books of the Book of the New sun Quartet. The story picks up after the Shadow and Claw, with Severian, the torturer continuing his Odysseian journey across the southern continent, on an Earth a millenia in the future as our Sun is dying. Severian intends to return The Claw of the Concilliator, a magic relic which seems to give him, at times, the power over death, the the Religious order from whom he accidentally took the claw from. Severian soon finds himself at the heart of events that can literally change the destiny of humanity.

This second and third book are an even greater accomplishment than the first two of the series were. As I wrote in the first novels' review, the language utilized throughout this series serves as a plot device in and of itself, not only serving to enhance the foreignness of the reading experience, but adding to the mystery which are part and parcel of its charm.

Severian finds himself evolving quite a bit through these last two novels he is coming to term with his own humanity and the nature of the brutality that is part of everyday. Severian finds himself even more deeply embroiled in the intrique that is the conflict between the rebel leader Vodalus, and the leader of the commonwealth The Autarch.

The brilliance in this novel it is so deeply imagined and so stunningly written that it is hard to imagine this was produced by an author of our time. There is a reason that this novel gets so much praised on it. It draws you in, and then it forces you to constantly cope with it's eccentric characterizations, which is akin to decoding a foreign lanquage that you are only semi fluent in. This is actually extremely satisying, but that is not in and of itself the biggest strength of the narrative. In many "fantasy/sci fi" books merely reads about extraordinary worlds, but in this series, the reader resides as an insider in this world. Ultimately the Sword and Citadel resolve a number of plot lines and mysteries, and of course this makes it greater than the first two.

The Sword and Citadel, and specifically the Book of the New Sun are indeed one of the greatest fantasy books written of all time. These books should be a part of any serious fan of fantasy, but really any one who enjoys high literature.