Shadowmancer

Rating:
Summary: Good, But too fast.
Review: Shadowmancer gets you going from the first page, it just goes straight into all action, fun and games and high pranks. Throw in a bit of magic and some strange monsters and you get an interesting read. The problem with it is very simple, you take a very promising situation, expect it to develop into a dozen pages of nerve tangling plot, with a twist or two along the way, and it does not do it, it is over in half a page and you are left thinking, I could have done that better. I however did not, and credit to Mr Taylor for doing what I have failed in twenty years of promising to do, but it could have given so much more to the reader. Definitely more Tolkein than Potter, but a long way from Lord of the Rings. It is enjoyable, and worth having a look at.

Rating:
Summary: ...an interesting response to the Potter phenomenon...
Review: I was intrigued when reading the promotional material for this book that it was lauded as being on the same magnitude as the Potter saga. To be honest, when I read the first few pages, I thought "Here we go again...characters like the Death Eaters, teenage boy in magical capers.". It made me cynical from the start. I truly believe that had Harry Potter and his world not come along, this book would have stood up more on its own merits rather than appearing to be a Christian response to their unfounded fears that Rowling's books incite children to want to practice black magic and stray from the "path". The religious subtext becomes frankly too much for me, and although I can take a little of everything, this took the biscuit, as we say. There's a fine line between making a point and forcing a point. As a Christian kids book, it's fine, wonderful even, but as a piece of fiction, it reads more like an exaltation to God and a denunciation of the rest. For my money, there's a better book out there...go find it!

Rating:
Summary: Lucid novel from G.P Taylor.
Review: The shadowmancer is a enthralling read and i was lucky enough to meet G.P Taylor and get a signed copy of this book (not hearing of him before hand), the book is more similar to anything by J.R Tolkien than anything else i've read though it does'nt quite reach the quality of J.R Tolkien it's not that far off. It would be good to see G.P Taylor do a epic such as Lord of the rings and who knows what it may manifest into. This is a good read for people into the fantasy genre and feel like something to read thats a little bit different with which involves witches and other mythological creatures.

Rating:
Summary: Shadowmancer!!!!!
Review: Wow! What a brilliant read! Tons better than Harry Potter. I couldn't put it down. To my way of thinking G.P. Taylor is as good as Tolkien.More pleeze!

Rating:
Summary: Fantasy meets Christianity... and fails.
Review: Far worse than any fantasy that I have ever encountered, Shadowmancer is a feable attempt to meld Christianity and fantasy.

Its failure as a work of fiction stems from the disjoined and incongruous style of combining a makeshift fantasy with paraphrased scripture. The reader experiences the Christian content in the same way that it was added to the novel: as an afterthought. Although the plot employs the rote good-versus-evil format, it does not significantly lend itself to the Christian interjections. The plot is trite and narrow. It lacks the subtlety and forethought that are required to effectively weave a religious message into a novel. In retrospect, the author very well could have written the fantasy story independent of the Christian elements only later to inject passages lifted from the Bible.

As a fantasy and novel, Shadowmancer derives its few interesting aspects (e.g. its magical creatures and spirits) from sources entirely external to the principal characters. The characterization in the novel is so immature that the reader never identifies with or sympathizes with the protagonists. The reader might easily forget the main character's name if it weren't for the Biblical allusion: Thomas. Even the internal conflict that the name Thomas implies is never adequately realized.

As a Christian work, the novel is stupifyingly horrible. The Christianity in the novel lacks all the intrigue and subtlety that one finds in works like C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. While all the details necessary to proselytize are contained in the passages lifted from the Bible, their separation from the plot casts them as thinly veiled attempts to indoctrinate.

The Christianity adopted to combine with the fantasy plot is a blend of Benny-Hinn-style prayer and Peretti-style spirituality. However, the Christianity is so poorly framed that the novel never truly resolves the inherent conflict of Christian theology and fantasy-witchcraft that are likely to torment the Christian reader.

(...)

Rating:
Summary: Scraping the bottom of the fantasy barrel
Review: Books that actually get published just don't get a whole lot worse than this. If you're just looking for good fantasy, be prepared to get bombarded with pathetic religious symbolism, heavy-handed storytelling, a disturbing lack of plot, non-existent character development, stilted, cliched dialogue, and a heavily derivative style.

I find it very telling that Mr. Taylor sent this book in to an agency to have it critiqued and they sent it back saying it was the worst writing they had ever seen. He proceeded to publish it with his own money. I can't fault him for being a smart businessman, as he is raking in the cash now, but I CAN and DO fault anyone who read this book, enjoyed it, and recommended it to someone else. Whatever happened to good taste?

If you're reading this book because you want something Christian, this is not the place to look either. A very cursory search of the internet will turn up interview after interview where Mr. Taylor denies that this book is any such thing, and claims that it is equally valid for Jews or Muslims. He all but says that all three of the above are the same religion, etc.

Within the book, the good guys rely more heavily on magical artifacts and miracles that function more like spells than they do on God himself. Verses are quoted at a frenetic pace, torn ruthlessly out of context . . . twisted, juxtaposed with other verses which are taken equally out of context . . . and even misquoted (with key words added, removed or changed).

I can virtually guarantee that if you read this book, you WILL regret it. I had a compelling reason to finish it which had nothing to do with whether or not I wanted to, but that notwithstanding, as soon as I was done, it went flying at the most distant wall I could see . . .

Rating:
Summary: Disjointed and dull
Review: This book failed to get and hold my attention. It's not the religious underpinings, it's the wildly inconsistent style. The action starts quickly but it's so poorly described to become both boring and confusing!

Rating:
Summary: Shadowmancer, not the best book, but a good read anyway.
Review: I saw the author in an interview on some morning news program a couple of weeks ago. I thought his book sounded interresting, but proceeded to mostly forget about it.

Two days ago I was in a book store and saw the book on the shelf. The cover artwork caught my eye and I read the information inside the jacket. The information on the jacket reminded me of the interview so I decided to buy the book.

Taylor's Shadowmancer tells the story of three teens who are on a quest to save an artifact that had been stolen and resold. The artifact is purported to have some type of mystical powers.

The story takes the teens through some tense situations where they must defend themselves and the artifact against very powerful spiritual beings and against people who would use the artifact's powers to obtain more power for themselves.

I thought the story was very enjoyable. It was not the best book I have ever read, but it was not one that I gave up half-way through either. If you enjoy books with some adventure mixed with suspense and spiritual warfare, you will probably enjoy this book. If you are offended by any mention of religion or spirituality, this book is probably not for you.

Rating:
Summary: Breach of Promise
Review: So many possibilities for a great story, but alas, all squandered in the hurry to cram the book with too much undeveloped information.

Within this relatively small book we have fallen priests, smugglers, dragoons, witchcraft, betrayal, greed, murder, exorcisms and even healing of the sick. We also have Boggles, Thulaks, Hobs, Hedge Witches, Dunamez, Glashan, Seloth, Wiccamen, Varrigals, an Azimuth and a War Dyke.

We are treated to names like Obadiah Demurral, Beadle, Dagda Sarapuk, Gebra Nebura, and Azrubel.

Unfortunately, the majority of these intriguing concepts are under-developed, and the story hops around like a drunken March hare.

The basic underlying concept is simple - it's Riathamus (God) versus Pyratheon (the Devil), each with a couple of gophers to assist them with the good old battle between good and evil.

Unfortunately, it's not very well written, and you can't be sure if the author is writing for children or adults. The storyline is definitely childish, but some of the concepts are adult.

Maybe if J. K. Rowling hadn't written and published her little wizard stories, this book may have been a better read, but in the light of Harry Potter, it's a poseur.

This is the little book that tried too hard.

Amanda Richards

Rating:
Summary: Bleh
Review: Quite frankly, a terrible book. If you HAVE to read this book, wait a few months and borrow it from the library. The characters are flat and undeveloped. Their history is written out in their introduction instead of slowly being revealed. Their character development falls flat, even the plot itself falls flat. The book was waaaay too preachy, but I thought until I could deal with that until I came to the ending which was horrible. Quite frankly, the author should have stuck to his job instead of deciding to try something new.

Like many before me, I wish I could give 0 stars but sadly Amazon doesn't allow that.