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Summary: The bestest book me's ever read.
Review: Beyond the senses imagery magically caused my intellect to experience emotion. Lawhead was unconscious when he wrote this! Atlantis is rediscovered, giving fantastic roots to the legend of "The Fair Folk".
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Summary: A GREAT READ!!!
Review: This book is fantastic every time I read it and I have read it many times. If you are into Druidry, magic, and the pre-arthurian legend I suggest that you read this!
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Summary: Great intertwining of Celtic and Atlantean
Review: I thought that this book was great, plain great. I loved how Lawhead intertwined Celtic and Atlantean lore to make a beginning to the Arthurian saga. I caught myself with a tear in my eye when Taliesin died. But having Merlin not using fantastic magic did ruin the image a little.
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Summary: Its GOOD!
Review: I have read this book 13 times and I still laugh, I still cry, and I still become anxious! Lawhead merges the Arthurian and the Atlantian legends extremely well. And as for the sequel....its even better!
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Summary: Easily the BEST book I'v ever read!
Review: I love Lawhead's style of writing. It's written at a higher level of understanding, so not everyone is going to be able to understand it. The story is captivating, and the caracters seem very real. I would recommend this book and the other 3 books in the series to anyone who is looking for a really good book that they can enjoy for a long time. (In my opinion though, this one was the best. There wasn't as much war in it as the other 3.)
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Summary: Beautiful story
Review: By far the best book of the Pendragon Cycle. Lawhead describes Celitc and Atlantean culture, the plot and the characters are intersting. The thing I like most in Taliesin is the special atmosphere, it is bright, just beautiful. But the other books of the Pendragon Cycle are not better than average.
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Summary: a well-written work by an accomplished author
Review: Stephen Lawhead, who lived in England studying the Celtic culture, has crafted an intriguing story using traditional material which has become almost boring from overuse. In this series Lawhead takes the Arthurian legends to their original Celtic climate, instead of leaving them transposed to medieval England, and weaves a beautiful tale which includes legends of lost Atlantis -- a combination which might cause a reader to be wary, I know, but which works wonderfully well. He also adopts early Celtic Christianity, which does not at all interfere with the story, and the fact that the series was written before the current Celtic craze insures a balanced, well-written tale which was not just an attempt to leap onto the Riverdance-style bandwagon.
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Summary: Yet another Arthurian series - this one is BAD, though
Review: I'm not impressed. Not even amused. To make books about Arthur and Merlin seems to be a safe way to print money. Well, this author won't get any more of my money. Trying to make the Merlin a christian, and breaking with historical facts on almost every page (Arthur eating potatoes made me laugh out loud - potatoes came to Englad from America a millennium later than this time frame). It clearly shines through that Lawhead is a christian author who wants to accomplish two things - make money, and jam his beliefs down your throat. Avoid, unless you're just out for a good laugh at the expense of a bad author.
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Summary: Not what you might expect from Stephen Lawhead!
Review: After reading Lawhead's "Song of Albion" series, I was looking forward to another exciting, well-told tale. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The story of "Taliesin" is a moving, beautiful one full of bright, shining characters...the telling, however, is terrible. I'm not sure if this was one of Lawhead's early attempts at novel writing, and therefore, an inexperienced writer's work, or if he was trying to force the story into someplace it didn't want to go (most writers will tell you that books often have a mind of their own!). The writing comes out stilted and slightly canned. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but there's something about the language and sentence structure that makes it sound like a well-educated child speaking words by rote -- there are lots of big, impressive words but no real grasp of the meaning; they don't add up to the stunning imagery one would expect. It falls a little flat, as if he's trying too hard. I'm one of those readers who can lose themselves in a good book -- the pictures form behind my eyes and I feel as though I'm THERE. This never happened with "Taliesin". I kept reading because I was interested in the story itself, but it took me a painstakingly long 3 weeks instead of my normal 3 days to get through it. I'm debating now whether to read the sequel. I'd like to know what next transpires, but will Lawhead have regained his storytelling magic
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Summary: Book that flows so well you will not noticed time has passed
Review: A time of light. A time of prosperity. A time before darkness. When the birth of legendary kings is foretold in the heavens, but also what is written in the heavens?! A
coming of darkness! Death and destruction, of land and a way of life. Who would believe though?! The common man out in the fields? Or even the high king?
All this is the beginning of a flowing saga, of the time before King Arthur before the birth of Merlin, and leading into theres. Well written is it that you become intwined in the subtleties of it as it unfolds before you. Even drawing a few tears at the end of this book. So well ended although that you best know were to find the second book in this series because you wont want to wait for it
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