Queen of Demons

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: "Queen of Demons" is a very good sequel to the original. The plot has many twists and the characters are interesting and colorful. This book does bear a slight resemblence to the original in that the heros are trying to take down a powerful wizard, but there are very few similarities beyond that. Garric develops to become much more than an inkeepers sun and begins to restruchture the government. Cashel is sent on a series of adventures in different dimensions (Drake seems to like to send Cashel to different dimensions, as he does in the next two books). A whole host of different characters are intoduced, each very well developed. An all around great book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: "Queen of Demons" is a very good sequel to the original. The plot has many twists and the characters are interesting and colorful. This book does bear a slight resemblence to the original in that the heros are trying to take down a powerful wizard, but there are very few similarities beyond that. Garric develops to become much more than an inkeepers sun and begins to restruchture the government. Cashel is sent on a series of adventures in different dimensions (Drake seems to like to send Cashel to different dimensions, as he does in the next two books). A whole host of different characters are intoduced, each very well developed. An all around great book.

Rating:
Summary: Fantasy fan
Review: For some reason this book seemd familiar too me even though it was my first time reading it. I soon dicovered that this book is identical to the first book of the series. Basically this book is the same string of events with differnt names attached. Then as i continued the series i found that each book was very similar. It seemed that by 50 pages in the book each character was seperated from the group in a different and dangerous world. I'll admit that drake seemed to improve as an author but his plot is really suffering. Although this book lacks originality it is still somewhat entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible.
Review: I feel that everyone is being a bit too nice with their reviews. I did enjoy the first book of this series, it was interesting, so I moved on to the second. What complete and utter dribble, I cringe when I pick it up, hoping that it will get better. Here are my problems with it:

1) Boring. 2) No character development. 3) So many parts that make you say... "huh? What is the author talking about." 4) Almost redundant situations. "Oh, look, I popped into a new world again, I'll go this way to get out! Yep, I was right again!"

Im almost done the book but I don't think I can read another paragraph, so its going away for good. I will not even bother reading another book in this series. ....

Rating:
Summary: Just Can't Seem To Finish It
Review: I'm amazed! I started reading these reader comments hoping to get some insight into where these books are headed. Apparently no other reader has figured it out either. Even the people who said they liked it seemed to hit the nail right on the head: There is NO character development in this book.

The characters are dull and uninteresting. After a book and a half and some 700+ pages I had to admit that I just didn't CARE what happened to these people.

This book, more so than the first, is impossible to finish because if you lose interest and set it down for a few days (weeks, months while you read something more interesting)then pick it up again, you're completely lost because there is absolutely nothing memorable about the characters or the plot.

Sure Drake "Juggles plot lines and brings them neatly together" because in this world NOTHING makes sense, there's no cause and effect, the characters don't learn from their adventures, so he can just WRITE them back together. The books end when Drake stops writing, not when he's resolved some conflict.

Okay, his writing is clear, his ideas are fresh, inventive and fairly exciting, but basic writing techniques like story arch and character development seem to be lost on the author. Considering these are covered at length in nearly every basic creative writing class, book or magazine, one wonders how he's managed to avoid exposure to any of the above, or why he chose to ignore these basic concepts. A one-night class would do him wonders!

But then he's managed to get paid to write at lest 4 of these. Do us all a favor. Don't buy this book and maybe he'll stop writing them.

Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE GREATEST FANTASY SERIES OF ALL TIME
Review: It is great to finally read a fantasy novel that is "original". The Lord of the Isles grasps your complete attention in the first paragraph instead of taking you halfway into the novel before even slightly directing any attention to the point of the plot. I am personally writing a fantasy series entitled The Milliennial Bloodshed Wars: The Dawning Civilization. In this novel I use Drake's idea in writing an interesting series. I love Robert Jordan but his novels are too long and I hate to read a thousand page book. And the glossary needs to be improved. I don't know which word to look up sometimes. Terry Goodkind needs to stop repeating the same story he started out with and actually do something with it. One thing thats for sure about this series is that Drake makes his world its own reality and sets a perfect pace to it.

Rating:
Summary: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Review: Queen of Demons is a big pot full of ups and downs, very high points and points with no point.

In this second book in the epic saga of The Lord of the Isles, David Drake maintains the high quality of writing displayed in the first book. The characters and action sequences are all well thought out, and I was as impressed in this book as in the previous one at the author's grasp of whatever he happens to be writing about.

The characters, too, are all unique and interesting, most especially the siblings Cashel and Ilna. They are all well fleshed out and well rounded. Unfortunately, the author usually picks one point about a character and just sticks with it through the whole book. We don't need to be reminded every 5 pages that Ilna wants to redeem herself and that she doesn't lie, or that Cashel takes things at his own pace and believes in doing things right.

There was more variation in enemies and monsters in this book than the last one, although there was a lesser quantity of them. The scope of the magic and the consequences of the characters' actions are much larger here though. In this book, the author is definitely aiming more for the "epic" feel which he skimped on in the first volume.

In terms of structure, this book is almost too much like the first. The four main characters set out, get separated immediately, have their own adventure and meet their own friends, and then coincidentally (or not) all arrive at the same place and time to overcome the great evil of the story. This presents some of the best and worst points of the series.

It is good in that each volume is complete, has a definite story and closure so that you don't feel that you need to drudge through each of the previous volumes each time the next one comes out. Unfortunately, this is also a bit of a downside as this doesn't feel as much like an epic saga as a bunch of small, seldom related adventures.

In terms of plot, well, that is where this book skimped the most. Until halfway through the book, it didn't have one. Finally you learn what every character is trying to accomplish, but for the first half of the book it's very unclear. Sharina and Garric set out with specific goals in mind, and Ilna's story follows a pretty logical course, but Cashel's adventure, until 2/3 of the way through the book, are irrelevant, illogical, and unexplained. And he really needs Mellie back.

One of Drake's greatest strengths in this book is the secondary characters. All are strong, likeable, and unique. Unfortunately, he seems to be one of those authors who feels it necessary to get rid of them all at the end of every book, just leaving the core group of characters to get on with their adventures in the next one.

One last comment before I conclude -- I noticed in this book a lot of similarities, in creatures and plot devices, to work done by Robert E. Howard in his Conan and Kull stories. Also, one scene near the end sounded a lot like a certain moment in the movie Willow.

Overall, this book was an enjoyable, fast paced set of adventures for each character. Not quite picaresque, but close. The characters were a joy to read, the writing was strong and clear. Unfortunately, the plot was lacking and much of the action was irrelevant. If you enjoyed Lord of the Isles, you'll enjoy this, but it's not great. I liked it enough that I'll probably pick up #3 in paperback.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but no feeling
Review: So many words, so little feeling. There are plenty of harrowing battles and many (definitely too many) changes in scenery; but it feels like so much hot air because the characters are flat, dull, and cliched. I couldn't put the first book down, however, I can't seem to finish "Queen of Demons." Skip this book, and try Ursula Le Guin's "Earth Sea" series if you want exciting plots AND characters you care about.

Rating:
Summary: Might do well as a video game....
Review: This is a very wonderful piece of fantasy fiction. Everything about it, from the magic to the design of the world. I love the coverage of magic that Drake has put into this novel. The characters are like life and everything makes sense. And I must add that my favorite character was prehaps Zahag, the talking ape. This is truly epic fantasy to its best, and most brilliant. David Drake is a master of the art!