Secrets

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous pictures
Review: great book if your looking for artistic pictures, just wonderful. But this is not a book for reading, just tells about the paintings and some have little poems.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous pictures
Review: great book if your looking for artistic pictures, just wonderful. But this is not a book for reading, just tells about the paintings and some have little poems.

Rating:
Summary: A story unto itself
Review: I've read some of the other reviews suggesting Royo write more to accompany his art--to help tell a story. It is my belief that his art work tells a very vivid story, each unique to the person who views it. I've seen books that have beautiful/extraordinary pictures that are accompanied by text, and more often than not it is a disappointment. It's like reading a novel then seeing how the film-makers decided to make your favorite character look like... Great art is a story unto itself.

Rating:
Summary: A story unto itself
Review: I've read some of the other reviews suggesting Royo write more to accompany his art--to help tell a story. It is my belief that his art work tells a very vivid story, each unique to the person who views it. I've seen books that have beautiful/extraordinary pictures that are accompanied by text, and more often than not it is a disappointment. It's like reading a novel then seeing how the film-makers decided to make your favorite character look like... Great art is a story unto itself.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning fantasy from a spanish master...
Review: Luis Royo has been coming to be one of the top fantasy illustrators of the world over these last two decades. His most common trace is (in my opinion) the union of beast and beauty creating scenes of immense passion. And this "Secrets" is a good example of this. This artist is also related to world leading fantasy magazine "Heavy Metal". Strongly recommended for any fantasy art lover.

Rating:
Summary: Astonishingly beautiful!
Review: Of all of the Royo books I've seen, Secrets, Malefic, and Visions are the most spectacular. The women are absolutely gorgeous, and the level of detail and hyper-realism is astonishing! If you're new to Royo, buy these three books. They emphasize fantasy illustration (as opposed to the sci-fi themes of Women and the post-apocolyptic themes of III Millenium). The quality of the artwork in III Millenium is also very good, but it has a darker, more somber tone. I'd recommend avoiding Women and Conceptions 1. They don't even come close to comparing with the four books listed above, and don't reflect the exceptional talent of Royo as an artist.

Rating:
Summary: Magical, mysterious, hideous and beautiful
Review: Probably my favourite of Royo's books (which I have all). This is here the beauty and sex appeal of women gets closest to demons and dragons - and even merge with them as in actual love making. This book is about sensuality, sexuality, craving, lust and danger. Women here are seldom innocent and weak - no, they more often than not control and use the creatures of the darkness as their desire dictates them. If you only plan to have one book of Royo, then get this one.

Rating:
Summary: Superb drawing and images
Review: Secrets deals with sex in fantasy. This mind you is a good thing. Sex in fantasy is often ignored or sugar coated. Royo does not do that here. The artwork is excellent. While the woman that he paints are... well, of amazing beauty, the scenes that Royo has placed them in (with beings that at least appear to be of great evil possessing the ability for great destruction) make you seriously think about the ramifications of sex in fantasy. This is a book certainly worth having. I wish that more text explaining the artist feeling for each painting was included rather then the small cryptic/poetic statements. The artist did not hold back in depicting the subject matter and as such should probably not be considered for young readers or those offended by nudity.

Rating:
Summary: A sensual & erotic study of Beauty and the Beast
Review: Secrets deals with sex in fantasy. This mind you is a good thing. Sex in fantasy is often ignored or sugar coated. Royo does not do that here. The artwork is excellent. While the woman that he paints are... well, of amazing beauty, the scenes that Royo has placed them in (with beings that at least appear to be of great evil possessing the ability for great destruction) make you seriously think about the ramifications of sex in fantasy. This is a book certainly worth having. I wish that more text explaining the artist feeling for each painting was included rather then the small cryptic/poetic statements. The artist did not hold back in depicting the subject matter and as such should probably not be considered for young readers or those offended by nudity.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting and sensual
Review: The images in this book are simply amazing to the point of near photo-realism. The subjects are meticulously rendered, but there is an aura of mystery permeating the paintings. You wish there was a caption explaining the origin of the image and what it is about.