Rating: 
Summary: Great start to series
Review: I have to say I was expecting much from this book. While I am a huge fan of the Babylon 5 universe, the technomages were never my favorite part. However, the book turned out to be great because of all the meat it added to the bones of the technomages.
Rating: 
Summary: Late to the party, but glad I came!
Review: I loved B5/Crusade when it was on, and taped every show. I didn't much care for the knockoff books, though, and so stopped after reading two.Then I ran across this book, and this series, and realized what I had missed. Unlike the first efforts, this one has some input from JMS and not only follows, but expands the canon. The technomages were deliberately kept indistinct in the two series. What were they? Where did they come from? Why did they exist? What happened to them? These were questions hinted at but never resolved on TV. Then came these books. Much like the appendices on TLOTR, they reveal a great deal of information just hinted at before (like the answers to all the above questions). Unlike the appendices in TLOTR, they are fully-fleshed-out novels, though, with three dimensional charactors. No one who liked the B5 series can rob themselves of the pleasure of seeing this story unfold in all its fascinating detail. Though the story starts slowly, building up the mystery as Galen slowly explores what the Technomage "Council" is hiding, the denouement is worth the wait. I was literally blown away by the implications it presented. Best of all, the series is so well-written that even a non-B5 fan can get into it. Though it assumes a certain knowledge of the B5 universe (like the nature of the Shadows), all the links to the B5 story are explained well enough that as a stand alone series, it still works. If you have friends that still love trek and won't watch B5, then get them to read the books as an example of how deeply fascinating and conflicted this fictional universe can be. Five thumbs up!
Rating:
Summary: Late to the party, but glad I came!
Review: I loved B5/Crusade when it was on, and taped every show. I didn't much care for the knockoff books, though, and so stopped after reading two. Then I ran across this book, and this series, and realized what I had missed. Unlike the first efforts, this one has some input from JMS and not only follows, but expands the canon. The technomages were deliberately kept indistinct in the two series. What were they? Where did they come from? Why did they exist? What happened to them? These were questions hinted at but never resolved on TV. Then came these books. Much like the appendices on TLOTR, they reveal a great deal of information just hinted at before (like the answers to all the above questions). Unlike the appendices in TLOTR, they are fully-fleshed-out novels, though, with three dimensional charactors. No one who liked the B5 series can rob themselves of the pleasure of seeing this story unfold in all its fascinating detail. Though the story starts slowly, building up the mystery as Galen slowly explores what the Technomage "Council" is hiding, the denouement is worth the wait. I was literally blown away by the implications it presented. Best of all, the series is so well-written that even a non-B5 fan can get into it. Though it assumes a certain knowledge of the B5 universe (like the nature of the Shadows), all the links to the B5 story are explained well enough that as a stand alone series, it still works. If you have friends that still love trek and won't watch B5, then get them to read the books as an example of how deeply fascinating and conflicted this fictional universe can be. Five thumbs up!
Rating:
Summary: Opener to the greatest trilogy ever
Review: I loved this book. I loved the whole lot. Beautiful prose and an incredible story in typical Straczynski style. Never letting you know who not to trust and what exactly is going on and what are the motives behind all the lies. Everything gets sorted out beautifully by the end of book three. If you are a Babylon 5 fan or not I recommend this book for all.
Rating:
Summary: Opener to the greatest trilogy ever
Review: I loved this book. I loved the whole lot. Beautiful prose and an incredible story in typical Straczynski style. Never letting you know who not to trust and what exactly is going on and what are the motives behind all the lies. Everything gets sorted out beautifully by the end of book three. If you are a Babylon 5 fan or not I recommend this book for all.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Pleasant Surprise
Review: I picked this book up in an airport, and didn't expect much of it, frankly. It was just something to do on a flight. Boy was I surprised. I've read a few of the Babylon 5 books and they suffer from the malady that most TV series or movie spinoff books do: Very little active characterization or plot surprises. When dealing with someone else's characters, an author not only doesn't need to introduce the reader to individuals' character traits, he usually isn't even allowed to. Not so here. Almost all the characters are fully realized within the confines of the novel. A couple of majour characters appeared briefly in the show, but Cavelos has been given wide leeway to build upon that limited exposure to present a fully detailed novel that could easily stand alone in its own right. This is no ordinary TV spinoff book, it's a downright good read and almost a must for any B5 fan as it explores one of the little nuances of the show's arc that most of us always wanted to know more about but, with the cancellation of Crusade, never really got to fully explore: the Technomages. Recommended wholeheartedly for B5 fans and with little reservation for other who might find the idea of technomages intriguing.
Rating: 
Summary: Dry, but very worthwhile for Babylon 5 and Crusade fans
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the first two Babylon 5 trilogies, however this book was the hardest for me to get through. I found the first 3/4 of the book very boring. I thought the story got too detailed into the nature of the technomage's power. It spent so much time talking about how Galen came up with equation after equation for his spells, I felt like I was in math class. However, I am very glad that I read the book. If you are a fan of Babylon 5 and/or Crusade, and you want to know everything there is to know about the Babylon 5 universe, then you need to read this book. All of the B5 trilogies fill in some gaps of peripheral stories that were hinted at in the show's episodes. This book really let's you get inside of one of my favorite characters, Galen. The end of the book was very moving, also.
Rating:
Summary: You're in for a treat!
Review: I'm a big fan of the Babylon 5/Crusade Universe, and intrigued by Techno-mages. I had trouble putting this book down for the more mundane details of life-in-general. The complex hand of J. Michael Straczynski is evident in the plot twists and excellent tie-ins with Babylon 5 and Crusade. In disagreement with one of the other reviewers, I found the character development in this book to be more than simply competent. We see Galen, as an apprentice mage, and learn background that contributes to understanding his personality and foibles. Elric, Galen's mentor, and Alwin, Galen's "uncle" are also present. Jeanne Cavelos has done a wonderful job of creating a story that can stand alone as a novel, but that also relates missing links that Babylon 5 and Crusade fans will appreciate. I think this is a must-read -- you're in for a treat!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Solid Start
Review: I've been waiting for this trilogy and it is here at last! Next to the Rangers I love the Techno-Mages most in the B5 universe. This book is a cut above all other tie-in books I have ever read. I couldn't even finish any of the other B5 books but CASTING SHADOWS is a different story. Carefully written with solid and believable characters and well-penned dialogue, working from an outline by JMS himself, CASTING SHADOWS finally delivers a novel more novelistic than the show it is based on! What didn't I like? The first chapter features one of the lamest alien cultures EVER, the SOOM, basically a Star-Trekky race of Yorkshire farmers. Blech!!! This passage sucks majorly - of COURSE the universe is littered with humanoid aliens who think/feel/act just like humans, except for funny handshakes and exotic pets - evolution is SO predictable! If I wanted to read this sort of thing I'd open up a volume of James Herriot stories! OK - got that out of my system. Bottom line : like B5? Like Galen & the Techno-Mages? Read CASTING SHADOWS. 'Nuff said.
Rating: 
Summary: How to ruin a wonderful idea with a terrible book
Review: If it was possible to give 0 stars to a book, then thats what i would have given to this book
As a Babylon 5 fan, I've bought all of the Babylon 5 books i could get to complete the holes that left in my minds after the show was over.
I got this book for the same reason.
Boy was I wrong...
did the author of this book got paid by the amount of pages she wrote? well it sure looked like it.
it seems like the first half of the book describe about 5 minutes and in the worst possible way!!
I don't think that there's enough coffee in the world to wake me up from the coma this book got me into....
I just hope that in future books, they'll use better authors that focus on the story, and not on their ability to describe a second of emotion of way too many pages...
hopefully the next trilogy will be as good as the rest...
this one however is not.
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