Isle of Woman

Rating:
Summary: A Quality Cross-Eras Historical Full Of Imagination
Review: One of Piers Anthony's most ambitious novels, "Isle Of Woman" - the first in a series - tells the story of the human race throughout history from its evolutionary emegence to the near future, via a small number of characters re-incarnated throughout history and interacting with each other each time. Occuring in Africa, in North America, the Middle East, France - pretty much over most of the planet - through the Ice Age, the Chinese Dynasties, the Stone Age and numerous other specific times and places, ascending from the most distant to the most recent and finally into the year 2021. It does a remarkable job of putting one right in the moment, making distant, mammoth-and-sabretooth-inhabited wildernesses and long-ago exotic cultures very real and immersive. The barbarities of the human race over the edges are present, but more memorable are the benevolences - a meeting between early modern man and Neanderthals where the Homo Sapiens representative is surprised to learn that the 'beast-men' are not the bloodthirsty mindless savages the sapiens think of them as; a simple but highly moving burial scene; and the instances of powerful romance - particularly romances that last through the centuries and transcend lifetimes - are among the highlights. Generally written in great detail, the narrative does occasionally fall into choppy sentence structure - which can be effective in some action sequences to convey the rapidity of events but is much less so at other times - and excessive use of exclamation points, but any hampering effects these slips might have had on the overall story are dashed by the power, fascination, and/or beauty of the individual scene and a generally quick return to a more descriptive and effective writing style. Overall, a book of great insight, imagination, supposition and substance.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing story
Review: "Isle of Woman" follows the story of two individuals (Blaze and Ember) and their families through out the history of the Earth. The story was very well developed and thought out. I loved the way the author integrates the characters into the progression of history. Even though the book jumps from time period to time period, each incarnation of the characters leaves off where the previous incarnation stopped; this created one continuous story line with the more or less same basic characters. The characters were very likeable and well rounded, and the story is just excellent. I would recommend this book to everyone even if they are not fans of the genre.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing story
Review: "Isle of Woman" follows the story of two individuals (Blaze and Ember) and their families through out the history of the Earth. The story was very well developed and thought out. I loved the way the author integrates the characters into the progression of history. Even though the book jumps from time period to time period, each incarnation of the characters leaves off where the previous incarnation stopped; this created one continuous story line with the more or less same basic characters. The characters were very likeable and well rounded, and the story is just excellent. I would recommend this book to everyone even if they are not fans of the genre.

Rating:
Summary: A comfortable read
Review: A long-time fan of Piers Anthony, I read the Isle of Woman in hopes that it would get me hooked just like every other series he has invented. He did not disappoint me. Although he contradicts himself through the Geodyssey (I have read all three volumes)in his theories, his creativity on the same subject astounds me and made me think about historical occurances that before had not interested me, and thoughts about possibilities in the human past that I had not bothered to ponder. He spends more time in theory than in fact, but his historical references are carefully researched and brought to life. A great fictional history without boredom or trashy romance.

Rating:
Summary: Interweaves fantastic fiction with exciting history
Review: A series of twenty snapshots of the lives of Blaze, Ember, and their families, Piers Anthony's 'Isle of Woman' interweaves fantastic fiction with exciting history. These identities of Blaze and Ember reappear at different times, in different places, from the beginning of human development to the immediate future. Thus as the characters meet, separate, partner with others, raise their families, and eventually reunite septuagenarians, the reader progresses from mankind's earliest art and tools to the many guises of civilization. A concept this grand in scope demands such an innovative device, and it is used effectively. In this way, with familiar protagonists, even the shortest of chapters becomes effective.The centerpiece, in which Blaze finds a wife for his son, is set around 6500 BC in Catal Huyuk, and other of Anthony's settings are still more unconventional. Elaine Morgan's infamous "aquatic ape" hypothesis illustrates biological evolution, the Sahul Shelf the land bridges of old. Neandertal man, too often mercilessly mocked, is instead portrayed with sympathy; Malthus, not Marx, alerts us to future dangers. Indeed, the unfortunate path man seems to be treading is this novel's very message. The author sees catastrophe over the horizon, primarily ecological, and this warning recurs throughout both implicitly and explicitly.'Isle of Woman' is not history as we know it. This is history as it might have been, replete with suppositions, scant evidence, and even suggestions. It is also history as it ought to be: it informs, it entertains, and we can learn from it.

Rating:
Summary: I loved how Anthony turned a billion years into a lifetime.
Review: Anthony did a masterful job of taking a single family through a billion years of evolution in a matter of pages. You get drawn into the the chapters of the book and the lives of Blaze, Ember and Stone and all the others. At first the situations may seem trivial but they bring you into the time frame and give you and upclose look at our evolution through the lives of some familiar and reapearing characters. I look forward to all of his GeoOddsey series. Go Piers!

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful novel for mature readers!
Review: Ember and Blaze met at the beginning of time and fell in love. They couldn't marry each other because they were members of the same tribe, so they both married other people and had families. Ember, Blaze and their kin are reborn every chapter, each in another point in history. But all the while, they feel a strange longing for each other. And in the furture from today, they finally meet again. Piers Anthony brings a reader all around the world throughout the centuries, and into the personal lives of the characters associated in the story. As teenage girls, we found this story to be well-written and detailed in all aspects of life. We recommend it to all mature readers

Rating:
Summary: Extreme insight into human nature
Review: He paints the clearest picture of our course in human evolution.

Rating:
Summary: Isle of Woman
Review: I find it amazing that so many people champion this book for being an entertaining novel while admitting that its historical inaccuracies permeate throughout. It is my opinion that authors who attempt to use history as their stage for fiction must be held accountable for their veracity and lack thereof. Historical accuracy is the glue that holds a story such as this together. And in my view, it falls apart in too many places. I freely admit that this novel is listed as a "Fantasy" and I accept it as such. And the historical settings chosen are of an interesting variety. The first several chapters are very captivating and well conceived. However, just as the story begins with great promise it ends like the last swallow of a flat beer. The final chapter was horribly contrived and pathetic. See for yourself. I do commend Mr. Anthony for his efforts and his inspiration. The idea for this story is wonderful and original. It is simply too bad that the execution is marginal at best.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing, Innovation, and Wonderful
Review: I first picked up this book in my school library thinking it would amuse me for at least 1/2 an hour. I was wrong, I sat in the library for 2 hours before I realized I had missed 2 classes. The book is so absorbing and wonderfully told that I become so involved with the characters that I got teary eyed at the end. What facinated me even more is the history, while I realize that the book has a lot of inaccurate information it can really fascinate people by making them think, could this be true (does anyone REALLY know what happened to the neanderthals?) A must read for any age