Villains by Necessity

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Summary: Incredible fantasy book
Review: I read Villians by Necessity over my summer vacation. Not just once, or twice, but three times in the space of the two and a half weeks I had it. This book puts a twist on the cliched good v. evil storylines by completely reversing it. It explores some interesting themes of what good and evil really are-- for instance, without evil, how can good be defined? The characters are, in my opinion, fairly well-developed: the normal stereotypes of the Questing Hero, his One True Love, the Knight, the Wizard, ect are all skewed for the evil versions of such characters. It's a fairly long book, but fast paced enough that it hardly seems long at all. The wit and humor in the book is wonderful-- it can make fun of itself and the entire traditional fantasy genere without sounding trite or annoying. Villains by Necessity is a fantastic read. The only problem is finding a copy to purchase for yourself!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutly Wonderful!
Review: I received this book as a gift from a friend for my birthday and had to laminate it because I read it so many times! It is a wonderful book, and I recomend it to everyone. The charaters in the story are the type that you can fall in love with, laugh with, cry for, and above all, enjoy. No matter what type of fantasy you like to read, this one is sure to be a hit.

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Summary: Refreshingly Different!
Review: I wish the fantasy of today could compare with this excellent book. It felt strange to be reading a story told from the perspective of the "bad" guys, but not in a bad way. I would like to see more books like this that parody of fantasy in the future. It really makes you see that the bad guys are not as bad as you always think. I was sad about Blackmail, though

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Start
Review: I'm quite honestly not sure what led me to take this book off of the shelf of the store. It may have been the title. But even though I had never heard of the author, I tried it, and loved it. yes, there are rough edges here and there, but I would give a bit of leeway here, as it's a first novel. I have seen much worse things published. (Such as Don Callander's Pyromancer, whose kitchen brings nothing to mind so much as Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and which neglects to include even a token original concept) The concept of this book is what drives it. A dearth of evil in the world threatens the balance, and threatens to destroy the world. Therefore, our heroes (Villains?) must go and be quite dastardly and restore evil. While the quest itself is quite standard, the writing is quite accomplished, and is lively and interesting. I highly recommend it.

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Summary: Villains have to save the world: This book is awsome!
Review: I've actually bought this book from somewhere else and it was completely by accident that I came across it. I'm shocked that I hadn't even heard of it before then, because this is the best book I've ever read. It seriously is. The villains are forced to save the world by doing what they do best: unleashing chaos. The funny thing is the heros are trying to stop the villains so in essance the heros and villains find themself forced in opposite roles. You actually root for the villains. Confusing? Not really. The story is easy to read, is very hard to put down, and is hilarious to the extreme. In fact it'd make a great movie to if it was famous enough to be seen by a good director. Anyway, pick it up if you ever get the chance. Beleive me, it's worth it.

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Summary: One of the best "Traditional" Fantasy novels.
Review: If one is into what I call "traditional" Fantasy, then I would highly recommend this book. I am an avid reader of fantasy and sci-fi and this is one of the best that I have run into. The plot of this story may seem old but Forward puts a new tiwst on it where it no longer really seems old and worn out. The characters, too, are well thought out; they're not static like most characters from this genere as they change and develop as the story line progresses. A wonderful read that I highly recommend and consider as my favorite book!

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Summary: Standard heroic fantasy quest novel with one twist.
Review: If you read much fantasy, you've read this one at least half a dozen times: the World Will End unless a grab-bag band of adventurers (a centaur, a sorceress, a knight, etc.) can carry out a heroic Quest. Naturally, the Quest requires them to travel around a fair bit, and each member of the band faces an individual challenge. Naturally, there are powerful forces opposing them... The (only) twist is, the "heroes" are villains, and their task is to bring Evil back into a world that has become unbalanced by too much Good.You might ask why bother if that's the only piece of novelty. Well... first-time novelist Eve Forward has done a workmanlike job with it. Sure, it's derivative; she acknowledges that (there's a scene where the thief is stuck in a tunnel under a mountain, telling riddles in the dark...). But she keeps the story bouncing along at a lively pace, the quest is tolerably well designed if somewhat predictable, and we even grow to like a couple of the characters. A tolerably amusing light read, this would make a good gift for a young adult fantasy reader, or someone who enjoys fantasy role-playing games. Let's see what this author does next.

Rating:
Summary: Ever save the world form vilany? What if you were wrong?
Review: In "Villains by Necessity" you are taken on a wild trip through a light and entertaing world where the heros are living Happly Ever After and taking everyone else with them! "Villians by Necessity" was a light and page devouring read . The villan's outlook was handled well, showing real motives form Assasssins and Dark Sorcresses. With a varity of well developed characters, and a developed plot that never got bugdensome I give "Villains by Necessity" an 8 on my scale of entertaining books

Rating:
Summary: A Terrific Nonstandard Fantasy
Review: In a twist on the usual fantasy story, Forward's heroes are not classically good-hearted heroes, but instead villians. Including an assassin, an evil sorceress, a greedy thief, and a black knight, the main characters are likable and intriguing. They band together to save the world from destruction by the powers of good.

In the beginning, I found the characters one-dimensional. However, as the story quickly unfolded, I was fascinated to see that both character introspection and interaction developed their personalities to an amazing degree. After that, even minor, short-lived characters managed to grab my attention fully.

There are a number of sly digs at other fantasy works, which make Villians By Necessity an even funnier book if you're well-read in fantasy novels.

Rating:
Summary: "The only book where it's the bad guys who save the day!"
Review: In this story the good has won the ultimate battle against evil. All is good, all is well, all is... BORING! In this crazy book the "bad guys", which include a depressed assassin who's in love with a red headed druid, a black knight who doesn't speak, a chubby thief who hates when you call him "shortie", a man eating sorceress who owns the last dark portal existing and an innocent centaur who's a spy for the good. Together they set out to open the Dark Gate and save the world from becoming a NICE place (what a terrible thought!). Unfortauntly this isn't too easy because to do this they must find the seven parts of the key( the one that opens the Dark Gate, of course) which are guarded VERY carefully and if they succed to do that they must then pass the maze of dreams.I recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy but isn't to touchy about who the "heros" are.