Rating: 
Summary: The best book since Song in the Silence!
Review: I first picked it up because of it's promising plot, it's rave reviews from such people as Piers Anthony and Anne McCaffery, and such, but I grew dissappointed, then livid going through the book. I was angry because, as a female, I felt betrayed by the steriotypical light that the author had portrayed and the character of Rhapsody was none other than a childish little girl, wishing to play with the big boys.
The story begins with Rhapsody successfully defending herself against a persuer and then running away with two men, strangers. Very good beginning, showing the reader that she can stand on her own two feet. But then the "coincidences" started. I cannot count the number of times that "something" just happened to work out right for the rest of the group, or how many times she pitied herself and cried, or how her perfections seemed to wipe everyone off their feet into stupor.
My main problem was her perfection: The most flawed characters become the most memorable because the reader identifies themselves within the character's flaws. I, for one, have horrible grammer and spelling, I am sure you can Identify with that because you, at one time or another, had horrible spelling just like me. There is nothing of that sort of comraderie between the main character and the reader in these books! She is often percieved as a china doll, which is exactly what she is. Nothing as a brain, and all fluff in between.
As a watcher of some television, I can only say that I am sickened by the reoccurance of sexual attention actors and actresses get, and it has gotten to the point where television revolves around matchmaking, the "pec" appeal and the "boob" appeal instead of the writing, or the direction of the plot, or even the characters themselves. How many times have you heard someone say, "Did you see ______ last night? Wasnt ____ sooooo hott?" with an obnoxious sqeal to follow the incessent questions about the character's looks.
Now, with my ranting going in the direction of the book, I must say that I rue the day that this sort of behavior reflects into the written word. And unfortunately, RHAPOSDY DOES THIS! A character so perfect, so flawless can only be viewed as pre-feminism behavior. Where is the conflict? the writing? the drama? Sigh.
I, the reviewer, finished the book for only one reason, Achmed, Jo, and Gunthor. They brought in humor, and wit where there was only vapid and incessent chatter.
Elizabeth Hayden shows such GREAT potential, but she became too enwraptured in this... Mary Sue character, so that she was blinded by the storyline that could have been. And for other readers to compare her to Robin Hobb (a goddess in my mind) and Tolkien (the connsummate fantasy writer), I believe that they are too blinded by the long dialogues and the page numbers to realize that the character Rhapsody did not reflect any of the origional intentions; an outstanding woman.
I give the one star to Gunthor, Achmed, and Jo. And for the idea to write my own book to justify the weekend wasted in my eyes.
If you have any objections, questions, or rebutals, please e-mail me at Piratesswoop@aol.com or AIM at Piratesswoop.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT the best, but, hey it's good. Summer Paulus
Review: The beauty of the writing and the inventiveness of the plot make this book the first truly unique epic fantasy since Tolkien. There is one simple tool that Haydon employs to make this happen. She doesn't tell you who the villain is until almost the end. In every major epic fantasy, from Lord of the Rings to Robert Jordan to Terry Goodkind, the authors have eagerly revealed early in the book, sometimes in first chapter, who the bad guy is, and from that moment on you know the inevitable ending; the many thoussands of pages in between just show you how the conclusion you already know would be reached [unless Jordan dies before the bloody thing is over.] Haydon, on the other hand, lets you know that random acts of violence, as well as a meticulously plotted plan for widespread destruction for chaos's sake, are the work of a formless demon who can inhabit any human form, virtually undetected, and you have to figure out who it is. But you won't. Seriously, I haven't met ANYONE who can honestly say they correcly guessed ahead of time who it was, even though when you look back, all the clues are there. This is both a fantasy and a mystery, as well as a phenomenally well-written book. Except for the character of Suzanne, who is a total ignoramus, the book is a perfect read. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Beginning of a Wonderful Romantic Saga
Review: I'm suprised at all of the low reviews. Apparently some people get scared at large books with lots of words and no pictures. This book introduces us to Rhapsody, a girl of the street, who is on the run from a man who thinks he loves her but is actually in lust with her. She meets up with the Brother and Grunthor. She joins up with them mistakenly freeing him from invisible chains by changing his name to Achmed. From here they escape to Sagia the tree of life and travel centuries through the centre of the earth and arrive on the other side thousands of years later.
The three must endue personal torments and the hardships of the new world as well as fight the Rakshas and the F'Dor. Plus Rhapsody must deal with her new adopted children as well as the mysterious Ashe.
Plus who exactly were Gwydian (Sam) and Emily? All the answers will be revealed as the trillogy goes on.
Rating: 
Summary: Low Fantasy is more like it..
Review: Quite frankly I got extremely tired of reading about how beautiful Rhapsody was but how it escapes her notice. The woman was a former cortesan but isn't aware of the effect that she has on men? I've read books where I haven't liked characters but ended up loving the book. That's not the case with Rhapsody. Everything seems to come too easily to her, so she gains nothing as a character. There are no struggles for you to relate to, no lessons that can be shared. Her perfection is irksome as well as boring.
Rating: 
Summary: Immature prose, with no plot arch.
Review: If you want to read books that qualify as 'high fantasy' or are 'descending from Tolkien' this is not it. This is descending all right, into the realm of mediocrity that seems to be plagueing today's fantasy genre. A confusing plot begins with a heroine (one without any flaws) getting entangled with a pair of assassins? Bounty Hunters? Former demon slaves? Who all journey into a large tree, fight worms, and somehow travel through time. Eventually they will confront a demon. If you read the book carefully, a few times, it gets less confusing, but honestly, it was far too boring for that. The main character Rhapsody is a paragon of virtue, and other supporting characters fall quickly into established genre rolls: Gruff kindly warrior. Arrogant aloof half-breed.
This book is worse than mediocre. If you want to read something worthwhile go out and pick up some George R. R. Martin, Robin Hobb, even David Eddings (not his recent stuff, however.)
The final verdict: The only fantasy here is believing this book is worth $8
Rating:
Summary: Good book, but with problems
Review: I just finished reading this book. I bought it upon the recommendation of a store clerk without knowing anything about it.
I thought that the overall plot was absolutely excellent, spanning 14 centuries with plenty of backstory behind that.
The characters were also very compelling and interesting, especially the trio.
I have two problems with the book, however.
1) Too long. I don't mind reading a long book. I do, however, mind reading endless descriptive passages that do little to advance the plot. While the overall plot was very exciting, the mini-plots used for individual parts of the book were somewhat bland and boring at times. A little more editing, removing about 100-200 pages, would have done wonders towards improving this book.
2) Some characters would pop in, only to vanish forever a few pages later. I found this very strange. The author would spend some time talking about a particular character, write some passages from that character's perspective, then remove the character completely a few pages later.
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