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The Pillars of the World

The Pillars of the World

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Too Easy
Review: This book was very good. Too bad for me I made the mistake of thinking the beginning set-up. So I was rather attatched to Lucian and Dianna. The people you adore from the start, with the exception of Neall and Ari, you despise at the end. I had never thought of the Fae(or elf like creatures) in a bad way before. But these people really change your mind rather quickly. I reccomend it, and the one that comes after it, but I warn that the one that comes next has very little to do with Neall and Ari :o( But it does offer other stories that are almost as touching :o)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: hmmm
Review: this is a different flavour from anne bishop's other books. it does not have any of the dark and haunting theme which the blood series had but overall it makes a good read...good for all her fans

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another good book from Ms. Bishop
Review: This is a touching tale of bravery, survival, and love. The characters are so familiar they will remind you of people you know. Keep a box of tissue handy for the ending. It's fast paced and easy reading. Very enjoyable and stands on it's own.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Entertaining to read, not incredibly deep or profound.
Review: This is not a bad little book. I got introduced to Anne Bishop's writing through the Black Jewels trilogy, and found THAT series to be great. I like her writing style, and I like her characters, and when I saw this on the shelf, I had to scoop it up.

Pillars of the World follows the story of Ari, a young witch who holds a rich piece of land in a small town. She unknowingly aligns herself with a Fae lord on a night of magic, and ends up being drawn into the odd, difficult world of the Fae because of a careless promise given. Sure enough, the Fae are having their own issues (their lands are disappearing, and nobody can really tell why), and they soon begin to think that Ari and other witches are responsible for their problems. Plot points are then uncovered, hysteria ensues, all go home happy, dead, or tormented.

That being said, this book, though it had its charms, was lacking something that the Black Jewels books were . . . maybe it was a level of intensity. For some reason, while I was reading I could PRETTY much plot out everything that was going to happen storyline-wise . . . the tale didn't take any unexpected twists and turns that some of her other books have, which made it seem very contrived. It dragged in parts, and there was one character (Adolfo) that was just SO cliche that it was hard to get into him being a big, mean villain type - he was just too damned predictable.

Would I read this again? Yes . . . maybe. It's good, but it's definitely not her best. For anybody looking to read a more solid Anne Bishop book, go with the Black Jewels trilogy. Better books, better story-line, less predicatability.

Happy reading!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A truly wonderful read!
Review: This is the first book by Anne Bishop that I've read...and I could hardly put it down once I started. I've missed reading books that hook me right from the first page and this was definately one of those books. I look forward to reading her other novels.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Whimsical Fairytale Type Fantasy
Review: This is the first book my Anne Bishop that I have read, and I loved it. I loved it because it was so imaginative, and whimsical in its own way. I read some of the other reviews, and one comment that struck me was how I would despise the characters Dianna and Lucien by the end of the book. I did not feel that at all. I completely sympathized with Lucian, he was going through an inner struggle throughout the book, feeling things he was taught not to feel. Dianna was also going through this on a much lesser extent, and was not effected by it nearly as much as Lucien was. As for Neall, in one users review it said that he had nothing to him, that he was only a 'Hero" because he loved Ari. I completely disagree with that, first of all, I thought that the book really did not have any heroes in the classic sense, and his love for Ari is what drove him to the actions he did that appear heroic. It was not a standard fairy tail where the girl needs rescuing, she does to an extent, but she also is pretty capable of rescuing herself.

I thought that the Fae themselves were wonderfully thought up, asking the cloud sisters to have a dragon chasing the sheep - that is wonderfully whimsical in my eyes! Now I will admit that the "villain" in this story did have an overmuch hatred of woman, but all our childhoods can scar us into irrational thoughts of varying degree.

I am about the read the next book in this trilogy, (which is called Shadows and Light, the final book is called the House of Gaian and is due for release in October 2003) and I am looking forward to it!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not on par with the Jewels series
Review: This story about the fae is well thought out and put together. It shows the forgetfulness and self-centeredness of the Fae beautifully. The only problem with it is that it has a slow beginning, and takes too long to capture the readers interest as we wait for the storyline to build. The characters don't have the wonderful dialogue that we find in the Jewels trilogy, or in The Invisible Ring. Followers that are fond of the Jewels trilogy will enjoy the read, but inevitably be disappointed that it falls short of Bishop's previous writing. Where I constantly read and re-read her other works (on my second copies, as the first ones have fallen apart), I will happily avoid adding this to my collection.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Faerie Fantasy
Review: This was my first read involving 'Fae' and Wicca in a novel. In this novel, the Fae are a beautiful magical people who are a world apart from the normal and non-magical people of the natural world. The only true connection, the bridge, between the Fae and people, are witches (Wiccans) who have been holding and keeping the Old Places alive for generations. These bridges are dying. This novel was a little too painful and violent for me. It used the experiences of the actual Inquisition period as a basis for the antagonists of the book. It went into some detail of the psychological state of the master Inquisitor, and the merciless use of the populace to scapegoat others. Too many witches died painful and violent deaths, and there wasn't enough justice in _the end_ to compensate for the extreme evil of the Inquisition or the antagonist in the book.
I enjoyed this book, but it was because I literally skipped over the parts that had anything to do with the Inquisitors.
There was much more to the book than that.
However, this is all I'll write.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not the Best, But Good
Review: This was not Anne Bishop's greatest work, but that could be because I'm very biased towards the Black Jewels Trilogy. But she has made me a fan for life. This was well written and definantly sets up the idea for the rest of her Fae series, as it was supposed to do. Before passing a too awful judgement, remember to read the others, the plot will surely come together. The first time I read Daughter Of The Blood I kind of thought that it was sort of dull-- now I read it every 4 months or so. Also- Anne Bishop plans to write a book on Lucivar and Marian's Courtship in the future, and What happens AFTER the Black Jewels-- so keep an eye out, everyone for future books!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simply WONDERFUL!
Review: This was the best book I ever read! The characters were well thought out and the plot was very interesting. The story was so touching that some parts made cry and other parts made me simply fume...read this book because it is simply the best!


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