Rating: 
Summary: Another great version of the kitchen boy plot.
Review: This is the first volume in The Book of Words trilogy (followed by A Man Betrayed, and Master and Fool).At Castle Harvell, Jack, a thirteen-year-old orphan, is the baker's boy. Since he doesn't know how to read, the mischevious king's chancellor and sorcerer Baralis employs him as a blind scribe to copy the precious books of Tavalisk the Archbishop of Rorn's library. After five years of hard work and little sleep, Jack has secretly learnt how to decipher the signs and dreams of adventures where he'll find out the truth about his origins. In the meantime, Bevlin the wiseman enrolls Tawl, one of the famous Knights of Valdis, to go on a quest to find the young boy whom the Prophecy in Marod's Book of Words speaks of. Four years later, he'll find himself locked, bound and starved in a dark and damp cell, prisoner of the repugnant Tavalisk. Simultaneously, Lord Maybor, the richest but also most ambitious lord of the Four Kingdoms, and Baralis have made arrangements to have the king wounded in a hunting party. As a result, a soon stalemated war with the neighbouring lands will assuredly keep the queen's mind occupied and let them scheme quietly to steady their positions. And as one of his moves, Lord Maybor wants his daughter Melliandra to be bethroted to the queen's son and heir, Prince Kylock. Finding out about what has been arranged without her consent, Melliandra runs away. At the same time one afternoon, after oversleeping and letting some precious loaves of bread burn, out of sheer panic and still unaware of his powers, Jack performs a miracle and goes back in time. When he hears that Baralis, who can feel when sorcery has been performed, is coming to get him, he has to flee from the castle. Although it is easy to guess that Jack, as well as Tawl, will have a great role to play in the story, this first volume focuses mainly on the numerous and intricate intrigues of the mighty. The book is well written, the pace fast and humourous when the tension needs relaxing, and there's plenty of wooing as well as a great deal of food to go round. I enjoyed it thoroughly!
Rating: 
Summary: Not quite up to expectations.
Review: I must say, that although this book was not quite meeting my expectations which I had before I read it, this was still quite an excellent book. Just simply put, I've read better. There was nothing wrong with this book, other than that the writing quality was not the greatest I've ever seen. When I bought this book, I was expecting it to be much like J.V. Jones' Sword of Shadows series. I was hooked into those in the first chapter. The writing was amazing in A Cavern of Black Ice and A Fortress of Grey Ice, and they are some of my favorite books now. Well, those were written several years after The Baker's Boy, so I could guess that the writing wouldn't be as good. Other than the quality of the writing, this is one excellent book. The characters are, like in other J.V. Jones books, very intricate and well created; they mature well throughout the book at appropriate times and places. There aren't any unreal changes to characters, and all changes only occur after some sort of key event. The setting wasn't quite what I had expected. It's not quite as powerful an element as in Sword of Shadows, where the freezing northern wastelands play a constant part, which I had certainly hoped to see. To me, the setting is one of the most important parts of a story. I love to have a clear image of what all of the surroundings look like, how it feels, smells, and also how different weather effects the setting. One extreme example of this is the forest in which much of the book takes place; J.V. Jones didn't even describe what types of trees there were, leaving much of the setting to the imagination. In The Baker's Boy, I didn't get that clear image which I love to see, which certainly took away from the overall quality of the book. The plot, however, was excellent and well planned out. There were plenty of shocking plot twists caused by constantly planning lords who are all attempting to gain power in the abscence of a king, who had been poisoned by an arrow in a hunting "accident." Two extremely powerful lords, Baralis (King's Chancelor), and Maybor (an extremely wealthy lord), both have plans to gain power, and both center around who Prince Kylock (the poisoned king's son) is to marry. These plans are all nearly destroyed as the baker's boy Jack realises a great power which he holds, and runs from the castle with the daughter of Lord Maybor, persued constantly by Baralis' men. The plot was intricate and extremely well planned out, so it's certainly one of the strongest points of the book. This is certainly a good book. The writing is just about made up for by the characters and plot. I would recommend this to anyone who would like to read a good book, and the occasional plot twist, of course...
Rating: 
Summary: Being generous
Review: I had a difficult time getting interested in this book. Many of the characters seemed too one-dimensional. Most notably the (main?) character, Jack.
The plot and setting seemed to be 'make up as you go'. The most interesting character was Tawl the knight. His angst kept me interested for 2/3rds of the book.
If you're looking for intrigue and depth, I'd recommmend the 'Wheel of Time' books.
I'll not buy any other books in this series, because there was nothing in it to hook me.
Rating:
Summary: Very nice start to a good series
Review: Baker's Boy is a great first book by J. V. Jones. It is basically an average fantasy book with above average writing and characters. In this first book she concentrates mostly on introducting the reader into the characters and setting up the conflicts for the two books to come. But don't let that description lead you to believe this book has no action, because it has plenty. The book also has a snippet of humour here and there (two hilariously naive gaurds Grift and Bodger, come to mind) and in other parts the book is actually touching. I also liked how even the bad guys in the book had some redeeming qualities (Kylock excluded) and the good guys aren't exactly perfect. This book and it's ensuing series may not be the best fantasy written, nor is it in the top 20, but it is still a great read and I recommend them strongly. Hope you enjoy them like I did.
Rating:
Summary: Treachery and Deception--Fantasy in Top Form
Review: This is certainly one of the best books out there. Jones has managed to create a medieval fantasy world of deception and intrigue.
Evil Lord Baralis, the king's chancellor, plots a course of destruction for the Four Kingdoms, already teetering on the brink of war with neighbor country Halcus. In the process, the queen gives him a child (unbeknowst to her, Baralis is the father), he poisons the king, and then discovers that someone in the castle besides him is a sorcery adept.
Of course, it's Jack, the baker's apprentice, who one day accidentally unleashes magic of epic portions. Thinking he has done wrong, he steals away from Castle Harvell before Baralis has a chance to lay his grubby hands on that raw talent.
He meets up with Melliandra, or Melli, who left Harvell too because she was unwilling to marry the prince (Baralis's unknown son), and together they have a ton of adventures.
Meanwhile, a brave knight begins his search for a boy that destiny has laid a great course for...
You will undoubtedly enjoy this book
Rating: 
Summary: good but not great.
Review: okay, this book was good, it was well written, and for the most part I liked the people. The only exception was Melliandra.
I swear, she goes all through the book thinking that she is escaping from this horrible fate, and in reallity, is only making things harder for eveyone!
she's the most arogant little ideot that I have EVER had the misfortion to come across. yuck! if it wasn't for her, this book would have five stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Just didn't hook me
Review: I picked this book up at the used bookstore because it looked like it might be halfway interesting. I was right; I was halfway through the book before it started getting interesting. It's got nearly every fantasy cliche you could think of ("lowly" person gets unexpected powers, lord's daughter running away from unwanted betrothal, young knight on an impossible quest, noble and long-suffering queen holding the kingdom together, etc.), and perhaps a few that you can't, stuck in there. At one point, I was just about ready to set this book aside without finishing it. The sole reason I didn't, was due to a scene I got to not much farther on. which included the line "Your Eminence's nuts." spoken by a minor character to one of the scheming homicidal noblemen. Whether the writing got better after that, or I subconsciously started to allow the author a little more slack as a reward for the humor, I don't know, but I was finally able to get interested in the story not long after that. And I don't much care which explanation is right, because I won't be reading this book again, and the chance of me reading the other 2 books in this trilogy is very small, as I found it nearly impossible to like, or even hate, the characters.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Characters!
Review: I'd seen this book on bookstore shelves for some years, and frequently gave it a once over....before actually purchasing some other book. Well, I finally picked this book up a few weeks ago. I loved it. Yes, the storyline was standard high fantasy fare, but the CHARACTERS WERE WHAT MADE THIS BOOK GREAT!
Too often in Fantasy, we are given black and white, good or evil, brave or cowardly characters. Rarely are we given characters who dwell somewhere in between these extremes. Not so in the "Baker's Boy"!
We have a gluttonous, greedy, sociopath archbishop (whose comically petty mistreatments of his servant, along with the servants thinly veiled hatred for his master are the highlight of the book), we have the haughty, violent, apple farm magnate/satyr Lord Maybor, we have the magical manipulator of thrones, a confirmed rapist, a potential child molester, who is still capable of offering thanks to his loyal, idiot servant, we have the two guards, whose lascivious, streetwise, but half-informed gossip provide fun and necessary enlightentment to the rest of the story. The author deserved praise for venturing outside of the standard fantasy restrictions on character types! Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Great!!
Review: After several years of seeing this title floating around, I took a copy home to read. I can't belive it wasn't a best seller.For those of you true fantasy lovers, this is high fantasy at its best. I rarely give 5 stars to anyone, so 4 stars is not a knock in any way. Many modern fantasy authors believe more is better, but many times more is simply rambling on about how many buttons grace the dress a character has or or the exact type of candle sticks in a room. J. V. Jones introduces us to a group of characters we grow to love and care about, without all the rambling of many. She also know sthe correct amount of danger and violence to add without over doing the action. A fine writer and may she go on to finish many more series.Three books was a perfect amount for this series. Always leave your audience waiting for more, not burnt out with what you have to offer.
Rating:
Summary: Great Start
Review: While it started a little slow for me, I read the last 300 pages in one sitting. It gets really good. Jones' strength is in character interaction/motivation and dialog. You will not find a lot of scene description or back history of the world the characters inhabit. Still I liked this book a great deal, and am already in the process of reading "A Man Betrayed", the second book.
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