The Fifth Ring

Rating:
Summary: One of the worst
Review: The worst kind of fantasy, in which no character acts or speaks like a living being and the author's mind can be felt laboring behind every plot contrivance. Buy only if you have a world-class ability to suspend disbelief.

Rating:
Summary: Reveiw
Review: Unlike Robert Jordan and others this book appealed to me more. I would take The Fifth Ring over and Jordan.

Rating:
Summary: An enchanting tale
Review: To be honest I haven't read that many fantasies. My boyfriend however, is the world's biggest nut on the subject. After seeing him curled up in a chair (ignoring me) and pouring over this book, I pick it up out of curiosity.

The story is a wonderful tale of the friendships between a group of people thrown together by the circumstance of Mathew, the hero coming into possession of one of the last eight rose gold rings. I know, I know, the second anyone says the word "ring" it's inevitable that they will be compared to the Lord of the Rings or Stephen Donaldson's work. This would be a big mistake. There is no magic here, though it may seem that way because the "magic" is based upon technology in a mideaval society.

I personally found the style of writing to be fast paced and exciting, so much so that I nearly missed two of my classes because I didn't want to put the book down.

Mitchell Graham now tops the list as one of my favorite authors and I can give this novel my strongest thumbs up.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Done
Review: I read the review of Mark Cooper, an author himself, and have to take issue with it. I consider myself something of an authority on the Wheel of Time series, having read all the books twice. Unlike Cooper, who tires to promote his own book at the end of the review, I see no similarities between Rand and Mathew Lewin nor between Collin and Matt.

What makes The Fifth Ring stand out for me is the wonderfully detailed world Mitchell Graham creates, the humor, and the thrilling battles. Mathew's fight on the cliff is simply marvelous. Mix that together with heartwarming relationships between the principal characters and you've got yourself quite a book here. I do agree with Cooper that the fight scenes are entertaining, in fact there they are they most exciting I can remember reading.

While The Fifth Ring *is* an heroic journey like Jordan the feel is so totally different the two don't meeting on many levels. This was a highly entertaining book to read, professionally crafted, with a lot of attention to the details. For the careful reader there are a number of undercurrents in the story line that deal with morality, the law, and ethics. I found this refreshing.

The publisher has announced that the next book in the series, The Emerald Cavern, will be out in December. No question I'm ordering my copy today.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: I have to agree with the reviewer that said this novel uses characters similar to The Eye of The World. The story isn't the same, but I quickly saw similarities between Mathew Lewin and Jordan's Rand Al'Thor. I have read and re-read many of Jordan's books, and couldn't help but make comparisions between these two author's characters.

In The Fifth Ring, Orlocks not Trollocks attack a farm on the outskirts of the village and not the village itself, but the boys (Mathew and Collin) still have to flee as Rand Al'Thor did, when Mathew kills a man for shooting his father. Graham's Orlocks seem the same as HG Wells' Morlocks from the book Time Machine. They even look the same, live underground, and eat people.

The fight scenes are enjoyable, and the journey by sea was very good. All in all, this is an entertaining book despite the similarities to others I have read.

Mark E. Cooper...

Rating:
Summary: A way with words
Review: I assigned this book to my creative writing class recently as an example of what good writing and good story telling can be like when an author puts his mind to it. The story is largely character driven with interconnecting themes that deal with law, ethics, morality and coming of age.

As such, I would deeply take issue with the recent review by "a reader from Brooklyn." In looking it over for a second time it's apparent that he or she simply could not have read the book. Acknowledging that everyone has a right to their opinion, I would say an ethincal line should be drawn between fair comment and a hatchet job (a la E.R. Law and Nancy Law - the same person writing here twice).

What makes this book such a joy to read are the friendships between the characters and their loyalty to each other. The story is marvelously well crafted and fast paced. If there are any authors trying to learn how to write an action scene they could do far worse than to study Mitchell Graham's technique.

From the prelininary reports my students have brought back, it appears this book is developing a fine following and a number of very strong adherents.

As I await the next book in this series, I can recommend it without hesitation, not only to all those who love fantasy, but to anyone looking for a good book to read in general--the setting being irrelevant to the story.

Rating:
Summary: A great read!
Review: A friend highly recommended the Fifth Ring to me; so, I thought why not I'll give it a go. Well, I have to admit that I was more than pleasently surprised. The action packed scenes definitely kept me intrigued. I greatly enjoyed the development of the characters and their continually evolving relationships. Once I reached mid point, I was shocked how quickly I flew through the rest of the book. I am not a quick reader but was so anxious to discover the next hurdle to be overcome or love interest to be acted upon that I found myself not able to stop reading. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a great story with several exciting climaxes. I hope that you enjoy your read as much as I did mine.

Rating:
Summary: Good Fantasy Tale
Review: Never having never read anything by Graham before, I picked up his book with no preset judgements on his writing skills.

I was plesantly surprised by the quality of the writing and the story in general. There are some sparkling images and humor here, as well as rounded, interesting characters that few other authors have been able to achieve. This is a fun story.

In all honesty, the formula Graham uses has been done before, a lot, but that doesn't detract from the quality of this rousing tale. Countless other writers have followed the archetype down though the ages. The key lies in the telling and Graham does that as well as anyone out there. The battles will blow you away and if the friendships between the characters don't grab your heart, you don't have one.

Not as long winded as Jordan, Graham has crafted a wonderful story that fantasy readers should pick up and treasure. As this is a trilogy, I expect things to get better and better as this very talented author continues to grow.

Rating:
Summary: Orlocks and White oh no Rose Gold
Review: Take a number of classics, fix them up into a story and then there you are. Five stars all over the place. M-Orlocks are bad guys that live underground. I have a white, oh no, rose gold ring that is bad for me. And oh wait, I must populate it with unbelievable characters and events. They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. I can't believe the authors in question would be flattered by this. Overblown, clearly derivative (being genorous) why waste your time?

Rating:
Summary: Great Fun
Review: It took me three days to read this book and enjoyed it. Candidly I'd have to say that it wasn't the greatest fantasy I ever read as some reviewers here have announced, but it was definitely worth the effort.

This was an enjoyable and fun story which is about as high praise as I can give without getting mushy. LOTR is a five star book, but this was't far behind.