Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful fantasy yarn
Review: While McKillip's trilogy lacks Ursula LeGuin's mythic spareness, it packs some of the same punch, exploring the tropes of sword-and-sorcery with wonderful panache, and delving into some issues that go beyond the slash-and-spells typical in the genre. These three books follow Morgon, the heir-apparent of the small, merchant-minded island of Hed as he comes to realize his own power as a bard--not merely a singer at the courts of his peers, but a magician of great power who comes to wield the power of the beating heart of the world.
One of the more well-crafted elements of the book is that Morgon travels on his quests with Raederle, a mysterious landless princess who is herself searching for a way to deal with her innate magical ability. In her case, she is afraid of what she is able to do. What is unusual in this series is that the relationship is at the center--most of this genre follow the quest of the individual. Yet it is clear from the beginning that neither of these young magicians is the side-kick--neither plays Hermione to the other's Harry, or Sam to the other's Frodo. Here, the pair is the hero, and McKillip weaves the story of that pair's travails in a wonderfully compelling fashion.
Rating:
Summary: Good but could have been better.
Review: This book was the very first item I purchased from Amazon. I have to agree with what many other people have said about this book....it is a good story but McKillip's writing style is WAY TOO POETIC! It could have been a much better trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read for fantasy lovers of any age
Review: I purchased the trilogy as 3 separate volumes almost 20 years ago and I have since read and re-read them so many times that they have fallen apart. If the number times I re-read a work is a barometer of how good it is, this is one of those rare books that belongs on the shelf with the great fantasy classics. I have also found that it is book with enough complexity that my understanding and appreciation for it has changed over the years. McKillip creates a world where rulers are responsible for their countries in a real and meaningful way (e.g., the "land-rule") .....it leaves the reader pondering how our world would be different if this was reality and not fantasy.
Rating: 
Summary: Please, no more Tolkien comparisons
Review: First of all, I find the constant comparing to Tolkien of any Fantasy artist to be trite and overdone. In most cases it is as insulting to Tolkien's work as it is to that of the artist being compared. That being said, on with the "Riddle-Master". The storyline is wonderful; the "idea" behind these books is a work of art. However I must say the colors she uses to paint this tapestry are often garish and clashing. I've never read a book with more forced dialogue in my life. The characters more often than not change the direction of thought while speaking ("I...I...he's not here" type conversation, repeatedly) making them out to look like terrible stammerers. The metaphors and similes threaten to take over the story. Sometimes a denim jacket looks so much better without all the spangles and the rhinestones. This book would be far better without the rhinestones too. The idea behind the story, the visuals she paints, the growth of the characters from innocence to the dawning of their power is all done smoothly. The story line flows evenly, with a just a few snags. Unfortunately, the characters themselves have about as much depth and history as those in a video game. All in all, yes this is a good series if you can clench your teeth and make it through all the "foam colored eyes" and the "fire etched lines of her face" pancake batter and get right down to the actual meat & potatoes.
Rating: 
Summary: how can anyone not get into it?
Review: For a more detailed and accurate review, check out the review two stories down. I just want to add the perspective of a not-hard-core fantasy reader-- I just like good stories, be it an oldie like The Brothers Karamazov or a new great like The Life of Pi. And this is one of my all-time favorite stories. It really is worthy of the "classic" label-- it is masterful storytelling, utterly creative, and seems more real than 'real-life' fiction. What matters most to me are characters who are real and story that speaks into my own life-- Riddle Master has both. It has none of the cheesiness or worn-out qualities of some of those fat, best-selling fantasies with 39 sequels that you can buy at airports. This story is deep, and stays with you for life. If you can make it through the second chapter, I don't think you'll find this story hard to get into at all. Regardless of what many others have said, without a doubt I can say this is McKillip's strongest work. While her writing is always compelling, many of her 'more mature works' lack the depth and complexity of this one. I definitely enjoyed The Book of Atrix Wolfe, Song for the Basilisk, and Winter Rose, but they all left me feeling somewhat dissatisfied, due to the somewhat tidy endings and incomplete characters. They are enjoyable, well-written stories that you forget in a year. Not so with Riddle Master. It definitely IS high time that those cheesy 70s mass-market paperback covers (that probably kept would-be appreciative readers away) were replaced with this one-volume reprint. I'm not the only one to initially judge a book by its cover. Take the opportunity to experience this beautiful story without having to brave the 3 annoying comic-book paintings, produced by those cover-artists who never read the books. I'm buying a new volume and giving the old ones to someone who doesn't care about aesthetics!
Rating:
Summary: take a trip to a magical land
Review: let me start by saying that i love this book, it's one of those "drag you into a completly diffrent world and way of thinking" books which just suck you right in. it is an epic story of a young man in his quest to find himself and his place in the world, and though i wasn't born with 3 stars on my forhead (i wonder j.k. rollings read that book...) it still made me feel alot of empathy towared morgon of hed, as he grows up and learn more and more about the world, about himself and about how those two things interact a harmonius way. the story's full of love with every step that he takes, towared the woman he love, towared his mentor, his family and the beautiful land in which he lives and as he goes on and learn to love more and more of it, so do i, as a reader, see the diffrent places and beauty of it all. there's a lot to learn from this book, both about magic, about oneself and the connection we make with people. i come back to this book every year or so, and it has became sort of a masuring point for me, seeing with who and what i identify and how life effected me in between reads.
Rating:
Summary: A literary masterpiece "bound" to be re-read!
Review: I first read the Riddle-Master trilogy in my twenties, and have read it many times since, including to my children. Its poetic beauty and imagery, read silently or aloud, are a feast for the ears as well as the mind and heart. Brilliant and suspenseful, McKillip tells us enough but not too much. It is full of the unexpected yet it's all there: the foreshadowing; the hints; the well-developed plot; action; and life-like characters, young and old, with personally relevant inner struggles. They "reveal" themselves through their "lives" and choices. Their complex motives are drawn from very human tendencies and the paradoxes of power and of love. Riddle-Master trilogy is an epic fantasy Tolkien and Lewis would approve of - it has all the elements of Faerie; the universal truths they valued most in literature and in life; and a triumph of the things of greatest worth. The trilogy sounds chords in each reader, and leaves none unchanged. It is an intensely human story that can be understood on a deeper level with each reading. This 3-in-1 edition is a must-have, the journey through it's pages worth taking again and again. I'm now a grandparent and the Riddle-Master trilogy "still works" for me.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking!
Review: I first read this book years ago, perhaps when I was about 13, and I can honestly say that this is the most picked up and re-read book I own. Though the story has stayed with me, the power of McKillip's prose is simply stunning and I find myself craving this read again and again. Having since read several more of her books, I realize that this book represents an earlier, less-developed style of McKillip's prose. And for that, I am grateful. Her later works are so succinct as to be poetry, but this book represents an effortless read which is equal parts narrative and poem. It makes the truly original story so much more accessible. The characters and their relationships represent the gamut of human emotion and interaction. There is a wonderful simplicity of style in the storytelling. One can truly witness the metamorphosis of Morgon, of Raederle, and of the land itself as it prepares itself for the cataclysm of its ending. I never fail to be delighted by the tree-shaping of Danan or the Old Wolf of Osterland. This is a book (series) to be read and re-read. It is a book to be shared with others, and to read aloud to children and loved ones. It sends, as does all of McKillip's work, a taproot into our collective mythical imagination, which creates a much more resonant fantasy than many stories of this genre. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: McKillip's Beginnings
Review: To those familiar with Patricia McKillip's recent work, gorgeously evocative miniatures like The Book of Atrix Wolfe and Winter Rose, The Riddle-Master trilogy is an intriguing puzzle: one of the few modern fantasy writers capable of concision got her start with a three book epic. But while Riddle-Master is instructional to fans of the author's later books, it feels like one of those stories that must be read young to really work -- it's a sprawling hero's quest, overflowing with McKillip's trademark dreamlike prose, but this not yet entirely controlled style isn't necessarily suited to a complex, lengthy narrative. As the characters become so powerful they can change into any form, cross countries in the blink of any eye, the many kings, kingdoms, and creatures blend into a lovely monotony, and eventually only the resolution of the books' central mysteries keeps one reading. That said, if you've kept faith with Morgon, Raederle, and Deth, the finish is spectacular, the place of women within the narrative is a sparkling rebuke to Tolkien and Jordan, and I suspect that if I had read these books twenty years ago I would love them dearly.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: This incredible story centers on an unusual prince of an ordinary country. Morgon of Hed was born with three stars on his forehead, marks that pull him into an age-old war that threatens to tear apart his world. The turmoil throws him in with men and women so real you expect to bump into them around the next corner. Sweeping through it all are magic and mystery that entwine themselves in your thoughts and tug at your emotions. Patricia McKillip writes with all the elusive beauty of a dream - simple and hypnotic. She is a truly great writer, and this trilogy is her masterpiece. Warning: once you read the first page you are lost. Expect to be caught in the spell.
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