Rating: 
Summary: Good, but could be better.
Review: J.V. Jones is a talented writer, but her stories fall down on plot and character. "Master and Fool" is the best of the Book of Words trilogy, because it is the only one of the three with a clear ending. She is very good at describing scenes and emotions, but what she is describing is sometimes not believable or credible. Often, you find yourself laughing out loud at what the characters are doing. Other times, you admire the author's ability to describe what is happening as accurately as a photograph. Overall, Master and Fool is worth reading, but don't expect too much going in.
Rating: 
Summary: Great conclusion to a complex tale.
Review: J.V. Jones provides a wonderful story that is deeply intricate and surprising.
Rating: 
Summary: great, but i would really give it a 4.5
Review: Master and Fool is the conclusion to J.V. Jones' Book of Words trilogy. The trilogy starts off slow, but ends with a bang in this third book. I never expected some of the stuff that occurred, which is something I always look for in my fantasy books and made this series enjoyable.
Jack is finally away from Rovas, Magra, and Tarissa physically but not mentally, and is taken up by a sorcerer, who is the opposite of Baralis. He helps Jack learn to control his powers after what happened in A Man Betrayed, but Jack now distrusts everyone. Once he feels he is being lied to he leaves and heads towards Bren. In Bren he finally meets up with Tawl, and the start of their journey to oppose Baralis and Kylock begins.
Melli and Tawl, over the corse of Melli's engagement to the Duke of Bren, have fallen in love. They are now in hiding after the Duke of Bren's murder and the blame is being laid on Tawl by Baralis. The marriage was supposedly never completed, so Melli has no claim on the realm of Bren. Tawl is still dealing with his past, but finally discovers the root of it all and takes action.
The claim for Bren is given to Catherine, but it isn't long before Kylock takes over that title, unexpectedly. Larn is giving more and more help to Baralis, and needs to be eliminated or else Kylock will conquer both the north and the south easily.
The book comes to a stunning conclusion with most of the loose ends tied up, and enough mystery left to create another series with the characters. The only problem I found with this book was that I never got any explanation as to why some of the characters were included, like the archbishop of Rorn and the prostitute, Megan. I thought their importance would be explained in the end, but they never were. Otherwise I enjoyed Master and Fool and the Book of Words trilogy, and look forward to reading more from J.V. Jones.
Rating:
Summary: Didn't live up to the hype...
Review: Okay, so if you were snooping around in the fantasy circles circa 1995, you are indubitably aware that this trilogy generated an enormous buzz. That in itself was surprising, since The Baker's Boy was Mrs. Jones' very first novel. In addition, it was published by Aspect (Warner Books), an imprint not particularly renowned for publishing bestsellers.In any event, to a certain extent taking the market by storm, the series was an instant success. The three volumes were all national bestsellers, which is quite unusual. They all topped the Locus Bestseller List. Okay, so it's not the New York Times, but it is still quite an accomplishment for a new author. Like a lot of people, I bought the books when they came out. Unlike many, I didn't read them yet. The hype was too strong, and I didn't want it to influence me when I read the series. Of course, I didn't really expect to wait nearly 9 years before reading them, either! For some reason, even though Mrs. Jones wrote 3 more novels since the publication of Master and Fool, she never did create waves the way The Book of Words trilogy initially did. Now was the time for me to see what the buzz had been about. . . As is usually the case, the series did not live up to the expectations the buzz had created within me. Hence, I'm happy to have waited before reading the novels. Otherwise, I would probably have been VERY disappointed by this series. With the enormous number of books I've read over the years, I'm afraid that I have become definitely hard to please. . . But although the trilogy suffers from several shortcomings, in all objectivity I must admit that it is still a relatively good read. My main problem with the series is the fact that it appears to be aimed at a younger crowd. In my mind, it seems to be aimed at readers who are under 18. Being 30 (yes, I AM getting old!), I couldn't quite get into it. But I am persuaded that if I had read the series when I was 16 years of age, I would probably have loved it. There is a certain innocence inherent to the characters and their views of love, honor, obligation, etc, that makes the whole thing not ring true to my "adult" perspective. The biggest shortcoming of the series, however, is the fact that the characters are far from being three-dimensional. As a matter of fact, they are not "real." The author fell into a popular trap, namely creating "cliché" characters: the innocent boy with immense potential, the beautiful and spoiled young woman who turns out to be stronger and more courageous than she believed herself to be, the evil mage, the power-hungry prince, etc. And some characters are just caricatures, case in point being the Archbishop Tavalisk. And yet, having said that about the characters, they are still a likeable bunch. Which, in the end, helps you enjoy the books. Several plotlines had a lot of potential (the knights of Valdis, the Seers of Larn, Jake's parentage, etc), but they were not exploited to their fullest. Had they been, this series would have been much better. Mrs. Jones took the easy road instead. . . In light of all this, I have to admit that I nevertheless like J. V. Jones' writing style. She has a witty way to write, which I truly enjoyed. I think that she must challenge herself a little more with her storylines, and explore a bit more those concepts that she creates. It would certainly give ner novels more depth, which in turn would make them more enjoyable. I believe that J. V. Jones shows great promise and could be a bright voice in the fantasy genre. Hopefully her other novels will show just how much potential she truly possesses. . .:-) Check out my blog: www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com
Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but OK
Review: The 3 stars are for the series as a whole. As a long-time reader of fantasy, I've read most of the top names in the indusry: Jordan, Goodkind, Brooks, Etc. I've also read some real bombs. And although J.V. Jones' "Book of Words" trilogy isn't the best fantasy I've ever read, it's not as bad as some people have made it out to be. It does have some intriguing characters (notably Maybor, Baralis, and Tavalisk) and a a fairly interesting plot. What I didn't really care for is how the main characters were constantly put on the defensive(especially Melli). The fact that they were constantly chased/captured/separated began to wear thin by the third book. Also, I would have liked to have seen the magic abilities Jack and Baralis used fleshed out a little more. Overall, not a bad effort for a first-time writer, but could have been better.
Rating:
Summary: You will not want to put this book down.
Review: The Book of Words (series) is on par with Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time Series. I only wish that Ms. Jones could have continued the series it was so good. Starting with the Baker's boy, Ms. Jones moves from character to character letting us into their thoughts. Unlike so many science ficiton/fantasy books, the heroes of her stories suffer real trials and do not magically make it past every crisis. Her writing is "simple" which makes for a good read. Whoever reads this book will enjoy the battle between good and evil and will understand where there is one, there will always be another. I highly recommend buying the complete series, you may read them all in one week.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor ending to a good story
Review: The climatic conclusion to a well-written and developed story? Not exactly. In fact the ending leaves more loose ends than a cats yarn toy. It is a shame really, this was a good story, nice plot and interesting characters. However the story fragments left loose at the end are annoying. Why does Rovas train Jack, send him to kill the captain and then betray him? What doesn't Jack understand when he leaves Tarissa and her mother? I don't know and neither will you. What was the point of having Megan, Tawl's fallen angel, spend a year in the dungeon? Beats me. It is almost like Ms. Jones had something they were supposed to do at the end but either got bored with the story or rushed to finish. This book ends more like the middle of a series than the conclusion. Will there be more? If so than it could be interesting. If not then this is a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise marvelous trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: Poor ending to a good story
Review: The climatic conclusion to a well-written and developed story? Not exactly. In fact the ending leaves more loose ends than a cats yarn toy. It is a shame really, this was a good story, nice plot and interesting characters. However the story fragments left loose at the end are annoying. Why does Rovas train Jack, send him to kill the captain and then betray him? What doesn't Jack understand when he leaves Tarissa and her mother? I don't know and neither will you. What was the point of having Megan, Tawl's fallen angel, spend a year in the dungeon? Beats me. It is almost like Ms. Jones had something they were supposed to do at the end but either got bored with the story or rushed to finish. This book ends more like the middle of a series than the conclusion. Will there be more? If so than it could be interesting. If not then this is a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise marvelous trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: Once again, J.V. Jones does it. And verry nicely to.
Review: The conclusion of "The Book of Words".
One finds that not all prophecy comes true, and villans do get what they deserve. I did feel however that the "Achbishop" should have come to account. But you should find that out for yourself. All in all a nice and tidy wrap up for Jones' first novel(s). I hope to read more from her.
Rating:
Summary: Cheap Thrills
Review: The trilogy was OK, but I had some problems with it.
The writing was poor a good chunk of the time. Jones seems to have a penchant for silly names and cliches and uses them liberally throughout the books. The characters are flat and (again) cliched. The dialogue is appauling.
These things are all pretty standard in fantasy writing, which is a shame, but the difference --the important difference-- is that I still wanted to keep reading.
The story was nothing original but somehow, even though I scoffed at the names and the dialogue and the writing, I tore through all the books in a few days and I couldn't stop.
These books seem to be a fluke. I started reading Barbed Coil and didn't even get half way through. By far too painful to read. I wouldn't bother with her other writing, but this series has something going for it.
If you're looking for a cheap thrill, this trilogy is perfect. It doesn't require any sort of real thought on the part of the reader and is chucky jam full of action packed adventure and weird/violent sex.
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