Rating: Summary: Terisa takes action! Review: "A Man Rides Through" needs something, anything to save the reader from the horrid drudgery of its here-and-now. Next to no running themes from "A Mirror of Her Dreams" survived the transition into this volume: the viewpoint shifts out of the castle, the narrative loses its air of eldritch mystery, all villains are made known, all plans are revealed, and Terisa abandons the last remnants of her passivity.The level of characterisation, the engagingly sophisticated conversations of the previous volume are gone. The relationship between Terisa and Geraden is now clearly marked as love, and their touching conversations slur into monotonous sarcasm and an excess of sex ("She would have killed for a pillow under her hips..."). Similarly, by now the readers already know what King Joyse is doing, what Eremis' plans are, who is in league with whom and what they're planning to do. Lebbick emerges as the most interesting character, but he serves no purpose in the plot save for his novelty. For the first three hundred pages, Geraden and Terisa are riding around Mordant for no reason but to make the book longer. Donaldson flirts with some elements of horror - his ghouls are definitely chilling - but that is hardly enough to capture the reader long-term. The entire second half of the book is a protracted showdown between two armies. Almost every character from both books makes a return on one of the sides, making the battle seem like a reunion of sorts. The climax itself is considerably shorter, lasting some fifty pages. It seems contrived and depends largely on a string of coincidences. Worst of all, the book ends without tackling its most interesting aspect - Imagery. Indeed, Donaldson doesn't give the reader a glimpse of more than ten or so mirrors. The characters don't get to visit alternate worlds - save for a short bit in Terisa's apartment. Furthermore, there is no hint of explanation of either Geraden's or Terisa's wild talents, which make most of the plot possible. This finale of a long fantasy novel is sadly lacking.
Rating: Summary: Misogynistic with purient obsession with character's nipples Review: As a two book series this was just about OK. I will not read them again; unlike the Thomas Covenant novels. These books chart the continuation of Mr Donaldson's downward spiral into misogyny which so far has reached is high point with Morn in the Gap novels. I'm of course, sliding right by all the uses of 'celerity' and 'exigency', but his obsession with Terisa's "aching nipples" on just about every page is a little disconcerting.
Rating: Summary: exciting, romantic, harrowing, and that rarity... Review: As he proved in "The Mirror of Her Dreams," Donaldson has a definite knack for intriguing plot twists and deep, believable, quirky characters. "A Man Ride Through" begins exactly where the first book left off, when Geraden disappeared into a magical mirror and Terisa was arrested by the brutal Castellan Lebbick. People who read Book One when it was first published must have been in hell waiting to find out what happened. Fortunately (and here's the best part), Book Two actually lives up to its predecessor! Donaldson keeps you on the harrowing, intrigueing path he set you on in book one, and doesn't let you go until it's over. THIS IS THAT RARITY, A BOOK WHOSE ENDING IS COMPLETELY WORTHY OF ITS BUILD-UP! Oh, read this book. You are WITH the heroes all the way; you cringe when they mess up, cheer when they succeed and the ending is so wonderful it definitely makes you...hear horns.
Rating: Summary: Good, far from best... Review: Donaldson is a master - both the Covenant and Gap series show this. The Mordant series is only fair compared to them. It simply does not have the depth or scope to compare with the longer series , and it seems that towards the end Donaldson himself grew tired of the characters. It is a fantastic story, well written with a moving plot. It's simply that after finishing both the Covenant and Gap series, for days, even weeks later I was still blown away, whereas after the Mordant series all I could think was "That was good." Anyway, Donaldson fans won't be disappointed, but don't expect the same caliber of his longer works.
Rating: Summary: Mirrors turn back the clock and turn yours forward Review: Forget about the books with plots that just make the book longer - SD again (after the magnificent Covenant series) webs a story of intrigue, fantasy and hope whilst pulling together all the minute detail of the plot into a block busting crescendo of an ending, which explains everything and fulfils your expectations, whilst surprising and keeping you in suspense all the way. Top marks for this feast of adventure.
Rating: Summary: You can't put this book down! Review: I found the two books just as I was leaving the library. I finished the first book in one day! They are filled with suspense and keep you guessing about what is going to happen next. They are both really well written.
Rating: Summary: A Must Read! Review: I have to rate both book 1&2 at once because they are one story and you can't seperate them. Without rehashing the storyline like other reviewers, here are my two cents worth: 1) Con - Donaldson again has some looser characters that you find hard to like because they wallow (sp?) in their issues more than trying to work with thier "good" qualities 2) Pro - Donaldson does a superb job of realistically having every character play their part and appear to make their own decisions all the while being used as pawns in a grand game of chess. The decisions they make seem believable. 3) Pro - First book sets up the players and you can almost figure out who is conspiring with who by simply seeing the clues for yourself. 4) Pro - Book 2 is a VERY satisfying end to a grand story. 5) Con - This story I would not recommend for childeren. There is some explicit sexual material several times between the books. 6) Pro - the looser characters aren't such loosers in the end 7) Pro - Nice balance between the political intrigue and action fight scenes and magic 8) Pro - I found it to be a page turner of a story 9) Con - I found it to be a page turner of a story...didn't get my chores and responsibilities taken care of. hehe. I would highly recommend this. I liked the story better than I remember liking the Thomas Covenant series...
Rating: Summary: A Man Rides Through Review: I read this book about ten years ago when it first came out...and loved it. These are characters you care about...you find yourself invested in their problems. I just re-read them again...and they were as good as I remembered. I actually came to this web-site to see if Mr. Donaldson had written a sequel to this series.
Rating: Summary: you won't want this book to end Review: i read this book so quickly i wished it was a thousand pages. this was an awesome novel and a great sequal to mirror of her dreams. not only is this novel as well paced and packed with well defined characters i was unable to put it down.
Rating: Summary: Too much--not enough Review: Mirror of Her Dreams/A Man Rides Through-these should have been condensed into one book. I was disappointed in the love story. After Teresa and Geraden's long, laborious "courtship" the romance consummated with not much more than a gleam in Geraden's eye-well into the second book. Eremes, the villain, gave and got more than that! Could we not have been treated to a little passion between the hero and heroine? As to the story-the concept was amazing, and complicated, as the author seemed only too well aware as he practically stood on his head to get out of the corners he'd written himself into. Too bad, too. Donaldson writes very well. Condensed, edited, and with the romance beefed up, this book could have been big fun-the stuff great movies are made from.
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