Rating: 
Summary: On my Keeper Shelf, and Dog-Eared from use!
Review: I've read 'The Barbed Coil' at least thrice - and I've even been magnanimous enough to loan it to all and sundry (well, those interested in fantasy, in any case!!!). In summary, it's brilliant! JV Jones's writing style is evocative, clear and detailed. Very quickly you find yourself immersed in the lives and events of the characters, and of the world that they're living in.
I have to say that Tess adjusted supremely well to her displacement from Earth, though, but while her lack of angst and relocation anxiety might be a problem for some, it didn't actually bother me all that much.Also, the fight scenes in the book have made me look at battle-scenes from a very different perspective... JV Jones has done her research very well, and the employment of strategy, battle tactics, and sheer descriptive clarity can make one almost smell the carnage. The Illumination - well, I've learned more about parchment-making and pigment-mixing than might be employed in my day-to-day existence, but hey, if I ever need a change of career, I think I'd be able to do scripts quite well (provided that actually DRAWING anything is not a basic requirement!). Actually, even though I was so involved in all aspects of the book, the description of the requirements for the illuminations and the magic surrounding the use thereof gripped me the most. I could not put 'The Barbed Coil' down, and spent an entire day reading it the first time, so I would heartily recommend it. Don't approach it with preconceived notions of fantasy and what defines it - read it with an open mind and an open heart, and you will seriously gain great pleasure from it!!
Rating: 
Summary: Shallow and full of small flaws, but still bearable
Review: The idea of a person from our world travelling to a fantasy world suits fairie tales better and it bothered me all the way through the book. There wasn't really a reason why Tessa had to be from our world. She began as a shallow person and remained that way. Ravis with his Scar was The Mysterious Hero With A Dark Past. Not much character there. However, some of the characters showed a glimpse of the nice work Jones did with The Book of Words. Basically, what we have here is a simple book that strangely reminds me of stories of my own I used to write some years ago when I was about 15 years old. Barbed Coil feels a bit rushed, it doesn't have enough meat over the characters' bones and aside from the well done scribing parts it lacks the feel of a good book. As simple as its plot is, it's still too large for one book. Lack of details is clear. And if it had to be one book only, then the plot should have been less grand and more compressed. Even with all this whining, I kinda liked the book as long as I didn't really concentrate on it. Even all these faults can't hide the fact that Jones is a pretty good writer and if it hadn't been for that, Barbed Coil would have been a complete failure. I hope the next trilogy from her follows Book of Words' footsteps. This was a halfhearted attempt and I have a feeling that it was written because the writer wanted to try out the dimension travelling character and the rather nice concept of illumination magic. However, it's as if she had gotten bored with everything in the book and rushed it to an (overly) happy end.
Rating:
Summary: J.V. Jones writes an interesting story
Review: This book took me a while but after reading it. I found out that it was well worth the time put into it. Tessa and Ravis make up very interesting characters in a tale about mystery and murder. Tessa from the future is pulled back into time to fulfill a density which is to free the barbed coil from its slavery under Izgard of Garizon. My only complaint about this book is the length. She could have cut out about 100 pages here or there and it would have held together even better. But I will definitely read The Book of Words series eventually when I get to it.
Rating:
Summary: 700 pages for a 300 page story
Review: J.V. Jones (like Robin Hobb) is incredibly skilled at writing detailed descriptions of setting, environment, and character. Unfortunately, there should be a limit for everything and this book just goes on and on about the main characters' efforts to rid the world of the Barbed Coil, a powerful magical device which the rather boring villain uses to create powerful monsters who decimate everyone they meet - until they come into contact with our heroes, whereupon they become extremely ineffective. At 300 pages, this probably could have been a crisp, entertaining read. At 700 it becomes a drag. Amazingly though, the author has to rush to tie all the threads together at the end and bring about a happy conclusion.
Rating:
Summary: Yes, it WAS wonderful
Review: I couldn't put it down. This was one of my favorites! It was delightfully descriptive, I could tell exactly what was happening. It has great vocabulary too. This is definatly a book I would recommend to big-time readers (or anyone who likes action/adventure mixed a little bit with mysteries). I am definatly going to read this again, and I would suggest other people do the same!
Rating:
Summary: A book worth reading more than once
Review: This book has so much packed into it that you need to read it more than once to catch all the details. I loved this book! The story is rich, dynamic, thought-provoking and the characters have more than just the author's story to tell - they have pasts, they aren't perfect, they have been manipulated for years by a scribe who knew their meeting was imperative. I have already read this book twice and know I will read it again someday.
Rating: 
Summary: A uniquely new way of looking at magic
Review: I grew to respect J.V. Jones in her Book of Words series. She is truly skilled in making an adventure feel very real. The Barbed Coil puts an interesting new spin on magic. It is almost refreshing to have a different method to fantasy books. Instead of the usual pattern -- bad thing happens, group forms, journey ensues -- Jones gives us something entirely new. There is a journey, but the problem has to be solved through ink and paper rather than battles and conventional ideas of magic. So why did I give it four stars?? I spent well over half of the story trying to decipher just what the story was. Plus, there is a huge rush at the end to tye up loose ends that is almost completely unsuccessful. I was left unfulfilled at the end, after hundreds of pages of fighting that should have killed all of the characters anyway. This would have made a five star rating if Jones had managed to find her story a bit faster. I think it took her half the book to decide where she was going with her ideas.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting book
Review: Now this book isnt perfect, but has a lot of uniqueness and colour to it that makes it deserve 5 stars... the characters and action is good...it has a great deal of emotion and detail... BUT for traditionally fantasy readers beware that it is atypical from the usual ....so read this if you are open minded.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting approach of magic.
Review: The Barbed Coil is a stand-alone novel telling the story of Tessa McCamfrey, a young woman from san Diego. One day, to flee her responsibilities, she takes her yellow Honda Civic and drives without stopping until she comes to a clearing in the Cleveland National Forest. There among the trees are piles of safe deposit boxes, and a intricate, mysterious golden ring. As she puts it on, she's transported into another, exotic world. More exactly in Bay'Zell, a port city of the province of Rhaize. Bay'Zell is a dangerous place for a young woman on her own and soon she finds herself harassed by two rogues. Fortunately, a piratical but handsone man named Ravis comes to her rescue and decides to take her under his wing. Quickly she learns more about the continent on which she's just landed: Izgard of Garizon, the bearer of the Coil, is about to invade Rhaize to gain access to the sea. With the help of his monstruous horde of Harras, he's slaughtering all who stand in his path to quench the Barbed Coil's thirst for blood. And so Berick of Thorn, who conquered Garizon fifty years ago, is slain. His son Camron will hire Ravis to get revenge and assassinate Izgard. Tessa finds herself caught up in these events. Taking refuge in Emith and his mother's cosy cottage, she'll soon realise she also has a part to play. Emith, who was Deveric, the late king's counselor and scribe's devoted assistant before he too was murdered, starts teaching her the art of painting illuminations, as patterns are the catalyst of this world's magic. But his skills are limited, and he sends her to the Annointed Ilse, where his former master Avaccus lives. The Barbed Coil is a good, fast-paced adventure novel. I was a bit skeptical at first, but as the story flowed, I started to grow fonder of the characters, particularly of Emith and his mother, and of Angeline too, Izgard's courageous young wife. J. V. Jones's elaborate decriptions of the use of pigments and vellums are passionating and the gathering of momentum at the end is most suspenseful. I even caught myself holding my breath as I ploughed through the last pages.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting turn on an old concept
Review: As some rather disparaging commentors have remarked, the idea of a modern person being transplanted into a fantasy world is not new. However, the introduction of the ephemeral Barbed Coil and ring IS. Jones does back up her interpretations of many different worlds, and if there are a few coincidences, well, it's called the WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF. (My only complaint on this level would be the lightning fast courtship of Cameron at the end. It was a little TOO quick for my taste.) But what else are fantasy novels for? I have never yet come upon another novel which uses so novel (no pun intended) a concept as illuminations which harbor their own magic. Not only does Jones bring something new to the field, but she actually backs it up with historical and practical fact. A round of applause is in order, and I can hardly wait for "Fortress of Gray Ice."
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