The Last of the Renshai

Rating:
Summary: I wish more people knew about this!
Review: Who gave this book a rating of 1?! I'm almost to the finish and am finding it enthralling. The characters are flawed, yes, but it makes them believable, not plastic. A very good read.

Rating:
Summary: Really well-thought-out series
Review: Who the heck gave this book a 1 in its review? The critic talked about how the characters seem flawed and with sins, gee don't we all have flaws? Don't people get sick of the surreal characters and perfect people written about in books? The guy mentions the lack of antagonist in the story, gee, just like real life, we don't always know who is who, and of course, there are always TWO sides to the story, the antagonist to some is the protagonist to another. Our esteemed critic goes on.... "Each of the main characters have a moral confusion about how to react to their situation in life." (Ugh, if I'm not mistaken we all seem to do this in our lives.) "This leaves them making serious errors in judgment that get them in trouble." Damn! I love those perfect characters that never do anything wrong, never screw up and always do the right thing... doesn't that make a hell of a story? Get real! "It almost seems the author picked these heroesto be the greatest warriors, but they dont know how to use their power for a righteous cause..." "Every character seems not to care that what they do hurts others without justification." Geez! These are vikings we are talking about! The tribe was kicked out of the northlands for BEING TOO VIOLENT. What do you want... responsible daisy-picking pacifists??? "These are not heroes to be revered or respected, but to be condemned for their self-centeredness and lack of conscience." The critic just described a book about real life! People are selfish, they make mistakes, they don't always make the best decisions! He unwittingly gave a great review of the book! Compared to the droll of typical fantasy, where there is always a clear evil guy hurting the good dudes and almost beating them down, until a hidden good dude rises out of the ashes just in time to save the day for mankind, Reichert uses a class a lot of other writers don't use... because they lack imagination! Bravo! Your scathing review encourages me to read the book, not some surreal happy-town novel where "everything is gonna end-up ok." Damn, I always got disppointed with Star Trek, Next Generation for the same reason, a good story does not have to always end with a happy ending. (This one is not that unhappy either!) By the way, the whole series is very creative, and has a good thought out use of Norse Mythology. A must read for any viking fanatic, (I'm not) and a good story for those who aren't.