Rating: Summary: Stay Away!!! Review: I have read all of Greenwood's works and this pales in comparison. I just finished reading it and I cannot say that I will get the second one in the series. This novel jumps around far too much and does not give adequate setting on the world and characters. It was getting far to ridiculous when the heros would get blasted, healed, blasted, healed again.... all in matter of a few pages. I hope Greenwood goes back to the drawing board before thinking about expanding this world.
Rating: Summary: GREAT BOOK! Review: I loved it. Maybe the best he's written.....
Rating: Summary: Great plots, Awesome Villians Review: I thought that this book was great, almost everyday I would be up till two in the morning reading it. I was amazed how Ed Greenwood made all of his characters seem to come to life. I was really into his villians and the Dark Three mages that he had, the way he desribed them made me think they were invinsible. The plot with the four and their quest was really remarkable, I would have to say that this really was a great book.
Rating: Summary: I Should Read Reviews Before I Buy... Review: I'm a recent transplant to the fantasy genre, having arrived via the Lord of the Rings movies, thence the books by JRR Tolkien. Hungry for some heroic fantasy-adventure, I bought a bunch of books with interesting covers. Sadly, this series is too mindless even for me. Since it is a series founded in video games, I suppose I have nothing to complain about. The Band of 4 is interesting enough, and they manage to plunge into one pointless adventure after another where they use magic to extricate themselves. Failing that, someone with greater magic comes along and rescues them. Without realizing its foundation, I thought the book much like a video game, where players advance from one level to the next to confront different hazards and a multitude of villains. In fact, this book has so many villains, it should have a playbook, not that most of the bad guys are distinguishable from one another. They exist only to cause mayhem for the heroes. But if you like your reading so shallow that the author should be accused of causing a creative drought, this might well be the series for you.
Rating: Summary: Good book! Review: I'm getting used to yawning my way through lots of the new fantasy books. Same old, same old. This one is same old only told great! Slowish start, and then--zap! zap! zap! Characters you can believe in for once, too. Gets my top vote.
Rating: Summary: Mindless dribble Review: I've read almost all of Ed Greenwoods works and I really have to say that this series wins the cake on the worst one yet. It starts out with promise but the further you get in the book the more it seems to insult your intelligence. The main characters mainly go through this one and the next two just fighting an endless host of people with swords and magic. Through pure luck they continually win and if they get beat someone comes along and saves them at the last minute. There is really no plot development and it gets way too mind numbing. I made the mistake of reading the next two out of boredom and kept hoping that something would happen. IT NEVER DID!!! Even if you love Ed Greenwood please avoid this series.
Rating: Summary: Choppy without characterization Review: I've read some of Ed Greenwood's other work, with mixed feelings. His Dragonlance book on Huma was pretty good, so I always try him again when I run out of other things to read. Unfortunately, this one has finished me....I'll stay away from Greenwood here on out. This book jumped around so much I couldn't keep things straight. The characters, while they had a chance to help the story, are not developed, and when they are there are inconsistencies. I like the story itself (the only reason I continued reading after 50 pages) but it's not enough for me to recommend this book to anyone.
Rating: Summary: Another Fun Read Review: Not since Roger Zelazny has a fantasy writer that I've discovered had so much FUN with his stories (except for out-and-out comics like Terry P, Holt, and Gaiman, of course). I like this guy's gentle sense of humor behind everything. This is popcorn reading, not great fantasy...but then, anyone trying to write great fantasy usually comes crashing down, and some of the reviews that sneer at "fanfiction" and suchlike tell me the reviewers are reading the wrong genre in the first place! This is good ol' hero storytelling, done with flair and gusto. Give me sequels!
Rating: Summary: Another Winner Review: Over forty years of reading fantasy novels, I find they are either: brilliant (very rare), good but flawed (lots of those), and drek. This new Greenwood book is good but flawed. It doesn't try to be anything more than popcorn-and-beer reading, and gives the reader a whumping good ride. Lots of cinematic scenes and blasting action but little touches of characterization here and there that tell us these people are real and we should care about them. I really liked it, and will buy any sequels that appear. Expect the Lord of the Rings, and you'll be disappointed. Expect a really fun read, and this is it.
Rating: Summary: A fast pace read Review: The action is wonderfully written. The magic is mesmorizing. While the plot is nothing new, the way it is woven through the action is spectacular. If you want deep woven mysteries and twisting plots, try this book with caution. However, if you want action and magic and a book you can never put down, this is your ticket.
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