Rating: 
Summary: Stinks as bad as the first
Review: And for the same reasons, it reads like a bad fantasy role-playing game.
Rating: 
Summary: A brilliant and exciting story!!!
Review: David Coe has written a masterpiece! The story involves you so you feel as if you are actually there! The character development is absolutely fantastic! So many unpredictable things happen. This is definitely a book to be remembered!
Rating:
Summary: Much better than Children of Amarid
Review: I agree with much of what not4prophet writes about this book, particularly with regard to the action scenes, dialogue, and quicker pace. I also agree with his criticisms about the frank dumbness of folks in the Order. Coe could certainly have constructed a more plausible scenario / description of turmoil within the Order.However I give this book 5 stars because it is head and shoulders above most fantasy / sci fi out there, and it's such an improvement over Coe's first book, the Children of Amarid. I truly enjoyed this book and can't wait to get my hands on the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than Children of Amarid
Review: I agree with much of what not4prophet writes about this book, particularly with regard to the action scenes, dialogue, and quicker pace. I also agree with his criticisms about the frank dumbness of folks in the Order. Coe could certainly have constructed a more plausible scenario / description of turmoil within the Order. However I give this book 5 stars because it is head and shoulders above most fantasy / sci fi out there, and it's such an improvement over Coe's first book, the Children of Amarid. I truly enjoyed this book and can't wait to get my hands on the next one.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Sequel! Hard to put down!!!
Review: I finished reading David B. Coe's The Outlanders last evening. That in itself is a testimony to just how good the novel was, considering that I wrote the review for Children of Amarid less than a week ago. But like its predecessor, this sequel was a wonderful read. The second volume of the LonTobyn Chronicle, the novel begins 4 years following the events which took place in Children of Amarid. Once again, I don't want to include any spoilers, so I won't give anything away pertaining to the plot. Just a reminder that this novel, along with the opening chapter of the trilogy, earned the author the William L. Crawforf Award, for best first fantasy series. And in light of the quality of these two very interesting novels, I would tend to agree that this award was more than deserved. Once more, the characterizations are above and beyond what fans have come to expect in today's market. It would have been easy for Mr. Coe to simply continue with the same bunch of three-dimensional characters we were introduced to in Children of Amarid. In my opinion, this aspect of the book established the author as something special the first time around. Hence, I was quite surprised when I discovered that Coe elected to turn his back on most of those characters -- so to speak -- and let the readers explore the technological world of Lon-Ser through the eyes of Orris. His irritable attitude made him less likeable than Jaryd and the rest of the characters. So to some extent, this was a bit of a challenge for the author. Needless to say, Mr. Coe pulled this off like a master. Not only do we get to learn more about Orris and appreciate him, but the author once again showed that he has a knack for characterizations that leave you wanting for more. Orris' character is well drawn, giving us a new perspective on him. Indeed, you see the mage in a different light compared to the image he projected in Children of Amarid. In addition, The Outlanders introduces us to another group of characters, and the story progresses through their different POVs. Which not only allows the readers to discover more about Lon-Ser and its history and political system, etc, but it also shows just how Coe's worldbuilding continues to be impressive. And the fact that he can even make you like the villains demonstrates just how good Coe is when it comes to creating engaging characters. So it's through the eyes of Melyor, Jibb, Cedrych, Gwilym and many others that we learn more about this technological and violent world that is Lon-Ser. Also, discovering concepts such as technology and pollution through Orris' eyes is also quite interesting. Again, the quality of the prose is far beyond what is currently the norm in the fantasy fiction field. Like its predecessor, The Outlanders is elegantly written. I've snooped around on the internet, reading reviews of the book before writing my own. As I expected, most people truly enjoyed it. But most negative reviews were in regard of the political rift that continues to drive member of the Order apart. Many people claimed that the never-ending feud between Sonel's and Erland's factions within the Children of Amarid is unrealistic. I have to admit that I found that more than a little odd, but perhaps that has more to do with where I'm from and with the political system I am forced to live with. I'm a Canadian, which in and of itself means that I have to suffer a minority government that, in effect, cannot accomplish anything without the support of one or more parties that comprise the Chamber of Commons. Try to get anything done within the confines of that type of government, and you'll soon realize just how realistic the Order's problems can be. But not only that, I am also a resident of the province of Québec, where left-wing parties have held the reins of governing for years now. The problem is that this province needs a lot of changes at the moment, if we are to have a bright future. But the «old school» mentalities prevent our government from taking steps in the right direction. They are acutely aware that something must be done, but they show reticence at every turn and refuse to consider any alternative that goes againt what they have "built" in the last several decades. As a matter of course, they debate endlessly about this and that, refusing to acknowledge that something must be done, if we are to find solutions to our problems. For the last decade or so, they have been more than glad to re-arrange those problems, in the hope that perhaps they will go away. So in light of all this, I don't find the Order's political problems unrealistic at all. In fact, Erland is so much like many of our politicians that he antagonized me to no end!:-) The pace of this second installment was a bit faster than in the previous book. There is more action and more surprises. More worldbuilding, giving us a glimpse of Coe's imagination. And if this is any indication, this writer has (hopefully) many more ideas and novels that will please us for years to come! All in all, The Outlanders is the perfect sequel to Children of Amarid. And I will now eagerly read the last chapter of the trilogy, Eagle-Sage. Not since Robin Hobb's The Farseer series has the first two books of a trilogy showed so much promise. Let's just hope that the final volume delivers the sort of finale that will make the LonTobyn Chronicle a must-own series for any fantasy collection. . . As good a novel as I've read in quite a while. . . Check out my blog: www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com
Rating:
Summary: Excelent! Exciting! Coe is perfect!
Review: If you liked the first one, you will really like this one
Rating: 
Summary: Still just mediocre
Review: In "The Outlanders", David B. Coe does manage to avoid many of the mistakes that he made in "Children of Amarid." Most importantly, this book is a lot more fast-paced. In contrast to the original, which had perhaps one plot event per every one-hundred pages, "The Outlanders" includes at least one significant event per chapter, and often more. There are a lot of action and fighting scenes in this book, all of which are presented in an exciting and believable way. As I mentioned in my review of "Children of Amarid", I can't complain about Coe's writing skills. He has an excellent ability to choose the right words at the right time when describing a scene and also a decent ear for dialogue, qualities which many of today's fantasy writers lack. However, there are a number of things that bugged me throughout the book. One that's difficult to ignore is that so many of the characters are so incredibly stupid. The book is set four years after the ending of the previous volume. The Children of Amarid are still unable to agree on anything because half of the order, for no apparent reason, doesn't believe that they should worry about another attack coming from Lon-Ser. To break the deadlock, the Mage Orris decides to visit Lon-Ser himself, and he also helps the only surviving Outlander, Baram, escape from prison. Jaryd and Baden help him cover up the prison break, but they don't have any plan for dealing with the situation when their enemies find out about it. Orris takes Baram to Lon-Ser, but the prisoner simply runs away as soon as they reach their destination. The point is that none of the characters seem capable of thinking logically or planning for the future. This trend continues throughout the book. Also, Coe stumbles into the pitfall of trying to tell the story from too many different perspectives. The book could have been more compact if he'd focused on Orris and a couple of other main characters, rather than saturating the book with extra scenes featuring extraneous minor characters. As it is, we'll often read a chapter about one person and then not seem them again until several hundred pages later, at which point we've almost forgotten about them. While well-developed characters are, of course, good, Coe doesn't really give them any depth; he usually just spends page after page hammering home the same points about some particular person. My final complaint is that much of the book seems dumbed-down and oversimplified. For instance, there's one scene where the leaders of the three big cities ("Nals") in Lon-Ser meet to discuss some important issues, and they just rush through the meeting without any real debate or scheming. I felt that it was a remarkably bad representation of how politics in such a society would work. "The Outlanders" isn't a total loss. As I mentioned, the author controls the nuts-and-bolts issues of writing quite well. I just hope that he'll put a little bit more thought into his next series.
Rating:
Summary: Still just mediocre
Review: In "The Outlanders", David B. Coe does manage to avoid many of the mistakes that he made in "Children of Amarid." Most importantly, this book is a lot more fast-paced. In contrast to the original, which had perhaps one plot event per every one-hundred pages, "The Outlanders" includes at least one significant event per chapter, and often more. There are a lot of action and fighting scenes in this book, all of which are presented in an exciting and believable way. As I mentioned in my review of "Children of Amarid", I can't complain about Coe's writing skills. He has an excellent ability to choose the right words at the right time when describing a scene and also a decent ear for dialogue, qualities which many of today's fantasy writers lack. However, there are a number of things that bugged me throughout the book. One that's difficult to ignore is that so many of the characters are so incredibly stupid. The book is set four years after the ending of the previous volume. The Children of Amarid are still unable to agree on anything because half of the order, for no apparent reason, doesn't believe that they should worry about another attack coming from Lon-Ser. To break the deadlock, the Mage Orris decides to visit Lon-Ser himself, and he also helps the only surviving Outlander, Baram, escape from prison. Jaryd and Baden help him cover up the prison break, but they don't have any plan for dealing with the situation when their enemies find out about it. Orris takes Baram to Lon-Ser, but the prisoner simply runs away as soon as they reach their destination. The point is that none of the characters seem capable of thinking logically or planning for the future. This trend continues throughout the book. Also, Coe stumbles into the pitfall of trying to tell the story from too many different perspectives. The book could have been more compact if he'd focused on Orris and a couple of other main characters, rather than saturating the book with extra scenes featuring extraneous minor characters. As it is, we'll often read a chapter about one person and then not seem them again until several hundred pages later, at which point we've almost forgotten about them. While well-developed characters are, of course, good, Coe doesn't really give them any depth; he usually just spends page after page hammering home the same points about some particular person. My final complaint is that much of the book seems dumbed-down and oversimplified. For instance, there's one scene where the leaders of the three big cities ("Nals") in Lon-Ser meet to discuss some important issues, and they just rush through the meeting without any real debate or scheming. I felt that it was a remarkably bad representation of how politics in such a society would work. "The Outlanders" isn't a total loss. As I mentioned, the author controls the nuts-and-bolts issues of writing quite well. I just hope that he'll put a little bit more thought into his next series.
Rating:
Summary: Still just mediocre
Review: In "The Outlanders", David B. Coe does manage to avoid many of the mistakes that he made in "Children of Amarid." Most importantly, this book is a lot more fast-paced. In contrast to the original, which had perhaps one plot event per every one-hundred pages, "The Outlanders" includes at least one significant event per chapter, and often more. There are a lot of action and fighting scenes in this book, all of which are presented in an exciting and believable way. As I mentioned in my review of "Children of Amarid", I can't complain about Coe's writing skills. He has an excellent ability to choose the right words at the right time when describing a scene and also a decent ear for dialogue, qualities which many of today's fantasy writers lack. However, there are a number of things that bugged me throughout the book. One that's difficult to ignore is that so many of the characters are so incredibly stupid. The book is set four years after the ending of the previous volume. The Children of Amarid are still unable to agree on anything because half of the order, for no apparent reason, doesn't believe that they should worry about another attack coming from Lon-Ser. To break the deadlock, the Mage Orris decides to visit Lon-Ser himself, and he also helps the only surviving Outlander, Baram, escape from prison. Jaryd and Baden help him cover up the prison break, but they don't have any plan for dealing with the situation when their enemies find out about it. Orris takes Baram to Lon-Ser, but the prisoner simply runs away as soon as they reach their destination. The point is that none of the characters seem capable of thinking logically or planning for the future. This trend continues throughout the book. Also, Coe stumbles into the pitfall of trying to tell the story from too many different perspectives. The book could have been more compact if he'd focused on Orris and a couple of other main characters, rather than saturating the book with extra scenes featuring extraneous minor characters. As it is, we'll often read a chapter about one person and then not seem them again until several hundred pages later, at which point we've almost forgotten about them. While well-developed characters are, of course, good, Coe doesn't really give them any depth; he usually just spends page after page hammering home the same points about some particular person. My final complaint is that much of the book seems dumbed-down and oversimplified. For instance, there's one scene where the leaders of the three big cities ("Nals") in Lon-Ser meet to discuss some important issues, and they just rush through the meeting without any real debate or scheming. I felt that it was a remarkably bad representation of how politics in such a society would work. "The Outlanders" isn't a total loss. As I mentioned, the author controls the nuts-and-bolts issues of writing quite well. I just hope that he'll put a little bit more thought into his next series.
Rating:
Summary: Another home run for Coe!!!!!
Review: Most of the time when so one writes a seekwill to a movie or book it turns out worse then the frist. BUT NOT THIS ONE !!!!!!!!! It brings back all of the chaters that you read about in "Childrin of Amirad". Athought I a only 20 pages away form the end of this book I will can't tar my-self away from reading it. This is agreat story of Magic and Danger; that you have to own. And I hear that Coe is at work on the ending book of the Chongril "Eagle-Sage"
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