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Talion : Revenant

Talion : Revenant

List Price: $6.50
Your Price: $6.50
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of the Best
Review: This was a great book and keep me hanging until the end. I like fantasy books and this is one of the best. I hope there are more Talion adventures soon.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Talion_Revenant
Review: I simply thought that this book was one of the best that I have ever read. I loved the characters and the storyline. The Talion characters are very interesting and their training. I would recommend this book to anyone betweet the ages of 13 and 20. I loved every moment of it!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Cool new World of interesting characters
Review: My interest was captured from the begining. It is refreshing to discover a new world and adventure with interesting characters. The ending was suprising and I look forward to more adventures with the Talion Justice.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simply excellent, you just want more and more...
Review: Talion : Revenant is simply one the best single book i've ever read. It's easy to read, you can see easily the world in which the caracter is living. It's the hero who tells his story, and let me tell you that Stackpole really had it! The link between the pass of the caracter (his youth and his training) and his present is magnificantly built. Stackpole really did it with this one! It's a must be read to all fantasy lovers

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: very good...question unanswered however
Review: this book was well thought-out and well written...there were some difficulties in understanding certain things because of bad grammar the editor must not have seen (i.e. little by slowly...should be little by little...this is only one of numerous examples unfortunately) and a difficulty in understanding the layout of the cities...also, i must pose one question: the goddess states that princess zaria would marry the duke ra sinjaria...this never happens seeing as how that duke is killed...is there supposed to be a seqquel and nolan is the new duke or what? maybe morai with the star of sinjaria? anyway, hopefully someone will see this and able to help out

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Revenant Risen
Review: Michael Stackpole's first novel, Talion: Revenant is a fine addition to his bestselling fiction. Though written in 1986, it was only published a decade later, but is a fine fantasy offering nonetheless. While superficially, the plot appears to be rather stereotyped (A boy, who witnesses the brutal killing of his family by Hamisian raiders vows to exact vengeance on the lands of Hamis), interest rarely, if ever wanes. This is created primarily through the intriguing web of politics weaved through the plot and the creation of multi-dimensional characters, particularly the main character, Nolan ra Sinjaria. Rather original ideas involving magic enhance the effiacy of Stackpole's writing.

A "Talion" refers to one in service to the Shattered Empire, which in Revenant is comprised loosely of several states. Talions take on a diverse range of roles, from riding mythical hawks to the feared Talion Justices, whose duty is to uphold the law, empowered with the ability to draw the souls from a body. Written from the first person perspective, "Talion: Revenant" details the experiences both of the main character Nolan as a Novice Justice in training and a Justice pursuing bandits throughout the Shattered Empire. Without revealing too much of the plot, a conspiricy is soon revealed, and as a Justice Nolan seeks to uphold the law in a divided nation. While Talion: Revenant is not a short read, spanning 175,000 words and in parts slows in pace, Michael Stackpole masterfully weaves politics, adventure and magic into an absorbing read.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Author In Progress
Review: Fans of Stackpole's work will enjoy this book. His vivid imagery and unsurpassed character representation shine through. However, it is easy to see why this was his first book. There are some areas of this book's world that could be expanded. While a good story, I would not say that this is one of his classics. This novel is a good read, but do yourself a favor and read some of Stackpole's later works (like the Dragoncrown War books) as well.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Fine Example of Heroic Fantasy
Review: Michael Stackpole's Talion: Revenant is the first novel he wrote, but that is hard to tell once you read the book. This is a well-told heroic fantasy with believable characters and fast paced action that keeps the pages flying by.

One might call this story the study of a hero, because ultimately, Nolan, a Talion Justice is just that, a Hero. The novel opens with Nolan, an experienced Talion Justice, in pursuit of bandits led by the rogue Morai and Nolan's eventual disbanding of the group. The novel then switches to years earlier as Nolan arrives at the gates of Talianna, the home nation of the Talions, with aspirations of becoming a Justice. He wants to ultimately right a wrong that befell him, the killing of his entire family by the King of Hamis in his conquest of nations.

The novel takes place in the world of the Shattered Empire, a loose band of nation policed by the Talions-an elite police nation. The Talions are divided into Warriors, Wizards, Archers Lancers and the Justices, which are the highest ranking of the Talions. The rest of the novel switches between these two view points, that of Nolan as a full Talion Justice in the midst of his missions and Nolan's growth and development through the land of Talianna as he pursues his goal of becoming a Talion.

The novel also has interesting creatures, the giant Hawks that are used as mounts by the Talions, Jevin the Fearleen, one of Nolan's Talion companions. Fearleans are Stackpole's version of ogres. And of course the undead nekkhit, the basis for Nolan's ultimate assignement. The nekkhit possess the bodies of the dead, and is being used in an attempt to take the life of King Tirrel. The only problem with this assignment, other than the usual possible death at the hands of the nekkhit, is that King Tirrell is responsible for the death and slaughter of Nolan's family.

This parallel narrative works extremely well and again, Stackpole handles it so well that it does not read as his first novel. In the parallel narrative we see the growth of Nolan at two stages of his life, as a young man growing up and a mature man accepting his state in life. This is a novel illustrates the fact that not every issue is black and white, not every struggle is good vs. evil.

To sum up, this novel has many qualities to enjoy: believable, likeable characters, intrigue and action, tension and struggles between characters.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Thankfully not the first *and* last novel set in this world!
Review: For the past 10 years or so I have been a Stackpole fan; I have always loved the way he mixed and mingled politics and whatnot into his novels, and how he would never let it completely drown out the actual story line.

This book solidified my love of it even further. Not only is it a good fantasy novel, but it is also a good introduction to the world of Talions (which, I believe, he is continuing due to fans of his Star Wars and BattleTech fiction).


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