Rating: 
Summary: Good fun (3.5 stars)
Review: "Literary fantasy" it isn't, but if you're looking for some good, fast, fun adventure, this is the book for you.This book moves along at an incredibly rapid clip. There are quite a few characters, but the author doesn't sit with any one of them too long; she cycles through the characters quickly enough that you never get bored with any of them, and in such a way that the plot moves right along. The characters themselves aren't particularly deep or complex, but they are all well-defined and act consistently, and are mostly quite likeable. Also, there are thankfully no "Good" or "Evil" characters, just people who are living their lives. An interesting twist that's not found in too many fantasy novels is that the different characters in the book are from very different societies, meeting at the "Allfair," rather than a group of people all hailing from the same village/region, which adds some interest to their interactions. Additionally, the banter/dialogue between the characters tends to be quite entertaining. This novel is clearly the opening to a bigger story, a prologue really, written mainly to establish the characters and world. The series title, "Fool's Gold," is apt, but it's not what this particular book is about. This book is about the re-emergence of magic. At the beginning of the novel, magic really is a non-issue in the world, but as the book progresses, simple charms and spells start working far too effectively, as the characters realize that the magic of the world is "re-awakening." Not an entirely novel idea, but it's presented in a fun way. Overall, this is fun fantasy. If you want dark, realistic, complex nitty gritty, look elsewhere, but if you're looking for something along the lines of Farland's Runelords or Haydon's Rhapsody (minus the angst), then this is the book for you. A solid, if not perfect, debut novel. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow Start Charging at End
Review: As other readers have said, this does start slow. But the writer takes time to set up a marvelous world full of exciting characters. As the story unfolds, one becomes so acquainted with each of the main characters, that one can almost predict of what the person will do next. However, with the author and what makes this book so fun is that characters do not always do what you may think. During the book, I would go back and read parts of what I read before because of a twist in the story and the clue that was laden there before. Great story, great characters, and great world!
Rating:
Summary: A fast-paced, complex story of sorcery and love
Review: Fans of fantasy epics will relish Sorcery Rising, a new beginning of another account of magical journeys, war, and romance. Katla attends an annual celebration, unwitting commits sacrilege, and attracts the attention of an idealistic nobleman. In the process of her flight she will encounter new worlds and disguises in this fast-paced, complex story of sorcery and love.
Rating:
Summary: Slow start, but has promise
Review: Fisher has a style of writting such that you can't be impatient for action when you read. A lot of time is spent setting up the characters and the situation; which gives the series a wonderful beginning.. but makes this first book a somewhat slow read. The hundreds of pages cover a scant amount of days, if that tells you anything. Still, the book was worth reading and I look forward to reading the second of the series. The writting is well-done and the story definately has potential. When things started happening at the end, I was definately left with a feeling of wanting more.
Rating: 
Summary: written by a horny teenager
Review: I actually enjoyed this series enough to buy the next one (at half price books, of course). This is not a series to be taken seriously. The writing is just bad. The characters are totally static and most of them suck. The entire plot is poorly put together, totally unoriginal, and the 'mythology' sucks. There are three races - the arabs, the gypsies, and the vikings. Oh sorry, I meant the Istrians, Footloose, and Eyrians. Katla didn't suck for a while, but the only cool characters were ignored.
What got me through this book was that the author can't go three pages without making a sexual reference. It was frickin hilarious. Basically, the story loosely follows a half-dozen or so teenage kids around a long fair, and they all have crushes and such. The author constantly tells you things you absolutely didn't need (or want) to know. For example, a certain Istrian's musings on how sexually able his daughter is based on his experience with his wife, or when a girl glances at a boy while occupied with something else, and recalls how he had "let her rock herself to climax on his fingers." That's about as explicit as it gets. It's not a porno, its just a horny teenage drama. Oh, and at the end, you have the expected political explosion and war breaks out, yadda yadda.
I actually thought that it had some promise as an actual series, like the other reviewers have mentioned ("great potential" etc.) Well, sorry to say it doesn't. In fact, the second one wasn't nearly as funny as the first, though the story didn't really improve. I had some trouble deciding between 2 and 3 stars because the book wasn't terrible, it just wasn't that good. Don't look here if you're going for some really good fantasy, but it won't hurt you to give it a try, especially if you think horny teenagers are funny.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting take on a new series.
Review: I bought this book from my sfbc. because everyone was giving it such high reviews and when I started reading it I was totally lost, it took me over a hundred pages to get involved, but I hung in there and finally everything came together for me. My favorite characters was Katla and Fen her brother. They seemed to get along to well together. This book is about Sorcery rising magic is just getting its start.I'm sure if you read this book that you will enjoy it but there is a lot of detail and action in this book and you cannot miss any detail. I enjoyed this book very much.
Rating: 
Summary: Tossed in the discard pile early on.
Review: I didn't get very far with this story. Firstly, I couldn't identify or get involved with any of the characters in part because there was too much scene flicking too soon to allow me to get hooked in. I like to be invited into the character's minds and thoughts and given enough time so I can get to know the character and begin to care about what happens to them or what they're up to. As I kept plugging along (skimming some, a bad habit I know but I was bored, but why was I bored I asked myself) I discovered that I just didn't LIKE most of the characters.
Katla I disliked in particular because she is a spoiled little bratty, tantrum throwing dork. I have sworn off suffering through stories with our hero(s) behaving like the worst kind of two year olds. Dawn Cook's "the Hidden Truth" novels cured me forever! I suffered through TWO of that series, I was so gullible and had high hopes for character growth! Never happened folks!! The main female character's personality degenerated into a completely loathesome two year old brat. Then Dawn Cook topped it all off by having the nice male character falls in love with the evil little snot. How could he fall in love with her when there was nothing about her to love?? (such a dissappointment). Anyway, I really dislike that character type now.
The real death knell, though, was when we meet selena (or whatever her name is) and the gross guy is thinking how 'her lips are red like labia and how much fire there is between her thighs. I said, "Aaaaackk! That's It! Bye-bye!" and into the discard pile this book went (along with book 2 which remains unread) Is it asking too much for a little class and couth? I mean eeeewww, how crude. I wasn't sure where Jude Fisher was taking me with that and I freely admit to a lack of courage to allow myself to be taken there (more scars from other really bad fantasy (Anne Bishop and her gold penis rings) Shudder!!!
So, I will trade these books in for something better at my local used bookstore to try to recoup some of my loss. I wish I could charge for my time and eyesight.
Rating:
Summary: Sorcery Rising
Review: I just finished reading this book yesterday and can not wait to get the next in the series (Wild Magic, fool's gold book 2) a enveloping plot and awesome chartacters keep you reading to the end where you're left hanging in want of more......i would definatly read this book if you like a good science fiction book to read and are not satisfied with the average sci-fi you normaly find.
Rating:
Summary: Love these characters!
Review: I must say I started reading SORCERY RISING with a few misgivings: I so rarely find fantasy that really excites me any more, it all seems to be a mishmash of the same old plots and characters, same old quest-structure, same old quasi-Tolkien set-up. And I can't say this one is all brand new, either - there's lots of familiar territory, including a Viking-style culture in the north and a Roman/Mediterranean culture in the south that reminded be a little of some of Guy Kay's work; but the characters just had me hooked! I defy anyone to read this and not love Katla Aransen: she's the feistiest, funniest, most headstrong and contrary female fantasy character I've encountered in years. The Rosa Eldi, that strange, magical creature abducted first by a mage, then by his apprentice, to wreak havoc in the world, is deliciously intriguing, and Selen Issian takes on the role of oppressed women the world over (how interesting that the Istrian women's 'sabatkas' so resemble Afghan 'burqas'; yet this must have been written before the light shone on recent events in that part of the world). This is not to say Fisher goes light on the guys: she offers a wide variety of male characters all the way from utterly vile...(Tanto Vingo and Tycho Issian) to adorable (Saro Vingo and Erno Hamson). Other people have talked about the plot, so I won't go on about that. All I can say is I couldn't stop reading, and that I'm desperate for the next volume. If you like Robin Hobb and George RR Martin, this is next best thing while you're waiting for their new books!
Rating:
Summary: A brand new saga of old
Review: Jude Fisher's debut novel is a classic character-driven fantasy tale, packed with action, suspense, drama, love, lust, magic, heroism, betrayal and all the other elements you'd want to see in a well-written saga. Despite, or perhaps due to its relatively simple setting and compact cast of characters, the story is King in Sorcery Rising, and there isn't a word on the page that doesn't drive the story along, and carry the reader along with it. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys good character fantasy written with humour, flair and style.
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