Rating: 
Summary: I wonder if we were all reading the same book.
Review: ....In my opinion, Vincalis is a seriously flawed piece of work. I don't see three-dimensional characters that live and breathe... quite the opposite in fact; I see very few genuinely interesting characters (specifically Solander) interspersed between instances of black hat villains (most notably Faregan, but Luercas and Velyn don't venture far from that territory either) and one dimensional hero types like Wraith. This isn't much different from her Secret Texts trilogy, really, so I wasn't surprised, but it was disappointing. Ms. Lisle also appears to have trouble with emotion, as I never feel that a character, say, is in love with another character; instead she resorts to saying, in effect, "Suddenly, Bob realized he loved her" with no real emotional buildup on Bob's part. There is a similar tendency for other emotions/skills and opinions to pop up out of nowhere, as when we suddenly find out, at a most convenient time and after hundreds of pages, that a particular character resents Vincalis. We've been in his head multitudes of times, but he's never mentioned it before, until this most convenient moment. Such things would certainly be more believable and interesting with some buildup; a few offhand remarks or clues would have been sufficient. The writing style itself is fine until she, say, gets off on a rant about the pains of living as a woman (I am a woman, and it's not that bad ;) or overdescribes, or writes three pages of dense and pretentious narrative that literally had me fighting to stay awake while she spells out the precise nature of a debate between people we've never seen before and will never see again. I found my mind wandering frequently during Vincalis the Agitator, particularly in the late chapters when I probably should have been the most riveted. And maybe I'm bizarre, but I got sick of "evil sex" as a villain/corruption indicator dozens of books ago, so her attempt to prove that the Hars Ticlarim Empire is corrupt and/or self-indulgent by having the citizens engage in numerous orgies is a bit lost on me, as is the gratuitous nature of Faregan's entire personality and motivation. There are also numerous continuity and personality conflicts between the Secret Texts and its prequel Vincalis, for example the personality of Solander and some of the explanations for Matrin's physical aspects. There are also little, nitpicky things left out entirely, like Luercas' soul-flower, the immortality engine, and the term technothaumator which is apparently so integral to the Dragon vocabulary that Dafril slips it out by accident in Diplomacy of Wolves. I admit I might have just missed these, but probably not: my boyfriend read it as well, directly after finishing the Secret Texts, and was similarly confused. The world is well-developed for the most part, but even so, in my opinion, comparing its depth to that of Tolkien's Middle-Earth is questionable at best. For my money, Carol Berg did the best world-building I've seen in modern fantasy for her "Transformation" and "Revelation." The triad of Jennifer Roberson, Kate Elliot and Melanie Rawn also did some wonderful worldwork in "The Golden Key" (although that book frustrates me a bit); I can't speak to their individual works since I haven't tried any yet. Anyway, I can't really say I recommend this book, but then I can't say you shouldn't buy it either. I don't even know if I'd say I regret the purchase, although I think it was overpriced. The truth is, I enjoyed the first half of the book for the most part, excepting the occasional segue into oh-you're-so-evil villainy, but as the book went on, more of the characters I actually liked disappeared, and more oh-you're-so-evil villainy took its place. It's an attractive book, and has its enjoyable moments, and moments that I found endearing and/or cute, and I liked it a lot more than the Secret Texts.... --This text refers to the Paperback edition
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable fantasy
Review: For three millenniums in Hars Ticlarim, Dragon magic has used slaves as a combustible material to keep the mansions in the skies and seas functional while looking aesthetically beautiful. The Inquestors secretly run everything keeping the elite happy with their starry homes while drugging the masses known as Warreners before incinerting them body and soul as the fuel source of choice.
Now after three thousand years of unchallenged control, a Warrener lad Wraith resists the Dragon magic that keeps his people docile. Wraith escapes and meets Solander, son of a Dragon magic practitioner. They form a friendship and soon ally with the rebel leader VINCALIS THE AGITATOR in a quest to lead a rebellion to end the unnatural order dependent on genocide.
VINCALIS THE AGITATOR is an enjoyable fantasy novel that never quite attains the heights of The Secret Texts Trilogy (same place a thousand years later). The story line is exciting as the forces of good challenge the forces of evil. Though intriguing, the technology employed by the key players hinders the magic they also use rather than enhancing it. Still the adventures of the heroes are fun to watch as Holly Lisle entertains her audience with an action packed tale that never slows down until the reader finishes the story. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Vincalis -- Worth Reading
Review: Having read several of Holly Lisle's novels, I can only say that she continues to improve. After her beginnings with the humorous Arhel tales, the Secret Texts seem like something altogether different--a dark trilogy of novels in which good and evil vie for domination. Holly Lisle likes to ask questions in her work, and her plots are not as character-driven as ones such as those you will find written by Mercedes Lackey or Anne McCaffrey. She usually prefers to introduce readers mostly to one character, and leaves us questioning that character's past even then, hinting at much more than she gives us. However, with Vincalis, she introduces us strongly to the protagonist Wraith and his motives. Readers are not as informed about other major characters, yet sufficiently so that the plot runs properly. This novel is food for thought as well as intended for entertainment. It is not the sort of novel that many fantasy readers are used to, and despite its being based in a fantasy world, dealing with a fantasy situation, it can be viewed in a deeper aspect. My main issues with the novel are but minor ones: First of all, it seems as if the minor characters in the beginning have more reasonable motives for their actions than they do toward the end. Second of all, it still leaves quite a bit in question about the Secret Text trilogy it is the prequel to, and the only answer currently available on why certain things are known, or happen, is that this information was written into the Secret Texts. Still, having read the Secret Texts Trilogy, I found this to be an intriguing read. It isn't the happiest of novels, being rather dark due to its very plot involving human lives being sacrificed to create magic, but I believe that its plot and main character will stay in my memory, at least, for a very long time.
Rating:
Summary: Vincalis -- Worth Reading
Review: Having read several of Holly Lisle's novels, I can only say that she continues to improve. After her beginnings with the humorous Arhel tales, the Secret Texts seem like something altogether different--a dark trilogy of novels in which good and evil vie for domination. Holly Lisle likes to ask questions in her work, and her plots are not as character-driven as ones such as those you will find written by Mercedes Lackey or Anne McCaffrey. She usually prefers to introduce readers mostly to one character, and leaves us questioning that character's past even then, hinting at much more than she gives us. However, with Vincalis, she introduces us strongly to the protagonist Wraith and his motives. Readers are not as informed about other major characters, yet sufficiently so that the plot runs properly. This novel is food for thought as well as intended for entertainment. It is not the sort of novel that many fantasy readers are used to, and despite its being based in a fantasy world, dealing with a fantasy situation, it can be viewed in a deeper aspect. My main issues with the novel are but minor ones: First of all, it seems as if the minor characters in the beginning have more reasonable motives for their actions than they do toward the end. Second of all, it still leaves quite a bit in question about the Secret Text trilogy it is the prequel to, and the only answer currently available on why certain things are known, or happen, is that this information was written into the Secret Texts. Still, having read the Secret Texts Trilogy, I found this to be an intriguing read. It isn't the happiest of novels, being rather dark due to its very plot involving human lives being sacrificed to create magic, but I believe that its plot and main character will stay in my memory, at least, for a very long time.
Rating: 
Summary: How a society can run headlong into catastrophe
Review: Holly has returned to the world of the Secret Texts trilogy for this story of a different era - the time before the Mage Wars when magic use was ubiquitous, most of society was rich beyond our current standards of affluence, and everything depended on a dark core that few knew about, ruled by a powerful cadre that have completely lost track of morality. The book opens with Wraith, a boy with an uncanny immunity to magic, leaves the under city searching for untainted food, flees guards who intend to kill him for theft, and runs into a friendly, over privileged young man, Solander. Wraith, his rescued (female) friend Jess and Solander soon form a classic love triangle - Solander is taken by Jess, Jess is enamored with Wraith, and Wraith has fallen for the first good-looking confident young woman he has ever met, Velyn. But the main issue of the story is not love. It's how to deal with the horrible injustice that Wraith digs up when he insists on finding an explanation for the creation and maintenance of the Warrens - places that the general population think are crime-ridden, terrible cankers of ghettos, walled off from the rest of the world and guarded for the good of humanity. But the people in the Warrens are kept drugged and fattened like cattle in pens. And the Council of Dragons is not only lying about the source of the magical power that fuels their world, it has devised a new, more productive way to harvest human magical potential. Wraith, Solander and Jess eventually split and follow individual ways of dealing with terrible injustice in their world. Jess prefers to ignore it. Solander devotes himself to looking for a magical solution. And Wraith decides to hide behind the pen name of a revolutionary, Vincalis, and expose the hypocrisy of the Dragons through plays, first a tragedy, and then a mix of tragedies and comedies... ...but none of them realize that the Dragons have been in power a very long time. They're not about to let anyone think new things, let alone try to change the world. And no one at all realizes that their actions are leading to a disastrous confrontation that none of them would have wished for. Vincalis the Agitator is a fascinating cautionary tale that works on many levels. Beyond the social commentary, it reaches a stunning physical and magical climax that very few novels would attempt - and it also rewards in the human dimension. Get a copy and see what a fantasy writer who's not merely imitating can do to expand your world.
Rating:
Summary: Vincalis
Review: Holly Lisle created something new and fresh when she published the trilogy 'The Secret Texts' and now she has allowed us to see what the Hars Ticlarim is truly about: Deceit and Power. This book shows the reader how the Wizard's War set Matrin aflame and how Kait and Ry found themselves being pulled into the fire. The description is wholly absolute. I enthusiastically encourage the fans of 'The Secret Texts' to snatch this book as soon as they can.
Rating:
Summary: Into the Heart of a Rebellion
Review: Holly Lisle's Secret Texts trilogy (Diplomacy of Wolves, Vengeance of Dragons, Courage of Falcons) gave fantasy readers the darkly beautiful world of Matrin, where epic battles between the visionary Falcons and soul-stealing Dragons kept everyone all turning pages far into the night. I know those books ruined at least a week of sleep for me. Now Vincalis the Agitator takes us back a thousand years before the time of the Secret Texts, to rediscover this incredible world through the extraordinary events that led to the creation of the Falcons. Better set a couple of alarm clocks before you start reading, because this one isn't going to let you go, either. Born into mindless servitude, a boy named Wraith discovers he alone among his people is unaffected by the magic that enslaves them, and can leave the ghetto of the Warrens to enter the fabulous air city where his masters live out their pampered, hedonistic lives. There he finds Solander, a young wizard in training, who is stunned and intrigued by Wraith's incomprehensible abilities. For Solander, the chance to study the only person alive unaffected by magic is too tempting to resist. For Wraith, the opportunity to escape the horrific confines of the Warrens and study the ways of the Dragons means a chance for him to save all of his people someday. Both boys are completely unaware that their friendship sets the stage for intrigue, rebellion, betrayal and faith, leading to a future cataclysm so shocking and all-encompassing that it will shape and change the world as they know it forever. I'd willingly stay up until dawn to read a Holly Lisle novel, and Vincalis the Agitator was no exception. You don't want to miss this one. As an author, I can appreciate her meticulous plotting and consummate world-building, but as a reader I just lost myself in this book. From the first page, Holly Lisle drops you into the heart of Matrin, and lets you see all sides, through the eyes of its heroes and its monsters, and she doesn't let you go. It's really the kind of novel that requires someone to yell at you or smack you to drag you away from it -- so while reading, you'd better avoid cooking, operating heavy machinery, and just go get a babysitter for the kids.
Rating:
Summary: Vincalis is a GREAT read!
Review: I was in the mood for something with a fast moving plot, and real characters I could identify with, but I wanted it divorced enough from the real world to let me zone out a little. Vincalis the Agitator did exactly that, and did it outstandingly well. I liked Vincalis from the moment I met Wraith, a hungry youngster prepared to steal food if he must to keep himself and his friends from starving. I liked it even better when I met Solander Artis, the privileged son of a Dragon Master and a member of the ruling stolti class, who had enough compassion and curiosity to hide Wraith from his pursuers. Despite the profligate use of magic by the Dragons, Lisle's characters have a special realism. I think it's because, like everyday people, they cram their adventures and love lives in around the need to make a living. Also, the great moral issues that the Dragon Empire must address face the characters in everyday choices. Some characters fail, others succeed, and which do which isn't as obvious as it seems. Is there a Vincalis? Oh, yes, but read the book; you'll see. Seriously, I really enjoyed this book, and recommend it wholeheartedly.
Rating:
Summary: Well Done
Review: I was very excited to find out that Holly Lisle was going to reveal the interesting but rather vague series of events that led to those that took place in the Secret Texts. At the same time I was also nervous, I wanted so much to love Vincalis the Agitator just as I had loved the other three! Luckily for me, I was not to be disappointed. I have to admit Vincalis the Agitator was different from the Secret Texts Trilogy but in a very important way. The two plots took place in two different societies and therefore each deserved a slightly different approach. What was the same however, was Holly Lisle's ability to create characters that all avid fantasy readers can appreciate. Wraith and Solander were both able to capture my heart just as Kait, Ry, and the many other Falcons in the Secret Texts.
The best part about Vincalis the Agitator is that it answers all those questions that were posed in Diplomacy of Wolves, Vengeance of Dragons, and Courage of Falcons. Who is Solander? How is he able to be so pure and loving? Why was Vincalis the Agitator able to reach so many with his wisdom? If you want to know the answers to these and many other questions, I recommend reading Vincalis the Agitator, it is a marvellous prequel to the Secret Text Trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: Well Done
Review: I was very excited to find out that Holly Lisle was going to reveal the interesting but rather vague series of events that led to those that took place in the Secret Texts. At the same time I was also nervous, I wanted so much to love Vincalis the Agitator just as I had loved the other three! Luckily for me, I was not to be disappointed. I have to admit Vincalis the Agitator was different from the Secret Texts Trilogy but in a very important way. The two plots took place in two different societies and therefore each deserved a slightly different approach. What was the same however, was Holly Lisle's ability to create characters that all avid fantasy readers can appreciate. Wraith and Solander were both able to capture my heart just as Kait, Ry, and the many other Falcons in the Secret Texts.
The best part about Vincalis the Agitator is that it answers all those questions that were posed in Diplomacy of Wolves, Vengeance of Dragons, and Courage of Falcons. Who is Solander? How is he able to be so pure and loving? Why was Vincalis the Agitator able to reach so many with his wisdom? If you want to know the answers to these and many other questions, I recommend reading Vincalis the Agitator, it is a marvellous prequel to the Secret Text Trilogy.
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