Rating: 
Summary: Well, I've never read Jordan...
Review: ...so if enough people say this is derivative, maybe I will. However, I have read enough other fantasy novels to know that this is a cut above most of the crud that's being published. Strong characters and thoughtful character development, and I have a feeling that coing up are a few twists that might take readers by surprise.Now if they'd only release the second novel in mass market pb (I dislike trades! Give me HC or mass market! ) I'd be able to read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Eclectic, but very very good.
Review: An interesting story, clearly a labor of love. Overtly Tolkienesque, one also sees the influences of such as Tad Williams, David Eddings, Robert Jordan and to a lesser extent, Ursula LeGuin. While there a (very few) fumbles, the writing flows smoothly and elegantly. Interesting characters, good plot, fine story line. If this is his first book, we have a major talent here.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining yarn which twists back and forth on itself.
Review: Anthony has created a world with depth of character; the hints and promises of further developments for the characters whet the readers' appetites for the next book.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun but hardly original
Review: Anthony's debut novel is a curious amalgamation of the ideas of at least six or so other authors. Not since Terry Brook's The Sword of Shannara came out has it been so easy to spot derivations. Take, for example, one of the book's main characters, Travis. He's Thomas Covenant (author: Stephen Donaldson): a man sick at heart who's thrown into another world, learns he has great powers there, but does not wish to use them, preferring, instead, to return to Earth where he has just about nothing. Then there's Melia, some sort of sorceress, who talks exactly like Polgara (from David Edding's Belgariad series). Then there's Falken, a travelling bard (with, obviously, something of A History), who delivers a speach at a council of rulers somewhere halfway through the book that reads like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (the section dealing with the battle of the Pelennor Fields), Reduced To Two Hundred Words For Your Convenience. It's extraordinary: Anthony even steals sentences from Tolkien. Compare Anthony's "Elsara, Empress of Tarras, had come at last" to Tolkien's "Rohan had come at last". And, no, this cannot be a coincidence. Remember Eowyn, who, as a woman, was able to slay the Lord of the Nazgul? Remember the words? The Nazgul saying: "Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!" And Eowyn's answer: "But no living man am I! You look upon a woman." This is Anthony's version: "None can stand before me", spoke the icy king. "Then kneeling I shall strike you!", Ulthor cried. Creative, isn't it? These are just examples; I'm sure there's lots of people you can and will take some pleasure in providing a more complete list. This is just a short review, however, and I've made my first point: look elsewhere if you want something original. The second point is, perhaps, more fundamental. Anthony doesn't seem to be able to control his fantasy world. When he focuses on any particular character, the rest of action seems to more or less stop. From example, when Grace (another of the book's protagonists) starts her spying activities in the castle of King Boreas, it seems as if all the kings and queens gathered there for the purposes of a royal convention are put on hold. They seem incapable of doing anything while the attention is still directed at Grace. The third point is that, frankly and bluntly put, just about everyone in the book is quite stupid, whilst the book's internal logic is, at best, sketchy. This is a question of taste, but I have to admit that, personally, I tend to get a little annoyed with characters that get all worked up about something that the reader has spotted at least twenty pages ago. As to the logic issue: at one point, Travis gets extremely upset with the council of rulers for not believing that Sauron (oops, the Pale King) is waking up. After all he (Travis) "had seen the dark clouds over Imbrifale" and "the fell light of the wraithlings" and "the iron heart Grace had cut out of a dead man's chest. How could they not believe?" Well, quite easily, Travis, if no-one bothered to tell them about any of these things (let alone provide any tangible evidence, such as the iron heart). Whew, that's a lot of criticism, isn't it? So how come the three-star rating? Well, first of all, in spite of its drawbacks, Beyond the Pale zips along quite speedily; it is well-paced. Secondly, I have this feeling that the series may progress to something better, if Anthony manages to find a voice (and, to an extent, a brain) of his own. And finally, darn it... I had fun reading it! A final word: if you're wondering about the title, it refers to an old English expression meaning beyond the borders of the English-dominated part of Ireland (a pale being, essentially, a fence or border).
Rating:
Summary: While waiting for A Feast for Crows...
Review: As most reviews have mentioned, this book is NOT very original. Since that's out of the way, I must say it was a lot of fun to read. There is a lot of action, the characters are charmingly flawed, if somewhat predictable. I really enjoyed the high drama, and rather silly plot twists...just as someone is about to say, do, or discover something important, they are interrupted by a completely bizarre event. (Action! Swordfights, fires, storms, attacks by evil creatures, translocations--that type of thing.)The lead characters are irritating in many ways, but for some reason, this made me like them! Travis is unbelievably passive, and really upset...about his PAST! Grace is an ice princess, who feels DEEPLY, and can't quite express herself. And, as mentioned in other reviews, Melia is a virtual clone of Polgara this sorceress, even calling people "dear" the way Polgara does. If you can get past these flaws, however, you will find an enjoyable read, with nice touches of humor. It's not a gourmet meal, it's more of a takeout pizza with everything on it. Sometimes, that's just the thing.
Rating:
Summary: ... It's What You Do With It
Review: Beyond the Pale is the first novel in the Last Rune series. Castle City, Colorado, is an old mining town that has not changed much since the mines petered out a hundred years before. The Mine Shaft Saloon, owned by Travis Wilder, is one of the century-old establishments, although now serving a much tamer type of clientele: the local book club instead of a bunch of drunk, lustful miners. Lost tourists will sometimes find their way to the Saloon, but not very many. In this novel, Travis notices that strange events are happening around him: the very realistic-looking billboard, the chime of bells, the laughing shadow within the ruins of the old orphanage, and the man in black in front of the ruins. There is also the big circus tent in a field next to the road for Brother Cy's Apocalyptic Traveling Salvation Show. Later, Travis receives a phone call from Jack Graystone in which Jack declares that he is in grave ... and the phone goes dead. When his truck won't start, Travis walks over to the Magician's Attic. There Jack tells him that a darkness is coming and that he is being hunted. Jack plans to leave town but, as Travis is leaving, a bright glare like a searchlight comes rushing toward them. Jack orders Travis back inside and gives him a highly decorated stiletto to carry. An electric humming comes from the other side of the front door and the door knob turns right, then left, and right again. Then the door is hit twice hard enough to shake it. Travis is paralyzed with fear, but Jack roars his name and calls him over to the cellar steps. The front door crashes open in a spray of splinters. Jack pulls Travis inside, closing and barring the door behind them, takes him over to another door, tells him it leads to a garden shed out back, and pushes him through. Jack flees through the tunnel and up the ladder just in time to see hot, bright light shining out of the building. Then there is an explosion and flames start erupting out the windows. Meanwhile, Grace Beckett is an emergency room doctor at Denver Memorial Hospital. It's been a long day already and then an ambulance brings in a man with two bullets in him and a big, dense object directly in front of his heart. They lose his pulse and defib fails, so Grace opens his chest to massage his heart, but he has only a fist-shaped lump of metal where his heart should of been. Then he dies. The body is taken to the morgue, but later returns to the emergency room under his own power. The walking corpse kills or maims anyone who gets in his way, including a policemen who is thrown, hard, against the wall. A little old lady is stuck in her wheelchair as the corpse nears the outside doors and Grace knows that it will kill her. She pulls the pistol from the cop's body and fires three shots into it, pulping the brain. The man with the iron heart topples to the floor. This novel is about another reality on the other side of the boundary. Eldh is a world where magic works and advanced technology is either forgotten or never learned. There a monstrous evil is close to breaking the Last Rune and ending the world as we know it. All that is missing is the Runebreaker. The author combines a number of familiar concepts into an unusual tale of sword and sorcery: alternate worlds, powerful runes, magic stones, enchanted weapons, gods and goddesses, long lost noble heirs, secret societies, angels and demons, and friendly emperors. It is something like a quest game -- the author has previously written in that field -- where the immediate objective is to find a clue to the next phase, but so much happens that one loses track of the final goal. The characters also find out things about themselves and discover some new talents and powers, as well as finding clues and objects that facilitate the quest. A goodly number of reviewers think that the author is too derivative and most mention Tolkien, Donaldson or Jordan. I remember when Tolkien finally published The Fellowship of the Ring twenty years after The Hobbit. Maybe most readers don't know or care, but Tolkien deliberately set out to write an epic tale using the ancient myths of the British Isles. None of the elements or characters were without precursors in legends and folktales. It was the British equivalent of Virgil's Aeneid, a copy of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Nonetheless, this derivative work became famous itself, much like the Aeneid and another British mythical patische, L'Morte d'Arthur. It's not what you got that counts, but what you do with it. Highly recommended to Anthony fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of adventure and discovery.
Rating:
Summary: ... It's What You Do With It
Review: Beyond the Pale is the first novel in the Last Rune series. Castle City, Colorado, is an old mining town that has not changed much since the mines petered out a hundred years before. The Mine Shaft Saloon, owned by Travis Wilder, is one of the century-old establishments, although now serving a much tamer type of clientele: the local book club instead of a bunch of drunk, lustful miners. Lost tourists will sometimes find their way to the Saloon, but not very many. In this novel, Travis notices that strange events are happening around him: the very realistic-looking billboard, the chime of bells, the laughing shadow within the ruins of the old orphanage, and the man in black in front of the ruins. There is also the big circus tent in a field next to the road for Brother Cy's Apocalyptic Traveling Salvation Show. Later, Travis receives a phone call from Jack Graystone in which Jack declares that he is in grave ... and the phone goes dead. When his truck won't start, Travis walks over to the Magician's Attic. There Jack tells him that a darkness is coming and that he is being hunted. Jack plans to leave town but, as Travis is leaving, a bright glare like a searchlight comes rushing toward them. Jack orders Travis back inside and gives him a highly decorated stiletto to carry. An electric humming comes from the other side of the front door and the door knob turns right, then left, and right again. Then the door is hit twice hard enough to shake it. Travis is paralyzed with fear, but Jack roars his name and calls him over to the cellar steps. The front door crashes open in a spray of splinters. Jack pulls Travis inside, closing and barring the door behind them, takes him over to another door, tells him it leads to a garden shed out back, and pushes him through. Jack flees through the tunnel and up the ladder just in time to see hot, bright light shining out of the building. Then there is an explosion and flames start erupting out the windows. Meanwhile, Grace Beckett is an emergency room doctor at Denver Memorial Hospital. It's been a long day already and then an ambulance brings in a man with two bullets in him and a big, dense object directly in front of his heart. They lose his pulse and defib fails, so Grace opens his chest to massage his heart, but he has only a fist-shaped lump of metal where his heart should of been. Then he dies. The body is taken to the morgue, but later returns to the emergency room under his own power. The walking corpse kills or maims anyone who gets in his way, including a policemen who is thrown, hard, against the wall. A little old lady is stuck in her wheelchair as the corpse nears the outside doors and Grace knows that it will kill her. She pulls the pistol from the cop's body and fires three shots into it, pulping the brain. The man with the iron heart topples to the floor. This novel is about another reality on the other side of the boundary. Eldh is a world where magic works and advanced technology is either forgotten or never learned. There a monstrous evil is close to breaking the Last Rune and ending the world as we know it. All that is missing is the Runebreaker. The author combines a number of familiar concepts into an unusual tale of sword and sorcery: alternate worlds, powerful runes, magic stones, enchanted weapons, gods and goddesses, long lost noble heirs, secret societies, angels and demons, and friendly emperors. It is something like a quest game -- the author has previously written in that field -- where the immediate objective is to find a clue to the next phase, but so much happens that one loses track of the final goal. The characters also find out things about themselves and discover some new talents and powers, as well as finding clues and objects that facilitate the quest. A goodly number of reviewers think that the author is too derivative and most mention Tolkien, Donaldson or Jordan. I remember when Tolkien finally published The Fellowship of the Ring twenty years after The Hobbit. Maybe most readers don't know or care, but Tolkien deliberately set out to write an epic tale using the ancient myths of the British Isles. None of the elements or characters were without precursors in legends and folktales. It was the British equivalent of Virgil's Aeneid, a copy of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Nonetheless, this derivative work became famous itself, much like the Aeneid and another British mythical patische, L'Morte d'Arthur. It's not what you got that counts, but what you do with it. Highly recommended to Anthony fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of adventure and discovery.
Rating:
Summary: Competent and entertaining, but (mostly) nothing new.
Review: Beyond the Pale was entertaining enough. And competently and grippingly written. I stayed up to finish it. Great summer beach time reading. But, its largely nothing new. Mark Anthony still seems to be finding his own voice and the novel works best when he lets it speak. It is most weak when he is imitating other writers (Tolkein and Eddings come most strongly to mind) The characterisation is weakly written. The "tragic flaws" of the two protagonists are not adequately foreshadowed, shown or explained before the climax, so their successful overcoming of these flaws is not really convincing. Unfortunately, he writes the climax as turning on this very struggle, and (insofar as he foreshadows it at the very beginning) it seems to be a critical theme in his novel. So, that it did not come across as convincing was to my mind pretty damning. The other minor characters are very much stock stereotypes (in particular Melia, Durgas and Falken), derivative of Eddings' work. Fresh and original when Eddings did it, but a little trite now (although Anthony does it better most others). The milleu is largely derivative of Tolkein (but then most are). It's most interesting aspect is how Anthony reminds us of just how harsh, brutal, uncomfortable and elistist life was under a feudal system, which is not something I've seen in any other fantasy work. Unfortunately, he doesn't work the historical realism enough to give it a real edge.
Rating:
Summary: For those just starting out.
Review: for all of those people who never had time to get into the sword of shannara or wheel of time or some other book series that every one else has read twice and reviewed three more times, Mark Anthony's series are perfect to start out with. small enough so you can read it on the go, yet involving enough that you can't wait to turn the next page. and for anyone who has been ignored can feel travis' pain throughout the early parts of the book. he makes the perfect hero. plus lots of very colorful charcters that you usually only read about in comic books. an excellent choice for just getting started.
Rating: 
Summary: plodding
Review: Halfway through Beyond the Pale, I found the narrative droning and the pace absolutely plodding. I couldn't digest the rest of it and found myself irritated with the two central characters, Travis and Grace. The plot is pretty lame, too. If you're looking for debut fantasy authors, there are definitely more competent, imaginative ones. Try The Jackal of Nar by John Marco. Or The Chosen by Ricardo Pinto. The pace won't frustrate you as much as this one.
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