Rating: 
Summary: ...
Review: One Newcomb needs to get himslef a woman or something, because one it seemed that he shied away from the loving aspect and focased so much on the rape aspect that it seems he has some issues with the whole thing. Two i hate the male chovinisum that he protrays by making all the men good and women bad. Sexist anyone. LOL bad writing, he should have had some evil wizards and good sorceresses. But now the way he is writing this it makes futur books even worse. I bet that most people who read this will agree when i say that almost all the characters were kinda tossed in there. It was like he never even bothered to get us set up for a good story, he just jumped in a aruined it. ... i thought it was a good book accourding to the reviews. But i wasted my money the day i bought it. Im never going to by another book by him.
Rating:
Summary: The Fifth Sorceress
Review: Wow! This book in some ways is a very rare find. I'm 40 years old and having read The Lord of the Rings at the tender age of 8, I've been a voraciuos reader ever since. Devouring anything and everything in the SF/Fantasy section of the book store. And on the occasional time that nothing there caught my eye, I would turn to the Spy, Suspense and Thriller shelves. Throw in a few non-fictionals; Churchill, Lincoln and other great works - All add up to a pretty good smattering of books, somewhere in the 1,000 range give or take a few.Now, it took me about a week to read this book, many chapters and sections I read more than once. You see, I had to be sure that what I had found was indeed what I thought I had found...
So, I joyfully presented my new discovery to my book club: The worst Fantasy book ever written! There are 31 members in this 16 year old club and the club has long regarded Eddings as the worst of the modern day Fantasy authors, with the likes of Jordan(I get paid by the word), Brooks(just change the characters names and give it a new title - the public will buy it) and due to his last few novels, McKiernan(man stinks) filling out the top 4. All these authors do have some redeeming qualities in their novels, this novel has none. This book, The Fifth Sorceress, is the 'Ishtar', the 'Heaven's Gate', the 'Fire Walk With Me', the 'Plan Nine' of the Fantasy genre. The book has few characters and their development is nonexistent. The plot developement is completely linear. It's like listening to my 3 year old say; "and then and then and then and then...". Newcomb describes some of his action sequences like he was giving stage directions. Who knows, maybe DelRey has already inked the movie deal... If you like reading a novel that develops like a train wreck, read this, but for goodness sake, get it at the library or wait for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: A Simple Minded Plot
Review: I read a few editorial reviews and thought I had made a good choice. Wrong answer. This book was not well thought out and it did not flow well. The main character (Tristan) changed his mind and attitudes back and forth so many times that I could never really get a grasp of his personality. I feel cheated out of $27.00 and cannot understand how the professional editorials supported this book. I shall pay more attention to customer reviews from now on. This book was a dud!!
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing but not that bad
Review: After all the hype for this book i was dying to read it.it started promisingly enough...that first page was something huh?as i would later discover throughout the book, newcomb has an undeniable talent for imagery..others have commented on his vivid descriptions;in my head i could see the pool of blood, the wings of the wing-people etc.
but i knew this was never gonna be a claasic right from the unbelievably contrived get-out-of-death-free card of the sorceresses. after the death and devestation they caused the idea that they would simply be let go... i was never able to choke this down and from then the book was lessened.
to me this develpoment is far too convenient. there are many problems with it. first of all it was a war. in war people die. it seems unlikely that the wizards would ever swear this kind of oath right before the war. this would effectively mean that in every confrontaion they would have to give the advantage to the sorceresses. either wait until they were attacked or at least warn them they were about to be attacked and then the sorceresses could run away.that isn't feasible.
secondly even if they swore this ridiculous oath not to kill, they weren't the only people fighting this war. by all accounts this was a bloody and painful war and all the people suffered. if the wizards didn't want to kill them ,then fine, step aside and allow the people, who have their own rights, to demand justice . are we really supposed to believe that the wizards turned to the general population, women who had lost their husbands, children their parents,husbands their wives, and say "look sorry about the attemted genocide and everthing but the six of us are having a crisis of conscience so we're going to let them start a brand new life on the tropical islands to the west"?
the second thing that ruined this for me was the stupidity of the main hero. this kind of thick -headed unrealisitic, fists first sort of hero is incredibly annoying. the kind who does stupid things like risk the fate of the world to save the requisite beautiful damsel in distress. how stupid is that? when he has the chance in his own country he doesn't help the unattractive peasants who are being attacked and killed,people he has a responsiblity to as their monarch. but take him around the world and show him some naked beatiuful woman and its all 'we must risk our lives and everthing we've achieved so far and help that naked virgin."
why was she a virgin anyway? after telling us what a stud he is; and then we know she has her own sub-culture of wing-people whom you would assume would be even closer together than a normal group because of their persecution; and exactly since when have brutish soldiers been averse to raping beatiful prisoners scheduled to die?
when reading other reviews i was perversely pleased at the scathing attacks this book got from other readers. it helped to see my own frustration expressed so originaly :). but the sad truth is that this book isnt complete dreck.its full of original touches and a strong sense of the realism-in-fantasy that goodkind does so well. you can see where the comparison came about. its just that this particual book isnt anywhere as good.the premise and the introduction of key characters(shahilia) is too contrived and the prince is stupid.
i suspect that newcomb has a long term plan for the series and intends for the characters to evolve.so the prince has to be stupid here, and the wizard to be arrogant here and shahilia to be useless here so that they can grow into the fun characters were all going to love in the later books! maybe. but right now all these chartecter together and the plot problems mean this book is flawed, full of promise but as a complete experience a disappointment.
oh and one more thing. what on earth was that ending? it was the stupidest, most unrealistic ,most 'what?' ending i've ever seen in a book which seemed so together. the unbeleivable fact of the prince still having magic after it had been clearly established that from the first use of the paragon that kind of ability would be gone. and that rubbish about the quality of his blood. if it was a question of that then when the paragon was out of use all the magic-users would be be able to some litle thing according to the quality of their blood. if the prince could move objects a foot then they should be able to move them an inch and so on.
its just incredibly lazy of newcomb to get himself out of his own deux ex machina by using something as vague and illogical as 'blood quality'. the best magic is grounded in reality,it has its own rules which create the dilemma for the hero otherwise he could simply say "ordinarily i would have to go on this long and arduous quest to find the missing sword of truth but because of the quaity of my blood and the fact that its friday all i have to do is say 'sword' and look, here it is".
and what the hell was that with the light killing all disposable sorceresses except his sister who we need for the sequel and succui(succubus anyone?) who was able to throw herself off the top of a building and not squash the baby inside her into mush? and the incredible growing baby... as soon as one enemy dies another one appears? and...you know what, now that i think about this forget the three stars i'm taking it down to two,YOU HEAR THAT NEWCOMB,TWO, TWOOOOOOOOO......
Rating:
Summary: NOT a book to buy or waste time reading
Review: I have bought the book after reading the reviews, and I must say, I was beyond disappointment-I was insulted and disgusted with the attitude of the book. I am definitely not one for PC in books or other entertainment, I find censure and rating of movies and books silly. However, I also think that some things are just not worth the paper they are printed on, and this is one of those cases. I am unsure if it is the author himself that finds strong and intelligent women evil, and meek damsels in distress good, but it was certainly the main message in the book, reiterated (as an example of damsels) TWICE throughout the book, both times exactly the same-pretty, meek bait that the main character (a "man" with the brain of a 5 year old and glands of a 15 year old)-begins to fall in love with, but finds out of his reach because of some trick of the evil sorceresses. In addition to that, I found the unfounded (in the book) classification of women who practice magic as evil, insane, and sexually deprived, while the patriarchal wizards are good, moral and quite sane, quite offensive and sexist. It would not have bothered me, had Mr. Newcomb given the readers any explanation of why it would be so, but it just is. Furthermore, I find classification of S&M and lesbian sexual relations as examples of "depravity" of sorceresses very offensive despite the fact that I am neither lesbian nor practice S&M myself. However, these two sexual inclinations are quite valid practices for those who do, and in no way should they be painted with "depravity" and "evil" and put into context with rape and torture, the way this book does (in example of Siccui, the sorceress). Beyond the offensiveness, the book's plot is predictable, the character development is nonexistent, the princess (who is supposedly as gifted as the prince) is pathetic (because she is good, so she can't be strong, right?), and only shows any guts when she is under the influence of evil sorceresses. The author seems obsessed with all varieties of rape, and describes those in detail, leaving the rest of the details in the shadow. Two of the sorceresses are just there for window-dressing, they say a total of (maybe) 3 lines in the book, and are just there to compliment the set: cookie-cutter pretty blond and redhead who are just sort of there. Same goes for the main character's father, mother and brother-in-law (he gets a BIT more attention but not much). Other than the above examples, Mr. Newcomb suffers from repetition throughout the book. The sorceress Siccui's long legs are referred to more times than I can remember, as are several other phrases. In total, a worthless piece of graphomania. I don't know how it got published-are the publishers really that hard up for fantasy-writing talent? I find it hard to believe. I hope they start giving the readers a bit more credit for intelligence and stop publishing insulting pieces of writing like this one. And if they want an example of good, non-traditional fantasy-writing, then there is Ursula Le Guin (The Earthsea cycle) and C. J. Cherryh (The Dreaming Tree), and if more violent and/or erotic writing is called for, then Anne Bishop (Dark Jewels Trilogy) and Laurell K. Hamilton ("Kiss of Shadows", "Caress of Twilight"). Don't waste your money, and more importantly, time on this book.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this book
Review: All I can say is I am glad I borrowed this from the library. The fact that this book was released in hardcover is mind-boggling! To expect a reader to pay that kind of $$ for this garbage is really disgusting. If I could have rated this book 0 stars I would have. Cardboard characters, weak storyline, and a ...-poor world-building effort when compared with the likes of Martin, Kay, Erikson and even the vastly overrated Jordan. I cannot understand why all of the "professional" reviews are so laudatory. I can only surmise that some of them are in the pockets of publishers who need to watch their bottom lines on a big splashy hardcover release like this. You could walk up to the Fantasy section in any library or bookstore, close your eyes, spin 3 times and pick a better book than this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Two for trying
Review: ...'The Fifth Sorceress' is slow, calculated torture. ... From the outset, the author Newcomb displays a remarkable lack of familiarity with the basics of writing. Each sentence is rife with adverbs and other crutches of newbie writers who tell, not show. Points-of-view change within paragraphs. Character growth is exhibited by sudden, omnipotent summaries rather than believable action and thought on behalf of the characters themselves. And these problems only get more pronounced as the plot stumbles painfully along towards its clichéd, predictable conclusion. The main character is simply deplorable, not because he's "flawed" or "morally ambiguous," but mostly because he's downright dim-witted and painfully gullible. The standard-issue patriarchal wizard is cobbled from the more boring parts of your classic fantasy wise man character. It's easier to root for the "bad guys," or in this case evil sorceresses, because at least they exhibit some guile and humor. That said, they are belittled by their hackneyed, hopeless drive for world domination, Robert Jordan-like repetitive mannerisms, and the kind of pointless sexual ultraviolence only Thomas Harris or Brett Easton Ellis fans could love. Toss in a poorly constructed world, highly derivate and unoriginal fantasy themes (come one...gnomes?), [weak] system of magic, and boring moral overtones about selfishness and greed, and you have...an average fantasy book on your hands. ...
Rating:
Summary: Not my type of fantasy
Review: I found this book to be disturbing. I agree with one of the other reviewers that depicting women - particularly strong women - as evil is an age old custom that Newcomb merely encorporated into his book. I have nothing against "unPC" books, but I do have something against books with old fashioned, boring themes like that. Adam = good guy and Eve = bad woman. It really didn't work for me since as a guy I get a kick out of sexy strong women, and the total evilness of the women distracted me from the few good elements of the story. Anyway, I'll not be buying Newcomb's work, or any other books printed by Del Rey after this experience. I also have to agree that the publishers really could have done better.
Rating: 
Summary: The fifth Sorceress
Review: Since this was the first fantasy novel I have ever read, I was truly impressed with Newcomb's discriptions & imagination of his characters & was held spellbound as the pages kept turning, as It was hard to put the book down.
I usually get bored with very long written books,but I really enjoyed the way this man wrote to bring everything together until the end.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible....Shallow characters....cliche storyline..
Review: I really have to say this book was not well written. The author seems to be obsessed with sexual fetishes and rape...and weak "save me" type female characters who play up to "cliche" male hero lead character...No suprises in this novel...good and evil are clearly defined...no conflict (other than rape and butchery)....nothing to capture my emotions and I couldn't relate to any characters... Author needs to learn about character development and focus on a good storyline rather than cheap shock value events...stringed together to come to a cliche ending....
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