Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: The plot is cliched: young man who has tremendous magical potential must save the world from evil. That in and of itself isn't so bad because it has been used so successfully in the past. The evil itself is intriguing: women. That is about as good as this book gets.
I don't mind the main character being 30 and acting 15 - so he isn't likable and is an immature idiot. I loved Donaldson's Covenant books, but Thomas Covenant is not very likable. I liked the idea of a group of women as evil, since most often epic fantasies play on men as being evil. Also, it was almost the polar opposite of Jordan's books in that it is women in this world who are outlawed from performing magic.
The beginning was so ridiculous. I just couldn't get past these do-gooder wizards who after a few decades of civil war in which their ranks are decimated, the populace is starving and in chaos, they decide, "Well, our morals are that we can't kill you Sorceresses, so we'll just banish you." I know Newcomb wanted the motive of revenge as a driving force for why the sorceresses want to get back to where they once were, but this is so contrived, it's laughable. What I also didn't like was that Newcomb shows everything. He info dumps all over the place. The Prince is doing nothing and suddenly his whole history and that of his nation over the past 300 years is explained. It was like reading a textbook. The result: no pacing and no air of mystery. The characters are absolute cartoons. I imagined Dr. Evil from Austin Powers laughing wickedly for no reason at all whenever the evil Sorceresses showed up. They seem to do evil things because they're evil. They have no depth or emotions other than Kill! Rape! Murder! I wonder, after 300 years of maiming and torture, don't you think you'd get bored and want to move on to something else? Not our Sorceresses, they do bad things because that's what bad people do. The hordes in their army are similar: they were created and judging by the general in charge, are intelligent, and yet, again, these creatures don't ever question their motives or ugly actions. They just do wicked things without even the slightest hint of remorse.
So, if you want a book with a cartoonish, wooden cast of characters, the feel of a history textbook, and a certain amount of misogynism, this is the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Not just boring -- offensive, too!
Review: I've been an avid reader for 35 years -- ever since I deciphered "Run, Spot, Run!" for the first time. The number of books I have started and not finished in all that time can be counted on the fingers of one hand. _The Fifth Sorceress_ made that short list faster than any other book -- within the first 75 pages. The over-prolonged descriptions of this unoriginal fantasy land and its vapid characters paled before the end of the first chapter. There was nothing in it to catch my interest or my attention, nothing that made any of the characters special other than the extreme annoyance I felt towards all of them. The reluctant-yet-amazingly-magically-talented monarch was unbelievable as a man of thirty rather than a boy of 14; the beautiful blonde princess was insipid, and Wizard Wigg's patronising attitude towards the pregnant Shailiha revolted me. But perhaps the worst thing was the blatant "Man-wise-good, woman-ignorant-evil" attitude upon which the whole work seems to be based. I've read about a lot of Dark Lords and Necromancers in my time, and a lot of Wicked Witches and Evil Stepmothers, but I have never seen a book that so linked evil and depraved behavior to gender so blatantly without giving any good explanation for it. I tried really hard to keep reading in the hopes that some deeper meaning or layer of plot would be revealed, but I just couldn't do it._The Fifth Sorceress_ made me wonder how on earth it attracted the attention of any agent or editor long enough for it to get a hand up out of the slush pile. Trying to read it literally made me sick at my stomach. Watching T.V. is a better use of your time than trying to read this.
Rating:
Summary: What a mess
Review: Had I read this book 5 or 6 years ago undoubtedly I would have scored it much higher (2 stars instead of 1). But as it stands this book the "Fantasy Epic of the Year" as the cover proclaims, is just another lack luster fantasy that is trying to follow in the somewhat dull footsteps of Terry Goodkind. I think I am spoiled, look there is Jordan who was spot on his game until el stinkero #7 in the Wheel of Time. We have George Martin who weaves the most compelling tale of Medieval lifestyle yet. Then there is the man, (if you can find his books) Steven Erikson who makes Newcomb's book like a children's primer for Harry Potter plus a lot of gratuitous violence. Save your money and spend it on something like Gardens of the Moon, which you will likely have to import as American Publishers have stated it "Too complicated for our Audience". The Fifth Sorceress is instead what they offer us dumb American's.
Rating:
Summary: An insult to fantasy readers
Review: This book was one of the worst experiance in reading that I have undergone in a long time. The writer seems to think that we will forget everything from page to page. The main charcter doesn't want to be king, women can't practice the craft and so on. He reminds us of all these facts agian and again and again and again, and then every so often he remembers that he is telling a story and puts a little of that in there. Several of the action scenes felt forced and unneeded. I found that having 'The Epic Fantasy of the Year' on the cover just added to how annoyed I was with this book. The book might have been better if it focused on the story and was about a third the size, so that we didn't have all the wasted reminders of what we already know. And please just one character that makes me want to read on, that would have been nice. Enough of this evil people are evil and do all kinds of really evil things because they are evil and good people are good so they do good things because they are good. Give me some depth.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry Rob, better luck next time
Review: I also looked forward to this book and ordered it in advance. I agree that the publishers made a mistake with their hype. It probably did more harm than good. I am amazed at the way publishing works! There are so many talented authors who never get published and then there are those who write something like this and get published.
Rating: 
Summary: The Fifth Sorceress
Review: I have not enjoyed a book this much in a long time. Such imagination! This is the type of book you do not want to put down. If only my body did not require sleep, I could have read this book in one sitting. I loved the plot, the action, the wizards and the evil sorceress. The characters were great. I can not wait until the next book is published.
Rating:
Summary: I hate when you do that. . . .
Review: Nice cover, nice premise, but. . .
All the hype in the world doesn't change the fact that the story is shallow, the characters flat and undeveloped, and the moral stance ify to say the least. Other than that it's great. To compare this [stuff] to any other readable fantasy would be unkind to them. I did not finish it and would love to have been able to return it. A while back this would have been the "b" side to an Ace double. Are we really that hard up for new good fantasy talent??
Rating:
Summary: 300 years ago - OK, I got it
Review: This book represents what happens when an editor fails to edit. Make a game out of it - How many times do we mention how long it has been since ______ (anything here will do, the answer is 300 years) If you do read this book, expect a strong beginning, a weak middle, and no end. Once you are finished, ask yourself - what riddle at the bridge? The hero did not solve a riddle, he just jumped out and tried to kill the guard. I would give two stars, but the publishers keep comparing this to Goodkind and as a fan of his work, this book offends me just enough to remove a star.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Read
Review: I was pretty reluctant to start reading this book. Actually the only reason I did was because I was guaranteed a different book after I read it. Let me say that I was glad I did read it. I found that once I started reading it, I could not put it down. It was a great story and I can't wait for the next book in the series.
Rating:
Summary: A poor effort... nothing to write home about
Review: The jacket of The Fifth Sorceress proudly proclaims Sorceress as "The Epic Fantasy oF The Year." Who is Ballantine Books kidding? If that claim proves to be true, then 2002 will be a VERY dismal year for books, indeed. Newcomb does deserve much credit for developing an interesting world with, thankfully, no elves or orcs or other type beings that seem to have also found homes in the books of so many other fantasy genre authors. However, Newcomb fails to capitalize on the attractiveness of his new world. While there are many, many interesting scenes that are vividly portrayed, the book as a whole tends to collapse in on itself due to the fact that so many scenes are so sparsely transitioned. It is almost as if Newcomb crammed an 800 page book into 591 pages. There really is something to be said for good periods of transition between key story elements as a way to build interest in the plot. But this did not happen. The result is a book of well written, but too numerous scenes, that struck me as way too compressed. For example, arguably the most critical parts of the book are compressed into the last 70 pages, with the single most pivotal scene being written in only a very few pages. As a result, The Fifth Sorceress is pretty mediocre, where it had so much promise. One last note. Newcomb chose to print the thoughts of his characters in italicized text to set them apart from normal character dialogue. This sounds like a good idea on paper. However in practice, it only lended an element of silliness to the book. Especially since the majority of the thoughts belonging to the key character can be summed up in "I am going to kill (somebody)". There were way too many thoughts put in italicized text throughout the book. Perhaps Newcomb, as a new writer, is not experienced enough to know how to pace action in a book. Newcomb is definitely not Goodkind. That particular comparison is ridiculous. However, he might deserve a second look in his next book...if there is a next book. I can only assume the Ballantine is desperate for a top tier fantasy author, hence its outlandish claim that Sorceress is "The Epic Fantasy Of The Year".
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