Rating: 
Summary: Incredible
Review: This was just one of those books that you can't put down. I'd stay up till one in the mornig just reading, when I had school the next day. I finished this book in five days, were as it usualy takes me a month to read a book that size. I can't wait until In Fire Forgged.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Usually when I see a book that a lot of people like, I hestitate to buy it- on the reason that most best sellers are predictable stuff concocted to keep your average brainless reader interested. This one was fantastic. I can say that with my hand on my heart, swearing to god. The characters were intersting, and well-rounded. They act like real people. These aren't some nice bodies concocted to serve a goal that everyone believes in though they don't know why. They all have their own reasons for everything. This book's romance isn't the soggy stuff of the Last Dragon Lord. People don't love each other with all their hearts because they're of the same blood. They don't exactly love with all their hearts, anyway. Everything about this book is realistic. This isn't a light read,but after you read it you'll be satisfied. The theme is cliched, but the plot is not. Suspense will grab you and keep you on the edge of your seat.
Rating: 
Summary: Is it possible to give no stars?
Review: What an awful book. It's trite and a rehash of every other fantasy book out there. There is nothing to make you want to keep reading. Even the names seem unpronouncable. How does one say Elelar? The one good recommendation I can give it is that it is a great cure for insomnia.
Rating:
Summary: Rich and complex world building
Review: When he fled Sileria nine years before, Tansen had been a young man. Now he is a trained warrior. But he lacks a cause, something worth fighting for. Only when he finds the rebel Josarian does he see a chance to achieve his destiny. Josarian has a cause--freedom for Sileria after a thousand years of occupation. It's a goal that Tansen couldn't even have conceived on his own, but once he's been shown the goal, he is an expert on following through. As long as Josarian keeps the faith and doesn't do anything stupid like throwing himself into a volcano to prove that he is, in fact, the prophesied warrior. Author Laura Resnick builds a wonderful, complex, and sophisticated world of magic, culture, and betrayal. Water Lords rule through fear and assassination as well as powerful magic. Guardians preserve fire magics despite centuries of oppression. A pre-human race huddles in the sewers and caves beneath the capitol city, fearful that whatever humans win, they will lose. Feuds tear at this ancient island, keeping the people from uniting against their oppressive occupiers. Even within the rebellion, factions squabble over goals, methods, and the ultimate winner. Tansen is a fine character, tormented by the decisions that led him to fear Sileria in the first place (betraying an earlier rebellion and murdering the man who had become his father). The Elelar, who would do anything to free her people, is another carefully crafted and three-dimensional figure. But it's the world-building rather than the characters that make IN LEGEND BORN most interesting. Readers who enjoy complex magic systems, sophisticated societies, and complex moral issues will find a lot to enjoy in this novel.
Rating:
Summary: One of the better books in my favorite genre
Review: When I picked up this book, I was in the middle of a month-long training rotation (I'm in the Army), and I just needed something to read. Little did I know what I was getting into!
This book engulfed me from the start. I found myself alternately yelling at the characters, "Don't do that, you'll regret it, its wrong!", exhorting them, "That's it, thats what you need to do!", or simply cheering with them through their triumphs.
It is not just her excellent portrayal of all her main characters that grabs me about this book. Nor is it only her obvious thoroughness in creating a world with a complexity rivalling that of Tolkien or Asimov. Nor is it the fact that the book successfully and skillfully took me through, not one, but two gripping climaxes. No, on their own, these elements would not catch me up. I have been reading all my life, especially in the fantasy genre, and frankly, I just don't get into books the way I used to. What grabbed me and literally pulled me into her world was the fact that Laura Resnick quite literally took all the basic elements of a great fantasy series and wove them into HER FIRST BOOK! Everything that a discriminating reader of fantasy could possibly want is contained in this book--action scenes galore, high magic, a well-thought world, incredibly adept political intrigue, and a good smattering of nitty-gritty details--high fantasy in all its glory.
As well, her perspective on both her heroes and her villains is completely in keeping with my own ideas--the heroes always strive to do what is right, while the villains always do their utmost to stamp out the heroes and continue their own despotic reign. Even the characters painted in shades of grey--allied with good, but using questionable and downright wrong methods to gain their idea of "the best thing", are portrayed perfectly.
I finished this book in less then a full day's time (I usually read these books slower, simply because I can't get into them), and found myself waiting for the sequel promised at the end with baited breath. Kudoes to Laura Resnick and here's to her sequel!
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