Rating: 
Summary: Glenraven II
Review: This book was fairly good. The action was appealing and the characters were pretty well-developed. But I have to say that if you hadn't read "Glenraven" first you would have been lost. This book deals with two seperate worlds: the one we're used to, and Glenraven. Glenraven is a little province in Italy that hasn't advanced along with the rest of the world- in fact, Glenraven appears to have hidden in a fold of time. Somehow creatures from Glenraven escape into the real world. They wreak havoc upon the already upside down world of Kate Beacham, an alleged witch. And everything turns into a whirlwind from there. The plot is pretty well-laid, and there are some intriguing tensions between characters that enhance the quality of the book. You want to keep reading to find out what happens next.The only majorly disappointing thing I found in this book was the fact that MZB didn't really bring in characters from "Glenraven." She had developed some really strong personalities in JayJay and Matthiall. MZB only mentioned those two about two times, maybe three, in "In the Rift." If you read "In the Rift" before "Glenraven" you should take the time to read "Glenraven." It'll clear up a lot of misconceptions you might have. Sorry if I was confusing to you. "In the Rift" is a very good book. I just think maybe MZB should have tied in the characters more.
Rating:
Summary: Glenraven II
Review: This book was fairly good. The action was appealing and the characters were pretty well-developed. But I have to say that if you hadn't read "Glenraven" first you would have been lost. This book deals with two seperate worlds: the one we're used to, and Glenraven. Glenraven is a little province in Italy that hasn't advanced along with the rest of the world- in fact, Glenraven appears to have hidden in a fold of time. Somehow creatures from Glenraven escape into the real world. They wreak havoc upon the already upside down world of Kate Beacham, an alleged witch. And everything turns into a whirlwind from there. The plot is pretty well-laid, and there are some intriguing tensions between characters that enhance the quality of the book. You want to keep reading to find out what happens next. The only majorly disappointing thing I found in this book was the fact that MZB didn't really bring in characters from "Glenraven." She had developed some really strong personalities in JayJay and Matthiall. MZB only mentioned those two about two times, maybe three, in "In the Rift." If you read "In the Rift" before "Glenraven" you should take the time to read "Glenraven." It'll clear up a lot of misconceptions you might have. Sorry if I was confusing to you. "In the Rift" is a very good book. I just think maybe MZB should have tied in the characters more.
Rating: 
Summary: decent but not spectacular
Review: This isn't up to MZB's usual level of writing, but it's decent for a quick read (it was an airplane flight read for me). It suffers from being a bit preachy at times, from the 'good guys' being overly trusting and unable to look about critically, and from being somewhat unoriginal (too many 'alternate earth' books out there these days). On the positive side, the story moves along smoothly and the imagery and types of magic used/described are fairly original. -omar
Rating:
Summary: decent but not spectacular
Review: This isn't up to MZB's usual level of writing, but it's decent for a quick read (it was an airplane flight read for me). It suffers from being a bit preachy at times, from the 'good guys' being overly trusting and unable to look about critically, and from being somewhat unoriginal (too many 'alternate earth' books out there these days). On the positive side, the story moves along smoothly and the imagery and types of magic used/described are fairly original. -omar
| 
