Walls of Air

Rating:
Summary: A good series, but not the best book in it
Review: "The Walls of Air" is the sequel to Hambly's "The Time of the Dark". Although the characters are just as interesting to watch as in the previous book, the events move along much more slowly. I'd say that this book suffers from middle-book-itis, as it mostly spends time setting things up for the third book, "The Armies of Daylight".

I think that the SF Book Club published this trilogy in one volume many years ago; if you are new to the Darwath books, try getting that one volume instead of buying this reprint edition.

This is one of my favorite series by one of my favorite authors. If you have a low tolerence for journeys mental and spiritual, you'll find this book pretty sleep-inducing.

I actually liked it, but I like to watch Ingold work, and I find Gil's learning process and scholarly work facinating. There's lots of both in this book, unlike the more exciting first and last books.

Rating:
Summary: A good series, but not the best book in it
Review: "The Walls of Air" is the sequel to Hambly's "The Time of the Dark". Although the characters are just as interesting to watch as in the previous book, the events move along much more slowly. I'd say that this book suffers from middle-book-itis, as it mostly spends time setting things up for the third book, "The Armies of Daylight".

I think that the SF Book Club published this trilogy in one volume many years ago; if you are new to the Darwath books, try getting that one volume instead of buying this reprint edition.

This is one of my favorite series by one of my favorite authors. If you have a low tolerence for journeys mental and spiritual, you'll find this book pretty sleep-inducing.

I actually liked it, but I like to watch Ingold work, and I find Gil's learning process and scholarly work facinating. There's lots of both in this book, unlike the more exciting first and last books.

Rating:
Summary: A good series, but not the best book in it
Review: "The Walls of Air" is the sequel to Hambly's "The Time of the Dark". Although the characters are just as interesting to watch as in the previous book, the events move along much more slowly. I'd say that this book suffers from middle-book-itis, as it mostly spends time setting things up for the third book, "The Armies of Daylight".

I think that the SF Book Club published this trilogy in one volume many years ago; if you are new to the Darwath books, try getting that one volume instead of buying this reprint edition.

This is one of my favorite series by one of my favorite authors. If you have a low tolerence for journeys mental and spiritual, you'll find this book pretty sleep-inducing.

I actually liked it, but I like to watch Ingold work, and I find Gil's learning process and scholarly work facinating. There's lots of both in this book, unlike the more exciting first and last books.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent follow-up to The time of the Dark
Review: This book got to me more that the first one. All the characters have been introduced in The time of the Dark. What lacks in action in this story, drama more than makes up for it.
The two reluctant heroes are separated in this second chapter of the trilogy. Rudy, with Ingold, has to travel to the Quo, the city of wizards in order to find counsel. Wait until you see what he finds instead! Meanwhile, Gil stays at the Keep of Dare and explores the secrets and mazes of that ancient structure millenias old.
As seen before, there is constant bickering between the factions stationned at the Keep and most of the times, we can see a similitude with how people act here in 2004. It doesn't matter where we are, humans will still be humans, with their weeknesses and strenghts.
I can't wait to start The armies of Daylight. What is the secret of the Dark? What ancient technology will Gil and Rudy uncover?

Rating:
Summary: Riddles and secrets...
Review: This second book of the original trilogy really gets things moving in this world; the crisis of the Dark is fully upon the harried survivors. Only a hanfull of them have a possibility of coping with the situation... not Saving the Day, mind you; just coping. And they don't all play together nicely.

This book is about tangled messes and Gordian knots.
There are problems of politics, civic order, communication, isolation, betrayal, the mystery of the past, the terror of the present, the uncertainty of the future, and of course, the alienness of the Dark. The principal characters struggle to gain vital knowledge and help, while having to circumvent those in power (who have taken more immediate tactical solutions). In some ways, this is your classic Crisis Story situation. But it's all the details and discoveries specific to this world that make this one fascinating.

During the tale, several unsettling suspicions and implications draw together and begin to form a horrifying net of facts; things are even more bleak than we thought! Sure, not ALL of humanity will be killed, but the survivors (and their possible descendants) are gonna have a nasty time just staying alive in the crowded safety of the Keep, since nobody knows how people managed it last time this happened!

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites!
Review: This whole series is delightful and if Ms. Hambly writes as many of these as Anne McCaffrey's Pern and Andre Norton's Witch World, I wouldn't complain. An excellent sequel.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites!
Review: This whole series is delightful and if Ms. Hambly writes as many of these as Anne McCaffrey's Pern and Andre Norton's Witch World, I wouldn't complain. An excellent sequel.