Rating: 
Summary: ONE OF THE GREATEST FANTASY SERIES OF ALL TIME
Review: It is great to finally read a fantasy novel that is "original". The Lord of the Isles grasps your complete attention in the first paragraph instead of taking you halfway into the novel before even slightly directing any attention to the point of the plot. I am personally writing a fantasy series entitled The Milliennial Bloodshed Wars: The Dawning Civilization. In this novel I use Drake's idea in writing an interesting series. I love Robert Jordan but his novels are too long and I hate to read a thousand page book. And the glossary needs to be improved. I don't know which word to look up sometimes. Terry Goodkind needs to stop repeating the same story he started out with and actually do something with it. One thing thats for sure about this series is that Drake makes his world its own reality and sets a perfect pace to it.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE GREATEST FANTASY SERIES OF ALL TIME
Review: It is great to finally read a fantasy novel that is "original". The Lord of the Isles grasps your complete attention in the first paragraph instead of taking you halfway into the novel before even slightly directing any attention to the point of the plot. I am personally writing a fantasy series entitled The Milliennial Bloodshed Wars: The Dawning Civilization. In this novel I use Drake's idea in writing an interesting series. I love Robert Jordan but his novels are too long and I hate to read a thousand page book. And the glossary needs to be improved. I don't know which word to look up sometimes. Terry Goodkind needs to stop repeating the same story he started out with and actually do something with it. One thing thats for sure about this series is that Drake makes his world its own reality and sets a perfect pace to it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story, but bad characterization
Review: Maybe I've just been spoiled, but I get caught up in Drake's almost Robert Jordanesque plots, and I just start to expect things to go they way they do in the Wheel of Time, and so as soon as Drake starts to describe one of the characters I'm dissapointed. The characters seem to have no emotions whatsoever, one would think Garric would be frightened or anxious about becoming king, but he displays nothing, and does he never DISAGREE with King Carus in his head? One of my favorite characters is killed abrubtly in the end, and there is almost no mention of sprites in this book. Cashel constantly proves that he is indeed stupid as Zahag says, and Liane's knife has more character than Liane does. We hear a billion times about how sharp it is, never once hears what color hair or eyes she has (I've forgotten from the first book), and she seems to have no REASON to want to follow Garric & Co. around, she's just.. there.
Don't get me wrong, I want to be able to like this book, and I do enjoy the read, but it's still not as good as I wish it was.
Rating:
Summary: If you liked the first, you'll like this one.
Review: Queen of Demons is a big pot full of ups and downs, very high points and points with no point.In this second book in the epic saga of The Lord of the Isles, David Drake maintains the high quality of writing displayed in the first book. The characters and action sequences are all well thought out, and I was as impressed in this book as in the previous one at the author's grasp of whatever he happens to be writing about. The characters, too, are all unique and interesting, most especially the siblings Cashel and Ilna. They are all well fleshed out and well rounded. Unfortunately, the author usually picks one point about a character and just sticks with it through the whole book. We don't need to be reminded every 5 pages that Ilna wants to redeem herself and that she doesn't lie, or that Cashel takes things at his own pace and believes in doing things right. There was more variation in enemies and monsters in this book than the last one, although there was a lesser quantity of them. The scope of the magic and the consequences of the characters' actions are much larger here though. In this book, the author is definitely aiming more for the "epic" feel which he skimped on in the first volume. In terms of structure, this book is almost too much like the first. The four main characters set out, get separated immediately, have their own adventure and meet their own friends, and then coincidentally (or not) all arrive at the same place and time to overcome the great evil of the story. This presents some of the best and worst points of the series. It is good in that each volume is complete, has a definite story and closure so that you don't feel that you need to drudge through each of the previous volumes each time the next one comes out. Unfortunately, this is also a bit of a downside as this doesn't feel as much like an epic saga as a bunch of small, seldom related adventures. In terms of plot, well, that is where this book skimped the most. Until halfway through the book, it didn't have one. Finally you learn what every character is trying to accomplish, but for the first half of the book it's very unclear. Sharina and Garric set out with specific goals in mind, and Ilna's story follows a pretty logical course, but Cashel's adventure, until 2/3 of the way through the book, are irrelevant, illogical, and unexplained. And he really needs Mellie back. One of Drake's greatest strengths in this book is the secondary characters. All are strong, likeable, and unique. Unfortunately, he seems to be one of those authors who feels it necessary to get rid of them all at the end of every book, just leaving the core group of characters to get on with their adventures in the next one. One last comment before I conclude -- I noticed in this book a lot of similarities, in creatures and plot devices, to work done by Robert E. Howard in his Conan and Kull stories. Also, one scene near the end sounded a lot like a certain moment in the movie Willow. Overall, this book was an enjoyable, fast paced set of adventures for each character. Not quite picaresque, but close. The characters were a joy to read, the writing was strong and clear. Unfortunately, the plot was lacking and much of the action was irrelevant. If you enjoyed Lord of the Isles, you'll enjoy this, but it's not great. I liked it enough that I'll probably pick up #3 in paperback.
Rating:
Summary: A good addition to the series.
Review: Quite a good read. Drake keeps the intest level high with more almost meetings between the struggling characters. Cashel gains a new companion. Garric begins to lead. (I'm not going to give away more than that) The story builds up to a final double confrantation that proves worth it. The hook for the next book is obvious, however I'm not an author so I can't complain.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but no feeling
Review: So many words, so little feeling. There are plenty of harrowing battles and many (definitely too many) changes in scenery; but it feels like so much hot air because the characters are flat, dull, and cliched. I couldn't put the first book down, however, I can't seem to finish "Queen of Demons." Skip this book, and try Ursula Le Guin's "Earth Sea" series if you want exciting plots AND characters you care about.
Rating: 
Summary: How does humanity continue on in the isles?
Review: This book does ramble, but listening to it on cassette is still quite enjoyable. But after going through both books now, I just have to wonder how people in this world reproduce, when no one seems to have the SLIGHTEST interest in sex. If you love lusty sex scenes, think twice before starting these books. They have wonderful characters, who are just like friends when you're done. But, looks like they are all going to be "just friends" with each other too. This makes things just a bit unbelievable, but the books are still fun. I have really enjoyed the magic and wizardry, as much or more than Terry Goodkind, which is high praise from me.
Rating: 
Summary: It had no plot
Review: This book i had trouble keeping intrest in it had no plot and was very misleading.It was one of the worst books I have ever read! As you a consujmer you should think very hard about this book before you buy.
Rating:
Summary: Might do well as a video game....
Review: This book is horrible. I'll never know how it ends, since I won't be making it past this book. The first of the series was good, as most first books of a series are. But, in the 2nd book, I expected at least a little more character development, and not the same thing over and over. I still don't know what the overall story is. Each book is just a collection of sub-stories, with very little tying them together. They don't even have anything to do with the overall story line. Makes you think of sub-quests in a video game. The only way this series can be salvaged is if it is released as a video game. But then again, most of those have better story lines.... If you are a fan of Jordan, Martin, Goodkind, (you know, a real story with "Living" characters) do NOT read this book. Play Final Fantasy or something.
Rating:
Summary: Might do well as a video game....
Review: This is a very wonderful piece of fantasy fiction. Everything about it, from the magic to the design of the world. I love the coverage of magic that Drake has put into this novel. The characters are like life and everything makes sense. And I must add that my favorite character was prehaps Zahag, the talking ape. This is truly epic fantasy to its best, and most brilliant. David Drake is a master of the art!
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