Rating: 
Summary: Touching, Funny, and Strange
Review: After reading Marco's first series, Tyrants and Kings, I was both eager and afraid to read this one. Having just finished it, I can say that I am not disappointed. Marco is true to form in his new book in every way. In fact, there are enough similarities here to keep his fans happy. If anything, I would have appreciated more differences from the first books. But once again Marco has struck gold in my opinion. This is a fabulous read, endlessly inventive and unpredictable.There's no question that the author is at the vanguard of the new crop of "gray" fantasy writers. His skills at creating complex believeable characters is amazing. One thing all marco readers know is they wont necessarily like all his chararacters, but that's what makes the books so interesting. In this book, that's just the way it is. No one is perfect, but the main characters are likeable and easy to understand. There are scenes in this book that will move you to tears, and others that will have you pulling out your hair! But if you want the knight in shining armor and damsel in distress crap, forget it. This is a book for readers who are willing to stretch their minds. If you can't do that, pass this up and head for the Dragonlance books.
Rating: 
Summary: A complex, unusual fantasy
Review: Although I am mostly a casual reader of fantasy, I found this book to be exceptional. While most fantasy is derivative, this one is unique and thought-provoking, and should be on everyone's "to read" list. This is no traditional quest novel, and there is not a great deal of magic either. Instead the reader is treated to a plot filled with twists and unpredictable characters. This book is hard to review because there is just so much that happens in it. It is difficult to even describe what it is about, aside from the obvious element of the Arthurian-like love triangle. So what's good about this book? First, it is extremely well written. Even though it's long it moves along briskly. It also holds attention by never letting the reader get to comfortable. Marco is known as one of the new wave of "gray" writers, creating characters that are neither good nor evil. In this book, the hero Lukien never seems to be sure what side he is on, either. Lukien is a magnifent, sexy anti-hero and carries the book almost entirely on his own. Fans of Romance book should definitely check this one out. So should readers or fantasy who are burned out by the same old cliches.
Rating:
Summary: A superb fantasy from an emerging master...
Review: Buy this book and read it. There, that's why you're really reading this review right? Well you probably want to know why you should read this book. There are characters that are as believable as the people you know. The world and nations are mirrors of those in our own world. And magic, what would a great fantasy novel be without a dose of magic? There's that too, don't worry. Marco has created a world of wondrous lands such as the kingdom of Liira, the distant land of Jador and the magical land of Grimhold, home to the Inhumans, a group of strange people, each with their own special knack or ability. Add to this the shining Bronze Knight Lukien, his king Akeela, the magical Eyes of God and Devil's Armor and you have all the ingredients necessary for your typical Fantasy. From the opening sentence "He was a giant," we are given a sense of epic proportion to this novel. You can't help but feel that this story will be grand and large. At the end of the almost 800 pages of this book, you will feel as if you've lived the triumphs of the Inhumans, the tragedies of Akeela and the lands of Jador and the complexities of Lukien's many choices. As big as this book is, every word, scene and word spoken by the characters is essential and necessary. The novel starts with the ending of a quest which is where many a story or novel ends. In The Eyes of God, we see what can happen AFTER the journey, when what you've quested after is achieved. To the nth degree, we see that the end of the quest is not the answer your looking for and sometimes, life doesn't exactly get easier once you get what you've been reaching for. The answers get harder to find because the questions change. The relationship between Akeela and Lukien is a strong one, whether they are on the same side or opposing sides. Raised almost as brothers, their bonds run pretty strong and when all is said and done, their friendship is perhaps the strongest and most defining aspect of this novel. You will find yourself empathizing, almost sympathizing, with even their most despicable acts. Marco sets up so many events you expect to happen, only to twist your expectations into something better. None of these characters are defined by "good" or "evil," rather by their strongest beliefs and motivations and reaching what they feel is the right thing. Marco created some of the most believable characters I can remember reading, I felt emotionally tied to all of them. There were little things that Marco sprinkled throughout the story that added, just a few words while he was putting you in the heads of various characters. There is resonance of Arthur in Akeela, Lancelot in Lukien and Guinevere in Cassandra and of course Camelot a bit in Liira. Overall, John Marco has created a rich, bountiful novel that will (excuse the pun) be a classic years down the road. I would not be surprised to see this book short-listed on more than one genre award ballot. John Marco progressively gets better with each book he writes. There are some things in The Eyes of God that will remind you of his previous work, The Tyrants and Kings Trilogy, yet there is so much new and alive in this book. This novel has all the elements of a superb novel: Excellent characters, a gripping believable story and a world that comes alive off the pages. Ultimately this novel worked because I couldn't stop turning the pages and HAD to find out what was going to happen next. I still want to find out what happens next with these characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolute medieval-fantasy rubbish
Review: Don't be fooled by the striking cover and the blurb! This book has the most predictable plot - namely, the King Arthur-love-triangle. Everything is incredulous and the author offers no details on why something happened how it happened - from Akeela's infatuation with Cassandra at first sight to Lukien leading her astray with temptations to the end. The characters are flat - we can only see one side of each main character. We first meet Akeela being the kindest king ever, then we found out he became an alcoholic after finding out Cassandra's infedelity. Cassandra and Lukien are beyond boring to read about. Their deaths are dry and the ending is unsatisfactory. The writing is childish, somewhat, and under-developed: it is a struggle not to laugh through this supposedly serious book. If you want some real tear-jerkers or simply good stories with believable characters - flawed they might be -, or just like the love-triangle romances, I suggest Nancy McKenzie's "Queen of Camelot" - a true masterpiece retelling of the legend of Camelot: or the celebrated "Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Adventure Contained in these Pages
Review: Ever since reading John Marco's first novel, I have eagerly awaited the release of each successing work. Mr. Marco's latest contribution "The Eyes of God" is his best yet. Mr. Marco has created a world full of heroes, villains, monsters and magic - each with it's own "Marcosian" twist. Take nothing for granted in this novel. Environments and times change - and with these changes come the wonderful plot twists that make Mr. Marco's books so interesting. As with his other books, the plot moves very fast - he covers a lot of ground in this novel. However, Mr. Marco also has a wonderful sense as to when it's time to slow down and use his wonderful imagery to further immerse you into his world. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Like fine wine, I consumed it slowly, savouring it, not wanting it to end. To anyone reading it's first pages, I want you to know that you are in for a wonderful adventure. Mitch Boyle
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh
Review: Eyes of God start out with Cassandra, who is happy that she is going to be queen. She is the youngest daughter of a king and wants to get out of the shadow of her older sisters and travel. She revels in the idea of being adored and being worshipped. She is young and naïve. She does not understand that being queen is more than having servants and breeding children. Cassandra does not grow in this book. She puts people at risk with her stupidity. She runs away from her husband because she does not want to "breed his children", not to save the people of Jador. She constantly sleeps with Lukien although it would mean death. It would be hard to explain to Akeela, how she became pregnant when Akeela is rarely around her. I guess the death of her servants who were blinded for her sake does not mean much. Lukien The Bronze Knight is more like a wimp. He opposes the marriage of Cassandra to Akeela because Akeela does not have much experience with women. Obviously the Bronze Knight does not remember that a pretty face does not mean intelligence with women . Lukien was raised to be the king's son protector, however he was jealous of the his friend's high birth. His love for Cassandra is not really love but lust for a woman who is unobtainable. What made me dislike Lukien was his hatred of the king when he was banished from the kingdom for adultery. He is willing to risk the destruction of his place of birth because he was shamed. I guess sleeping with the queen is not that big of a deal. He is not as smart as Marco makes him. Gilwyn is another character that makes stupid decisions. He never learns. He prances around the kingdom thinking that he can go anywhere and do anything because of a promise made by the king to his mother. Wrong. This attitude increases his stupidity and ignorance. He never thinks of the consequences of his actions and does not understand why others don't agree with him. He may feel guilty afterwards, but still makes the same mistakes. When a city is about to be attack, he does not defend it. He runs to a blind girl he just met and moons over her. It is odd because he spends most of his life dreaming of being a member of the Royal Charges, but it denied because he is crippled. Trager is not a good villain. When he is not jealous of Lukien, he whines about not being liked. If Marco developed him more as a harden warrior he could have been a great opponent. Killing him off was a mistake. Jaazana Carr is the abused girl turned warrior woman. Figgs is the local librarian who does not understand the real world. He does understand his computer???? Akeela is the man that binds them all together. As Akeela the Good, everyone loved him. He allows the other characters to do all they want while he sits around with his ideas. I feel sorry for him. I liked him better when he was Akeela the Butcher and Akeela the Mad. He decided things for himself and did not let others boss him around. Why Marco had to make him insane for people to respect him is beyond me. I brought this book because I liked the cover and I was interested in a retelling of Arthur. I received chapters of useless information, plots that did not make any sense, and people who needed to grow up.
Rating:
Summary: Do the words "SHOW, DON'T TELL" mean anything to this lurp??
Review: Fully realized character count: NONE
Irritating character count: ALL
The problem with this book--and since this is NOT Mr. Marco's first attempt, only my first encounter with this work, I have to assume he considers it a "stylistic choice"--is that it's all talk, and no action.
Oh, there are battles, and courtroom scenes, etc., etc., etc.; but 90% of this egregiously long, unutteringly boring, sorry ass excuse for a book is that Mr. Marco is always and forever TELLING you sh** that you should be seeing for yourself. It makes every single character into a shallow sorry mess.
Hell, the first half of the book is nothing more than the constant repetition of "Lukien loves Akeela like a brother". Even though all blond, bronze god hunky Lukien ever does is criticize him and have sex with his cutie-pie trophy wife. And thru the rest of the book, Lukien loves him, even though he hates him for...well, nothing new or interesting. It really doesn't matter. It's boring. So's Lukien. Really. He's like one of those Baywatch guys that looked good at the time, but really, who cares?
As for the rest:
Akeela is GOOD, despite the fact that all he does is start wars and build cripplingly expensive projects to satisfy his own inadequate ego. Oh, wait--he did give poor crippled baby Gilwyn a safe place to live in the middle of all that. HE'S GOOD, HE'S REALLY GOOD!
Trager's a bad, jealous guy because his father was mean andl liked Lukien better (not to mention everybody else.)
Cassandra just wants to be a big shot queen and loves Akeela, even though the only thing she does is lust after Lukien's bronze god-iness and have wild animal sex with him.
There's just no correlation whatsoever, on the part of ANY character, at ANY point in the book, between what these halfwit people do, and what the author keeps telling us about them.
I used to teach high-school English. This entire escapade reads like it was written by one of my more intellectually challenged 9th graders.
The only thing remotely interesting in this book is when one of the peripheral characters is out hunting a giant cobra. For that 5 pages, that one guy and his lizard are interesting.
THAT'S IT. 5 pages out of what, 1000? It's a good short story in the middle of a huge pile of vomitous pigswill.
This book is so bad, Survivor should use reading it as an immunity challenge, instead of the rotten fish in maggot sauce.
I swear to God, this book is SO BAD, I'm not even going to take it to the used bookstore to trade in for used Harlequin romances. I would feel guilty about putting someone else in harm's way, literarily speaking
And I'm putting Mr. Marco on the list I carry in my wallet of authors NEVER to buy again. You should just avoid him to start with.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing effort from Marco
Review: Having finished the Tyrants and Kings series, I was certainly eager to read Marco's latest effort. Unfortunately, the entire book seems as if it was rushed. The intricate detail in the prose of The Tyrants Series, the worldbuilding that makes the reader almost imagine that he or she is actually in Crote or Nar City, the rich characterizations...just not there in this book. Worse, the flaws of the Tyrants series- banal dialogue, characters who make idiotic and baffling decisions, etc, are actually magnified in this book. The redeeming quality of Eyes is in the plotting. Even at his worst, Marco is an excellent storyteller. But, unless he improves a WRITER, not just storyteller, comparisions to the likes of Hobb and Martin and Kay are extremely premature.
Rating:
Summary: A departure for Marco
Review: Having read John Marco's previous novels, of the TYRANTS AND KINGS trilogy, I went into THE EYES OF GOD with high expectations. T&K, despite characters that were usually pretty weak, was an amazing military fantasy, featuring some the best-written and most inventive battle sequences I've ever read, and quite a bit of interesting strategizing. THE EYES OF GOD, however, is a very definite departure from what Marco has written before. This novel is much more character-driven than his other novels; it is not about a war, but about the interactions of its characters. This was an ambitious move on Marco's part, considering how weak many of his characters have been in his previous novels, and it provides mixed results. This book is broken into three parts, each better than the last. Truth to tell, I really had to force my way through much of Part One; there was very little originality there. Part One was mostly just a retelling of the whole Arthur/Lancelot/Guenevere story, with a few twists, but it really served to make me a bit wary as to what the rest of the novel would hold. Part Two picks up nearly twenty years later, and basically is there to get all the characters in position for Part Three, which is where the final confrontation between characters occurs. Not only did my level of interest in the plot grow with each successive part -- Marco's skill at writing believable characters grew, too. At the beginning of the novel, many of the characters' actions seemed kind of spontaneous and didn't really work with what we knew of the characters, but by the end the characters all seemed real and natural. THE EYES OF GOD is a massive book, an epic fantasy that is truly worthy of the name. Like all of Marco's previous novels, this one stands alone even though it is part of a series. This is a book about love and betrayal, passion and madness, loyalty and honor, cowardice and paranoia and guilt. There are some battles, though frequently not on the scale of Marco's previous novels. There are nations at war, but they are not the point of this book. There are magical amulets, characters with "magic," monstrous beings, intrigue and revenge. Overall, despite a shaky start, this novel is definitely worth reading, and Marco's definitely an author to keep your eyes on.
Rating:
Summary: A departure for Marco
Review: Having read John Marco's previous novels, of the TYRANTS AND KINGS trilogy, I went into THE EYES OF GOD with high expectations. T&K, despite characters that were usually pretty weak, was an amazing military fantasy, featuring some the best-written and most inventive battle sequences I've ever read, and quite a bit of interesting strategizing. THE EYES OF GOD, however, is a very definite departure from what Marco has written before. This novel is much more character-driven than his other novels; it is not about a war, but about the interactions of its characters. This was an ambitious move on Marco's part, considering how weak many of his characters have been in his previous novels, and it provides mixed results. This book is broken into three parts, each better than the last. Truth to tell, I really had to force my way through much of Part One; there was very little originality there. Part One was mostly just a retelling of the whole Arthur/Lancelot/Guenevere story, with a few twists, but it really served to make me a bit wary as to what the rest of the novel would hold. Part Two picks up nearly twenty years later, and basically is there to get all the characters in position for Part Three, which is where the final confrontation between characters occurs. Not only did my level of interest in the plot grow with each successive part -- Marco's skill at writing believable characters grew, too. At the beginning of the novel, many of the characters' actions seemed kind of spontaneous and didn't really work with what we knew of the characters, but by the end the characters all seemed real and natural. THE EYES OF GOD is a massive book, an epic fantasy that is truly worthy of the name. Like all of Marco's previous novels, this one stands alone even though it is part of a series. This is a book about love and betrayal, passion and madness, loyalty and honor, cowardice and paranoia and guilt. There are some battles, though frequently not on the scale of Marco's previous novels. There are nations at war, but they are not the point of this book. There are magical amulets, characters with "magic," monstrous beings, intrigue and revenge. Overall, despite a shaky start, this novel is definitely worth reading, and Marco's definitely an author to keep your eyes on.
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