The Lure of the Basilisk

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Summary: Great story! Fantasy Adventure at its best.
Review: Be careful what you ask for, you may get it! And not the way you think. This is the first of four books about a quest for immortality. It's about men, overmen, wizards and in the later books - the Gods themselves. The plot unfolds like the layers of an onion, leading you down the unexpected path. Don't start reading this book until you get the other three. You won't want to stop until you have read all four.

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Summary: "But then, they were merely humans..."
Review: Garth, Prince of Ordunin, Lord of the Overmen of the Northern Waste, doesn't want much. He is tired of being inconsequential in the grand scheme of things and wants to be remembered by everyone in the world, as long as anyone remains alive. Having demanded advice from the local oracles he gets a surprising answer. Go to the worn out town of Skelleth, and offer his services to a worn out beggar dressed in a tacky yellow robe. He does, and thereby hangs this tale.

Garth receives the first of what will become a series of quests, to retrieve the first animal he finds in the crypts beneath Mormoreth. Easier said, of course, than done. Marmoreth is a deserted city ruled over by the enchanter, Shang. Various robbers and brigands, all in Shang's pay, watch the road to Marmoreth. And Korg, Garth's giant warbeast is perpetually hungry. Oh! I forgot! The only animal in the crypts of Marmoreth is a basilisk. An irritable, poisonous, and generally impossible basilisk.

As Garth works his way through the twists of this quest with an engineer's attention to detail, and a slight tendency to be absent minded at critical moments, we get occasional glimpses of how humans would look to another intelligent life form. Somewhat insane, of course. Even to someone on a quest as insane as moving a basilisk cross-country.

Watt-Evans fills his story with little wry moments that mave all two hundred pages enjoyable. With the advantage of years, we know that this first effort turned itself into an entire series, with Garth becoming the perfect outsider whose encounters with humanity (and the King in Yellow) inevitably have unexpected results.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent start to supreme series
Review: Great book.. fast paced, nice twists, riveting hero, cool creatures, which characters are good and evil matter of perspective rather than black & white....

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable Read
Review: I have read Lawrence Watt-Evans' entire world of Esthar series and enjoyed the majority of the books in that series. Based on my experience with the Ethshar series, I decided to give the "Lords of Dus" series a try and having completed the first book I can say the following: The storyline is an entertaining but fairly stock fantasy plot, a hero's quest for glory. The protagonist is well fleshed out, likeable yet pragmatic and complete with personality flaws that make him believable. The world setting is vivid and described well enough, but it would have been nice to have a bit more of the history revealed, explaining the current state of events. For the majority of the book, the plotting was good and moved along at the right clip, only bogging down in a couple of sections. Characters development outside of the protagonist did come across as weak with the majority of the other characters in the story seemingly designed to be disposable. Perhaps this was done intentionally as a way to emphasize the aloofness that a member the main character's race feels towards mere men, but it would still have been nice to have some of the other characters built up a bit. Overall I enjoyed the book and look forward to picking up the remaining books in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Need the others
Review: I read this one and book 2 but I never found the other book's in this series and it has been bothering me for quite some time if someone out there has these books and is willing to sell them to me please contact me at [e-mail] But about this book. It tells the tale of a hero seeking eternal fame and fortune. It's well writen and easy to read and I urge all fantasy lovers to go out and find a copy of this book you wont be dissapointed.

Rating:
Summary: Need the others
Review: I read this one and book 2 but I never found the other book's in this series and it has been bothering me for quite some time if someone out there has these books and is willing to sell them to me please contact me at [e-mail] But about this book. It tells the tale of a hero seeking eternal fame and fortune. It's well writen and easy to read and I urge all fantasy lovers to go out and find a copy of this book you wont be dissapointed.

Rating:
Summary: Lord of Dus Series (Excellent!)
Review: I read this series back in 1987 when I was in sixth grade. It is one of the best series I have ever read. It was so addictive that I was forced to read all four books in one setting. I had borrowed the books from my brother and later regretted that I had not bought them because I had forgotten the names of the books, and was only left with the enjoyable memories of having read them. I spent years trying to figure out what books they were again until I happen to searh on here for Sword of Bheleu. Least to say.. I will be buying them this time! In my opinion, this series is better than the Sword of Shannara, Wheel of Time, Sunrunner, Lord of the Rings and other series in the way the whole story just flows together.

Rating:
Summary: Lord of Dus Series (Excellent!)
Review: I read this series back in 1987 when I was in sixth grade. It is one of the best series I have ever read. It was so addictive that I was forced to read all four books in one setting. I had borrowed the books from my brother and later regretted that I had not bought them because I had forgotten the names of the books, and was only left with the enjoyable memories of having read them. I spent years trying to figure out what books they were again until I happen to searh on here for Sword of Bheleu. Least to say.. I will be buying them this time! In my opinion, this series is better than the Sword of Shannara, Wheel of Time, Sunrunner, Lord of the Rings and other series in the way the whole story just flows together.

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Summary: d&d ish wihout overly [dumb] unreality [junk]
Review: Take an overmna, mix in mages, fantastic beasts, a quest, wise women of ordunin, and high adventure and you have some gr8 stuff.
Too bad he doesn't write more of this series.
Great interesting stuff that doesn't try and copy tolkien.
very d&d

Rating:
Summary: A Tale of a Determined Hero to complete his quest
Review: This is a exciting novel, that portrays a Hero that wants eternal fame and immortality. A moralitic and strong overman that braves the unknown reaches beyond his own world, into the Realm of Man, and other beings. A Striking novel that makes you need to read the other three.