Rating: 
Summary: Content didn't bother me, bad story and writing did
Review: First off, sex in books doesn't bother me, neither does language or blood and gore and other gruesome acts of violence. As long as the content of said acts is applicable to the storyline in the book and furthers the story, I am all for it. But the violence in the first two books of the series is written weakly and there are pages upon pages upon pages in these books devoted toward pointless sex. I mean, get as graphic as you want but do it in a page or two and get on with the story. And don't keep throwing it in there every five pages. This series was very poorly written and I do not recommend it at all. The "hero" Damastes is one of the worst "good guys" ever. Not because he isn't that "good" but because his character is so boring and dim-witted. In all fairness to the author, I didn't read the third book so I can't say if the series had a wonderful ending. But unfortunatly I bought all three at the same time and wasted every penny of it. If you have a thing for badly written soft porn and horribly written action sequences, get this series. Otherwise, check out a fantasy series from a more talented author, like George R. R. Martin, J. R. R. Tolkien, Feist, Weiss, J. V. Jones, Kearney, Marco, or any other well received writer. This series stunk.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book, Great Series
Review: First, I'd like to take exception to Gigei's review. I have read well over 200 books.
Now, I don't review often, but this series is so unique I feel I have to say a good word or two about it. The violence and magic are very well done, as is the sacrifice one must make for power. The battles are very detailed and well thought out. The sex is, um, very arousing. This is the ONLY series I've ever read that has combined sex and fantasy successfully. I think the end result is a very good series, but I wouldn't recommend anyone under 13 reading it.
The only flaw, if there is one, is that there is no second series to carry on the story.
Rating:
Summary: Hey Reviewers! You say...
Review: Flawed but made up with it's intensity. I read this two years ago and have yet to find a book with the same great combo of sword, sorcery, passion and yes, sex scenes. Hey if I am going to fantasize about swordsmanship and battles, I may as well have the fantasy sex along for the ride as well. Bunch scores big in my book. My only complaint is that his next two books fall short maybe due to my "high" expectations. If you are a guy that can enjoy Maxim magazine for a few laughs without apology, but also have rudimentary reading skills (that eliminates 50% of their subscribers), you'll enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Formulaic, thin plot with underdeveloped characters
Review: I always read the reviews on and in new books to find key words like "epic" and "fully developed world" and was completely fooled this time. There is nothing epic about it! The big fight with the monstrous demon takes one page! (If you don't count the entire page taken up by the spell) There's no time to get wrapped up in it at all. - The magic which plays a key role in every battle is never expounded upon as in other true "epics" (such as by Feist, Eddings, and Jordan). The mage casts spells, each bigger than the last but, some leave him drained to collapse while all of the huge climactic spells seem to have no effect on him whatsoever! - The narrator takes two pages to give us reasons why the troops shouldn't attack before what turns out to be a tragic slaughter, but the general says go, the mage alone protests, the men attack and half are killed. That's it, no mutiny, no insubordination, they march to their death, and then say "I guess it' time to rebuild!" - The "Rule of Ten" who govern the land are completely ineffectual, gutless cowards. What are the odds that 10 men who have ruled an ENTIRE KINGDOM for a couple of generations would just bluster for about a half hour and then give in to all the seer's demands! They have no tricks up their sleeves, and simply fade away. I would like to say more, but will merely say that this is no epic, maybe a forgettable beach read.
Rating: 
Summary: A Very Good fantasy and good battles but too much sex scenes
Review: I really enjoyed this book and I hope the next are just as good but there are just a little too much sex scenes. They don't need to be there and you can just skip them and understand the story. That's what I told a friend that wanted to read it.
Rating:
Summary: good stuff
Review: I think this book was very good. Yes it had many sex scenes but Bunch was only trying to build on Damastes character. The battles were good and the bad guys bad. The only annoying thing was that I hate Maran.
Rating: 
Summary: Drivel
Review: If you enjoy reading detailed histories of military actions, then this book is certainly for you - especially if your field of pleasure is military action prior to the 18th Century. The detailed description of military life, strategy and battle may suit you down to the teeth.
That being said, however, I must confess that I found this book excruciatingly boring. In my 42 years, I have only left two books unfinished, regardless of how poorly written; had I not felt obligated to finish this one, in order to write a fair review, this would have been the third. Go to http://www.fantasylink.com for the full review
Rating:
Summary: A very very good book i definitely recommend
Review: It was a cool book and I liked it.
Rating:
Summary: Good start, then...
Review: Let's tackle this head on: Very graphic sex and fantasy is definitely not your standard bread-and-butter combination. Should you have problem with the former, you don't need to read on & simply forget this book (series) - because there's plenty of it, treading a very fine line between feeling weirdly out of place and actually cutting the edge. However, if you don't mind, you will be treated to a very deftly written yarn - a young military officer and an equally young wizard that set out to find their destiny, face uncountable dangers & conquer a realm. Not a very innovative plotline - but always very welcome, especially if well written. Chris Bunch does a really neat job here; very down-to- earth, fast-paced, nitty-gritty, blood&sweat&tears, no-frills action garnished with very solid military lore. (I think it's the earthiness of this book that actually let's the sex fit in without feeling too awkward). Bunch succeeds in instilling his protagonists with an unerring sense of urgency, especially Tenedos, on their quest to glory, while far on the horizon dark clouds start to build up (BTW, not a very smooth trick to give THAT away in the prologue of the book). Definitely worth a try ! (i.e. a very solid 4 stars effort). Unfortunately, that's the good news. If Bunch had slapped on another 150, 200 (tops) pages to tie down all the loose ends, he would have created a very nifty & tight epos. As is, the series starts to nosedive in subsequent volumes. Volume 2 (The Demon King) is basically Napoleon's Russia disaster revisited, with the two main protagonists going jaded or plain nuts and the graphic sex now actually feeling completely out of place. Emotionally a real downer of a book with a downer-ending. Still, by sheer fascinating grimness, close to 3 stars. The final instalment (The Warrior King) got me p...ed off. Somebody from the publishing house must have reminded Chris that there still was a final volume to write and sure enough Chris went ahead and churned out 'them pages'. Sloppy plot, uninspired writing, cop-out solutions, tired, programmatic action & finale. So much more could have been done with this. All in all, I think the sex was the most interesting thing this time around. 'Nough said ? 1-star effort. So what do I recommend ? Stick to the first volume - and simply imagine the story ends there. It's not that bad a breaking point, actually... Sparrowhawk
Rating:
Summary: Flawed . . . but worthwhile
Review: Overall, a well-written fantasy novel; refreshingly refrains from being either an "epic" or a "romantic fantasy. Two flaws drag it down it somewhat. First is the narrative style, first person from the end of the story -- which we're told in the first few pages. (There are also an annoyingly large number of gloom-and-doom predictions that don't seem to quite bear themselves out, in the main body of the text.) Second is the overly graphic nature of the sex scenes; they don't match the tone of the rest of the novel, and I found them distracting. Don't let this stop you from reading the novel, though.
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