The Rover

Rating:
Summary: Read this book
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It is one of the best adventures I've read since The Hobbit. The story is fast paced. The characters are so believable you care about them. If you are looking for a fantasy novel with classic adventure, read The Rover.

Rating:
Summary: The rover, a wonderful novel of adventure and suspense.
Review: In the Rover, Wick is a 3rd level librarian at the vault of all knowledge. When he delivers a package to the yondering docks he is swept away by curiosity and finds himself in more adventure than he has ever imagined. He is shainghaied by pirates, picked up by theives and solves a puzzle that leads to treasure beyond imagining.

I think that this is a great book, I've read it over and over again, and if you've ever read The Sword of Shannara, The Dragonlance chronicals, The Forgotton realms chronicals or The Lord of the rings you'll love this book.

Rating:
Summary: Libraians and Pirates -- Awash with Adventure!
Review: Just when the little librarian, Wick, thinks that life can't get any better than being a Third Level Librarian, with access to all the books in the Vault of All Known Knowledge, he is sent on a mission for the Grandmagister. But Wick, like ALL LIBRARIANS, is a curious little dweller... and finds himself launched into adventures on the high seas and involved with goblins galore.

Like any good library, this book is full of adventure, stories and excitement! (Librarians will love the portrayal as Librarian as Hero and the subtle questioning of the mission of libraries-- Are they there to protect knowledge or share it??) The characters in this book came alive-- pirates, goblins, halflings and ---more!

Read it! It is absolutely wonderful. I am sure Mel will gift us with further adventures of Wick!!

PS Mel-- could you put in a map next time?

Rating:
Summary: Charming adventure
Review: Librarians protect the world's knowledge, they don't go off on adventures. When Degewick Lamplighter (Wick) is kidnapped by pirates, all of his fantasy-reading becomes real life and it's a lot tougher for a small halfling than it is for the heros in the adventures he loves.

Wick bounces from one disaster to another. Kidnapped by pirates, stolen by goblins, turned into a slave, thief, and finally forced to confront one of the elemental forces of the world, Wick relies on his wits, an excellent memory for what he's read, and luck which he has in plenty.

Author Mel Odom takes a fairly standard post-modern world and gives it depth through the introduction of myth and history (much as J.R.R. Tolkien did with middle-earth--is this comparison too over the top?).

THE ROVER is a charming adventure. I liked Wick a lot, and enjoyed both the characters and the world-building that Odom created to make this novel special.

BooksForABuck.

I appreciate your 'helpful' vote.

Rating:
Summary: A great read!
Review: Sure it uses cliched themes made popular by Tolkien, D&D, etc.(How come no one's commented upon this?), but the action is fast-paced (despite comparisons to the great Terry Brooks, whose action flows very slowly), the cover art is fun to look at (The Bros. Hildebrant have come a long way, in terms of style, since they illustrated the Sword of Shannara), and the air is one of geniune interest and wonder.
The tale follows Edgewick lamplighter, a dweller (sort of like a hobbit,but with bald feet) and third-level librarian at the vault of all knowledge, the only library remaining since the great cataclysm. The chief librarian, upset by his idleness but willing to give him a chance, gives him the task of delivering a strange, lumpy package to a local post office. After delivering it, he can't help but follow the mysterious soldier who picks it up. While pursuing this man, Edgewick is attacked by mythical creatures of darkness, and, unknowingly slaying one, he is kidnapped by pirates who admire his talents, beginning a great adventure of wizards, hidden crypts, mysterious puzzles, and fierce dragons.(the dragon may seem a bit Smaug-like to cliche-haters, but wait'll ya see how he's defeated!)
A great delight, and a wonderful page-turner.

Rating:
Summary: The first great adventures of Wick, a humble librarian
Review: The first thing you have to do when considering "The Rover" by Mel Odom is to dismiss the cover and the title (which does not sound like an auspicious beginning to enjoying a book, but hang it there). If the cover painting by the Brothers Hildebrandt looks like Frodo and Sam cornered by Robin Hood and his Merry Men, then you are pretty much on track. What we have here is clearly a marketing ploy, obviously the work of an editor, and a blatant attempt to get readers of Lord of the Rings and the Shannara series(es) to at least stop and take note (Not that there is anything wrong with that). Then there is the title, which I am admittedly at a loss to explain because I do not think the word "Rover" appears in the entire novel (however, "the" is one of the more frequently used words). But it sounds good, so I suspect another marketing ploy. However, the point of any marketing ploy, good or otherwise, is to GET YOU TO READ THE BOOK.

When I began reading "The Rover," in which Edgewick Lamplighter, Third Level Librarian at the Vault of All Known Knowledge is shanghaied into a world of magic, adventure, and intrigue, I was just sort of cruising along. Wick is a dweller, which is to say a halfling, who spends all of his time reading what Grandmagister Frollo considers to be the wrong books in the vault. Wick lives in a world that has been shattered in the past by a great Cataclysm between Lord Kharrion's forces of evil and an alliance of men, elves and dwarves. The Vault is presumed to be the sole depository of all the books left in the world, a great library protected for a time in the future when the world can use this storehouse of knowledge to rebuild civilization. But a quick series of mishaps befall our hero and suddenly he is cleaning dishes on a pirate ship run by dwarves.

So I am a reading along thinking dwarf pirates are kind of interesting, but I have read about dwarves before, and a dweller seems to be a hobbit without hair on his toes, when suddenly the pirate ship has a visitor.

You will know exactly what I am talking about when you read this novel, because this is the point where you sit up and take notice. This is where the character of Wick emerges as someone you want to read more about and where the world Odom has created begins to come into sharper perspective. The success of fantasy books like "The Rover" is always going to depend on the new creations or at least the new combinations the author can bring to play, and once Odom ushers in his first special creation for this fantasy world this novel really takes off.

For one thing, the wit and humor really starts to click after that point. My wife commented that I was chuckling while reading this book more than anything she has heard me read in a long time and it was not like I could really just read her a line because the humor is all contextual in terms of characters rather than being one liners. Yes, there is an engaging rogue, but he has this quaint little ability to tell when people are lying that gives him a nice character twist. But the most important thing is that Wick, who begins the story as something of a cartoonish little fellow, becomes transformed at this point and Odom has a fully realized character. Also, Wick suddenly takes on more of a purpose than just wanting to go home, without this book becoming some sort of grand quest.

In fact, I was not really sure what the book was about; which is perfectly fine, because this is one of those books that is about the journey not the destination. I was not at all sure if this was one of those to-be-continued/first-volume-of-an-epic-trilogy type novels or not. All I knew was that I was reading "The Rover" for the most important reason there is to read any novel: to find out what happens next.

"Kirkus Reviews" considers "The Rover" to be "A cute, smartly told pastiche of Tolkien and Terry Brooks aimed at the Harry Potter crowd and librarians at every level." This might be damning with faint praise at best because (a) "pastiche" is a twenty dollar word that means there is nothing new in the world and suggests Odom is constructing his narrative out of bits and pieces of other people's work, which I take exception to given what I laid out above, (b) even the last (fourth) Harry Potter novel with its turn towards death and darkness is a lark in the park compared to the evil that abounds in Wick's shattered world, which makes it strange to say this book is targeted for younger readers, and (c) librarians do not buy books because they work in giant buildings holding thousands of books, so why target them? Especially since part of the lesson of this book is that there are far better things to be than a mere librarian.

I know the comparisons to Tolkien, Brooks and Rowling are inevitable, but they really only get in the way of enjoying Mel Odom's tale. I was sorry to see this tale come to an end and I would like to hear what happens to Wick next. What better response do you want to a have to a book as a reader?

Rating:
Summary: an entertaining fantasy
Review: THE ROVER begins in the Vault of All Known Knowledge in Graydawn Moors. Years prior to the story, the Cataclysm decimated populations and ravaged whole races, and the world's books were brought to the vault where they have been stored and protected for many years. Edgewick "Wick" Lamplighter, a young (only seventy years old) dweller is a Third Level Librarian at the Vault. Wick loves his work as a librarian and especially enjoys books from Hralbomm's Wing, the area of the library where imaginative, adventure stories are kept. Throughout his own adventures, Wick never strays from describing himself as a librarian but by the end of THE ROVER, his work experience on a resume would be quite extensive. Wick is captured by pirates and aboard the One-Eyed Peggie, he progresses from potato peeler and dishwasher to proper pirate in just eight days. He and the other pirates have many encounters while sailing on the Blood-Soaked Sea, but Wick becomes a hero when he saves the ship from being burned by an Embyr, a princess who is caught in a spell that has taken away her memory and requires her to burn for revenge. The Captain offers Wick a reward for saving the ship, and Wick asks for the packing paper so he can record his experiences in pictures and words. Historian can be added to his resume at this point as he tells tales from the past, writes the stories of the pirates, and of course, records his own adventures. When the One-Eyed Peggie is threatened by a slave ship of goblinkin, Wick is forced to surrender himself to the goblinkin in order to save the pirates who have become his friends. Wick's life becomes even more complicated after he is sold on the slave market, and by the end of his adventures, he can add thief, artist, author, and dragon slayer to his resume.

Mel Odom, author of THE ROVER, received the Alex Award from the American Library Association. This award recognizes outstanding adult fiction and non-fiction books that appeal to a broad cross-section of teen readers. Odom has had over 100 books published, including books in the SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH series and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER series.

Action in THE ROVER centers on Wick, the little librarian, but the other characters are also intriguing. Wick's encounter with the Embyr is brief, but she makes a distinct impression because of Wick's story about her past and her reaction to his story. Brant, the leader of the group of thieves, is also a fascinating individual, a mysterious figure in black who emerges as a likeable protector of a band of misfits. Some of the other characters who appear for a short time make a strong impact, and they make the reader hope for more of their stories in future Mel Odom novels. The settings are always clear - from the depiction of the differences between the dweller and the dwarven homes in Graydawn Moors to the complicated description of the tunnels, lakes, and caverns in the mine shaft. The story moves smoothly, taking time to provide background information, develop characters, add a sense of place, while keeping action at a fast pace.

THE ROVER will appeal to all who, like Wick, think adventures in real life are much too dangerous but, also like Wick, love the excitement that can be borrowed from books. Whether a librarian, potato peeler, pirate, dishwasher, historian, thief, artist, author, and dragon slayer, the reader will enjoy Wick's story and his attributes that could be listed as admirable qualities on any resume - curious, experienced, dependable, resourceful, imaginative and brave. Wick becomes a friend, and readers will close the book looking forward to a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Wick's Big Adventure
Review: THE ROVER by Mel Odom is an entertaining tale about Edgewick (Wick) Lamplighter, a librarian in the Vault of All Known Knowledge. Wick, a three foot high dwarf-"dweller", is shanghaied by pirates and experiences an heroic journey that takes him to many exotic and dangerous places. During his adventures his curious nature slowly evolves and he becomes a giant of heroic proportions. The bad guys in Wick's world are goblinkin who delight in torturing dwellers, an Embyr who is a beautiful young woman trapped in a forgetful and flaming body, and Shengharck, a vicious dragon who can crisp his enemies in a heartbeat. When Wick finally gets back home to Greydawn Moors, he realizes that the books he'd chosen to read had provided him with lots of important knowledge about the world unknown to him previously.

Mel Odom is a gifted writer who works in many fields: fantasy, game related fiction, science fiction, movie novelizations, horror, young adult, juvenile computer strategy guides, action-adventure, and comics.

Wick's growth throughout the story is phenomenal. Frightened of shadows in the beginning, his courage is activated by evil doers and eventually zooms into the stratosphere at the end. Getting the answers to perplexing questions and mysteries is no problem for Wick because he draws on a vast reservoir of knowledge extracted from books deemed frivolous by Grandmagister Frollo. Because none of the bad guys can read, Wick's story reveals how evil is perpetuated by ignorance and superstition.

The "little librarian" will capture the interest of an extensive array of readers who can look forward to two more books in this series of page-turners. Don't miss them.

Mel Odom's huge and loyal following of readers have loved these novels in the fantasy genre: THE LOST LIBRARY OF CORMANTHYR, THE THREAT FROM THE SEA TRILOGY, and RESSURECTION.

Rating:
Summary: The Cover Illustration
Review: This is not a rating of the book, which I have not read. It is meant to inform the reviewers who have mentioned the cover illustration, e.g., "who is the other halfer with Wick" or "the guy in Robin Hood gear."

Folks, brethren, fellow fantasy lovers, where are your roots? That cover picture is by the Brothers Hildebrand and it depicts the confrontation between Frodo and Sam (the little guys, you know, hobbits) and Faramir and his Rangers of Ithilien, as described by JRRT on page 312 (paperback edition) of The Two Towers.

And how in the name of decency and reason the publishers of Mr. Odom's work dared, had the audacity, had the unmitigated gall, or even had the legal right, to put a Tolkien illustration on the cover of someone else's book, I will never know. They should be ashamed of themselves--and so should Mel Odom, if he had anything to do with it (which he probably did not.)

The guy in the Robin Hood outfit, indeed. Read the classics before you read the fluff.

Rating:
Summary: The Cover Illustration
Review: This is not a rating of the book, which I have not read. It is meant to inform the reviewers who have mentioned the cover illustration, e.g., "who is the other halfer with Wick" or "the guy in Robin Hood gear."

Folks, brethren, fellow fantasy lovers, where are your roots? That cover picture is by the Brothers Hildebrand and it depicts the confrontation between Frodo and Sam (the little guys, you know, hobbits) and Faramir and his Rangers of Ithilien, as described by JRRT on page 312 (paperback edition) of The Two Towers.

And how in the name of decency and reason the publishers of Mr. Odom's work dared, had the audacity, had the unmitigated gall, or even had the legal right, to put a Tolkien illustration on the cover of someone else's book, I will never know. They should be ashamed of themselves--and so should Mel Odom, if he had anything to do with it (which he probably did not.)

The guy in the Robin Hood outfit, indeed. Read the classics before you read the fluff.