Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly Enjoyable to the Man and His Word Series
Review: Princess Inosolan is bored. Bored with the tiny kingdom of Krasnegar, bored with her Aunt Kade's attempts to give her some polish and just bored of being somewhere where nothing ever happens! However, she is simply stunned to discover that her father, King Holindarn, is sending her to Kinvale with her Aunt Kade to find a husband. Inos doesn't feel ready to marry and has never even been interested in boys that way. Well, there was Rap, the stableboy, whom she rode horses and played on the beach with, but he surely didn't count. After all, Rap wasn't a boy he was just Rap. Inos hated Kinvale when she first arrived. She wasn't good at any of the maidenly pursuits that were focused on there and she really didn't care about embroidery or anything of that nature anyway - until Sir Andor arrived...Sir Andor was everything a maiden dreams of marrying - strong, handsome, charming, witty, attentive to a woman's every wish and desire. If Inos got to select her husband, and her father said that she may, she would surely pick Sir Andor. However, before they could reach a firmer understanding on the matter, Sir Andor up and left for the winter and Inos began to despair of ever seeing him again... Meanwhile, back in Krasnegar, Rap was working hard with the horses and trying to improve his station in life from stableboy or goat herder to wagon driver, but he couldn't stop thinking about Inos. Oh, Rap well knew that their stations in life were so different that there could never be anything between them, but that didn't stop him from loving her. He just hoped that he would still recognize her when she returned from Kinvale and that they would still be friends. So Rap was thrilled to befriend Sir Andor, a visitor to the small kingdom of Krasnegar who seemed to have selected him specially to be a friend who helped to get his mind off of Inos. Rap would do anything for Sir Andor and, when he discovered that Inos was in danger, he left everything he knew behind to travel overland with Sir Andor to rescue his princess. But Rap quickly discovered that Sir Andor was not what he seemed and that he was far from being an ordinary stableboy... Magic Casement is the first book in the Man of His Word quartet and it is a wonderful kick off to a thoroughly enjoyable series. My favorite character was Rap. It is true that he was not necessary a quick thinker and that he didn't react to things in the way I visualized a hero would, be he was dogged, determined and dependable and he fought through everything to give Inos the chance to take over her kingdom and rule. Inos was also a good character, but I didn't find her quite as interesting. I found myself rushing through the parts of her story to get back to see what was happening to Rap, but I liked the way Duncan dealt with both main characters at the same time by changing perspective so that you knew what was going on wherever they were. In addition to Rap and Inos, there is a host of engaging and intriguing secondary characters that readers will delight in getting to know including the witches/warlocks who guard the segments of the kingdom, the different races who populate the land, Sir Andor, the minstrel Jalon, the scholarly Dr. Sagorn, the monster Darad and the unexpected Little Chicken. Though this series is out of print, the books are readily available and they are also found in ebook format. Another great series by David Duncan - highly recommended for fantasy fans looking for a new twist on an old theme.
Rating: 
Summary: Just not my cup of tea.
Review: The story went very slowly for me,perhaps its the complete lack of back-story.No creation myths,no explanation to how the various races got started,and hardly any background information of any of the charecters.When you start reading,you feel as if you were plunged right into the middle of things,but you don't know what.The magic system was prety dull.Magic words passed on at death? Our hero Rap seems to have one word,but he has farsight and can control animals.That's two things! It that a plot hole or does a magic word work like that.Rap is some hero,I mean he gets pushed around and builied by every evil sorcerer,barbarian,slave trader in the world.Everyone casualy says that they are going to enslave him,torture him,take away his magic word,kill him and eat him.This seems to happen every few pages and it gets prety dull(not that I care what happens to Rap).But Rap always manages to escape and then runs into someone else to threaten him.The magic talents and the puns(The Imps have an Impire and an Imperor) remind me of the Xanth series(which I hated).Inos is only slightly more interesting,but she has very little in mental factiles(She thinks Rap has died and come back as a demon,wrath,delision about three times in this series).That's all.Despite my compilants I am going to read the next series"A handful of Men".
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This book is great, but as the series goes on, the quality declines. Sorry!
Rating:
Summary: Due for a reprint!!
Review: This is a classic series that has stood the test of time and I would like to be able to buy this series for friends without having to purchase from ten different used book dealers. Omnibus editions would be awesome.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This is a wonderful start to a wonderful series. The characters are engaging, and the world fascinating. His tongue-in-cheek humour is delightfully mocking. His sequel series to this (A Handful of Men) is even better (if possible!), and to fully enjoy it you should read this delightful series.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This is a wonderful start to a wonderful series. The characters are engaging, and the world fascinating. His tongue-in-cheek humour is delightfully mocking. His sequel series to this (A Handful of Men) is even better (if possible!), and to fully enjoy it you should read this delightful series.
Rating: 
Summary: Tolerable
Review: This is the tolerable start of a very lengthy fantasy series. I began reading the series back in '99, after I had been thoroughly entertained by Duncan's "The Reaver Road" when it had been favorably mentioned by someone I respect. The book has verious elements of interest, but takes its time (and ours) in elaborating on its very drawn out plot strands. Of most interest to me was the male protagonist's brief captivity, which was quite intense. The female parallel protagonist I did not find to be quite so interesting. This series is notably lacking in the humor that was present throughout "The Reaver Road," and despite the sheer number of pages devoted to their characterization, I found that the protagonists generally lacked any noteworthy trait for a fantasy series, save for Rap's nascent prestidigitation skills. This whole scenario was done far better (several times) by David Eddings, without the ponderousness.
Rating:
Summary: Tolerable
Review: This is the tolerable start of a very lengthy fantasy series. I began reading the series back in '99, after I had been thoroughly entertained by Duncan's "The Reaver Road" when it had been favorably mentioned by someone I respect. The book has verious elements of interest, but takes its time (and ours) in elaborating on its very drawn out plot strands. Of most interest to me was the male protagonist's brief captivity, which was quite intense. The female parallel protagonist I did not find to be quite so interesting. This series is notably lacking in the humor that was present throughout "The Reaver Road," and despite the sheer number of pages devoted to their characterization, I found that the protagonists generally lacked any noteworthy trait for a fantasy series, save for Rap's nascent prestidigitation skills. This whole scenario was done far better (several times) by David Eddings, without the ponderousness.
Rating:
Summary: I love this book!!
Review: This was the first real fantasy book I ever read, and it has remained my favorite despite 10 years of reading *tons* of other fantasy novels. When I picked up this book I just couldn't put it down! I was fascinated by the world Duncan created and how thoroughly he thought out the social system. I loved the strength of Inos and Aunt Kade. Neither of them is the wilting wait-for-some-man-to-save-me kind of woman. What truly captured me was the love between Rap and Inos. I was 13 at the time I first read this, and the way Rap felt about Inos was the way I wanted to be loved someday. And yet the relationship between Rap and Little Chicken was almost as engrossing. (And scary.) Even those of my friends who didn't really like to read were sucked into this book. I really recommend this story!!!
Rating:
Summary: My Introduction to Fantasy Reading
Review: This was the very first fantasy book (from the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of a bookstore, not the Children's section) that I read. I was ignorant of Fantasy writers' tendency to write multi-book stories, so I was horrified when this book ended without ending the story! My family and I were on a vacation in Washington state, and I ignored all the sights to read this book. When I finished it, I nagged my mother (I was only 13) to take me to a bookstore so I could get the next book in the series (Faery Lands Forlorn), which I also devoured. The Magic Casement just swept me up in it's story. I found it very exciting and interesting. I desperately wanted Inos to fall in love with Rap. I had read enough books by then to recognize forshadowing when I saw it, but I had no idea how the pair was ever going to get together. I love the system of magic. Everything was explained so well. It all made sense. I thought it was very original to have a person's magic ability be determined based on how many magic words a person knew. Every fantasy story I have since read is a disapointment to me if the author doesn't explain how magic works. I always feel cheated when I read a story and magic just IS, and some people can do it and some can't, and I have no clear idea of the limits to the magical abilities. All in all, I enjoyed the characters so much that I just wanted to spend more time with them. Even Little Chicken - I was very unhappy when he got separated from Rap and disappeared from the story for awhile. If you like fantasy that isn't dark and heavy, and is (relatively) not that long, I would recommend this series.
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