The Last Star at Dawn

Rating:
Summary: Fantasy for grown-ups
Review: A thrilling conclusion to a great fantasy trilogy. There are action set-pieces in these books that stand up as among the best in fantasy literature. Oliver Johnson is not afraid to take some real narrative risks, and they certainly pay off! For example, the action of the first book takes place over a single night. The second book refuses to pander to the cliffhanger ending of the first, but instead re-introduces its heroes in an unexpected and intriguing way. And the third book is told from a perspective of many years afterwards - I can't say more without giving the game away, but these are characters you really care about and the conclusion of their adventures will have you on the edge of your seat right up to the last page.

Rating:
Summary: Delightfully ghoulish
Review: Mr. Johnson really knows how to tell a ghoulish, yet engaging tale. A fascinating trilogy, one should start with book one "The forging of the shadows", then "The nations of the night" before tackling this one. Otherwise it leaves gaps in the flow of the story, although the author does "update" one within the first few chapters. I felt enormous empathy toward the badly burned, utterly isolated priest of Reh (their sun god of Light). The priest, Urthred, is forced to wear a mask and special gloves to cover his burned face and hands and is the wonderful hero of this saga. His devastating experience with such immense pain has created within him a wellspring of compassion and strength that are remarkable in contrast to Thalassa, the self absorbed heroine whom prophecy has foretold would be the Lightbringer. Her task is, through some great act, to reanimate the dying sun caused by the evil forces in their world. Personally I prefer strong women and for me Thalassa, so full of doubt and self pity was the one weak link in an otherwise strong cast of characters.

The only other problem I had with these otherwise excellent books is Mr. Johnson's use of words that force a reader to grab the dictionary. However, I very much liked the mix of primitive culture contrasted to the sci fi notion of the "gods" coming from the stars in their "metal dragons" (a metaphor for space ships). The war of good vs evil/light vs darkness is enhanced by the author's facility in not hammering religion down one's throat on the assumption that everyone in the (readers') world is a christian or whatever. There is a subtle injunction for the reader to look at self accountability vs being an unwilling participant tossed about by the everchanging whims of the gods.

The story illustrated the power of the individual's "ego" (free will) to make choices based upon the drives of his/her "id" (the subconscious mind or baser levels of humanity) and make them real for better or for worse. For example: as the archetypal bad guy, Faran Gaton Nekron if filled with rampaging jealousy, resentment, hatred and warped lusts. He manifests his vindictive revenge and sick needs into hideous annhilation of everyone whom he cannot conquer. He claims that he is doing the Worm God Iss' will, but in fact it is Faran's own dark and destructive desires disguised as "religion". This conflict creates an astonishing amount of tension which is so vital to the tenor of excellence in a horror story.

This saga shows the shadow or nihlistic part of human nature (jealousy, greed, hate, revenge, etc.) as contrasted to the higher nature of mankind's drive toward the light and love that creates and sustains all life. There are many layers to Mr. Johnson's genius and this trilogy, albeit more than gruesome at times, that indeed stimulates deeper levels of thought, plus rereading in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Delightfully ghoulish
Review: Mr. Johnson really knows how to tell a ghoulish, yet engaging tale. A fascinating trilogy, one should start with book one "The forging of the shadows", then "The nations of the night" before tackling this one. Otherwise it leaves gaps in the flow of the story, although the author does "update" one within the first few chapters. I felt enormous empathy toward the badly burned, utterly isolated priest of Reh (their sun god of Light). The priest, Urthred, is forced to wear a mask and special gloves to cover his burned face and hands and is the wonderful hero of this saga. His devastating experience with such immense pain has created within him a wellspring of compassion and strength that are remarkable in contrast to Thalassa, the self absorbed heroine whom prophecy has foretold would be the Lightbringer. Her task is, through some great act, to reanimate the dying sun caused by the evil forces in their world. Personally I prefer strong women and for me Thalassa, so full of doubt and self pity was the one weak link in an otherwise strong cast of characters.

The only other problem I had with these otherwise excellent books is Mr. Johnson's use of words that force a reader to grab the dictionary. However, I very much liked the mix of primitive culture contrasted to the sci fi notion of the "gods" coming from the stars in their "metal dragons" (a metaphor for space ships). The war of good vs evil/light vs darkness is enhanced by the author's facility in not hammering religion down one's throat on the assumption that everyone in the (readers') world is a christian or whatever. There is a subtle injunction for the reader to look at self accountability vs being an unwilling participant tossed about by the everchanging whims of the gods.

The story illustrated the power of the individual's "ego" (free will) to make choices based upon the drives of his/her "id" (the subconscious mind or baser levels of humanity) and make them real for better or for worse. For example: as the archetypal bad guy, Faran Gaton Nekron if filled with rampaging jealousy, resentment, hatred and warped lusts. He manifests his vindictive revenge and sick needs into hideous annhilation of everyone whom he cannot conquer. He claims that he is doing the Worm God Iss' will, but in fact it is Faran's own dark and destructive desires disguised as "religion". This conflict creates an astonishing amount of tension which is so vital to the tenor of excellence in a horror story.

This saga shows the shadow or nihlistic part of human nature (jealousy, greed, hate, revenge, etc.) as contrasted to the higher nature of mankind's drive toward the light and love that creates and sustains all life. There are many layers to Mr. Johnson's genius and this trilogy, albeit more than gruesome at times, that indeed stimulates deeper levels of thought, plus rereading in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking!
Review: This book blew me out of the water. It is a great adventure that everyone (excluding little kids) should read.

Rating:
Summary: The Last Star at Dawn
Review: Unbilivebly horrible conclusion to a grea trilogy! The begining starts a bit strangely but it starts to get good. In the middle of this book i thought that it was going to turn out just as well as the others. But soon to my astonishment it started to get worse and worse and worse and worse and so on and so forth. It looks like it will be a good ending when one of the main cherecters dies, the Baron dies, all of the worm suddenly die and Lord Faran dies in a way that he could have gotten out of after living through so many unescapeable traps. Not only that but Urthred is blinde and Oliver Johnson loeses his touch for great description and good writing!

READ THIS BOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Rating:
Summary: Disapointing
Review: Well the 2 first books of the series were really good with good plot, powerful vilains and some real good ideas that were quite original for a fantasy book, I really enjoyed the first and second book.

But this conclusion is really not as good as it could have been ! first of all there are major mistakes in the chronology. For example at the begining of the book, it is explicitly written that it is a year since Faran last met with the heroes, he was even obliged to drink from 11 of his reapers of sorrow (1 each month) to survive, BUT some pages later this year transforms in a month ! And I could point to about a dozen more errors like this one. How can someone make such idiotic mistakes, not even a beginner I believe.

Also the death of the vilains are pitiful, Golon passes for the dumbest sorcerer in the entire universe and Faran the luckiest Vampire ever. And then Jayal and the Doppleganger count for nothing their combat is not even described ! They could have been removed from this series without anybody missing them !

The story ends ok, if you enjoed the first books perhaps this details won't affect you for my part I won't pick up another of Oliver Johnson book until he has learn some basics about writing such as being careful of what you said 2 pages ago....