Rating: 
Summary: Unless you have lots of time on your hands, don't bother
Review: I was prepared to skim my way through the five books in the first series because the basic idea is pretty good, but when I found out that there is ANOTHER series I gave up. Not only are the books outrageously long and repetitive, the characters are one dimensional, and not always true to their few traits. Did anyone actually believe that Tamrissa, abused by her nasty old husband, would fall into bed with Rion so easily (was that the first or second book? I can't even remember)? That was one of many things that made no sense. This reads like a long, long pitch for a story: the idea is there, but without any subtle shading.
Rating: 
Summary: Who will survive?
Review: This book is a wonderful read! It is filled with plots, misunderstanding, challenges, conflicting emotions and problems, adventure and a delightful sense of mystery. It's interesting and the way that the characters meet had me smiling. Personally my favorite character is Tamrissa; fire magic. My favorite relationship would have to be Tamrissa and Vallant's. I like their relationship because Vallant wants to be her protector and he wants to win her love so badly but Tamrissa tries to ignore his existence as best she can. The only thing I didn't like was that their relationship goes on and on....The Blending is what many people test for. It consists of 5 elements; fire, water, air, spirit, and earth. The highest of the high with those talents make up a Blending which will compete against the other Blending... who are ill-intentioned. Lorand (earth), Jovvi (spirit), Tamrissa (fire), Vallant (water) and Clarion; later known as Rion (air)- those are some of the highest of the high in their talent. They all have personal problems to cope with, each of them vulnerable in different ways. Soon they all become friendly, if not friends but is that enough to face the challenges that await them? Will they die trying to prove that they are best? One problem with this book: the women who are basically the heroines are extremely beautiful and the heroes are all very handsome and close to perfect in appearances. The people with evil intent are ugly, evil and cruel thoughts swim in their eyes, sleek oily manners and voices, and snotty.
Rating:
Summary: Whoa! Is this bad!
Review: I read a lot of fantasy, and this ranks up there with the worst. Imagine having to read the same thing 5 TIMES IN A ROW! Nothing new happens, just the narrator changes. I think I could have stood that yet the characters themselves are very weak. Either they are good or evil, no grey areas. The main characters themselves act similar, the only difference is that they have different phobias. The stupid arguments that you are forced to read through made me throw the book across the room. All in all, spend your money on something else.
Rating: 
Summary: Readable, but...
Review: Does anyone get the impression Ms. Green has serious issues with her parents? Or maybe with authority figures in general? There isn't much character development in this book: everyone is basically cast as a personality type and there's almost no variation from it. All our heroes/heroines are basically decent, honest people shoved into a situation they have no control over by faceless powerful individuals who are universally evil. Parents, guardians, authority figures of any kind.. they're all selfish, uncaring, nasty people. Wow, nothing like a little subtlety, eh? Not to say this isn't a readable book - it's an amusing if superficial tale. Repetitive, too: shifting perspectives is one thing, but this one goes over the top in terms of redundancy. And yet, for some reason, I plan to read the others. I'll look in libraries and used bookstores - I won't pay full price for them - but I'm curious enough to see how it turns out. Maybe the writing improves. Maybe she found a decent editor. Maybe the characters become more than two-dimensional. I'm hoping...
Rating: 
Summary: Repetitive
Review: The repetitiveness of this novel is astounding. The story could easily have been told in half the length of this novel. All this book does is to introduce the characters and to bring them together. Nothing really happens. Is there a point to retelling similar experiences from five different perspectives? If you buy this book, prepare to do a lot of skimming. The only thing that made this novel bearable are the characters. They are strong, likable and well-drawn. In the end though, I didn't think I got my money's worth. In my opinion, setting the scene for a five book series shouldn't consume an entire book.
Rating:
Summary: OK! So it grew on me...
Review: I must admit that I didn't want to read this book. My wife said it was great, so I gave it a chance! I GOT HOOKED. Sure telling the story from five points of view got annoying after a while, but that didn't take away from the fact that this is a great story! I couldn't put it down, and I ran to get the next one. Be patient, there are some GREAT cliffhangers in this series -- the "paybacks" are interesting too.
Rating:
Summary: Warning- you can't put this book down
Review: And of course therein lies the problem. This book is a very compelling read, as is the second, even though the idea is a little cliched. The story of 5 talents meeting and being drawn into a group is interesting, and I managed to ignore most of the writing problems in this first book(the sex scenes were pretty bad though)I even dashed off to the bookstore after reading the first 2(from the library) in order to get the next 3. The author's habit of telling the variations of each character's tests is interesting at first, but will become repetitive by the end of the series. And you can't just read one of these books, they each have an interesting cliffhanger that almost compells you to get to the next one. I really did enjoy the story, and there are some unexpected twists, i just think it could have been told in 3 books , not 5. In the end it is rather like eating 6 bowls of ice cream at one sitting- the first ones taste pretty good, by the last one you feel unwell.
Rating: 
Summary: it's a sophisticated fairy tale
Review: I enjoyed the unhurried narrative, and the language made reading very smooth. The story has gotten all elements of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, with fine attention to subtle details. I liked the "regressions" into the personal lives of the characters and hope to enjoy the next four books as much as this one.
Rating:
Summary: Great start to a wonderful series
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I've recommended it to a few friends and they've liked it just as much. I couldn't put it down and read it just two sittings. After I finished it, I immediately bought the other books in this series that were out.
Rating:
Summary: romance novel in scifi clothes
Review: Altho the characters were interesting and the plot has great potential, it was not realized. It was annoyingly repetitious and has all the elements of the most boring kind of romance novel, where the characters are always in self doubt ad nauseum. It feels like the author and the publisher were trying to stretch this out into bigger bucks...both need to be seriously chastised because this could have been a good fun scifi novel.
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