Rating: 
Summary: Possibly the best TSR book ever?
Review: Knowing that TSR's produced some real stinkers (approximately a third of the grossly exploited Dragonlance series for example), it's great to see something that captures the essence of the high fantasy genre while putting in some interesting spins. The female characters are great, and rather than being simple sex objects and baby machines, in a very real way the story revolves around them. For example, the immediate effects of the seductress' actions were still being felt a generation later, her nefarious achievements far outstripping anything the men accomplished, including even the Mordred-like Gorgon. As for the high fantasy feel, it seemed that finally elves were magical, 'halflings' weren't just cloned from Tolkien (I can't stand kender either), and the monster was a formidable beast and enemy of a thousand years who still had a weak spot. Birthright is perhaps the best AD&D world created, even if it never really got the chance it deserved. The book reflects this.
Rating:
Summary: The First in TSR's new series Birthright is a success.
Review: The author, Mr. Hawke, was an excellent choice to start TSR's new world of Birthright. Characters, while not fantastic, were believable and likable. Hawke took many old ideas and gave them a new face in this book, something I have found that not many authors are able to do, especially within the fantasy genre. The story and plot were good, and I was also pleased to see some new races in the story. If the author had spent as much time on the characters as he did on the history of the world of Cerilia, Iron Throne would have definitely been worthy of a ten. A word to readers: This book would not be good for young readers, as well as people looking for an easy, unintellectual read. For those preferences, a great book would be the second in this series, Greatheart, by Dixie Lee McKeone
Rating: 
Summary: wow - a fantasy novel with an original plot !
Review: The character development of the hero, Michael was well done and believeable. My greatest measurement of whether or not I like a fantasy novel is how much and what do I have to accept to continue reading the book. Just how much is the author avoiding by leaving it up to the gods or magic or other forces? The more they demand that I believe, the less I like it.This required that I believe in the heroic spirit and a small amount of magic. No problem. Overall, the whole was well presented and left me wanting more. The end wasn't so great. Perhaps that's what left me wanting more??
Rating: 
Summary: An adequate book to fill a boring moment.
Review: The Iron Throne, while not a book of international brilliance, will not be a COMPLETE was te of time for a fan of the fantasy genre(I will NOT call it Science Fiction). The plot is relatively easy to understand, except for certain chapters(The realm the halfling leads them into comes to mind), which may be excused. The plot tends to be slightly abstract(if there is indeed a plot). It is a story about a Kingdom called Anuire which torn by civil war, is divide in its allegiance to the "true king" and an archduke. It starts with the childhood of the king and his high chamberlain-to-be, and at some point changes to his adulthood. The villain's name is a remarkable lack of ingenuity, ostentatiouslt titled "The Gorgon". However, despit its undeniable flaws, the book is an adequate, if not enjoyable pursuit on a boring afternoon. Read it, and then tell me why the author had Musical Acknowledgements where he thanked a number of Rock bands for inspiring him.
Rating: 
Summary: Another poorly written male adolescent fantasy
Review: This book has nothing to commend it. First, the main character gets to have Penthouse forum style sex (and lots of it)with a nymphomaniac 19-year old princess and an amzonian female elf. The women in the novel exist only to "produce male heirs" for the main characters who seem quite content with the arangement. It gives them time to run about the countryside fighting battles which are so unrealistically portrayed and require such a leap of faith on our part to believe it is laughable. Furthermore, the prose of this novel is leaden and redundant. Every enemy charges with a "ululating" war cry, for example. Dialogue is stilted and the characters often repeat the same phrase two pages later. Finally, nothing happens. This novel has one of the singularly boring plots I have ever come across. In summary - skip this novel. It is not worth your time to read.
Rating:
Summary: Another poorly written male adolescent fantasy
Review: This book has nothing to commend it. First, the main character gets to have Penthouse forum style sex (and lots of it)with a nymphomaniac 19-year old princess and an amzonian female elf. The women in the novel exist only to "produce male heirs" for the main characters who seem quite content with the arangement. It gives them time to run about the countryside fighting battles which are so unrealistically portrayed and require such a leap of faith on our part to believe it is laughable. Furthermore, the prose of this novel is leaden and redundant. Every enemy charges with a "ululating" war cry, for example. Dialogue is stilted and the characters often repeat the same phrase two pages later. Finally, nothing happens. This novel has one of the singularly boring plots I have ever come across. In summary - skip this novel. It is not worth your time to read.
Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: This book is incredible. True fantasy. I read this almost a year ago, and i am stil amazed by how great it is. There is a little boring history stuff in the first segment, but if you get past that, you will really be rewarded. wow. read it if you like fantasy. You won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: This book is incredible. True fantasy. I read this almost a year ago, and i am stil amazed by how great it is. There is a little boring history stuff in the first segment, but if you get past that, you will really be rewarded. wow. read it if you like fantasy. You won't be sorry.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh.
Review: This novel tells the story of Michael Roele, last direct descendant of Roele, champion of Anduiras, brother to the new god Haelyn, and Emperor of Anuire. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell it well. Our main viewpoint character is Aedan Dosiere, the playmate of Michael Roele, who is to grow up to be his high chamberlain. We see how the Archduke Boeruine treacherously betrays him, leading to an 8-year civil war, and how Michael's sister, Laera, turns to darkness in a manner that will lead to the destruction of the empire at the hands of its greatest threat, the Gorgon. This could have been a great novel. However, several things stand in the way. First, the writing, especially the dialogue, is quite clumsy. Secondly, the author apparently skimmed the background material and barely paid any attention to anything outside of Anuire; among other things, he confused the Rjurik (Celticy Vikings) and Brecht (Hanseatic League Germans) with the Vos (Russian/Mongol hybrids), and discussed awnshegh that weren't in the setting at the time (such as the Raven). Thirdly, one could hear the dice rolling. However, they didn't roll evenly; physical combat was blessedly free of gaming discussions, but magic, even AD&D 2nd edition magic, has been handled much better in other novels. I wanted to like this novel. Really, I did. Birthright is my favorite campaign setting. However, this would almost be enough to make me forswear any more novels in the series. Good thing I'm borrowing them.
Rating:
Summary: The Iron Throne Falls Short
Review: While at times this book had my complete attention, in the end I found that the story left a lot to be desired. Though there were some rather intriguing lead ups to supposed important characters in the story, Hawke failed to follow through on them. I expected an extremely important role to be played by this Gorgon character that is mentioned quite often, but he is handled quite lamely. There, also, is more than enough background to keep you bogged down and expecting a point to it. Most of the time the story seems more like a history lesson of Cerilia. There are rare occasions of rather enjoyable story lines, and in the end a quite interesting battle sequence, but even that ends in a pretty stupid way. Overall a pretty crappy story from somebody who has a MA in English and actually teaches SciFi and Fantansy writing.
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