Demon Lord

Rating:
Summary: Decent Enough
Review: As self-published first novels go, Demon Lord is a good read. Mr. Elmore's writing style is certainly better than that of many self-publishers, who resort to this particular medium because, quite simply, standard publishing houses won't accept them.

This sort of fantasy-warrior story is dropping out of vogue, and has been for a few years. One can see, early on, that this could easily develop into a screenplay, or even a backstory for a videogame, bringing together the typical fellowship of fighters, magicians and rogues. Setting it apart from the typical is the fact that these are people who have worked together in the past, and this provides ample material for flashbacks and retellings (often exagerrated) of past exploits.

Mr. Elmore's expertise and previous writings in the amrtial arts field is well known to me. He has been a frequent target for critics who remain unconvinced that anything other than their own pet style of martial arts is valid. Instead, Mr. Elmore combines elements from several different forms, those that include weapons and those that focus solely on unarmed combat. By spreading different techniques among his characters, he provides a variety of fighting styles, while at the same time giving them common ground in their previous training and work together.

Check it out, and hope that he has more stories like this up his sleeve.

Rating:
Summary: Decent Enough
Review: As self-published first novels go, Demon Lord is a good read. Mr. Elmore's writing style is certainly better than that of many self-publishers, who resort to this particular medium because, quite simply, standard publishing houses won't accept them.

This sort of fantasy-warrior story is dropping out of vogue, and has been for a few years. One can see, early on, that this could easily develop into a screenplay, or even a backstory for a videogame, bringing together the typical fellowship of fighters, magicians and rogues. Setting it apart from the typical is the fact that these are people who have worked together in the past, and this provides ample material for flashbacks and retellings (often exagerrated) of past exploits.

Mr. Elmore's expertise and previous writings in the amrtial arts field is well known to me. He has been a frequent target for critics who remain unconvinced that anything other than their own pet style of martial arts is valid. Instead, Mr. Elmore combines elements from several different forms, those that include weapons and those that focus solely on unarmed combat. By spreading different techniques among his characters, he provides a variety of fighting styles, while at the same time giving them common ground in their previous training and work together.

Check it out, and hope that he has more stories like this up his sleeve.

Rating:
Summary: Good first start
Review: Demon lord is a wonderful first start for Elmore. As far as Fantasy novels go the plot is fairly standard stuff, a group of hero's go off to save the day/world/ country. That is not, however, what makes the book. The fight scenes are well writen, very descripive and it is well thought out. They are done well enough that they are believable in a fantasy setting and that is all I ask for out of a Fantasy novel. The authors obvious love of weapons comes out as he lovingly describes the armament of our heros.

I had a few problems with the story line such as the very obvious equivalancy between our "real world" religions and some of Elmore's "fantasy world" religions. However, that is a common fault in many novels of this type. It didn't detract much but the author would do well to keep that in mind.

All and all, a pretty good start for a new author. I hope he writes more.

Rating:
Summary: There are good books and then this is this book
Review: I am still stunned I wasted my money on this one. It's obvious the person that wrote it knows nothing about weapons usage or Martial Arts. This is some of the worst reading I have ever MADE myself do. From what I understand, this was the authors first book. I hope he didn't quit his day job

Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Fantasy Story
Review: I have been a fan of Phil Elmore and his website for a while and really like his work. I read a prereleased electronic .pdf version of Demon Lord and liked it very much. I am going to order the paperback.

The book is fast paced and has a good story. The martial arts action and weaponry is pretty real. When the characters speak to each other it also seems real and you can believe these people might really exist as real personalities.

I hope Phil Elmore writes a sequel soon!

Rating:
Summary: An excellent effort for a first book
Review: I read Phil's book and I found it to be rather interesting and really very good for a first effort. His knowledge of weapons is truly impressive and his use of the very wide variety that he has in his book makes for a very enjoyable read for those who do enjoy reading about them. The only real error that I found is one that nearly every fantasy author makes, and that is the use of hardened leather armor in a Northwestern European setting. Folks, it rains there and when hardened leather gets wet, it no longer works very well as armor, but you need to have tried using it as a re-enactor to have discovered that. This happens to be a particular issue of mine and it is likely nobody else would ever notice, but friends who have tried leather breastplates have told me how they get all limp in a good rain.

His plotline is quite complex and makes use of a great deal of the world's mythos. If I go into it further, I would be writing spoilers, and that I will not do. But I did see Templars lurking about under another name, along with other historical and/or legendary groups, although Phil says that he was not thinking of the Templars. His religious references are fun to compare to the real world. It was my experience that he is more than willing to discuss this with you if you ask.

To sum up, a very enjoyable escape fantasy with numerous threads left for continuation in later books.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent effort for a first book
Review: I read Phil's book and I found it to be rather interesting and really very good for a first effort. His knowledge of weapons is truly impressive and his use of the very wide variety that he has in his book makes for a very enjoyable read for those who do enjoy reading about them. The only real error that I found is one that nearly every fantasy author makes, and that is the use of hardened leather armor in a Northwestern European setting. Folks, it rains there and when hardened leather gets wet, it no longer works very well as armor, but you need to have tried using it as a re-enactor to have discovered that. This happens to be a particular issue of mine and it is likely nobody else would ever notice, but friends who have tried leather breastplates have told me how they get all limp in a good rain.

His plotline is quite complex and makes use of a great deal of the world's mythos. If I go into it further, I would be writing spoilers, and that I will not do. But I did see Templars lurking about under another name, along with other historical and/or legendary groups, although Phil says that he was not thinking of the Templars. His religious references are fun to compare to the real world. It was my experience that he is more than willing to discuss this with you if you ask.

To sum up, a very enjoyable escape fantasy with numerous threads left for continuation in later books.

Rating:
Summary: High Adventure, Great Characters
Review: This book is better than most of the books from "big name" publishers I bought in the last six months. It moves great, the main characters are interesting and developed, and it's fun to read. Elmore must read a lot of fantasy and science fiction because there is a little of everything in here. He puts his own spin on all of it and it all makes a great world for his characters and creatures to fight, live, and die in.

I liked the character Kalin best because he is tough but not too tough and beneath his angry posturing is a real person. All the fighting in the book was very detailed too, and I found it fascinating to read. I do not know a lot about the martial arts so I can't comment on how that was treated in the book, but I really liked reading the combat scenes and flashbacks.

I read the book very quickly. It was hard to put down and I will probably read it again.