Rating: 
Summary: A second star for effort.
Review: To give you an understanding of the general level of sophistication in "Implements of Destruction," contemplate the following scene: a master swordswoman seeks to enter a militant stronghold - and to disguise herself she rubs mud on her face; apparently, a simple facial is enough to conceal leanness and gracility of figure, any elegance of motion, and even your steed. In a better book, this would be the doing of a comic sidekick - in "Implements," Theala is the hero.Calligaro doesn't simply write to the formula - he's happy to. He writes in Ye Olde Pulkspeake (it's easy to recognize because the word for "look" is always "gaze" and the word for "clothing" is always "garments"), and the plot is a collection of every fantasy generality ever though of: forget "The Tough Guide to Fantasyland" - here is the real deal! Calligaro's descriptions are vague and meandering. It is clear that no resarch went into the writing: I laughed during the scene in which the heroes catch, roast, and eat a mountain lion (p.130); the author even has trouble describing medieval cities (if half of Taloria were shadowed by a rocky overhang, wouldn't it be in perpetual twilight?) and mountainous terrain (try and follow his reasoning in the waterfall scene). Words are overused as Calligaro gropes for synonims (a short paragraph on page 54 uses the word "wrist" five times). Moments of extreme awkwardness emerge during unnecessary viewpoint switches. The fight scenes are confusing and overwritten - the material seems to reside at the video-game level, if even that. The story develops... excuse me for a second while I laugh uncontrollably at having written the words "the story develops." The story does not develop. It sprang fully formed from the realm of Lowest Common Denominator Fantasy. In a groundbreaking twist, the story does not start at an Inn. It starts on a Traditional Hilltop with the Heroine overlooking a Warrior Camp. The Inn is the second scene. Three characters are introduced: Theala, the above-mentioned incarnation of swordfighting genius (or vanity, or tragedy, or comedy, or whatever the plot requires); Smithe, a good-for-nothing bandit with a heart of gold who speaks in thief cant (all his verbs are in third person); and, lastly, Bytor, a daemon warrior who is very obviously Theala's long-lost brother. Like so many other moody co-heroes, he's just recently emerged from hell and isn't quite comfortable with the concept of being human. Having introduced these three characters, whom we are destined to follow for two-hundred-odd pages (or fewer; if you're lucky, none at all), the book runs out of steam. We get a scene of wraithlike "Implementors" destroying a village, for no reason other than to let Calligaro include an Ominous Foreshadowing Scene. Meanwhile, the heroes take a shopping trip to Taloria, the capital of whatever (the book does not deign to inform us whether its world is subdivided in any way). In Taloria, Calligaro cunningly introduces a quest ("If that is so, then we have a destination for our travels [86]"), and the heroes depart - but not before Taloria is destroyed by Implementors, giving Calligaro an excuse to insert a scene of Urban Panic. The heroes travel through mountains, where they meet a Gollum stand-in (a ssssslithery, sssssibilant creature named Rranssorr) and find some Dwarves and their Underground City (but not before risking their very lives in several yawn-inducing encounters with Implementors). Having awed us sufficiently, Calligaro lets the heroes reach their goal, with so little payoff that he immendiately forces the heroes to on an Afterquest, though not before revealing the Implementors' arbitrary nature in a scene so overwrought it's funny. So, why two stars, you ask. Because the image of an amateur writer typing away feverishly is very endearing to me, a hopeful writer myself. To give "Implements" one star would be a crime. Calligaro will never be a great writer, not even a particularly entertaining one, but he is a writer - and that's an aspiration so many of us have. Oh, and the exploding Rubik's Cube.
Rating: 
Summary: A Read Well Worth While!
Review: When I read this book I was like. WOW! I love these kind of stories. They or full of exitement and action. Plus this book has inspired and given me many ideas for my book I've started. " The Quest for Immortality." I love Michael Calligaro's writing. I just can't put the book down. :-)
Rating:
Summary: A Read Well Worth While!
Review: When I read this book I was like. WOW! I love these kind of stories. They or full of exitement and action. Plus this book has inspired and given me many ideas for my book I've started. " The Quest for Immortality." I love Michael Calligaro's writing. I just can't put the book down. :-)
Rating:
Summary: A great Escape
Review: While I am not a big sci-fi or fantasy reader, this one was really enjoyable. Started it on a plane trip to Baltimore and actually hoped for a airline delay.
New hybrid "monster-animal"-type characters were great.
Rating:
Summary: A great Escape
Review: While I am not a big sci-fi or fantasy reader, this one was really enjoyable. Started it on a plane trip to Baltimore and actually hoped for a airline delay.
New hybrid "monster-animal"-type characters were great.
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