Legend

Rating:
Summary: A WONDERFUL STORY. I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN.
Review: I felt like I was along for the ride as the hero and heroine fight through an incredible series of adventures and accomplish what neither of them ever believed they were capable of.

The book was recommended to me by a friend who now seems to be making it his life's work to tell everyone he meets about it. After reading Legend, I can understand his enthusiasm. If you read it, maybe you'll be telling everyone you know as well.

Rating:
Summary: AN ADVENTURE OF THE SPIRIT AS WELL AS A PHYSICAL ADVENTURE!
Review: In my opinion, LEGEND is an extraordinary tale. It's a quest, a test of the protagonists, and an inquisition into their characters all at once. Their perils are spiritual and psychic as well as physical, yet it's the sheer physical adventure that pulls the reader from page to page, at a can't-put-the-book-down pace.

The book it most reminds me of is DELIVERANCE, in that it works out its themes in non-stop action. It says what it has to say through that action. But it has a great deal to say. And much of what it has to say you don't realize until you've finished the novel and you find yourself thinking back on it.

It's not a book you will quickly forget.

Rating:
Summary: A pretty darn good book
Review: Not an all time great, but very entertaining and much better on the inside than on the outside, of course with an outside cover like this one anything would be better on the inside.

Rating:
Summary: Imaginative and worth a read
Review: Okay, I agree that this is quite a good book. I am a bit surprised at the overwhelmingly 5-star reviews, though. There ARE better books out there, in my opinion.

The post-fall-of-civilization world that Maher envisions is inventive and yet pretty believable. Society has become stratified and stagnant, with many of its residents on the bare edge of survival. The remnants of civilization are in tatters and barely functioning, victims of entropy with no one to maintain them.

Against this backdrop, Maher's story follows two heroes-to-be, Martin and Gena. I thought that these characters, along with most others in the novel, were pretty well written. Finding themselves swept up by events not of their own making, the protagonists react just as you or I might - to a point. It is their very believability that made it difficult for me to buy into their heroic behavior as the story progressed.

Martin passes certain tests that no one else can, but how? Somehow he simply manages to do so where any other person would fail. Where does this strength come from? It's written as if he virtually walked through his ordeals, and we get no explanation other than that. As for Gena, a girl who grew up alone in the most vicious and cutthroat environment possible, she somehow decides in the end to do the right thing by Martin when she has shown nothing but contempt for all the other characters in the story. Where does this noble impulse come from?

These unanswered questions left me with a hint of disappointment precisely because Legend is such a well-written story. I would definitely recommend it, but can't quite give it five stars.

Rating:
Summary: Imaginative and worth a read
Review: Okay, I agree that this is quite a good book. I am a bit surprised at the overwhelmingly 5-star reviews, though. There ARE better books out there, in my opinion.

The post-fall-of-Civilization world that Maher envisions is inventive and yet pretty believable. Society has become stratified and stagnant, with many of its residents on the edge of survival. The remnants of Civilization are in tatters and barely functioning, victims of entropy with no one to maintain them.

Against this backdrop, Maher's story follows two heroes-to-be, a man and a woman. I thought that these characters, along with most others in the novel, were pretty well written. Finding themselves swept up by events not of their own making, the protagonists react just as you or I might - to a point. It is their very believability that made it difficult as the story progressed to buy their heroic actions. The male protagonist endures a series of challenges with a stoic nature that the author does not explain. Sure, it's great to see a person rise to the greatest of challenges, but how is he able to do it where others would fail? This question is never answered.

Still, despite this, I found the story quite compelling and would recommend it to almost anyone. Entertaining, creative and worth a read!

Rating:
Summary: A pretty darn good book
Review: What people need to do is hound the author into getting off his duff and writing more novels. It not that there just isn't a sequel, there aren't any other novels at all. What's up with that?