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Rating: 
Summary: A stark disappointment
Review: I had quite enjoyed the first book. The lead character reminded me of Foster's "Into the Out Of", a book a highly recommend, but skip the last 50 pages or so. Alas! this one didn't measure up. Meandering and moralistic, with too many cardboard Bad Guys and the escape from tight spots and dire straits have become predictable in that Ehomba will pull something unpredictable from his rucksack.
Rating:
Summary: A stark disappointment
Review: I had quite enjoyed the first book. The lead character reminded me of Foster's "Into the Out Of", a book a highly recommend, but skip the last 50 pages or so. Alas! this one didn't measure up. Meandering and moralistic, with too many cardboard Bad Guys and the escape from tight spots and dire straits have become predictable in that Ehomba will pull something unpredictable from his rucksack.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't even finish it
Review: I love the previous work of Foster; Spellsinger to Flinx, but the feeling I got from this one is identical to term papers I wrote at the last minute. Etjole, the main character, is barely recognizeable from the first book(at least he didn't eat anybody in this one)and the plot twists, well, Foster just has plain stopped trying to tie them together or make them coherent. I can almost see his notes prior to writing " Uh, insane horses, a swamp, then a miracle occurs". As he is aging, Foster must be losing his imagination. What a shame. I gave the book back to my library two-thirds through and read how it ended on Amazon.com. Smart choice.
Rating: 
Summary: Not much different from the first, but still enjoyable.
Review: I was really worried after reading the first chapter of this book. It introduces us to the villain of the story. After only getting a brief glimpse of him in the first book, he gets an entire chapter devoted to him here. It was awful. Foster has created one of the most cliched antagonists I have ever seen. Combine all of the cheesy elements from various sci-fi and fantasy villains and you get Foster's creation. Ugh.Fortunately, not much time was spent here. If the tone of the book had been set by that first chapter, then I would have given it only two stars. This was most definitely not the case. We still see the plot device from the first book of Etjole encountering obstacle after obstacle and defeating each with something given to him by a person from his village. This is getting tedious. The book would have received only three stars if this had again been the thrust of the book. Luckily, Foster has begun to dig deeper into the supporting characters and giving them a life of their own. Their interrelationships were also delved into a bit more. My one complaint in this regard is that the characters are very static. For example, at one point, Simna gets an undisguised glimpse into his soul, but it does nothing to change his personality. Why? It is very frustrating to follow characters through several hundred pages of adventure and have them not change a bit. I guess the reason I gave this book four stars instead of three was that, after about the halfway point, I found it difficult to put down. I was enjoying the story way too much. It is also very different from most other fantasies on the shelves today; different themes, different types of characters, and different locales. All add up to a fun journey through an interesting world. I couldn't help but enjoy myself.
Rating:
Summary: Not much different from the first, but still enjoyable.
Review: I was really worried after reading the first chapter of this book. It introduces us to the villain of the story. After only getting a brief glimpse of him in the first book, he gets an entire chapter devoted to him here. It was awful. Foster has created one of the most cliched antagonists I have ever seen. Combine all of the cheesy elements from various sci-fi and fantasy villains and you get Foster's creation. Ugh. Fortunately, not much time was spent here. If the tone of the book had been set by that first chapter, then I would have given it only two stars. This was most definitely not the case. We still see the plot device from the first book of Etjole encountering obstacle after obstacle and defeating each with something given to him by a person from his village. This is getting tedious. The book would have received only three stars if this had again been the thrust of the book. Luckily, Foster has begun to dig deeper into the supporting characters and giving them a life of their own. Their interrelationships were also delved into a bit more. My one complaint in this regard is that the characters are very static. For example, at one point, Simna gets an undisguised glimpse into his soul, but it does nothing to change his personality. Why? It is very frustrating to follow characters through several hundred pages of adventure and have them not change a bit. I guess the reason I gave this book four stars instead of three was that, after about the halfway point, I found it difficult to put down. I was enjoying the story way too much. It is also very different from most other fantasies on the shelves today; different themes, different types of characters, and different locales. All add up to a fun journey through an interesting world. I couldn't help but enjoy myself.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: I've read all of Foster's books, so you could say I'm a big fan. However, I didn't even finish this one. I got the feeling there was a contract signed to produce three volumes and he needed to stretch the story out.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: I've read all of Foster's books, so you could say I'm a big fan. However, I didn't even finish this one. I got the feeling there was a contract signed to produce three volumes and he needed to stretch the story out.
Rating:
Summary: Clever
Review: One does not know the complexities to the simple man. The antihero herdsman in this tale, weaves the reader through the realities of living a simple existance intertwined with the fantasy of other-world imagination. With the last utterances of a dying stranger, Etjole Ehomba, shepard of sheep, curator of cattle, introduces the unwary reader into the mysteries of brotherhood and honor, of war and peace, of courage and duty. Together with two heartily enjoyable and very unlikely fellow travelers, Etjole leads us north into adventures that could only exist in the imagination of Alan Dean Foster! As an avid, and almost singular, reader of hard science-fiction, this book came as a suprise and delight! Thanks Mr. Foster!
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