The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You

The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You

You may have heard somewhere that Neil Gaiman's Sandman series consistedof cool, hip, edgy, smart comic books. And you may have thought, "What the helldoes that mean?" Enter A Game of You to confound the issue even more, while at the same time standing as a fine example of such a description. This is not an easy book. The characters are dense and unique, while their observations are, as always with Gaiman, refreshingly familiar. Then there's the plot, which grinds along like a coffee mill, in the process breaking down the two worlds of this series, that of the dream and that of the dreamer. Gaiman pushes these worlds to their very extremes--one is a fantasy world with talking animals, a missing princess, and a mysterious villain called the Cuckoo; the other is an urban microcosm inhabited by a drag queen, a punk lesbian couple, and a New York doll named Barbie. In almost every way this book sits at 180 degrees from the earlier four volumes of the Sandman series--although the less it seems to belong to the series, the more it shows its heart. --Jim Pascoe

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #5413 in Books

Published on: 1993-09-03

Released on: 1993-09-03

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

192 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
You may have heard somewhere that Neil Gaiman's Sandman series consisted of cool, hip, edgy, smart comic books. And you may have thought, "What the hell does that mean?" Enter A Game of You to confound the issue even more, while at the same time standing as a fine example of such a description. This is not an easy book. The characters are dense and unique, while their observations are, as always with Gaiman, refreshingly familiar. Then there's the plot, which grinds along like a coffee mill, in the process breaking down the two worlds of this series, that of the dream and that of the dreamer. Gaiman pushes these worlds to their very extremes--one is a fantasy world with talking animals, a missing princess, and a mysterious villain called the Cuckoo; the other is an urban microcosm inhabited by a drag queen, a punk lesbian couple, and a New York doll named Barbie. In almost every way this book sits at 180 degrees from the earlier four volumes of the Sandman series--although the less it seems to belong to the series, the more it shows its heart. --Jim Pascoe

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Customer Reviews

Now I See
The last three volumes of The Sandman have completely outdone what came before. I thought there were glimmers of a good story in the first two volumes, but the storytelling itself was so clunky and unfocused that it was hard to find what really made me keep reading. Well, I'm glad I did, because the fifth volume, "A Game of You," is easily the best written installment so far.

While the Sandman himself hardly appears in this volume, I didn't find that frustrating at all. By this point, Gaiman has begun to write from character, and that really helps the story move forward in unpredictable and fantastic ways. It's about a girl who dreams herself into a fantasy realm that is endangered by the Cuckoo, who sends agents into the real world to have her and her friends killed. The story alternates between New York and The Land, and it's so innovative and just so well done that you won't even wonder where Morpheus is.

Not only is this the best story so far, it also functions in tying the previous volumes together in a way I didn't predict. The main character is Barbie, who was part of the preppy couple Barbie and Ken in Vol. 2: The Doll's House. Also, Foxglove is actually the lover of the lesbian woman at the diner from Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes. It's all a very tight story, and in some ways is a (much better) sequel to "The Doll's House."

Now I see what people were talking about when they gushed about this series.

9/10

Another solid addition to the Sandman mythos
The fifth Sandman collection sees Gaiman tackle the traditional fantasy/fairy tale 'quest' story. This is an interesting tale, one of the most traditionally-structured in the series, and once again makes use of the history already established in the series whilst setting up elements for use in future stories.

Barbie, the young woman who was one of Rose Walker's housemates in The Doll's House, has relocated to New York City and now lives in an apartment block. Other residents of the block include a transsexual named Wanda, a lesbian couple named Hazel and Foxglove, a bookish young woman named Thessaly and a surly man named George. Since the events of The Doll's House Barbie has been unable to dream and in her absence the dream-kingdom she used to inhabit, the Land, has been overrun by an evil force known as 'the Cuckoo'. Only a few of Barbie's imaginary friends have survived, and using powerful magic one of these, a giant dog named Martin Tenbones, crosses over into the real world to enlist her aid in saving them.

A Game of You is, by some reports, the least popular of the Sandman tales. I'm not sure why that is the case, although Dream spending much more time off-page than normal (only really active at the beginning and end) may have something to do with it. The mix of high fantasy with harsh reality may have something more to do with it, and the somewhat bemused-rather-than-scared-into-catatonia reactions of the other residents of the apartment block to one of their number cutting off someone's face and pinning it to the wall strains credulity somewhat. But Gaiman again gives us an interesting, intricately-crafted story featuring some very well-realised characters and some fascinating fantasy concepts. A lengthy essay by Samual R. Delaney opens this collection in which he discusses some of the ideas and themes presented, and is an interesting read. A Game of You is, at its heart, a story about identity, about what people want to be versus the sometimes harsh reality of who they actually are, and about the role that fantasy plays in people's lives.

A Game of You (****) is another solid addition to the Sandman mythos, with a strong storyline and some interesting thematic elements making up for a slightly unsatisfying ending and a distinct lack of appearances by the Sandman. It is available from Titan in the UK and Vertigo in the USA, and is part of The Absolute Sandman, Volume II, available from Vertigo in the UK and USA.

Graphic SF Reader
A messed up girl named Barbie has created a dream world with some serious problems. After blocking this out of a mind for her time, and not dreaming, eventually her dream world gets to her.

This drags in her friends and neighbours, who happen to include an immortal witch, and an agent of her dream foe.

Through a drawing down the moon ritual, the women involved enter the dream world to try and rectify things and find Barbie.

Needless to say, Morpheus is not at all amused, when he finally has to act.

This part really has little to do with the Endless.

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The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice

The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice

The winter solstice, the day the "sun stands still," marks the longest night and the shortest day of the year, and it comes either on December 20th or 21st. Celebrations honoring the winter solstice as a moment of transition and renewal date back thousands of years and occur among many peoples on every continent. The Return of the Light makes an ideal companion for everyone who carries on this tradition, no matter what their faith. Storyteller Carolyn McVickar Edwards retells twelve traditional tales—from North America, China, Scandinavia, India, Africa, South America, Europe, and Polynesia—that honor this magical moment. These are stories that will renew our wonder of the miracle of rebirth and the power of transition from darkness into light.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #256998 in Books

Published on: 2005-11-13

Format: Illustrated

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

192 pages

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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
"Intelligent and charming, The Return of the Light draws you into an ancient, still thriving world of mystery and magic, where humans strive to make sense of nature and come up with ingenious and often fun tales to explain the winter solstice.

Carolyn McVickar Edwards lays a foundation of knowledgeable yet accessible scholarship, then recounts each tale in the various cultures' unique styles, often with snappy dialogue, often with a haunting poignancy.

Whether you're new to comparative mythology or an old hand, you're sure to enjoy and appreciate Edwards' respectful yet lively look at how the mystery of change resonates throughout our stories and rituals, bringing meaning to our myths and our lives." -Pamela Jaye Smith, mythologist and filmmaker, founder of MYTHWORKS(tm)

"Each story is a glimpse into the imagery and mysteries of another culture-from a female Santa Claus in Italy to a girl marrying the sun in Africa, to the North American Raven creating light. Read the stories one day as a meditative journey or read them to your kids, or read one after another. They tell of an inner journey too, the universal journey from light to dark and back to light again. As Carolyn says, myths are the soul stories of a particular culture. Each of her commentaries creates a tone, paints the landscape, and deepens our journey through these other worlds. Wonderful stories for the holidays or for any day of the year." -ELLIE FIDLER M.F.A., artist, lecturer and teacher of art and mythology, and the Solstice and Seasonal Myths and Mysteries series at the University of California extension, Santa Cruz, and in Berkeley, California

"The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice honors the power of storytelling and will enhance the experience of the Winter Solstice through its stories and fables, ritual and ceremony. It gives us ways to look at this time of year with renewed meaning." -Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., cultural anthropologist, author of The Four-Fold Way and Signs of Life

About the Author
Carolyn McVickar Edwards, a teacher and storyteller in Oakland, California, is the author of The Storyteller’s Goddess and In the Light of the Moon. She is interested in the literacies and languages of earth, myths, books, folk songs and stories, and conversation. More information about her and her work is available at www.carolynmcvickaredwards.com.

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Customer Reviews

A pleasing collection
These stories are beautifully written and crafted. For those of us who love celestial creation stories, it's gratifying to see so many fine tales brought together in one book. However, I question if this is really for children (it was catalogued as a juvenile book in my library) with sentences such as the following from the introduction: "In each tale, the status quo, represented respectively by grudging community, powerful magician, innocent girl, or oblivious community, is like the personality entrenched in its habits and defenses, blind to spacious possibility."

Ellen Jackson, author
THE WINTER SOLSTICE
www.ellenjackson.net

Wonderful stories
What a wonderful collection of short stories - really great to read and put down, come back later for more. The stories are from around the world which I particularly liked. All are very well written, easy to get into, leave you with things to think about. Here are the titles of the stories:
Part 1: Theft
- Why Hummingbird has a red throat
- The golden earring
- Raven steals the light
- The sun cow and the theif

Part 2: Surrender
- How Maui snared the sun
- How the cock got his crown
- Loki and the death of light
- The pull-together morning

Part 3: The Grace
- Grandfather mantis and his thinking strings
- The girl who married the sun
- The light keepers box
- La Befana and the Royal Child of Light

For each story we're told what country its from and a little background for contect. Excellent!!

The last part of the book has rites (e.g. tree offering, give away) and games for winter solstice nights and solstice songs (e.g. deck the halls, joy to the world etc - different lyrics from the traditional christian songs)

There's also a great bibliography to check out more books

Highly recommended.

Tales and Ritual Ideas to Enrich the Yuletide Season
I love this little volume of Winter Solstice tales from diverse cultures around the world. I believe that exploring the rich symbolism of the Yuletide season helps to make this joyful time of year come more fully to life. These clever stories are sure to further your understanding of the meanings of the holiday celebrations you have enjoyed all your life, adding new dimension to your future celebrations. They offer an opportunity to increase your sense of oneness with others who may worship and believe differently from yourself but who are none-the-less your sisters and brothers. There are tables at the back of this book which have short ritual ideas to use in your own celebrations and revels as well as some clever lyric revisions to well-known carols that put a Winter Solstice spin on them. I am a Wiccan Priestess and have used this book in crafting an annual public, ecumenical Yule ritual with great success. I recommend it for fireside reading as you wait up to greet the new born light.

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The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones

The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #5835 in Books

Published on: 1996-09-01

Released on: 1996-09-01

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

352 pages

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Customer Reviews

Change Must Have Ramifications
The Kindly Ones encompasses the direct consequences of the earlier volume, Brief Lives. In Brief Lives, Lord Morpheus (Dream) changes, for better or for worse. The actions that lead to such change must have ramifications, and The Kindly Ones details such repercussions.

In The Kindly Ones, Lyta Hall, a character who has made sporadic appearances throughout The Sandman series, is convinced that Dream has stolen her baby, Daniel. She goes to the women known as the Kindly Ones for vengeance, and even she couldn't predict the outcome.

Making use of virtually every character in The Sandman mythos, The Kindly Ones is a truly epic tale that brings us to a point in Dream's existence that would seem, based upon Brief Lives, inevitable. At times The Kindly Ones gets a bit muddled and verbose, but in the end, it was all worth it.

I've had the privilege of reading The Sandman series in completion and for the first time in the last few months, and The Kindly Ones is testament to the genius of Neil Gaiman. I don't know if it was on purpose or a happy accident, but The Kindly Ones makes use of virtually every storyline preceding it and concludes such a mammoth story ... it's nearly unimaginable someone could dream up such a story.

My only suggestion: Skip the introduction and read it after you finish The Kindly Ones. It does reveal a fairly major plot point, which, upon retrospect seems obvious, but even so, I would have liked to have avoided the introduction's cataclysmic revelation.

~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant

Graphic SF Reader
Lyta Hall's son Daniel is taken from her. She shows that, when a superhero, she wasn't called Fury for nothing.

Finding her mythological namesakes, she decides to put an end to Morpheus, the Lord of Dream. Morpheus is not without his own plans and defenses, however, but a promise made to a former servant costs him dearly.

The Kindly Ones
This is my favorite volume of "The Sandman," by far (I still haven't read the last one, so I can't say it's my all time favorite yet). The artwork is very different from previous volumes, featuring Mark Hempel's work, which is very abstract, especially compared to the more realistic styles of other volumes. Still, I think it was well suited for such an emotional part of the story, because the expressions and moods of each character were excellently portrayed.

I don't see why a fan of "The Sandman" would ever not want to own this volume. It features the return of several past characters, including Rose Walker, Lyta Hall and her son, and Lucifer, among others. By tying in virtually all the previous volumes, it can be considered the climax of "The Sandman" storyline.

It's beautiful, poetic, heart-wrenching, and colorful; a masterpiece I can't help but flip through every time I pick it up.

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Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)

Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)

Climactic volume of the Dune trilogy in which an alien society achieves ecological salvation.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #15025 in Books

Published on: 1987-05-15

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

416 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Review
Last in Herbert's Dune trilogy, this ponderously realigns the surviving family of the departed (or not so departed) messiah Muad'Dib, Paul Atreides. Paul's sister Alia, one of the "pre-born" who carry the living memories of the entire Atreides ancestry back to Agamemnon, becomes possessed by the spirit of a long-dead forebear and embarks on a ruinous power game which threatens both the ecological basis of Dune's crucial spice trade and the lives of Paul's children, the nine-year-old twins Ghanima and Leto. Among the increasingly crazed intrigues of Alia and the risky intervention of Paul's mother, the twins struggle to master their perilous ancestral memories and more-than-adult mental powers. At stake are the precious ecology and ethos of Dune itself, with terrible consequences for the scattered planets of the Imperium. It's sometimes gripping, but dreadfully overwritten ("the parched glissando of moonglow") and self-important beyond description, with at least two great thoughts to a page, and sometimes three or four. Still, that's just what seems to attract the post-born true believers. (Kirkus Reviews)

Review
“Ranging from palace intrigue and desert chases to religious speculation and confrontations with the supreme intelligence of the universe, there is something here for all science fiction fans.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Herbert adds enough new twists and turns to the ongoing saga that familiarity with the recurring elements brings pleasure.”
—Challenging Destiny

About the Author
Frank Herbert was born in Tacoma, Washington, and educated at the University of Washington, Seattle. He worked a wide variety of jobs—including TV cameraman, radio commentator, oyster diver, jungle survival instructor, lay analyst, creative writing teacher, reporter, and editor of several West Coast newspapers—before becoming a full-time writer.

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Customer Reviews

I got bored with it
"Children of Dune" is not a bad book, but I got bored with it and with the whole series. I remember starting the fourth book of the series and putting it down after 5 or 10 pages because I could not take it any longer. However, "Children ..." is decent enough and does help wrap up some of the story threads that started with "Dune" Unfortunately, I found it to be work to get done with it.

I always am amazed that this series has been so popular. In my opinion the first three books start with a great book, then fade. I could not take some of the sillyness of the rest of the series.

Wonderful
Who doesn't love this series that is a Sci-Fi Geek. OMG I saw one stars on this- What? Ummm Frank Herbert Rocks.

Hero of Classic Sci-fi
Rarely has a book been as beautifully and poniontly written as Children of Dune, Frank Herbert's third book in the Dune Chronicles. Filled with all of the original cast and several new charecters, Children of Dune explores like its predecessors the creation of Gods and Messiahs from men, albeit prodigal men, but men nonetheless; the creations of empires and the development of societies; and the relationships that bind people together throughout the ages.

In short, a wonderful book that I highly recommend.

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Axis

Axis

Wildly praised by readers and critics alike, Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin won science fiction’s highest honor, the Hugo Award for Best Novel.
 
Now, in Spin’s direct sequel, Wilson takes us to the "world next door"--the planet engineered by the mysterious Hypotheticals to support human life, and connected to Earth by way of the Arch that towers hundreds of miles over the Indian Ocean. Humans are colonizing this new world--and, predictably, fiercely exploiting its resources, chiefly large deposits of oil in the western deserts of the continent of Equatoria.
 
Lise Adams is a young woman attempting to uncover the mystery of her father's disappearance ten years earlier. Turk Findley is an ex-sailor and sometimes-drifter. They come together when an infall of cometary dust seeds the planet with tiny remnant Hypothetical machines. Soon, this seemingly hospitable world will become very alien indeed--as the nature of time is once again twisted, by entities unknown.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #13566 in Books

Published on: 2008-06-03

Released on: 2008-06-03

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Mass Market Paperback

368 pages

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In this outstanding sequel to Wilson's Hugo-winning Spin (2005), we are taken to the mysterious planet Equatoria, a world apparently engineered for humanity by the inscrutable machine intelligences known as the Hypotheticals. Turk Findley, a man with a criminal past, runs an aeronautical charter service on the newly settled planet. Lise Adams, who hires Turk, is a would-be journalist searching for her vanished father, a scientist obsessed with the Hypotheticals and their illegal life extension technology. Meanwhile, young Isaac, genetically manipulated by rogue scientists so that he may become a conduit between humanity and the AIs, is coming of age, and something enormous and unknown is assembling itself far underground. The various science and thriller plot elements are successful, but this is first and foremost a novel of character. Turk and Lise, who might well be played by Bogart and Bacall, are powerfully drawn protagonists, and their strong presence in the novel makes the wonders provided all the more satisfying. Those unfamiliar with Spin may flounder a bit, but Wilson's fans will be ecstatic. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
Critics enjoyed Axis as much as they did Spinâ€"but suggested that readers embarking on the second novel in the series may wish to start with the first, which introduces Robert Charles Wilson’s compelling, fully developed characters and provides a context for Earth’s time warp. Be warned: this is the second book of a planned trilogy, and it has that getting-deeper-in-our-world-without-resolving-everything approach at which middle books excel. But even for readers unfamiliar with Equatoria, Axis is a suspenseful, smart, and well-crafted book with characters who, even amid alien, AI creatures, face real-life dilemmas. Although Axis provides very few answers to questions raised in Spin, it starts to fit the details of life and life quests on Equatoria (which somewhat resembles Australia) into a larger framework. In sum: another masterful addition to the series.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From Booklist
Following old leads to her father's associates from his time at the university, Lise Adams is searching for the secret of his disappearance. She ends up trekking across the desert with Turk, who runs a tourist plane and whom she met in the midst of her divorce, and Diane, who, like many of her father's associates, is a Fourth, whose lifespan has been artificially extended. Fourths are illegal on Earth and have a complex series of cultural checks placed on them on Mars. But some of the people Lise is after are further out on the fringe than most Fourths. The desert is seeded with an ashfall containing the remnants of hypothetical machines, bizarre structures that grow overnight and mostly disintegrate quickly. Lise finds some answers to her questions with a community of Fourths who've gone nearly too far, replicating a disastrous experiment Diane's brother first attempted, and that was repeated on Mars. This absolutely worthy, abundantly marvelous sequel to Spin (2005) conjures humanity after an event so strange it's almost unimaginable. Schroeder, Regina

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Customer Reviews

OK entertainment.
OK book but not as entertaining as the first - reader who hasn't read first should do so and perhaps skip this book for the final section.

Not the same genre....
Spin was so new, and exciting. It was well thought out and had purpose. The sequel was nothing but a mystery, and not a very good one at that. There was some minor homage to the original story with the inclusion of Diane, but Spin was something that was almost impossible to repeat.

If you haven't read Spin and are looking for a novel about another planet and the mysteries following the protagonist and her missing father, it might be interesting. It just wasn't so when I was so wowed by Spin.

Good follow up to the original
Overall I enjoyed this book. It was a good follow up to the original, and if you've read other books by this author you'll soon find that you aren't always going to get neat tidy answers to everything. If your the type of person that needs everything wrapped up in a nice little red bow, this book, and probably most of his books probably aren't for you.

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A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2)

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2)

In this eagerly awaited sequel to A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has created a work of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination. A Clash of Kings transports us to a world of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare unlike any you have
ever experienced.

A Clash Of Kings

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #2499 in Books

Published on: 2000-09-05

Released on: 2000-09-05

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Mass Market Paperback

1040 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
How does he do it? George R.R. Martin's high fantasy weaves a spell sufficient to seduce even those who vowed never to start a doorstopper fantasy series again (the first book--A Game of Thrones--runs over 700 pages). A Clash of Kings is longer and even more grim, but Martin continues to provide compelling characters in a vividly real world.

The Seven Kingdoms have come apart. Joffrey, Queen Cersei's sadistic son, ascends the Iron Throne following the death of Robert Baratheon, the Usurper, who won it in battle. Queen Cersei's family, the Lannisters, fight to hold it for him. Both the dour Stannis and the charismatic Renly Baratheon, Robert's brothers, also seek the throne. Robb Stark, declared King in the North, battles to avenge his father's execution and retrieve his sister from Joffrey's court. Daenerys, the exiled last heir of the former ruling family, nurtures three dragons and seeks a way home. Meanwhile the Night's Watch, sworn to protect the realm from dangers north of the Wall, dwindle in numbers, even as barbarian forces gather and beings out of legend stalk the Haunted Forest.

Sound complicated? It is, but fine writing makes this a thoroughly satisfying stew of dark magic, complex political intrigue, and horrific bloodshed. --Nona Vero

From Publishers Weekly
The second novel of Martin's titanic Song of Ice and Fire saga (A Game of Thrones, 1996) begins with Princess Arya Stark fleeing her dead father's capital of King's Landing, disguised as a boy. It ends with the princess, now known as Weasel, having led the liberation of the accursed castle of Harrenhal. In between, her actions map the further course of a truly epic fantasy set in a world bedecked with 8000 years of history, beset by an imminent winter that will last 10 years and bedazzled by swords and spells wielded to devastating effect by the scrupulous and unscrupulous alike. Standout characters besides Arya include Queen Cersei, so lacking in morals that she becomes almost pitiable; the queen's brother, the relentlessly ingenious dwarf Tyrion Lannister; and Arya's brother, Prince Brandon, crippled except when he runs with the wolves in his dreams. The novel is notable particularly for the lived-in quality of its world, created through abundant detail that dramatically increases narrative length even as it aids suspension of disbelief; for the comparatively modest role of magic (although with one ambitious young woman raising a trio of dragons, that may change in future volumes); and for its magnificent action-filled climax, an amphibious assault on King's Landing, now ruled by the evil Queen Cersei. Martin may not rival Tolkien or Robert Jordan, but he ranks with such accomplished medievalists of fantasy as Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson. Here, he provides a banquet for fantasy lovers with large appetites?and this is only the second course of a repast with no end in sight. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
A war for succession as king of the realm pits brother against brother in a battle of armies and politics. Caught in the struggle are seven noble families whose fortunes and lives depend on how well they play the game of intrigue, blackmail, kidnapping, treachery, and magic. Martin has created a rich world filled with characters whose desires for love and power drive them to extremes of nobility and betrayal. Fans of epic fantasy should appreciate this lavishly detailed sequel to A Game of Thrones (Spectra, 1996). Recommended for most fantasy collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Customer Reviews

A worthy sequel to AGOT
As with my last review, I won't waste time going into too much depth in describing this book - suffice to say, I feel the hundreds of positive reviews should adequately cover the overall quality of the book. My own experience is much the same - expect increasingly nuanced and interesting characterization of characters you thought you knew, enough action to keep fans of it happy, and a good amount of progression in the plot, which continues to largely revolve around the politics of Westeros.

HIGHLY recommended

A great sequel!!!!
Mr. George R.R. Martin just repeated himself on this second offer in the series of "A Song of Ice and Fire".

Now there are a handful of Kings, all of them ready to kill the next. We also follow the Stark children, all separate from each other and always at risk.

Sansa still captive in King's Land, Robb now is the King of the North and it's facing the Lannisters in battle, Jon is beyond the Wall with the Black Knights and facing incredible horrors, Arya is traveling on the road, hiding her true identity as a boy and later working as a maid in a castle where she finds an strange new ally. Bran and his little brother just escaped Winterfell the great fortress of the Starks now taken and burned to the ground.

Indeed a great read, once you get familiar with the main characters you are ready for long hours of great adventures and clever plot after clever plot, lot's of cliff hangers too.

I'm ready for the next two books "A Storm of Swords" and "A Feast of Crows".

Cheers!!!

Best Fantasy Novel I Have Ever Read
I gave `A Game of Thrones' five stars and `A Clash of Kings' exceeds the first one in every way so what do I give this book?

I absolutely positively love this series. By far its greatest strength is in characterization. After well over 1500 total pages I've grown quite attached to Arya, Bran, Ricken and the rest of the Stark family. I truly want to see Joffrey and Cercei get their heads on a spike and I can't wait to see what Tyrion does next. The midget Tyrion is one of the most inventive and intriguing figures I have ever read. This is a fantastic character and I have to confess that when I see a Tyrion chapter coming up I'll skip forward to take a peek. Actually I found myself peeking forward quite a bit because the book is just so good. At over 960 pages this is probably the longest book I have ever read and amazingly I never wanted it to end and this is coming from a person with a very short attention span.

Martin writes his `Song of Fire and Ice' series like a fantasy soap opera. The chapters jump back and forth between about a dozen or so different storylines so the reader never spends a whole lot of time with any individual character. Robb Stark, from the first book, doesn't appear at all but has become sort of an enigmatic figure winning battle after battle in distant lands. The climax of the book is the huge assault on King's Landing by King Stannis's fleet and it is spectacular. At the conclusion of each book the author treats the reader to several major cliffhangers to keep us eager for the next installment. Lucky for me I'm years behind in the series so I can just grab the next book as I finish the previous.

This is the one to get. This is the best fiction book I have ever read. I loved it so much that I couldn't wait for the next one to arrive so I searched the libraries in my area for `A Storm of Swords' to tide me over until I get my own copy. I'm such a fan that I'm saddened at the thought that some day I'll be finished with the series. Unlike other fantasy writers that seem to be able to crank out a book every six months it takes Martin about 3 years to complete a book and it shows in the quality. These are not books to be plowed through and then tossed into a box. These are literary works. My highest recommendation.

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Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 3)

Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 3)

In his acclaimed Codex Alera novels, bestselling author Jim Butcher has created a fascinating world in which the powerful forces of nature take physical form. But even magic cannot sway the corruption that threatens to destroy the realm of Alera once and for all.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #7018 in Books

Published on: 2007-11-27

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Mass Market Paperback

544 pages

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Butcher deftly mixes military fantasy and political intrigue in the rollicking third Codex Alera book (after 2005's Academ's Fury). Gaius Sextus, the First Lord of Alera, plants his nephew Tavi in a new legion, where Tavi can gather information on the rebellious High Lord of Kalare. Tavi, now a full-fledged Cursor, or spy, infiltrates the legion under the assumed identity of an officer, a station the green young man has not yet actually achieved. Treachery from a supposed ally opens the legion to attack from its bestial enemies, the Canim, incapacitating the captain and catapulting Tavi to the rank of the legion's commanding officer. Cut off from contact with the First Lord and with few seasoned officers to guide him, he must lead the troops in a defense of the Imperium against a horde of frenzied Canim warriors set on annihilating the Aleri people. Readers will cheer Tavi every step of the way. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The third Codex Alera volume opens with Gaius, first lord of Alera, recovered from the murderous attack in Academ's Fury (2005) and seeking two would-be first lords' destruction. Tavi, young protagonist of the preceding books, he sends off for legionary training. Kalare, one of Gaius' targets, then takes hostages, depriving Gaius of much support. Gaius' personal spy Amara is dispatched to effect a rescue, for which she needs the help of Lady Aquitaine, close kin to the other would-be and one who never balks at disposing of those in her way. Sequences of Tavi's basic training alternate with Amara's rescue mission, providing lots of action. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"The author of the 'Dresden Files' modern fantasy series is equally familiar with old-style, 'classic' fantasy, demonstrating his skill in complex plotting and vivid world crafting to masterly effect."
-LIBRARY JOURNAL "One of the best volumes yet in this entertaining series."
-LOCUS

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Customer Reviews

breathtaking
Oh, geez. There is no way I can do this book justice. I tend to babble when I love a book, and waffle between fangirly squeeing and a dry synopsis. I've been a fan of Jim Butcher's writing for 8 years--hard to believe it hasn't been longer than that. The books have always been good, but each book is just a little bit better than the one before, making Cursor's Fury his best when it came out. Captain's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 4) is even better.

Cursor's Fury is the third book in the Codex Alera. FYI: the Codex Alera is not a trilogy. It was never intended as a trilogy. But neither is it an open-ended series. It's a 6-book series.

Anyway. The series is mostly about Tavi. If you've read the other books (and you really need to read this series in order, because each book builds on the previous ones--though enough details are given so a newcomer wouldn't be completely lost), you know that Alera is a world of magic, where people use elemental furies (air, earth, water, fire, metal, & wood) the way we use technology. And Tavi can't use furies. At all.

In Cursor's Fury, Tavi is now a cursor (secret agent for the Crown)--hence the title--and as such, he's sent to the newly-formed First Aleran legion as a junior officer (think butterbar). It's composed of soldiers and officers from every part of Alera, and they're sent off to the far reaches of the realm where, presumably, they'll all just spy on each other and keep out of trouble. Instead, they find themselves facing an invasion of Canim (huge dog-like creatures), and nearly the entire command structure of the First Aleran is killed, leaving young, fury-less Tavi in charge of once again saving the realm.

Meanwhile, High Lord Kalare is attempting a coup, and fellow cursor Amara has to team up with the scheming Lady Aquitaine to rescue the hostages he's taken; and Isana is busy fighting for both her life and that of the slave Fade, as she tries to heal him of a poisoned wound he received in Kalare's attack on the city of Ceres.

The characters are very complex--none is entirely good or entirely evil, and their personalities are backed up by their histories. Cursor's Fury gives us not only the external plot, but also developments in the character's emotional lives, and their emotions are clear and affecting without being manipulative or sappy.

One of the things I like best about this series (and it applies to the Dresden Files as well) is how deceptively simple it is. I've been reading a bit more fantasy again lately, and the contrast is marked. For me, reading an average fantasy book is like wading through thick mud. Reading the Codex Alera is like running on a track. It reads smooth and clean. There's plenty of atmosphere, and the worldbuilding is first rate, but it's not hidden in a dense tangle of oddly-spelled words and long passages of dull description. Conversely, the plot of the average fantasy book is really rather straightforward once you get to it, while Cursor's Fury's plot is just full of twists and turns and tiny details that turn out to be major clues to future events. The closer you pay attention, the more complex the book gets.

I loved the military setting, particularly Tavi's assuming command. You could see hints of his future in the way he dealt with it.

Amara's thread of the story was mostly exciting action, but there was also a bittersweet emotional content to it as well that put a lump in my throat.

Isana's thread was the most emotional, and through it we learned a lot of the history we'd previously surmised. That one had me in tears more than once.

A note about the cover. It's been the wallpaper on my monitor for months now. It's not perfect, but the scene it depicts is one of my favorites in the book. It's an exciting life-or-death moment, and an emotional one for two different reasons. It makes me smile every time I see it.

Keep your day open...
These books keep you seated--you're going to want to keep your day open when you start reading them, because you're not going to want to do a whole lot else.

I started reading Butcher's other series, and, sadly, really hated them; so, when someone coersed me into reading them, I was completely surprised when I fell in love. It's so rare in the fantasy-genre to find a book with so much plot.

I'd recommend these books to everyone who likes a fast paced-action/adventure, political intrigue, and good character development and anyone who's a fan of the genre, especially: Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time and Weis/Hickman's early Dragon Lance books.

best butcher book
as far as im concerned, this is butchers best book to date...
though from reading the sample chapters for princeps' fury i might have to change my opinion in about a month...

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Clone Wars Adventures, Vol. 1 (Star Wars)

Clone Wars Adventures, Vol. 1 (Star Wars)

On the night-world of Nivek, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker must first overcome the limitations of fighting in the dark before they can take on the dreaded Shadowmen! Meanwhile, Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Saesee Tiin discover that push can come to shove when using the Force to fight battledroids. And, fresh from leading an underwater assault against Separatist forces on the water planet of Mon Calamari, Jedi Master Kit Fisto and his remaining clone troops reach the surface to find a new threat awaiting them! Incredible action, hot art, and lightning-fast pacing are coming your way in this new take on the Star Wars galaxy!

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #40614 in Books

Published on: 2004-07-21

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

96 pages

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Customer Reviews

Fun stories, but poorly bound
We purchased these books for our Star-Wars obsessed 4 year old boy. My wife and I enjoy reading the stories to him because they hold his interest, which allows us to keep the t.v. turned off. After a week of moderate use, the pages started falling out. We returned the first book we purchased and ordered a few more volumes in this series. Both the replacement book and the new volumes have the same problem with the pages falling out. If you intend on reading these books more than once, do not purchase them.

poor quality book
These comic books are great. My son will spend an hour at a time devouring them. He is only 5. The problem I have with them however, is that they are falling apart. At first I thought it was only the one book. We must have broken the spine or soemthing, but no. All of them are loosing their pages. Now I know my son is only five, but believe me when I say he is very careful with his books. He cherishes them. Theya re just made very poorly. We are so diappointed as we have to keep reorganizing the pages and figuring out hwere they belong. Expensive little books to have falling apart. Very disappointed.

Good kickoff to a fun series
Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures is an ongoing series from Dark Horse comics that takes its inspiration from the extremely successful Clone Wars cartoon series. This inspiration is visible in both the short, action-packed nature of the stories as well as in the art style itself. Volume One contains three stories as follows:

1) "Blind Force" - Obi-Wan and Anakin journey to Nivek, a planet perpetually shrouded in darkness (earning it the somewhat obvious nickname "The Night Planet"). This story is an enjoyable look at the heroes' Master-Padawan relationship in the early months of the war and showcases Anakin's raw strength in the Force. It uses lighting creatively to illustrate the difference between relying on one's eyes to see and using innate powers within.

2) "Heavy Metal Jedi" - Mace Windu and Saesee Tiin engage in light banter while wiping out hosts of Separatist droids, including one serious boss droid, at the Battle of Iktotch. There's a wonderful three-page vignette mid-story. It depicts the action from the viewpoint of a super battle droid suffering the misfortune of being used as a projectile weapon by the Jedi. I had a little trouble with the art in the last two pages; there seemed to be some scale difficulties regarding just how big the boss super battle droid was, exactly.

3) "Fierce Currents" - Kit Fisto tools around underwater on Mon Calamari looking for the source of a disturbance he feels in the Force. The cartoon episode featuring Kit Fisto was a visual delight and it's terrific to see that built upon in this story. Kit discovers what is causing the unrest in the ocean and manages to leave the Mon Calamari and the reader with a tidy moral lesson at the end to boot.

The first three volumes of this series use lower-quality paper than volumes IV and up and present ads for Dark Horse/Gentle Giant products between each of the stories. The choice to eliminate the ads and improve the book quality for subsequent volumes was a good one and makes the later books feel less disposable.

Clone Wars Adventures Volume One is a quality kickoff to the series featuring three solid and engaging stories.

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Assassin's Quest (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 3)

Assassin's Quest (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 3)

From an extraordinary new voice in fantasy comes the stunning conclusion to the Farseer trilogy, as FitzChivalry confronts his destiny as the catalyst who holds the fate of the kingdom of the Six Duchies...and the world itself.

King Shrewd is dead at the hands of his son Regal. As is Fitz--or so his enemies and friends believe. But with the help of his allies and his beast magic, he emerges from the grave, deeply scarred in body and soul. The kingdom also teeters toward ruin: Regal has plundered and abandoned the capital, while the rightful heir, Prince Verity, is lost to his mad quest--perhaps to death. Only Verity's return--or the heir his princess carries--can save the Six Duchies.

But Fitz will not wait. Driven by loss and bitter memories, he undertakes a quest: to kill Regal. The journey casts him into deep waters, as he discovers wild currents of magic within him--currents that will either drown him or make him something more than he was....

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #5448 in Books

Published on: 1998-01-05

Released on: 1998-01-05

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Mass Market Paperback

757 pages

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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
In this conclusion to the Farseer saga, FitzChivalry's quest for revenge on the usurping Regal requires him to journey to the Elderlings (wise old mages in the classic mold) and afterwards to realize the emergence of his own magical gifts, at which point the quest comes to an end after a mere 688 pages. Like much high fantasy these days, the book could have been pruned more than a trifle; on the other hand, along with the extra wordage come extra measures of characterization, world building, and emotionally compelling scenes of both magic and battle. And this is definitely the end of one story, although the world Hobb has created is now sufficiently developed (even why the characters have such archetypical names is explained) to be the scene of future books. In all, this is an improvement over its predecessors that will please their readers and probably whet their appetites for more from Hobb. Roland Green

From Kirkus Reviews
Final installment--each entry independently intelligible--of Hobb's stunning fantasy trilogy (Royal Assassin, 1996; Assassin's Apprentice, 1995) about the beleaguered Six Duchies and their Farseer kings. Months ago, King Verity vanished into the far mountains in search of the semi-mythical Elderlings, whose help he must have in order to defeat the rampaging Red Ship Raiders, leaving his murderous, venal, and insanely ambitious brother, Prince Regal, to dispose of Verity's last few loyalists at his leisure--including narrator, spy, and assassin FitzChivalry. Poor Fitz, unable to contact his beloved Molly (she thinks he's dead) and daughter (by Molly) for fear of exposing them to Regal's attentions, uses his magic Skill to locate Verity and receives an imperious summons: ``COME TO ME!'' So, abandoning his plan to assassinate Regal, Fitz enters the mountains with a small band of helpers. Eventually, having evaded Regal's minions, Fitz comes upon Verity Skill-carving a huge dragon out of black rock; nearby stand other lifelike dragon-sculptures that, to Fitz's animal-magic Wit, seem somehow alive. Are these eerie sculptures what remain of the Elderlings? Yet, for all his Skill, Verity cannot bring the dragons to life; and soon Regal will arrive with his armies and his Skilled coterie. An enthralling conclusion to this superb trilogy, displaying an exceptional combination of originality, magic, adventure, character, and drama. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
"Superbly written, wholly satisfying, unforgettable: better than any fantasy trilogy in print--including mine!"--Melanie Rawn

"With shimmering language and the alluring garb of Faerie, Hobb concludes her Farseer trilogy with this immense coming-of-age novel."--Publishers Weekly -- Review

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Customer Reviews

love it
Great book. Robin Hobb is a gifted writer, rich style and an amazing sensitivity in describing emotions.

An Unfortunate End To A Grand Tale
While I like to think that my opinion of this work could be useful to others (a claim further boosted by Amazon's new reviewer ranking system), it is with great difficulty that I set out to critique this, the final installment of the Farseer trilogy. I suppose I should start by admitting that I came into this trilogy quite late (nearly fourteen years to be exact) thanks to a strange but consistent string of published compliments passing between Robin Hobb and George RR Martin. I was immediately enamored with Hobb's wonderfully rich characters, realistic world, and political dynamic. I was able to immediately dismiss fears that fantasy told through first-person perspective could not possibly work and found myself glued to the seat until both the first and second books in the series were read, often forsaking appointments, sleep, and nourishment in the process. The second to third book transition is such that I recommend having this, the third on hand to anyone who attempts to read the second. This is one story spread across three installments and Hobb wastes no time recapping. Close one; open the next as if you traversed only a standard chapter break.

But I digress; since you are reading this review, it's safe to assume you've likely already read the first or second or are considering the series as a whole. To that I have to rate the series as follows:

Book One (Assassin's Apprentice) 5 Stars
Book Two (Royal Assassin) 4 Stars
Book Three (Assassin's Quest) 3.5 Stars

The pattern here, in case you haven't noticed, is that the series begins about as strong as any fantasy work out there and with an unrivaled emotional tie to boot. The problem is that as the story progresses, two things happen that, in my opinion anyway, degrade some of the brilliance shown early on. First, Hobb is not afraid to drag her readers through the proverbial mud. Sure most authors will allow things for the lead character(s) to get ugly along the way but they usually counter the trend with a plateau of resolve. It isn't uncommon for Robin Hobb to pull her protagonist into a miserable downward spiral that takes the full three books to level out (and in some cases- to never fully recover from at all). Yes it is realistic writing and yes it mimics reality in that real life doesn't always end happily ever after, but I must confess that there is an underlying feeling of depression and frustration that accommodates such an epic torture-fest.

Secondly, the structure of the story itself takes a radical shift in this, the third installment. It is still told in first-person as the lead character recaps his trials and tribulations as a scribe documenting the history of the Six Duchies, but the once grand scheme of the world around him is reduced to a day-by-day journey of survival. Gone are the grand battles being waged on the coast, gone are the family betrayals and political intrigue, gone is the lifestyle of Buck Keep and the cozy scenes with the enigmatic assassin Chade, the stable master Burrich, or the good king Shrewd. Instead we are dragged along on what basically boils down to a hiking expedition with some of the lesser-developed cast members.

I suppose in all honesty, Hobb set herself up with a struggle so perfectly overwhelming that nothing shy of a completely unforeseen solution would suffice and in that regard she delivers. I'm not big on spoilers, so I won't get into specifics here but let's just say that the resolution to the struggles beautifully built up in the first two installments is a bit too "fantasy" in nature and not nearly as fulfilling as I had hoped. Worse still is that Hobb has managed to prove to me that we are all hopeless romantics under our hard shells- in other words deep down we all want our hero to get the girl in the end. Sure we complain about the lack of realism in it and whine that there's nothing original out there but this novel is an example of what happens when we don't get a fairy tale ending we love to complain about. It turns out that this stings too but for an entirely different set of feelings: Frustration and melancholy mostly.

I'm left feeling like this series is truly one of the finest in the entire genre and manages to accomplish the same sense of richness that rivals George RR Marin's Song of Ice and Fire saga through a single viewpoint (where Martin tells his tale by bouncing around a cast of hundreds).

I've noticed similar complaints of depressing tone in Hobb's later works and will likely revisit her world after a tour of some more lighthearted fantasy to numb a bit of the residual emotional attachment the Farseer trilogy left behind.

Disappointing Ending to a Decent Series
I must agree with what a lot of the other people have said about this book. The author victimizes the main character way too much, makes Regal way too evil. They make everything go wrong for him, I seriously think it would've been a happier book if the main character died. *SPOILERS AHEAD* Then at least his heart wouldn't have been broken. The kings and princes demand too much from him, the characters become suddenly stupid after the first book. In the 3rd especially everyone is stupid, everyone is willing to believe the propaganda, even the stupidest lies. Fitz himself turns into a blundering idiot who falls into traps too often. *SPOILERS OVER* I already got the first book of another of her series (I got it before reading the 3rd book) but I am wary to read it because I don't wish to be so disappointed by later books in the series. IF YOU LIKE A TRAGEDY THIS BOOK IS PERFECT FOR YOU.

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Grendel

Grendel

The first and most terrifying monster in English literature, from the great early epic BEOWULF, tells his side of the story.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #16343 in Books

Published on: 1989-05-14

Released on: 1989-05-14

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

192 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Grendel is a beautiful and heartbreaking modern retelling of the Beowulf epic from the point of view of the monster, Grendel, the villain of the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon epic. This book benefits from both of Gardner's careers: in addition to his work as a novelist, Gardner was a noted professor of medieval literature and a scholar of ancient languages.

From Library Journal
George Guidall's crusty but spirited narration is perfectly suited for the monster Grendel. Gardner's 1971 classic takes the Anglo Saxon Beowulf epic and uses varying translations of the poem and other writings from the period to tell the story from the poor monster's viewpoint. Most first-person narratives translate well to the audio format, and Grendel especially enchants, casting a spell not unlike a grown-up "Lord of the Rings." The monster observes humans from a revealing and telling vantage. Just like a child in the schoolyard, Grendel picks up certain curse words and takes joy in repeating them. This has resulted in Gardner's book being challenged at the many schools where it is rightfully part of the curriculum. Guidall's voice is familiar enough for a still-fresh tale. This is storytelling at its best.?Gerald A. Notaro, Univ. of South Florida, St. Petersburg
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Few writers ever reach this level of greatness, It doesn't matter whether you think Grendel's about Anglo-Saxon warriors battling monsters or the collapse of superstition and the rise of capitalism, or both at once, this is mythic writing in every sense of those words." -- Jon Courtenay Grimwood SFX magazine

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Customer Reviews

An earned masterpiece.
Grendel
John Gardner
5-stars

I'm amused by the angst of Gardner's critics. Many of them seem as misanthropic as Gardner's Grendel, and though many of the critics are respected colleagues, I find their review of Gardner's masterpiece to be skewed by their own prejudices, political leanings, or disbelief that any one would ever poke fun at a classical piece of literature. (Oh,what shameful disregard!)
Some have claimed that Grendel whines like a modern teenager. How do we know that wasn't Gardner's intent? As the artist, isn't it his prerogative to create his fictional landscape? And yes, the Dragon comes across like Timothy Leary on LSD but of course, that may exactly be the way Gardner wanted it to appear. One critique repines that Grendel's mother plays such a minor role in Grendel, and that unlike her revengeful and powerful character in Beowulf, she is reduced to a sleepy, unfit, and uncaring mother. So what! If Gardner portrayed her as a soccer mom whistling around Hrothgar's castle in a mini-van would that make you feel any better? Get over it! If he wanted, Gardner could have depicted Grendel's mother as a Dominatrix, outfitted in five inch stilettos and a Madonna cone bra, whipping the Danes senselessly, but appreciatively, in the dark dank corners of her cave.
What's important is this: Gardner is able to take a fairly dull minor literary character, breathe life into it, and make the character witty, funny, irreverent, and continually entertaining. The prose is clear and fluid like fountain water, and unlike the epic poem, the scenes flow quickly from paragraph to paragraph. For all its satire and macabre humor, the book is a quick and enjoyable read.
And yes, Grendel is a descendant of Cain, and the enemy of Christianity, but who amongst us hasn't seen an Unferth revealed in a Christian congregation? Like a lucid dissenting opinion, whereby the truth of an argument is clearly divulged, the hypocrisy of the Danes is exposed through the thoughts and utterances of Grendel, a creature supposedly incapable of even having a brain cell. His killing is cruel but how different are his murders from those of Hrothgar, his men, and the men of their enemies? Seems to me all the men did at the mead hall was eat, drink, and spray platitudes all through the air while plotting the destruction of those they feared and hated.
In Grendel's case, at least he thinks about what he does and questions it, mourns it, tries to seek a higher form of intelligence so he can understand it. The dim-witted men marching around the Hrothgar's castle do nothing of the sort. Regimented by the mores of their culture, they simply follow their senseless leader until a day comes forth where they all must bathe in their own blood.
As an aside, you would have thought, by the amount of leftists in this forum, that more than a handful or so of the reviewers would have drawn parallels to the Bush Administration. Certainly no liberal, even I can see Donald Rumsfeld cast as Hrothgar.
With regard to Gardner, there's no doubt he earned this masterpiece. This literary gem sits high on the bookrack at my home.

Wish I had liked this one.
I was so excited when I saw this book at the library. I thought the concept of the story seen from Grendel's eyes was a fascinating one. But, I was unable to get into the story after 2 chapters. I'm not sure why, but the author was unable to connect with me and make me care about this Grendel...well, how do you care for a troll you might ask...well, I didn't even dislike him enough to keep going...does that make it clearer? Again, not sure why it didn't grab me. I wish it had.

Distrubed....
I'm disturbed by the amount of people bashing _Grendel_. It's simply an amazing novel. Perhaps those offering sour reviews simply misunderstand the novel--Gardner, from my reading, isn't really attempting a retelling of the _Beowulf_ story. Instead, he's attempting to cast a philosophical statement *against* a philosophical school of thought that was, and still is, gaining ground when Gardner wrote _Grendel_: existentialism and nihilism, which is embraced by the dragon. Gardner just uses the Beowulf story to frame this social commentary. Consider Gardner's philosophical statement: in a time in history when so many were and are embracing the pointlessness of life, Gardner tells us that there is meaning and real in the world around us. Beowulf smashes Grendel into the wall when they finally meet and forces him to sing walls to prove to Grendel that there is meaning and that reality does exist. And what does Grendel do? He sings walls and sees a different kind of dragon. Grendel, throughout that whole novel, searches for something real, something that carries meaning, and Beowulf becomes that. People read this novel and think it's depressing--it's not. In the end there's hope. Yeah, we know Beowulf is going to die, but before he does, he's going to accomplish great things, and there will be other great rulers after him.

If you're looking for an action story, stick with _Beowulf_. But if you're looking for a philosophical novel to controvert the overwhelming onslaught of postmodernism and beliefs that we're in the world all by ourselves and should find gold and "sit on it" as the dragon tells Grendel, _Grendel_ is one of the finest craftings written to date.

Perhaps those who would denigrate _Grendel_ simply do not understand its intent; it's intent isn't to entertain you; it's intent is to teach you and force you to question. And on those grounds, it's really hard to argue that it's not a fantastic book.

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Speaker for the Dead (Ender, Book 2)

Speaker for the Dead (Ender, Book 2)

In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War.

Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #4184 in Books

Published on: 1994-08-15

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Mass Market Paperback

416 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Ender Wiggin, the hero and scapegoat of mass alien destruction in Ender's Game, receives a chance at redemption in this novel. Ender, who proclaimed as a mistake his success in wiping out an alien race, wins the opportunity to cope better with a second race, discovered by Portuguese colonists on the planet Lusitania. Orson Scott Card infuses this long, ambitious tale with intellect by casting his characters in social, religious and cultural contexts. Like its predecessor, this book won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

From Publishers Weekly
Card's novel Ender's Game introduced Ender Wiggin, a young genius who used his military prowess to all but exterminate the "buggers," the first alien race mankind had ever encountered. Wiggin then transformed himself into the "Speaker for the Dead," who claimed it had been a mistake to destroy the alien civilization. Many years later, when a new breed of intelligent life forms called the "piggies" is discovered, Wiggin takes the opportunity to atone for his earlier actions. This long, rich and ambitious novel views the interplay between the races from the differing perspectives of the colonists, ethnologists, biologists, clergy, politicians, a computer artificial intelligence, the lone surviving bugger and the piggies themselves. Card is very good at portraying his characters in these larger, social, religious and cultural contexts. It's unfortunate, then, that many of the book's mysteries and dilemmas seem created just to display Ender's supposedly godlike understanding. A fine, if overlong, novel nonetheless.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A great read!"--UPI Reviews

"Less brash than Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead may be a much better book. Don't miss it!--Analog

"Told with compassion and keen insight, this powerful sequel to Ender's Game is highly recommended."--Library Journal
-- Review

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Customer Reviews

Great book
I thought this book was a very good book, It included a good deal of exciting science. It was very well written also the text flowed and was very easy to read. Most of all it was intellectually stimulating as it discussed many complex societal issues and ethical issues with out destroying the story. All in all it is a great work of fiction that is entertaining as well as sofisticated.

Speaker for the Dead
It was an awesome book, Orson Scott Card... definately knows how to keep my attention!!!

Not Card's best
Don't get this if you liked Ender's game and are looking for a sequel. Speaker for the Dead has only one of the same characters - Ender - and he's much older. No one he knew is in this book, and there's little that relates to his past or future.

If that were not enough, I found the book to be subdued and tedious, and somehow off-center. It certainy isn't Card's best at all. The story doesn't have a lot of coherence, and none of the characters are very memorable or admirable at all. Alot of details and features of the story really iritated me.

I think if he wanted to write this story, he should have just presented it as a totally new book. I came to this wanting a sequel to Ender's Game (a masterful and original book) but instead got a book that had nothing to do with Ender's game besides Ender himself appearing in it. I know Speaker for the Dead has a lot of sequels too but a far more interesting line of sequels to follow, if you liked Ender's Game, is Ender's Shadow, followed by Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets and Shadow of the Giant, which deal with the story of Ender's Game from Bean's point of view and then the other students of Battle School and what happens back on Earth. Read those instead of Speaker for the Dead.

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Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction)

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction)

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #305 in Books

Published on: 2007-10-01

Released on: 2007-09-25

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Mass Market Paperback

560 pages

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Born with green skin and huge teeth, like a dragon, the free-spirited Elphaba grows up to be an anti-totalitarian agitator, an animal-rights activist, a nun, then a nurse who tends the dying?and, ultimately, the headstrong Wicked Witch of the West in the land of Oz. Maguire's strange and imaginative postmodernist fable uses L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a springboard to create a tense realm inhabited by humans, talking animals (a rhino librarian, a goat physician), Munchkinlanders, dwarves and various tribes. The Wizard of Oz, emperor of this dystopian dictatorship, promotes Industrial Modern architecture and restricts animals' right to freedom of travel; his holy book is an ancient manuscript of magic that was clairvoyantly located by Madam Blavatsky 40 years earlier. Much of the narrative concerns Elphaba's troubled youth (she is raised by a giddy alcoholic mother and a hermitlike minister father who transmits to her his habits of loathing and self-hatred) and with her student years. Dorothy appears only near novel's end, as her house crash-lands on Elphaba's sister, the Wicked Witch of the East, in an accident that sets Elphaba on the trail of the girl from Kansas?as well as the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman and the Lion?and her fabulous new shoes. Maguire combines puckish humor and bracing pessimism in this fantastical meditation on good and evil, God and free will, which should, despite being far removed in spirit from the Baum books, captivate devotees of fantasy. 50,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo; first serial to Word; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA?Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, has gotten a bum rap. Her mother is embarrassed and repulsed by her bright-green baby with shark's teeth and an aversion to water. At college, the coed experiences disapproval and rejection by her roommate, Glinda, a silly girl interested only in clothes, money, and popularity. Elphaba is a serious and inquisitive student. When she learns that the Wizard of Oz is politically corrupt and causing economic ruin, Elphaba finds a sense of purpose to her life?to stop him and to restore harmony and prosperity to the land. A Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, and an unknown species called a "Dorothy" appear in very small roles... The story presents Elphaba in a sympathetic and empathetic manner-readers will want her to triumph! The conclusion, however, is the same as L. Frank Baum's. The book has both idealism and cynicism in its discussion of social, religious, educational, and political issues present in Oz, and, more pointedly, present in our day and time. The idealism is whimsical and engaging; the cynicism is biting. Sometimes the earthy language seems appropriate and adds to the sense of place; sometimes the four-letter words and sexual explicitness distract from the charm of the tale. The multiple threads to the plot proceed unevenly, so that the pace of the story jumps rather than moves steadily forward. Wicked is not an easy rereading of The Wizard of Oz. It is for good readers who like satire, and love exceedingly imaginative and clever fantasy.?Judy Sokoll, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"... [a] magical telling of the land of Oz before and up to the arrival of Dorothy and company.... A captivating, funny, and perceptive look at destiny, personal responsibility, and the not-always-clashing beliefs of faith and magic. Save a place on the shelf between Alice and The Hobbit that spot is well deserved." -- Kirkus Reviews

"A magnificent work, a genuine tour de force." -- --Lloyd Alexander, author of the Chronicles of Prydain

"An outstanding work of imagination." -- --USA Today

"It is for good readers who like satire, and love exceedingly imaginative and clever fantasy." -- School Library Journal

"A magnificent work, a genuine tour de force." -- Lloyd Alexander, author of the Chronicles of Prydain

"An outstanding work of imagination." -- USA Today

"Children - children of all ages, as Maguire reminds us in this splendid novel - need witches. Gregory Maguire has taken this figure of childhood fantasy and given her a sensual and powerful nature that will stir adult hearts with fear and longing all over again. It's a brilliant trick - and a remarkable treat." -- The Times-Picayune

"It is for good readers who like satire, and love exceedingly imaginative and clever fantasy." -- School Library Journal

"It's a staggering feat of wordcraft, made no less so by the fact that its boundaries were set decades ago by somebody else. Maguire's larger triumph here is twofold: First, in Elphaba, he has created (re-created? renovated?) one of the great heroines in fantasy literature: a fiery, passionate, unforgettable and ultimately tragic figure. Second, Wicked is the best fantasy novel of ideas I've read since Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast or Frank Herbert's Dune. Would that all books with this much innate consumer appeal were also this good. And vice versa." -- Los Angeles Times

"Listen up, Munchkins. Stop your singing, stop the dancing. The Wicked Witch is no longer dead. But not to worry. Gregory Maguire's shrewdly imagined and beautifully written first novel, "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West," not only revives her but re-envisions and redeems her for our times." -- Newsday

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Customer Reviews

Wonderful new look at an old favorite
Maguire captures a part of Oz that Baum never went into depth about -- what happened before Dorothy crash landed on the Wicked Witch?

This book raises issues about morality and ethics in such an engaging manner it's almost impossible not to be pulled into the mix.

A Wicked story from start to finish
I had no idea what to expect from Wicked.. but it certainly didn't dissapoint.

It had a few slow places through the middle, but mostly, it was spellbinding throughout. Some twists that I didn't expect, and some completely new perspectives on the entire story of the Land of Oz.

It's a good book. Just not a good Oz book.
In L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," you are asked to take it on faith that the wizard is good, Glinda is wise and the Wicked Witch of the West is evil. "Wicked" attempts to turn this on its head, with varying results.

The Oz of "Wicked" feels a bit uneven. Maguire borrows some of his Oz from the original books and some from the 1939 movie. But he discards many of the most entertaining elements (Where's the golden cap used to control the flying monkeys? Why aren't the trees alive?) and, in doing so, doesn't use the fantasy universe he's chosen to its fullest. It was as though Maguire couldn't decide if he should use Baum's Oz, MGM's Oz, or create an Oz of his own. The result is a schizophrenic land of Oz. It was aggravating for me to keep boucing back and forth between these different ideas of one place in the same book. If you're not already an Oz fan, you might not have this problem.

Having said that, "Wicked" is well-written, moves along quickly, and raises some interesting questions about good and evil. In the end, it doesn't matter that it's based on a well-known work of fiction. Elphaba begins the story as a misunderstood little girl and ends up as a woman who's eager and willing to kill an innocent for a pair of shoes. What could happen to make someone that hard-hearted? It's an interesting journey to take. On the way, you meet Elphaba's sister, who begins the book twisted due to a crippling deformity and eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the East. You also meet Elphaba's college roommate Glinda, the witch of the north, who hides her brilliant mind and expertise at sorcery behind a shallow facade. (Unfortunately, Baum's aged Witch of the North has been written out of this version. Like I said, it's a scatter-brained land of Oz). Are these women good or evil? Or do their actions lie somewhere in between? The plot gives the reader a lot to think about.

I'd reccommend this one. Just don't expect to see a coherent land of Oz.

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Bite

Bite

A never-before-published Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter story from New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton. A brand-new story from New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris, featuring the much-loved Sookie Stackhouse.

A hot new novella from USA Today bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson, set in the world of Undead and Unwed's Betsy Taylor, the newly, and reluctantly,crowned Vampire Queen.

Introduced in the collection Hot Blooded, and on the heels of the wildly successful Master of the Night, Angela Knight has created a fascinating universe of Arthurian Lore and erotic vampirsim. And a sexy original story from Vickie Taylor, a new addition to Berkley Sensation.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #7351 in Books

Published on: 2004-12-28

Released on: 2004-12-28

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Mass Market Paperback

297 pages

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Those looking to take a brief taster's tour through five sexually charged paranormal worlds may enjoy the stories and novellas served up in this anthology, but readers with an appetite for something a little more meaty likely won't be sated. Although Hamilton's name dominates the cover, her contribution is a meager 30 pages, which amounts to little more than a teaser for her next Anita Blake novel. Harris's offering is similarly slim and static, though it shows off the cleverness of Sookie Stackhouse, the psychic heroine of her Southern Vampire series (Dead to the World, etc.). By far, the collection's best offerings are Knight's "Galahad" and Taylor's "Blood Lust." In the former, a fledgling Majae (i.e., witch) teams up with the famed knight Sir Galahad, who's really a benevolent vampire, to destroy a nest of deadly cultist vampires. And in the latter, Taylor imagines a much more traditional world, wherein vampires can't touch anything sacrosanct and are organized hierarchically, a system the protagonists, a junior vampiress and a microbiologist-turned-vampire, are about to dismantle. The action moves swiftly in both stories, as does the romance, but like the other entries in this anthology, they lack depth and development. Nevertheless, this is a suitable introduction to the various worlds these authors have popularized. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Customer Reviews

book still not here.
i'm excited to read the book but have yet to receive it and it was ordered approx. 2 weeks ago. wish it was here...

Awesome!
This book included some great short stories. If you love Sookie Stackhouse there is a great short story inside. Also, the other stories will satisfy any hunger you have for mystery and fantasy. I recommend it!

I love LKH
I really enjoyed this book of short stories. I am an avid Laurell K. Hamiliton reader and her name was what drew me to the book, but I'd like to say that I now have added another author to my must read list.... Charlaine Harris. I have now read the first 3 in her "Sookie Stackhouse" series.I would recommend this book to anyone who likes vampires or stories of the supernatural.

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