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Season of Mists (The Sandman, Vol. 4)

Neil Gaiman, Neil Gaiman, Kelley Jones, Harlan Ellison, Mike Dringenberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In many ways, Season of Mists is the pinnacle of the Sandman experience. After a brief intermission of four short stories (collected as Dream Country) Gaiman continued the story of the Dream King that he began in the first two volumes. Here in volume 4, we find out about the rest of Dream's Endless family (Desire, Despair, Destiny, Delirium, Death, and a seventh missing sibling). We find out the story behind Nada, Dream's first love, whom we met only in passing during Dream's visit to hell in the first book. When Dream goes back to hell to resolve unfinished business with Nada, he finds her missing along with all of the other dead souls. The answer to this mystery lies in Lucifer's most uncharacteristic decision--a delicious surprise.

There is something grandiose about this story, in which each chapter ends with such suspense and drive to read the next. This book is best summed up by a toast taken from the second chapter: "To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due." --Jim Pascoe

The Neverending Story

Michael Ende

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 270 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Any fantasy lover should read this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you've seen the movie, you've only gotten a taste of what this book has to offer. The movie is only an abbreviated adaptation of the first half of the book, and the sequels are simply spin-offs of the first movie. This book has so much more to offer! It's a story about the importance of imagination and fantasy, self-discovery and identity, and the importance of discovering what is truly important in your heart. At the very least the story in these pages is one of the greatest fantasy stories you will ever read... and if you truly open your heart to the story, you will walk away a better person after having read it.

A classic - for kids and adults alike 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Once again, I remember reading this book when I was a child. I had always been a bookworm and no problems diving into the imaginary world. This book will bring you even further. The story is one that everyone can relate to - young and old. The translation from German seems to me very good. I unfortunately do not remember every exact wording in German. The message of the book is very clear once you start reading - and even though I was hesitant, I think the movie was very well done to capture this.
There are not many books that one can read every now and then and still feel a renewed bond with the story. This one will keep you wondering what happened to you when you grew up.

Editorial Review:

Bastian embarks on a wild adventure when he enters the magical world of Fantastica, a doomed land filled with dragons, giants, and monsters, and risks his life to save Fantastica by going on a very dangerous quest.

The Belgariad, Vol. 1 (Books 1-3): Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit

David Eddings

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 152 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Millions of readers have discovered the magic of David Eddings’ New York Times bestselling series The Belgariad. Now the first three books in this monumental epic appear in a single volume. Here, long-time fans can rediscover the wonder—and the uninitiated can embark upon a thrilling new journey of fantasy and adventure.

It all begins with the theft of the Orb that for so long protected the West from an evil god. As long as the Orb was at Riva, the prophecy went, its people would be safe from this corrupting power. Garion, a simple farm boy, is familiar with the legend of the Orb, but skeptical in matters of magic. Until, through a twist of fate, he learns not only that the story of the Orb is true, but that he must set out on a quest of unparalleled magic and danger to help recover it. For Garion is a child of destiny, and fate itself is leading him far from his home, sweeping him irrevocably toward a distant tower—and a cataclysmic confrontation with a master of the darkest magic.

The Belgariad, Vol. 2 (Books 4 & 5): Castle of Wizardry, Enchanters' End Game

David Eddings

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

David Eddings’ acclaimed series, The Belgariad, reaches its stunning conclusion in these final two gripping novels. Continue on this magnificent journey and be entranced by a saga of strange lands and peoples, of prophecy and strife set against the background of a seven-thousand-year war of men, Kings, and Gods.

The quest may be nearing its end, but the danger continues. After discovering a shocking secret about himself he never could have imagined—all in pursuit of the legendary Orb—Garion and his fellow adventurers must escape a crumbling enemy fortress and flee across a vast desert filled with ruthless soldiers whose only aim is to destroy them. But even when the quest is complete, Garion’s destiny is far from fulfilled. For the evil God Torak is about to awaken and seek dominion. Somehow, Garion has to face the God, to kill or be killed. On the outcome of this dread duel rests the future of the world. But how can one man destroy an immortal God?

“Fabulous . . . Eddings has a marvelous storyteller style . . . exceedingly well portrayed and complex people. . . . More! More! More!”
—ANNE MCCAFFREY

Toll the Hounds: Book Eight of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

Steven Erikson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In Darujhistan, the city of blue fire, it is said that love and death shall arrive dancing. It is summer and the heat is oppressive, but for the small round man in the faded red waistcoat, discomfiture is not just because of the sun. All is not well. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city streets like fiends of shadow. Assassins skulk in alleyways, but the quarry has turned and the hunters become the hunted. Hidden hands pluck the strings of tyranny like a fell chorus. While the bards sing their tragic tales, somewhere in the distance can be heard the baying of Hounds...And in the distant city of Black Coral, where rules Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, ancient crimes awaken, intent on revenge. It seems Love and Death are indeed about to arrive...hand in hand, dancing. A thrilling, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic, Toll the Hounds is the new chapter in Erikson's monumental series - epic fantasy at its most imaginative and storytelling at its most exciting.

Gardens of the Moon (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Vol. 1)

Steven Erikson

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Total reviews: 228 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.

For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.

However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand . . .

Conceived and written on a panoramic scale, Gardens of the Moon is epic fantasy of the highest order--an enthralling adventure by an outstanding new voice.

(20040619)

Reaper's Gale: Book Seven of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

Steven Erikson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

All is not well in the Letherii Empire. Rhulad Sengar, the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths, spirals into madness, surrounded by sycophants and agents of his Machiavellian chancellor. Meanwhile, the Letherii secret police conduct a campaign of terror against their own people. The Errant, once a farseeing god, is suddenly blind to the future. Conspiracies seethe throughout the palace, as the empire - driven by the corrupt and self-interested - edges ever-closer to all-out war with the neighboring kingdoms. The great Edur fleet--its warriors selected from countless numbers of people--draws closer. Amongst the warriors are Karsa Orlong and Icarium Lifestealer--each destined to cross blades with the emperor himself. That yet more blood is to be spilled is inevitable... Against this backdrop, a band of fugitives seek a way out of the empire, but one of them, Fear Sengar, must find the soul of Scabandari Bloodeye. It is his hope that the soul might help halt the Tiste Edur, and so save his brother, the emperor. Yet, traveling with them is Scabandari's most ancient foe: Silchas Ruin, brother of Anomander Rake. And his motives are anything but certain - for the wounds he carries on his back, made by the blades of Scabandari, are still fresh. Fate decrees that there is to be a reckoning, for such bloodshed cannot go unanswered--and it will be a reckoning on an unimaginable scale. This is a brutal, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic; this is epic fantasy at its most imaginative, storytelling at its most thrilling.

Memories of Ice (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 3)

Steven Erikson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The worst fantasy novel I've ever read 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

After Gardens of the Moon, I didn't think it was possible to write a worse fantasy novel. Then I read Deadhouse Gates, and thought it can't get worse from there. How are we meant to accept that a Malazan army, whose soldiers disobey or murder their officers on a regular basis without consequence and have done since the start of Gardens of the Moon, suddenly obeys their incompetent "nobleborn" commander who leaves Coltaine to die, then surrender without a fight to be slaughtered needlessly by following insane orders? Just plain ludicrous, and did away with any sense of suspension of disbelief for the series.

Then I read Memories of Ice. The characters are even more facile than the previous books. You know Whiskeyjack is dead as soon as he falls in love (though doubtless he'll return later in some form or other - no one important to the story ever really dies in Malazan). Kruppe is even more annoying than the first book (how can that be, one asks?). The evil bad guys, the Pannion Domin, are just comical in their vile nastiness. But I just didn't care who lived or died, won or lost, or why. Very little actually happens in 1000 pages, despite the usual massive body-count of extras who exists to be slaughtered en masse to provide suitable wailing and woe for all the pacifist activists at war for no reason that matters very much.

So Memories of Ice combines the lack of plot, storytelling ability and characterization of the first book, then adds the endless whining self-pity of the second to make something even worse than either. The Malazan Realm remains utterly unbelievable in any and every way, the magic does whatever the author wants at any given moment without any discernable rhyme or reason, gods die and are born all the time and are constantly being bested by "mortals" (who never die or are reborn or Ascend), and once-in-a-million-years magical convergences happen every week (making them rather more common than once every million years or whatever ridiculous number he tries to use for effect).

Why bother having an army if any and every critter they encounter wipes out scores of them without effort? Of what use is an army if it cannot defend or attack with any success (unless it suits the author in the moment)? How is discipline maintained if the soldiers murder the officers with impunity - except when it doesn't suit the author's momentary purposes?

Does anyone on this "world" actually grow any food? If so, when and where? All the ordinary people are wiped out repeatedly (what size of population does this fool think the land can sustain to feed people without crop-rotation and industrial agricultural techniques - and he never uses magic to explain it, just to wipe out populations and even the possibility of agriculture?) or go into a cannibalistic frenzy for no reason other than it suits the non-plot of this absurd monstrosity. "Magic" and "the gods" are used in place of sensible motivations. People don't go to war over territory, crop failure, dynastic dispute or any mere human concern - it is all due to magic and gods folk "worship" without any theology or practical reason behind it.

The Master of Deck is so simply because he happened to be standing closest to Tattersail when she was killed, although she wasn't Mistress of the Deck yet. Or maybe it was because he patted a puppy-dog (sorry, Hound of Shadow) hit with a Big Magic Sword. Huh? Just a ridiculous plot device to make Paran the Master of Deck (whatever that may mean - I know, whatever the author wants it to at any moment) for no good reason. Assassins are everywhere (the basic Malazan tactic is to bribe the local Assassins Guild - and every city and country has one).

Anything and everything converts ordinary folk into gods - if it suits the author. Toc the Younger lost an eye to a falling rock in Gardens of the Moon: now he has Sight of Stone or something just as ridiculous and becomes one of the Wolf Gods or something. I lost interest.

Just a bad non-D&D campaign (he used GURPS) converted from rejected scripts into endless, boring novels. That wouldn't be so bad except for the tedious self-pity that constitutes most of the pages of this book.

Editorial Review:

The ravaged continent of Genabackis has given birth to a terrifying new empire: the Pannion Domin. Like a tide of corrupted blood, it seethes across the land, devouring all. In its path stands an uneasy alliance: Onearm's army and Whiskeyjack's Bridgeburners alongside their enemies of old--the forces of the Warlord Caladan Brood, Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii mages, and the Rhivi people of the plains.
But ancient undead clans are also gathering; the T'lan Imass have risen. For it would seem something altogether darker and more malign threatens this world. Rumors abound that the Crippled God is now unchained and intent on a terrible revenge.
Marking the return of many characters from Gardens of the Moon and introducing a host of remarkable new players, Memories of Ice is both a momentous new chapter in Steven Erikson's magnificent epic fantasy and a triumph of storytelling.

(20060124)

The Malloreon, Vol. 2 (Books 4 & 5): Sorceress of Darshiva, The Seeress of Kell

David Eddings

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Here is the epic conclusion of David Eddings’s enthralling series The Malloreon–two magnificent novels in one volume. This monumental fantasy follows the story of two age-old opposing destinies locked in a seven-thousand-year war for control of the world, its gods, and its men. Indeed the victor will determine nothing less than the fate of all creation.

Troubles mount as King Garion, Belgarath, and Polgara pursue Zandramas, the Child of Dark, across the known world. The wicked creature has abducted the King’s infant son for sinister purposes. If Garion and his companions cannot reach the Place Which Is No More, as the Seeress of Kell has warned, then Zandramas will use Garion’s son in a rite that will raise the Dark Prophecy to eternal dominion over the universe. Only the Seeress of Kell can reveal the mysterious locale, but first Garion and Polgara must fulfill an ancient prophecy in the mountain fastness of the Seers. Although Kell is closed to Zandramas, her dark magic can forcefully extract the intelligence she needs from one of Garion’s party. Setting traps and dispatching her foul minions, she is determined to claim the world for the Dark Prophecy. But Garion will let nothing stand between himself and his son. . . .

The Tamuli: Domes of Fire - The Shining Ones - The Hidden City

David Eddings

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Editorial Review:

For the first time in one magical volume–the three exciting novels of David Eddings’s epic heroic fantasy THE TAMULI

Danger stalks Queen Ehlana’s realm. Peasants whisper of the heroes of old who will rise again. Outlaw bands ravage the hill country. Then comes an ambassador from the far-off Tamuli empire, requesting aid: Tamuli is being torn apart by monsters, ancient warriors, and foul magics. Queen Ehlana turns to the great knight Sparhawk, and the two begin the perilous trek to the distant empire of the east, toward a glittering court seething with corruption and treachery.
This tale of rousing adventure, glory, and betrayal is fantasy at its best, as told by one of the finest storytellers of our time.

“This tale of comradeship, dastardly doings, multiple gods, strange races and noble and ignoble humans is vintage Eddings.”
–Publishers Weekly, on The Shining Ones

“Eddings continues to reward lovers of great, sweeping fantasies with creative ingenuity in characterization, world building, and magical effects.”
–Booklist, on The Hidden City