I can see I’ve held on to this for entirely too long.

This was an interesting book for me. As a reader it didn’t hold my interest as much as it might. As a writer, it was much more interesting. When I read the notice at the front declaring that “persons attempting to find a plot will be shot” I was puzzled and amused. The further I got into the book the more it made sense, however. Twain was clearly more interested in characters than plots. Huck Finn is rather more like a series of vignettes than anything and relies a lot on coincidence.

The characters are what really keeps it going. I came to quite like Huck Finn and Jim. Tom Sawyer annoyed me and the chapters toward the end regarding the escape of Jim felt painful and cruel to me… as well as being entirely too long.

I struggled a little with the dialect at first, particularly Jim’s, but the further I read on, the more I came to grips with it and appreciated Twain’s ear.

Definitely an interesting portrait of the times.

Well, it wasn’t quite as predictable an ending as I thought it might be, but it came close. The book felt like a bit of a let down, actually. It took a long time to cover very little territory. I got a bit bored with it. The beginning in particular. I put it down halfway through the first chapter and almost didn’t pick it up again. I think that’s a rather sad thing to say about the last book in a series.

Once again I thought the consistancy was a bit lacking (particularly with Alisza’s manner of speaking) but not as bad as it was in other books. As rubyyot said, a fitting ending to the series, but not one that was really very emotionally engaging.

Again, I think it’s the little inconsistancies that get to me. The strength of Ryld’s discomfort in the Lands Above were a sudden jump, almost as if his love for Halisstra (so well set out in the fourth book) never happened at all. There was no gradual shifting of focus from love to discomfort. It makes his declaration of love for Halisstra towards the end of the book seem a bit hollow.

I found the first few chapters to be very action packed. Too much so, actually. There was so much happening and such vagueness to it, due to things like Gromph being unable to see and Ryld not knowing the local wildlife, that it became a bit confusing.

Ryld and Jeggred’s battle with the humans was a nice touch. You get used to thinking of Ryld as ‘good’, but this makes it clear that’s a relative thing and puts it into perspective nicely.

I was a bit shocked by the death of one of the characters.

There were some nicely epic parts. It will be interesting to see whether the ending is going to be as predictable as I think it is.

I agree with rubyyot. It’s the best book in the series so far. The conflicts have taken on a bit more depth, as have the characters. I thought it was a good strategy to alternate chapters between the different story strands. Yet I also found it frustrating because they’d inevitably leave things at the most interesting point; I was frustrated because the technique worked so well!

As with the other books I found the subtle difference in interpretation and style to be unsettling, particularly at first. Jeggred’s intelligence seems to fluctuate, especially in comparison with the second book. Ryld and Halisstra’s relationship also seemed to jump forward, from a tentative liking of each other to full blown romance (as much as is possible for drow, at least).

Overall, I enjoyed it though. I shall be interested to see how they resolve the various situations, especially now that it is winding up to a climax.

This is another of those books that I’m not really sure how I feel about. I found the information very useful and the exercises not so useful (although that was probably because I didn’t do them).

I suppose I feel that the real test of the book comes in putting the information to the test, and I’m just not ready to do that yet.

Again, the characters end up being subtly different than in the previous novels. Gromph gains a familiar. Danifae gains a locket connected to her compulsion. That last example interests me particularly. It doesn’t play any major role in this novel, yet if it was going to be just part of the background, why mention it at all? And if it does play an important part in the future, why not mention it when we first meet Danifae (or at least in the first book she’s included in)?

Also, I may have misread something, but there seems to be a discrepancy in Danifae’s ability to levitate. On pg 248, during the battle with the beholder, she seems to, yet later in the novel and significantly during the previous novel she can’t.

Plus if I have to hear the word “wicked” one more time in relation to a weapon, I’m going to scream. It was definitely overused.

The opening description was rather elaborate with perhaps too many adjectives, but Halisstra’s assessment of the party members in relation to her own situation is a great way to introduce them and a nice touch.

I felt Baker really owned Halisstra as a character and she became far more interesting in this book.

The ending was also suitably dramatic on a large scale and really captures the imagination.

I’m looking forward to seeing where the story will go next.

I’ll admit to being dubious about a series with the same characters but with different writers for every book. Perhaps that’s why I’m having trouble warming up to the series.

I admit they’ve done a fairly good job with continuity so far, although Gromph, Triel and occasionally Jeggred seemed a little “off” for me. And I have been enjoying it… just not quite as wholeheartedly as I would have liked to. This particular book featured a pet peeve of mine on pg 233. Never say “off of”.

I have particularly enjoyed the cinematic imagery of the series. I especially liked the rescue of Danifae in this book. However I found the pace towards the end perhaps a little too franetic. I guess we’ll see what the next one brings.

This is the second time I’ve read this book. The first time I remember it being quite exciting. It doesn’t hold up so well the second time around. I think that’s because it relies quite heavily on surprise.

I still enjoyed it, just not quite as much. The ending in particular was rather spectacular. The relationships between the characters (and especially Pharaun and Ryld) kept things interesting and dynamic. I also liked the way the narrative was coloured by the character the narrative was focussed on. The choice of words was very clever and could indicate immediately who each section was going to focus on.

As part of my Creative Writing degree, I took a course in Writing for Young People. This book was mentioned in it and I can see why. It definitely follows the philosophy that children can understand and handle more than adults generally give them credit for and that the bad as well as the good should be available to them if they wish.

This may seem strange, but I wish this book had been published when I was younger. I think it would have been a wonderful challenge for my advanced reading level.

I enjoyed the language. It was nice to see it rolled around and savoured. I found the content rather harrowing at first, but the further I got into it the more confortable I became. The ending came as no real surprise for me, but I enjoyed every step of the way.

I’d be fascinated to read what the academics made of this book. I’m sure there’s got to be some literary articles on it somewhere. I think I could spend a lot longer thinking about this.

Like so many others I’ve talked to who have read this, I was disappointed with this book. I think it largely steps from a misconception regarding the book’s purpose; Allison was pretty clear it was to help other psychics, but that’s not really how it has been marketed.

I disagree with the Foreword’s description of the book as “warm”. It seemed much more clincal and unemotional, more a logical presentation of the facts as she sees them. As a result I found it difficult to engage with. It didn’t hold my interest very much at all.

Dubois’ black and white viewpoint on people discouraged me too.

All in all, it made me think about some of my misconceptions but was hardly a fascinating read. I’d be much more interested in reading some of Gary Schwartz’ research.