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athenz971's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
veraann's review against another edition
4.0
The Riftwar Saga Book #1: Kind of more a Part 1 since initially it was a combined book with Magician: Master.
It was difficult to figure out what I wanted to rate this. Partly because I did enjoy it, but there are buts. Partly because it is coupled strongly with the next book, which I haven't picked up yet. Partly because this is the start of a HUGE series of books. This was originally written in the early 80s. Around this time and since have been a lot of authors to tackle a good fantasy world.
If you have not read fantasy or have read very little fantasy and would like to read some/more this is a good book to pick up. It is quick moving and not bogged down with very many of the typical fantasy slow to start for world or character build parts. Though it is a massive world, with many characters and a big series. If you read tons of fantasy and want to pick it up because you hear great things and it's a classic fantasy do. While it doesnt take tons of time to slowly build the world and characters it is still a fun read.
Personally I did enjoy it. I would have liked a little more in depth of the world, but this is coming off reading a couple fantasy series that were very wordy in building world and characters. The world here is massive, with lots of different characters and right now I have a good feel for the world, but the characters seem flat. So far there hasn't been much growth shown and the time period skips ahead by months, years. It is a fast read and kept interesting. Great start to a series.
It was difficult to figure out what I wanted to rate this. Partly because I did enjoy it, but there are buts. Partly because it is coupled strongly with the next book, which I haven't picked up yet. Partly because this is the start of a HUGE series of books. This was originally written in the early 80s. Around this time and since have been a lot of authors to tackle a good fantasy world.
If you have not read fantasy or have read very little fantasy and would like to read some/more this is a good book to pick up. It is quick moving and not bogged down with very many of the typical fantasy slow to start for world or character build parts. Though it is a massive world, with many characters and a big series. If you read tons of fantasy and want to pick it up because you hear great things and it's a classic fantasy do. While it doesnt take tons of time to slowly build the world and characters it is still a fun read.
Personally I did enjoy it. I would have liked a little more in depth of the world, but this is coming off reading a couple fantasy series that were very wordy in building world and characters. The world here is massive, with lots of different characters and right now I have a good feel for the world, but the characters seem flat. So far there hasn't been much growth shown and the time period skips ahead by months, years. It is a fast read and kept interesting. Great start to a series.
ecosy's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
dm_pat's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
dmfw's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
illusie's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the start of the book. Later on there was too much fighting for my taste
whimsicalmeerkat's review against another edition
2.0
I received a fair amount of flak over criticisms I made while I was reading this book, but my general opinion holds true. While it picked up towards the end, despite having a cliffhanger ending, I will most likely not read any of the following books in the series. I just did not enjoy it enough for that. I had issues with the writing at several points and the story felt generic. One thing I do have to say, the sense of time passing in this book was done extremely well for fantasy. I rarely see that done so well. Overall though, I was unimpressed.
goobdiddy's review against another edition
3.0
Not too bad. Like the other-dimension aspects of it all, but much of the story was very derivative of Tolkien. (Of course, isn't most fantasy?) Dwarves, elves, etc. I'll keep reading the series, though, so it's that good at least ;)