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embereye's review
3.0
Oh... so... bad! But so cracktastic! High fantasy, five people who control the elements (including "Spirit") two women, three men, love triangles abound, and everyone has weaknesses, and so on and so forth la dee da. So bad, so fun. There are three more books. Am I reading them? Probably when I have breaks between other books.
squirrelsohno's review
1.0
Quite possibly one of the worst books ever in my opinion. But I did learn one good lesson from it. When in doubt, drink tea. I trashed my copy of this years ago and I still remember that.
theskyisnew's review
3.0
This series is so bad and trashy and yet I read it when I was like twelve and have a soft spot lol.
eacolgan's review against another edition
3.0
when i was fifteen, i thought this series was the shit. the writing wasn't great, but hey, the sexy parts were good, so it didn't matter that the plot was like swiss cheese sliced superthin, right? looking back, the fact that the sexy parts *are* the best parts of these books is pretty telling. the premises of the plot and characters aren't bad, and there are some parts that are actually interesting, but overall the series is repetitive and predictable, and probably not worth the time it'd take to get through all five.
UPDATED TO ADD: also, thinking back, a much older and wiser me now calls total shenanigans on the fact that oh, yes, the main 5 must all sleep together ~~for magic~~ ...but only with the people of the opposite sex. wtf? i'm shipping vallant/rion from here on out and nobody can stop me. also jovvi/tamrissa is practically canon and i knew that back when i didn't even know what shipping was. SO THERE.
another goodreads reviewer put it best by saying that these books are awful, but they're like crack. once you start, you cannot stop reading them. and from a fantasy writer's perspective i have to say, it's clear sharon green put a ton of thought into the rules of her magic, and what you could or couldn't do with it.
UPDATED TO ADD: also, thinking back, a much older and wiser me now calls total shenanigans on the fact that oh, yes, the main 5 must all sleep together ~~for magic~~ ...but only with the people of the opposite sex. wtf? i'm shipping vallant/rion from here on out and nobody can stop me. also jovvi/tamrissa is practically canon and i knew that back when i didn't even know what shipping was. SO THERE.
another goodreads reviewer put it best by saying that these books are awful, but they're like crack. once you start, you cannot stop reading them. and from a fantasy writer's perspective i have to say, it's clear sharon green put a ton of thought into the rules of her magic, and what you could or couldn't do with it.
ljstrain28's review against another edition
4.0
I read this a long time ago and plan to re-read. I also hope to find the rest of the books and finish the series!
sophieenrose's review
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
aelvargas's review
4.0
I first read this series in middle and high school, and I loved them. I can probably say they had a profound impact on my reading choices and interests for the rest of my life. My first email address was a play on Tamrissa's character. I LOVED these books. I decided to read them again recently, and I still love them, if only for nostalgia. They are terribly repetitive. Like, ridiculously repetitive. She chose first person narratives for a story centered on five main characters -- terrible idea! If they all had different experiences perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, but these characters literally experience the same things and you have to read about it five times in only subtly different ways. I'm surprised the editor/publisher didn't have her do away with the pov after the first book. Tamrissa could have taken over been 1st/3rd person omniscient and it would have worked wonderfully. Of course, there's also a lot of tea drinking. Like, a ridiculous amount of tea drinking. But at this point I just find it amusing. Break in the action? Time for tea. Need an opportunity for dialogue? Time for tea. Need an opportunity for inner monologue? Time for tea. It's great, in a terrible way. The saving grace of these books is the world/magic. Green was really onto something with this world and I love reading about it. I also love these characters, despite their many flaws. Hell, I'll probably name my future kids after them (not really...maybe) -- that's how much these books have stuck with me and influenced me over the years. Even though they're sort of awful, I hold a special place for them in my heart.
alice2000's review
4.0
A wonderful series that unfolds oh so slowly through most of the first 4 books. I couldn't put them down until I had finished them. Stick with it!
archerkel's review
2.0
Be warned, for the first 150 pages you are rereading the same story over and over and over from five different viewpoints. Once you got past that the story moved much faster since the events were not repeated. The reader still had the benefit of different viewpoints, but it is not tedious after that point. This book was okay. I will probably pick up the second book from the library at some point. As it stands I would not recommend this book, but if you just need something to fill your time, it's not bad.