The Call of the Sword

Another very good read by Roger Taylor (can you tell that I've read his work out of sequence?). I wish I could figure out why Eddings and Jordon get so much press (hey, I like their work too), while a wonderful writer like Taylor is virtually unknown in North America. This was his first book, and the first of four books in The Chronicles of Hawklan.

We are introduced to Hawklan a man with no memory, and his companion Gavor - the raven. Along the way we are introduced to the people, the country, and the history of the land. A great evil is once again on the rise. Who is this mysterious man with no memory? Could he be in fact Ethriss the ancient Guardian who in the past helped defeat Sumeral the Dark Lord?

Reviewed July 2000

The Fall of Fyorlund

Dan-Tor, Sumeral's evil agent has assumed power from an ailing King. The King's High Guard has been disbanded, along with the ruling council. Little by little the land is falling under his reign of terror.

Hawklan the enigmatic healer / warrior knows he must confront this evil, and along the way he gathers about him those who will help fight the war to come.

This is first rate fantasy stuff. Nothing overly fluffy or cute, just a gritty well written adventure. I can hardly wait to see what happens next.

Reviewed July 2000

The Waking of Orthlund

It's not quite as good as the last one, but it's still very good. I'm reading all of the books in a row so they're running together for me now. Which is a good thing. I hate waiting a year for the next book in a series. I like to get them all and then plow through. Overall impression: excellent stuff.

This book is a pause in the action. It's basically setting the stage for the final showdown. A lot of the book is spent dealing with the mysterious mountain folk. Along the way Dan-Tor is sent packing, and with his evil hordes escapes back to his master. Of course he won't stay there . . .

As I write this I'm about a third of the way into the next volume. Hard books to put down.

reviewed September 2, 2000

Into Narsindal (©1990)

The final book in the Chronicles of Hawklan started off with a bit of a stutter, but after the first forty pages or so the story picked up and essentially rolled away sweeping me along for the ride. It's always bittersweet when I finish a series, especially a series I really enjoyed. The endings always feel rushed, and in the case of good stories, leaves the reader wanting more.

This story brings all the loose ends together, and gathers all the players for one monumental final confrontation. Mister Taylor spends 500 pages of the final book building to the climax, and then in the space of 30 pages or so does some serious bean bonkin'. I'm not going to try and find weak points, I was taken on an epic journey, and was thoroughly entranced. An excellent series.

Reviewed September 8, 2000

The Return of the Sword (©1999)

This one is billed as the Final Chronicle of Hawklan, it's really the author's effort to bring all of his loose ends together from all of his books and tie up everything with a nice bow.

It's not that this is a bad book, it's very readable, and if you've read all of his books you'll probably enjoy this more than I did. I've read most of his books, but I've not read them all (yet - I have them all just haven't read them. I tend to save his stuff so that I can savour it when the time is right). I read this one because of the Hawklan subtitle figuring I didn't have to read all of the others for this to make sense. Perhaps I should have read them in order.

All of the main characters from the other books find themselves drawn together to once again face down the ultimate evil. A lot of nothing happens, but it's so much fun spending time with the characters you don't mind that nothing much is happening. In fact not much happens at all until the last few pages.

It's been a few years now since his last book, and hopefully Mister Taylor is only recharging his batteries and not resting on his rather impressive laurels. Don't let the lack of stars throw you off, this is a must read if you're a fan - it's good, but it's just a bit flat. Still even a flat Taylor is better than a kick in the pants, or a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Reviewed May 4, 2002

Thorn and Needle

Another one of my 25 cents novels.  This was very quick read.  Well paced, exciting, and had some neat ideas.  Based on that I recommend this little book.  I've read a number of TSR fantasy books, and they've all been pretty good.

Now for the cons.  The underlying story seemed weak, and wasn't fully developed.  The "evil" in this book, wasn't really all that bad.  Who knows maybe I missed the point.  It's happened before.  Still I couldn't put the book down. 

Lord Of The Rings

The master. With all the hype and renewed interest as a result of the movie, I decided to revisit the books. I read them many years ago, and with all the derivative stuff I've read much of the fantasy genre bleeds together. But to be fair, this wasn't the first fantasy I'd read. That honour goes to Moorcock.

There's a reason Tolkien is the master. These books are the bible of the fantasy world. At the risk of being sacrilegious they're not perfect, but dang they're pretty close.

I won't even bother trying to put in my two cent synopsis as there's no point. Oh what the heck, I can't resist. Here it comes (take a deep breath) There's this ring of power, some little people with stout hearts, a wizard with a fuzzy beard, some elves, a grumpy dwarf, some really bad people, some more bad guys, a struggle to win the day and a surprise ending that's sure to make you go "ooooh."

It's a classic, and will no doubt outlast the genre as we know it.

Reviewed February 2002

Roverandom

Woof, woof.  A dog story.  Fun stuff.  I know my son will love this one in a couple of years.  You can tell this was a posthumous offering. 

A Confederacy of Dunces

Whoo hoo.  This was a brilliant read.  Too bad the wanker idiot killed himself, who knows what other great works he could've written.  A very funny book, at times a  little sad, and pathetic too.  There's a little Ignatius in all of us.  Oh I'd better stop now, I feel my valve closing. 

The Laws Of Our Fathers (©1996)

When I picked this up, I didn't know what to expect. Mr. Turow has written some wonderful stuff, and then he wrote the clunker Pleading Guilty (not a bad book, just not a good Turow - although the whole thing read like a really long simile). So I waited a while before finally giving this one a go.

So I started off, with my bar set low, and I was soon engrossed in the tale. It's a pretty good story, which features many of the characters from previous books, but you don't need to read the other stuff to appreciate this book. It stands on it's own. We get a present day murder trial, with a number of the main characters who have a common history. The story bounces back and forth in time using the lead characters as narrator. It holds together pretty well, and despite a rather trite ending to the court room drama, I was pleasantly surprised, and really enjoyed Turow's return to form.

Reviewed November 25, 2001