Terry Goodkind - Soul of the Fire.

Soul of the Fire, the fifth volume of the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, was published in 1999.

Again I have a feeling of futility for the two protagonists as yet again when saving each other or the world from an evil they unwittingly unleash an even greater evil upon their world.

The protagonists act like real human adults and are very believable and the world around them is rich and living. But I keep looking for the next evil they just unleashed (in the next novel) and this slightly spoils my immersion in the story.

I would give it a rating of 6 out of 10.

Dean R. Koontz - Velocity.

Velocity is a novel by Dean R. Koontz and was published in 2005. A bartender named Billy finds a note on the windshield of his car after a long day at work.
It says: "If you don't take this note to the police; I will kill a lovely blonde schoolteacher somewhere in Napa County. If you do take this note to the police; I will instead kill an elderly woman. You have 6 hours to decide."
This is just the beginning of a long string of events that force Billy to choose between two evils and the speed of these trials keeps increasing making it more and more difficult for Billy to try to find the killer.

The suspense is quite good and only a couple of times do the protagonist act in another way than I would in the same situation.

I would give it a rating of 8 out of 10.

Dean R. Koontz - Demon Seed.

Demon Seed was first published in 1973 but a 1997 re-write is highly recommendable.
Dean Koontz tells a very chauvinistic story of an artificial intelligence and its measures to attain corporeality in the form of a genetically engineered human body.

Men reading this will perhaps recognize some aspects of themself in the "ramblings" of the AI. I know now that the teenage me suffered from some of these misconceptions and I cannot but wonder if the brave new world with the ever growing part of the public space being erotical or pornographic oriented haven't made it even worse.

I would give it a rating of 6 out of 10.

Terry Goodkind - Temple of the Winds.

Temple of the WInds is the fourth installment of the very good series "The Sword of Truth" by Terry Goodkind. It was published in 1997.

I was a bit let down by this book as I began to have a feeling of futility on the behalf ot the two protagonists. It seems that no matter what they do, they inadvertently fulfill some ancient prophecy that release an even greater evil upon their world. Despite of this the story kept me reading and I like the way the puzzle falls into place at the end.

I would give it a rating of 7 out of 10.

Terry Goodkind - Blood of the Fold.

Blood of the Fold is the third volume in the Sword of Truth series and was published in 1996.

Richard and Kahlan are still interesting and I think the world and environment is at its best yet in the series.
The world expands constantly and I think Terry Goodkind manages to keep it very interesting.

I really like the ending of this book.

I would give it a rating of 8 out of 10.

Terry Goodkind - Stone of Tears.

Stone of Tears is the second volume in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.
It was published in 1995.

The book takes of immediately after the end of "Wizards First Rule" and keeps the same pace and spirit as its predecessor. It still has love in different forms as a main motivator for the protagonists.

Richard the main character is still strong and believable and the universe is colorful and exciting.

I would give it a rating of 7 out of 10.

Terry Goodkind - Wizard's First Rule.

Wizard's First Rule is the first volume in the "The Sword of Truth" epic fantasy series by Terry Goodkind. It was published in 1994 by Tor books.

It is a bit atypical in its story but the characters are strong and easy to relate with. There is an overarching theme of love and its effects on people and the world in general.

I like the pacing of the story and also the main character Richard who is believeable and intelligent.

I will definitely look into the whole series.

I would give it a rating of 8 out of 10.

Simon Hawke - The Iron Throne.

The Iron Throne was published in 1995 and is a novel describing the last Anuirean Emperor in the, by some well-known, setting of Birthright (A campaign world for the "Dungeons and Dragons" Roleplaying Game by TSR/Wizards of the Coast).

The story is rather well-written with but a few chunky parts. It describes the life of the Lord High Chamberlain of the Emperor Michael Roele and their journey together from the cradle to the grave.

It is a non-typical epic fantasy with a lush and detailed setting that will appeal to many fantasy enthusiasts, especially D&D players with ties to the Birthright campaign setting but can be read without any connection to said setting.

I would give it a rating of 7 out of 10. (mostly because I have the aforementioned tie to Birthright).

Ponderings about Fantasy.

When people read that a certain book is in the genre known as fantasy they often have differing thoughts of what this might imply.

Some think of cute unicorns, faeries and princesses in need of rescuing from dragons.

Others will think epic stories of small groups of people rising up to the task and saving their world/nation using at some time in the story some kind of magic.

Still others think like I do that the one concept that is constant in all fantasy novels is the inclusion of at least one element that defies our physics or natural laws.

This could be supernatural beings; such as dragons, goblins, werewolves or vampires, or the use of magic to solve anything from daily problems to world-threatening events, or environmental elements not possible in the real world; seas of lava, breathable seas or flying cliffs.

This last categorization is pretty large and will often encompass novels not originally thought of as fantasy but I often use this to find book I would be interested in reading.

I have a dream of having a trilogy of mine published sometime in the future. This will be an epic fantasy story in three parts told by three different narrators.

On this blog I will from time to time write about my progress, ideas or thoughts about the process from idea to (hopefully) published novel.

Stephen King - The Eyes of the Dragon.

The Eyes of the Dragon was published in 1987 and is a novel suitable for the young adult due to its story and humor.

The story is told by a unknown narrator that through the whole story gives insights into what the story will be about and humorous remarks about the events in the story.

I found the story well written and I really liked the humor of the narrator.

The fantasy elements with dragons, wizards and strange poisons appeal to the role-playing geek in me.

I would give it a rating of 6 out of 10.

Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol.

Once again symbologist Robert Langdon is the main character in this suspenseful thriller (2009) following the two previous books Angels & Demons (2000) and The Da Vinci Code (2003).

The book is a typical Dan Brown novel full of semi-authentic pseudoscience mixed with a lot of interesting facts and myths into a story driven by the main character as well as a natural curiosity of the reader to KNOW.

Dan Brown has previously in my humble opinion written his books over the same skeleton with regards to protagonist/antagonists but this book was different from the usual.

I think it is a solid book but no more than that and I do not see myself reading it again in the future.

I would give it a rating of 5 out of 10.

Raymond E. Feist - Wrath of a Mad God.

Wrath of a Mad God is the third book in The Darkwar Saga trilogy published in 2008.
It is one of many books by Raymond E. Feist that revolve around the world of Midkemia and the magician Pug and the half-valheru Tomas.

The story is very gripping with the heroes having to make great sacrifices. Although the story tries to paint a very bleak and dark image I had complete confidence in the main heroes, Pug and Nakor, and this unfortunately made the suspense a bit less than what was probably intended by the writer.

Despite this I love this book and would readily read it again in a years time or so.

I would give it a rating of 8 out of 10.

Frederick Forsyth - The Fourth Protocol.

The Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth was published in 1984 and is a spy/thriller novel revolving around a plot to turn the UK into a communist controlled society.

I think the book is very successful in grabbing the reader and in collecting all loose threads at the end of the novel.

It is also believable in the characters and plot and I was quickly caught by the story.

I would give it a rating of 7 out of 10.

A new beginning...

This is my first attempt at writing a blog.
I've decided, after my wife suggested it, that I'd write a blog in which I would focus on the books I've been reading and games I play including RPGs and of course the dream I have of writing a publishable fantasy novel.