English Books

I am in the process of answering a questionnaire asking, if I could recommend one book to someone to read, what book would it be?

I came on this site to check the spelling of the full name of this book.

I love this book.

"Swimming Lessons", a short story collection, may be Mistry's earliest published work. He of course wrote the awesome "A Fine Balance", a panoramic look at life in India circa 1975. "Lessons" is set in about the same time period and chronicles the life experiences of middle-class Indians from a particular apartment complex. Major characters in one story show up as minor characters in other stories, giving the book a novelistic feel. Emigration, experienced directly by Mistry in his early 20's as he moved to Canada, is a major theme of the book. The story "Squatters", contains a "story inside the story" that affect your thinking about the trials of emigration (as it relates to bodily functions) for a long time. Those who know Mistry will enjoy this look at his early writing. Newcomers to Mistry might enjoy the short story form as an intro before tackling the epic "A Fine Balance."

A collection of interwoven tales told from the perspective of the different residents of Ferozsha Baag, an apartment building in Bombay. All the stories are good; some are outstanding. In particular, the story of the son who emigrates to Canada to become a writer has a uniquely autobiographical feel to it. =)

I read A Fine Balance about a year ago and loved it. I just finished Swimming Lessons and I'm going out to buy Family Matters right now. He writes so beautifully and descriptively that you feel that you lived alongside the characters in his books.He's my favorite author right now.

And I thought that "A Fine Balance" was Rohinton's best! Yet again, I find myself speechless in my admiration for his astute command of language. His precise and inventive prose never quits until he has portrayed an image in sentences. Images that I grew up with myself but never quite would have thought of expressing in the grippingly sensitive way he can.

Swimming Lessons is a collection of such reminiscences from the author's childhood in a Parsi neighborhood in suburban middle-class Bombay. The setting itself may be confined to a particular community, but his compassionate brush carves such a wide sweep of the minutest of human emotions that the sheer force of this book is not in its plot or setting, but in its recognition of the universal bounty of life.

Our quirky residents of 'Firozsha Baag' have every reason to be disconcerted and baffled with their difficult lives. The walls of their building complex are coming apart. Washroom flushes don't work. One family has the refrigerator that's shared by the entire colony, and another has the common telephone. Their lives are marred by simple everyday things, innocent infatuations, unconfessed fantasies, fatal jealousies, neighborhood bullies, petty thefts, memory lapses, shared newspapers, cultural/generational clashes, etc etc.

Yet, beneath this veneer of this seeming hardships glimmers a subtle undercurrent of hope and happiness, of a bond that does not need expressing in the common social forms.

The high praise that Mistry has garnered is not exaggerated. The man has a disarming sense of humor and a lingering sense of what makes literature great. I laughed, I cried, I sat back and pondered. I was especially stirred by the moving story "Of White Hairs and Cricket", and the cover story, which is saved for the last, "Swimming Pools."

Couldn't recommend this brilliant compilation highly enough. It hardly reads like a debut.

This is an amazing collection of tales with female protagonists. I grew up on this book and I've loved it ever since I heard the first story. I finally bought my sisters and their daughters a copy since my sisters also grew up on it. We lost the family copy, probably when I was in grade school, most likely to a teacher who saw the value of such a book. Its got tales from various cultures, and various themes. Its not always just the love of a man that she's fighting for, which rocks. I love this book!

I remembered this collection of world tales from my own youth and was pleased that it was just as vibrant and fun as I remembered. Although the tales center around female protagonists, children and adults of any gender can enjoy the action, wit, and surprising tales featured here.

My 8 yo daughter has been getting a little sarcastic as of late. I turned to stories to try to remedy the situation. Tatterhood has opened up her world with strong, often humorous, female role models. I am so glad I bought the book! My 6 yo son and my husband and I enjoy it as well.

This is one of the best collections of fairy tales featuring strong and enterprising hereoines. It includes stories from may different cultures, but all feature clever, resourceful women who overcome adversity. some of the stories were already familiar to me, but many I'd never read before. If you thought all fairy tale heroines were ninnies like Cinderella and snow White, you need to read this excellent book and discover women like Kate Crackernuts, Clever Manka, Sea Girl, and the Three Strong Women.

My mother purchased this book for me as a very young girl, along with other collections of short-stories, and I remember being enchanted with it. The legends are fascinating, although I don't think the fact that they were all about young women and girls ever crossed my mind (an observation that leads me to believe this book would be good for boys, as well).

I recently re-read the stories, and was delighted. I remember being confused as a girl, since the places, people, and customs are mostly foreign, and so I wouldn't recommend these books to any one younger then six. And even then, with the lack of pictures, it's great for adults to read to kids (no matter what age, within reason). Worth the money.

ray linn was, for me, the catalyst for a life long interest in philosophy and the ideas of postmodernism. i treasure this book as a reflection of him and his insights. as michael said, it's really more of linn's intellectual journey than it is a basic "key terms" guide (and it's a far better and more stimulating read because of it). that said, i have this little tome cracked open as i write a term paper on wittgenstein, so its definitely useful as a reference for some pretty complicated ideas. core baby for life.

Although, on the one hand, it is more one man's account of his intellectual life in Postmodernity than an actual account of Postmodernism; on the other, this book is useful in the sense that it familiarizes the reader with some key terms and ideas.
If you thought Russell's History of Philosophy was a good way to actually understand intellectual history, then this book is for you. If not then this book is useful as a starting guide at best.

As a former student of the ever brilliant Mr.Linn, I can attest to the fact that this is a great book. Any one who likes Postmodern philosophy will find this book very useful because it makes a complicated subject understandable and interesting.

Cleveland Rocks!!!

Never before have I read such magnificance in all my years as a college student. This has inspired me to further pursue my interests in the post-modern world. I trust that all educated scholars will appreciate this work filled with ideas concerning the existence of every individual. I ardently recommmend this book to anyone who has the time to contemplate over his or her post-modern existence.

Well, it certainly seems as though quite a few CHS alums have come on to [...] to sing the praises of our old H.S. philosophy teacher. While he was a remarkable teacher, and the fact that he enabled H.S. seniors to actually understand postmodernism is truly remarkable, I think no greater praise can be offered to A Teacher's Instruction to Postmodernism than this:
As I sit here, a second year graduate student in philosophy, sweating over the intricacies of Wittgenstein's writing, it is this book that serves as my lifeline to understanding these theories. Yes, a book that was comprehensable as a 12th grade student, it serving as my most valuable resource.
Thanks Ray!

Tokyo Mew Mew TOTALLY rocks!!!!!!! Trust me I've read the WHOLE series and they all ROCK!!!!!!! Even Tokyo Mew Mew A La Mode ROCKS!!!!!!!!!

This book was pretty good, with the story advancing along well.

Basically, Ichigo has to find a way to hide her secret from Masaya, but he keeps showing up in places that she needs to transform! The girls all go on a cruise where more aliens show up and send out 'kirema animas' but they stop them. Ichigo turns into a cat when Masaya is around, and he takes her home. But the cliffhanger endings make me sad!! :(

The artwork was cute, just like before! If you have read the series so far, I recommend continuing. However, a warning to newcomers. The storyline is very confusing for people who haven't read the first 2 books, so I recommend reading them first.

~*chikorita1999*~

This is about five girls. They are: Ichigo Momomiya (part cat), Mint Aizawa (part bird), Lettuce Midoriwawa (part porpoise), Pudding Fong (part monkey), and Zakuro Fujiwara (part wolf).
I noticed a big mistake on the page that introduces all the characters. Pudding and Zakuro's pictures are mixed up. It says Zakuro Fujiwara under Pudding's picture and Pudding Fong under Zakuro's picture. So it also says Pudding's name is Zakuro and she is "a cool and beautiful model." That is, obviously, not right. Pudding is not a model and she isn't really that pretty. In this book Lettuce gets a mermaid-like tail with the Mew Aqua when she jumps in the ocean to save a baby.

I loved this book! It was another cliffhanger though:( Ichigo turns into a little cat and gets taken home by Masaya! She runs out of his house while he sleeps and some fat alley cat tries to kiss her but she gets saved by another cat, Alto, but then he kisses her! But he did it to turn her human again. A lot more happens in this story but to find out what or how Alto knows Ichigo's secret you have to read this book!!!!

Best volume yet! I have only read up to three though! It is so cute when ichigo turnss into a cat. At the end something shocking happens (not gonna tell!) and there is some rivalry over the love of ichigo. two more aliens get introduced. A little confusing at the beginning though. What do you think is cuter, masaya and ichigo or ryou and ichigo? (...)

Inspirational. I gave it to friends who had suffered hardships of various kinds and they found it helpful.

Mary Fahy's book "The Tree That Survived The Winter" is quite simply amazing and wonderful at the same time. Here in the allegorical story of a tree one can find strength and courage to face personal tragedy and loss. In the process, a person will grow and learn to find happiness and joy in their own world. The happiness and joy that come from living, loving and growing as a person and taking pleasure in the everything around them.

This is one of the best books you can find for dealing with grieving for a loss. It is especially well suited for someone mourning a death, but it will also have meaning for those coping with divorce or any other of life's losses. It can be read in one sitting and is a perfect blend of text and illustration.

I first received this book 10 years ago when my husband passed away. Since then, I given numerous copies to those who have lossed loved ones. It is simple, but helps the healing process.

This book is an allegory about life in general. How we all must face tough times before we can truly appreciate the good times. In this story, a tree begins to come to life after the dreary time of winter. The ground was frozen, the air was cold and there was very little warmth in the sun. This caused the tree to move inward as the elements threatened to damage it. However, with the arrival of spring, the sun is now warm, the roots are growing deeper and stronger and her leaves are budding.
However, this newfound joy soon turns to sadness and hostility against the sun, as she wants to know why the sun abandoned her. The response is to point out how the adverse conditions of winter have strengthened her into a much stronger tree, capable of surviving against much harsher weather. She then learns that it is not the good times that make us stronger, in many ways, they make us weaker. Only by being exposed to the difficult times can we be made to understand and appreciate the good times and also be better able to survive even more difficult times. Without that experience, the truly difficult times may lead to our downfall.

Though Roald Dahl's reputation comes mostly from his children's books, these stories, though mostly aimed at adults, are worth reading. This book is full of short stories with somewhat bizarre twists to them, though they are enjoyable all the same. My favorites are Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, The Butler, The Landlady, Parson's Pleasure, The Umbrella Man, Vengeance is Mine Inc., and Taste.
In Vengeance is Mine Inc., Two brothers named George and Claude move to New York with only four hundred and fifty dollars. When they run out of money, they become desperate. Then, Claude gets an idea. The brothers start a company called Vengeance is Mine Inc., which sends out letters to rich people who have been insulted in the newspapers, offering to punch the offensive columnist them in the nose, black their eye, put a rattlesnake (with venom extracted) in their car, or kidnap them, take off their clothes (except for underwear), and dump them on fifth street at rush hour.
After just two days of sending out letters, they already have to punch someone in the nose, put a rattlesnake in someone's car, and kidnap someone (with the above specifics). Do you want to know if they succeed? If you do, you'll have to read the book.
However, if you do decide to read the book, you will end up reading a lot of other great stories in addition to this one. The endings are just as varied as the topics of the stories. Several are slightly gruesome, others are very interesting, and one of them is very sad. Generally, though, they turn your expectations inside out and upside down, with witty (though sometimes outdated) humor and clever plot lines. If you enjoy this kind of thing, I highly recommend that you read this book.

It has taken me nearly ten years to complete my collection of Roald dahl books in hard back and this was worth the wait.

Simply an amazing book. Roald Dahl does have quite the reputation for creating children's books, but this is no child's book. Each story is so brilliant that you would think there were several decades of planning put into each one. A few will leave you frightened, some will leave you gasping, some might leave you roaring with laughter, and others will have you feeling sad.
But I assure you, no matter what feeling these stories leave you with, each and every one will be accompanied by satisfaction.
Roald Dahl was a saint when it came to children's books, but if you haven't read any of his Young-Adult (I like to call them) classics, then you have no idea what true literature is. I also recommend some of his other non-children's books, such as, one of my favourites: Going Solo.

I am a huge Roald Dahl fan, so naturally I am a bit biased. I love this compilation of short stories, and I constantly reread my favorites, which include Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, The Butler, Man from the South, The Landlady, The Umbrella Man, The Way Up to Heaven, Royal Jelly, Taste, and Neck. If you like Roald Dahl's stories as much as I do, I recommend Dahl's Omnibus, which compiles most, if not all of his short works.

Thirteen tales of horror and hilarity from master storyteller: Roald Dahl. How much will you pay for revenge? Would you stake a bet on your little finger or on your only daughter's hand in marriage? Each of the thirteen stories collected here will grab your attention and keep you riveted till the very last words. By turns shocking,ironic,humorous and touching, these tales are filled with bizarre twists and unexpected delights. This collection proves Roald Dahl's standing as one of the world's finest storytellers. My favourites in this book are The Umbralla Man, Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat,Parson's Pleasure and Taste.

I read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories (short stories and novels) in a relatively short period of time (good for comparisons), and this was by FAR my favorite of them all. _Nothing_ is as it seems to be, not in the presenting murder mystery, nor in the background story. Both of them are fascinating stories in themselves; combined, it's truly amazing.

I liked this book a lot and it's right up there behind The Sign of Four as the second best Sherlock Holmes novel. Though it's well known that Conan Doyle was growing tired of the character by this point.

The story is of a brutal murder in a mansion house in the English countryside. There's not much sense-making evidence to work on so Holmes and Watson go down to investigate along with Scotland Yard and the local police. Sure enough, Holmes solves the case rather quickly and all is revealed. But it's here that Conan Doyle uses the same split narrative he used in A Study in Scarlet. The story jumps far back in time and details the long, sinister plot leading up to the murder in the mansion. It's a good story and quite addictive. But I'm afraid I saw the plot twist coming (though it's an imaginative surprise) and only because there were no small revalations at any point, therefor I knew I big 'un was coming and deduced the logical conclusion.

And is it just me or is there a major anachronism in the story? Holmes speaks of Moriarty as if he is still alive. But didn't he chuck him of the Reichenbach falls and watch him fall to his death? Unless this story is set before then. And who is this mysterious Porlock? It was never cleared up. Perhaps in a future story eh?

The last of the four Sherlock Holmes novels, and one of the two best. It contains more detection in its first section than The Hound of the Baskervilles, with Holmes (off-stage for much of The Hound) actively investigating the murder at Birlstone, and drawing his ever-fascinating deductions from raincoats and dumb-bells; indeed it is the only pure detective story among the four, with the reader given every opportunity to solve the crime. Although the solution is justly famous, it is but a variation on "The Norwood Builder," at much greater length. The second half of the tale concerns the doings of the Pinkerton agent Birdy Edwardes in the eponymous Valley, terrorised by the Freemasons, a gripping and powerful account which is perhaps of greater interest than the detection.

The story is a report on the actual events surrounding the arrest, conviction, and hanging of the Molly McGuyers in Schuylkill and Carbon Countys, Pennsylvania at the end of the 19th century. In the story the Mollys are like the gansters. In the Pa. coal region they are folk heros who fought and died for workers wrights. See the movie, "Molly McGuyers" staring Sean Conrey, it's an exact match.

The actual Pinkerton, McGowan, Died of old age in California.

'The Valley of Fear'. A real page turner but what makes it most memorable for me is not that Holmes is at his best, but Conan Doyle is. After reading this book I recommend you to read this book because it was a suspense story. The whole story moves around Mcginty who was a big criminal in the valley of vermisa also called the valley of fear. There was only one person who could face to that criminal and his name was Jack McMurdo. He behaved as a gangster and he had taken many risks in his life and he was not afraid to take more risks. Don't miss 'The Valley of Fear'. It's terrifying, exciting, and best of all, real.

I stumbled across this book, and immediately bought it, along with several copies for my friends as well. Taking it to a nearby coffee shop, I laughed so hard other patrons were staring, and somebody actually came up and asked me what was so funny. They seemed to think I was crazy for deliberately buying a book of bad poetry. Finally, I began laughing so hard I was crying, and had to leave to coffee shop to save some sense of dignity! With such gems as "Ode to a Ditch," and "Elegy for a Dissected Puppy," this book proves more interesting and entertaining than I expected, and is also a testament to the indomitable human spirit, which warbles the strangest of verses.

Great poets have their weak moments, but they tend to produce only the occasional bad line - say, for example, when William Wordsworth, one of England's greatest poets, wrote the unintentionally bawdy "Give me your tool, to him I said."

Very bad poets, however, "are perpetrators of a unique and fascinating kind of writing. Unlike the plainly bad or the merely mediocre, very bad poetry is powerful stuff. Like great literature, it moves us emotionally, but, of course, it often does so in ways the writer never intended: usually we laugh."

This book is dedicated to those writers, mostly from the 19th century, who excelled at very bad poetry with astonishing consistency. Those who were blessed, if that is the word, for their entire career with "a wooden ear for words, a penchant for sinking into a mire of sentimentality, a bullheaded inclination to stuff too many syllables or words into a line or a phrase, and an enviable confidence" that allowed them to write despite absolute appalling incompetence.

Here we find the awful metaphor ("the dew on my heart is undried and unshaken") and the tortured rhyme ("Gooing babies, helpless pygmies,/ Who shall solve your Fate's enigmas?") next to one of the most unappetizing titles for a love poem ever ("I Saw Her in Cabbage Time").

Some of the most hilarious effects are created by the attempt to dramatize the pedestrian, as in the "Ode on the Mammoth Cheese", aptly subtitled "Weighing over 7,000 pounds":

We have seen thee, queen of cheese,
Lying quietly at your ease,
Gently fanned by evening breeze,
Thy fair form no flies dare seize. (there are five more delicious stanzas)

Not quite as riotously funny, but interesting as a phenomenon of the 19th century, is the preoccupation of very bad poets with death. It produced tasteless marvels of what the editors labeled "tabloid verse" like:

Oh, Heaven! It was a frightful and pitiful sight to see
Seven bodies charred of the Jarvis family;
And Mrs. Jarvis was found with her child, and both carbonized,
And as the searchers gazed thereon they were surprised.

Another favorite of very bad poets is the use of bizarre words in blissful ignorance of their meaning or the common readers' associations. One of the most talented in this respect was one Amanda McKittrick Ros, "a writer with a gift for (as she puts it) 'disturbing the bowels.'" To her we owe the following lines written on the occasion of her visit of Westminster Abbey:

Holy Moses! Have a look!
Flesh decayed in every nook!
Some rare bits of brain lie here
Mortal loads of beef and beer
Some of whom are turned to dust, [only some?]
Every one bids lost to lust.

The editors' favorite worst poem ever written in the English language bears the title "A Tragedy" - which, indeed, it is. But I don't want to spoil the fun by quoting it here. My own favorite is an excerpt from "A Pindaresque on the Grunting of a Hog." Nothing describes the voice of a very bad poet better than the sounds this animal makes:

Harmonious Hog draw near!
No bloody Butchers here,
Thou need'st not fear.
Harmonious Hog draw near, and from thy beauteous Snowt,
Whilst we attend with Ear
Like thine prik't up devout,
To taste thy sugry Voice, which hear, and there,
With wanton Curls, Vibrates around the Circling Air,
Harmonious Hog! Warble some Anthem out!

Pindar, by the way, was the most famous lyric poet of ancient Greece. He lived in the 5th century BC and saw himself as a poet dedicated to preserving and interpreting great deeds and their divine values.

Another famous ancient Greek author ("Sing, o muse, the wrath of Achilles ...") inspired a very bad poet to what is perhaps the worst line of poetry ever written without satiric intent: "Now, Muse, let's sing of rats." In fact, the poet changed the last word from the original "mice" to "rats" because he found "rats" more dignified.

What sets this anthology apart from others on bad poetry is the quality and tone of the short editorial commentaries preceding each poet. These witty and elucidating notes enhance the enjoyment of the poetry. This anthology also seems to include the largest selection of what the editors of The Stuffed Owl anthology would call bad bad poets. Fred Emerson Brooks, for example, was noted for his partiality for writing in dialect, a crowd-pleasing late nineteenth century device. The Petras siblings include his "multicultural masterpiece" "Foreigners on Santa Claus" and his "particularly nauseating" baby talk poem "The New Baby." The latter qualifies for "The Worst Baby Talk Poem." Such stunningly awful examples of special bad poems are highlighted, labeled, and scattered throughout the text. Highly recommended even for serious readers!

Let's qualify this review with how much I love bad things. I spend most of my free time wondering incessantly about what the creator of such inconceivable nonsense had in mind. Why did you, Ms. Parrington, think it was okay to write a poem about a 'dissected dog'? Why, William McGonagall, do you think your "mastery" of poetic license should have no meter, no forward movement and incredibly bad rhyme schemes? And, what the heck do you say to "Ode on a Mammoth Cheese"??? All in all, the Petras did a magnificent job of putting this compendium of what-not-to-do-if-you-want-to-be-a-poet. And, don't we all want to be poets? Keep trying and maybe you will be in volume 2 of this excellent awfulness.

Bad poetry is one of life's greatest illicit joys, and there are some real gems here, along with much commentary by the editors who help explain why this stuff is so terrible in case you somehow can't figure it out. For my taste, there are too many little excepts here and not enough complete poems. For fans of this sort of thing, I also strongly recommend two other books. The first is "Pegasus Descending," an earlier collection of bad verse that was among the first of its kind. (I think it may come back into print in 2001?) Hilarious. The other is the catalog of "Moba," the Museum of Bad Art in Massachusetts. Lord, are those paintings funny.

Walk in the Light and Twenty Three Tales by Leo Tolstoy
Nicely done ebook. Easy to use. Good navigation. 1-click wireless delivery to my Kindle. Thank you!

I had read few stories by tolstoy as a teenager in school and liked. I decided to buy them again and I just dont think I am impressed anymore. Only very few stories are good to read but other than that this looks like a christian book to me with quotes from the Bible.

Moby Dick used to be my favorite book. What more is there to say? Tolstoy is a master storyteller. If you like good writing, this book is for you. If you like Christian writing, this book is even more for you. This one will make a great gift.

This book belonged to my father and he used to tell me stories from it when I was small. All parents should try to read this to their children - I remember being both mesmerised and confused by the stories : mesmerised because of their simplicity and flow, and confused because they led to deeper questions on society,humanity and God. Even if you are agnostic, you can read it for its human and literaray value.
After reading this you will have a hard time deciding whether Tolstoy is better as a novelist or a short story writer.

I read this book it was 20 years ago, it was a chinese version
and translated by a professor, now I have two children and one
of them is teenage, so I ordered thru amazon with English version,
I am so proud to tell you, I am so sure my dtr will learn something
from this book, thanks to God, mdy

Some amazon reviewers choose to break down their reviews by parts (I give the plot an A, the characters a B+, etc...), which may be an easy approach but often not an informative one. The novels of Hugh Cook, when evaluated piece by piece, would have to be described as terrible. The main characters are two-dimensional and most of the minor characters barely exist at all. The plots depend on improbable coincidences and far-fetched last-minute rescues. The setting is boring wilderness interspersed with a parade of nearly identical cities. And yet this is a case of the whole being greater than the sum of all the parts.

Drake Dreldragon Douay is a hapless and reckless apprentice who plays around with swords when and where he cleary shouldn't and gets into trouble on a very regular basis. He eventually gets captured by pirates, and that paves the way for a world-spanning adventure across churning seas and through sweltering jungles. The first 200 pages are, I regret to inform you, a bore, as Drake joins one sea voyage after another, only to encounter monotonous hardships and narrow escapes. The tale does pick up eventually, and the second half, truth be told, is one of the high points of Cook's entire series. Given the novel's enormous size, you'd be surprised how the author continues to churn out new experiences. At one point the band of heroes discovers a series of teleportation gates and the book becomes a spectacular madcap scene as pirates, soldiers, barbarians, damsels in distress, lizards, and others chase each other from one end of the continent to the other.

All good things must end; luckily "The Walrus and the Warwolf" goes out with a bang. As Drake moves up in the world, we see more and more of the grand scale of war and political conflict, culminating with the attack by the swarms. Some may sniff that Cook runs through the entire plot too quickly, but plainly he had a lot of events to cover in order to get up to the grand finale. In the final 100 pages of this book, we're seeing an entire continent tossing and turning in warfare and madness.

the best bit is when the the pirate Drake comes across a nuclear submarime base and you start to wonder what direction the book could take then.. This is an amazing love story, I'm here trying to buy my third copy having lent the previous two to ex-girls who 'lost" it. It twists and turns through the most all encompassing saga you've ever read, taking in ancient wars, extict gods, oppresive armies and a worm that stops you getting drunk...and all the way through Drake's jus' tryin' to get the girl. It's so good.

Ok, i agree with all the wonderful comments made by everyone else. Right, now...some please tell me why such an excellent collection is OUT OF PRINT, and why no one has heard of the author?? Why is it so difficult to complete this collection of books? I have bk1 & 3-9 and I WANT MORE! If anyone can help me fill in the blanks i'm at iram_k19@hotmail.com

Thanks.

I think this is the best of the 10, closely followed by the Witchlord and the Weaponmaster. The interaction of the characters amongst all of novels is fantastic. The whole potential post apocalyptic theme (through the swarms) could be further explored - which as far as I am aware has not been done yet.

Where is volume 11?

This is a part of Hugh Cook's Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series. This is an excellent series, with much more believable charecters, places and events than the norm. For example, when an army marches to war, it is as likely to be defeated by disease, terrain or stupidity as it is to be broken in combat.

That said, this is a fairly light, fun read. While rougish boy thieves and glittering knights are (thankfully) absent, there are fewer of the underlying messages and tensions in this than in some of the series. This is more 'standard' fantasy than most of the series, but still is still significantly more satisfying than many books in the genre. Drake is a relatively straightforward and impulsive character, who fast talks, lies and dodges his way out of many dangerous situations.

* Note: a feature which is present through the whole series is that the action in this book, rather than following from the events of the previous books, is actually simultaneous to them. Thus the characters are effected by some of the same events, and sometimes interact directly with one another!

* Also: Living in Australia, I get what I believe to be the English editions of these books, but I have seen and heard about the ones released in the USA. The UK editions have neater names, better covers (some of the US ones are HIDEOUSLY gaudy) and are better in other ways - such as the second book being published as one volume, not as two very skinny ones.