Novels Books

So much serious stuff has been written about this famous novel that first-time readers may be surprised that the first of the two parts of the book is actually an easy read with a light touch and plenty of humour despite the utterly gloomy and sad premise: a group of cancer patients in a decrepit, impoverished cancer hospital. Not much action, but vivid and touching dialogues abound. The second half of the book is a bit more demanding, with lengthy philosophical reflections on life and humankind. But it's worth it: some of the most haunting and moving passages of modern writing are found here. When Solzhenitsyn lets his protagonist compare life to the rivers of Siberia "running into the sand", he may just have created the most beautiful metaphor of life ever put on paper. Please, do read this book.

This book is written in the true Russian style. It's poignant and shocking and hard to put down.

The forward explains how the writer was treated in Tashkent for cancer while serving a sentence of forced labor exile. Post World War II Tashkent was cosmopolitan. The story takes place in February and March 1955 in a city like Tashkent. By then Stalin had died, Beria had been executed, and Malenkov had fallen from office.

The number of the cancer ward is thirteen. An official is to be treated for a tumor at the hospital. He resents the squalor of his surroundings. He consents, nonetheless, to undergo treatments. Dr. Dontsova has three residents. They call her Mama.

The bureaucracy insists that Dontsova dismiss indeterminate cases, cases where there is no improvement. Dontsova is troubled herself by stomach pains. Guilt she feels, though, is triggered by the existence of radiation sickness since she is an oncologist and radiologist. She cleans and shops and cooks for her family consisting of her husband and son.

One evening the male patients have an argument about moral perfectionism. It is claimed that Gorky, Stalin, and Lenin all thought that Tolstoy's doctrine was dangerous. Continuing their discussion, the male cancer patients are happy to think of traditional peasant remedies. Illness levels. The functionary and the exile are similarly situated.

Sickness provides respite from work and citizenly duties. Centers for treatment draw a cosmopolitan mix of people. Many people had lives interrupted in war service. Fairly detailed descriptions of the soviet medical system are given. Shortages of cleaning rags and other dysfunctions are common. Attempts to rationalize procedures and safeguard limited resources slow progress and create inefficiencies.

Oleg Filimonovich Kostoglotov, one of the points through which consciousness flows in the novel, resides in Ush-Terek, a virgin lands territory, and is a topographer but works as a land surveyor. The Ministry of Internal Affairs required that he live there. He was administratively exiled.

Pavel Nikolayevich Rusanov, the official being treated, strives to be optimistic as Gorky couseled. He looks forward to the visits of his wife, Kapitolina Matveyena. At first a geologist, Vadim, thought that Oleg Kostoglotov was a rude loud-mouth. (Vadim was collected, proud, and polite.) He saw that Rusanov was a standard sort of bureaucrat. Later Vadim discovered that Oleg was not arrogant. In fact, he was even generous.

Oleg discovered that after the world of the camps, exile could not be cruel. He was thirty-four and now too old too obtain a university education. He felt he could be content in exile if only he had his health. Oleg's good friends in Ush-Terek were a pediatrician and his wife. Oleg admired the chief surgeon at the facility. He had worked in the camps. Oleg picked up this piece of biography through the surgeon's choice of words. Oleg accused Rusanov of not being patriotic, of not having a love for country, but rather of wanting a fat pension.

Someone cites a writing of Lenin that an official should be paid a wage equal to the amount paid to a good worker. An older man tells Oleg that with his history he is fortunate since he has had to lie less. The man, a scientist, had been forced to follow the faulty teachings of Lysenko.

Dontsova had dealt with the ailments of other for thirty years. Now she has been diagnosed. She is to take sick leave and proceed to the Moscow Institute She makes her final rounds. Rusanov is released. He believes that he is cured. Oleg is discharged to recover from the treatment and to return to Ush-Terek. This is a masterpiece.

No one writes a fat, sprawling, old-fashioned Russian novel quite like a Russian. To the ranks of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, you can add Solzhenitsyn and to novels like *The Brothers Karamazov* and *Anna Karenina* you can add *Cancer Ward.* In fact, *Cancer Ward,* like Tolstoy's slim but immensely profound *The Death of Ivan Illych* begins in much the same fashion: a married, middle-aged career man is suddenly confronted with the most immediate and terrifying thing of all: his own mortality.

Although in *Cancer Ward* instead of the self-absorption of bourgeoisie society, the setting is Soviet Russia in the two years after Stalin's demise. It's still a world of repression, imprisonment, suspicion, fear, lies, exile--and, most of all, the ever-lurking presence of death. These conditions are allegorized in the cancer ward itself, in the doctor's who must have faith in their largely ineffective treatment and--all appearances to the contrary--who never tell their patients the truth about their condition...which leads to the absurdity that Solzhenitsyn uses as the title of the first chapter of *Cancer Ward*: a patient sent to the cancer ward assured by his doctor that he has "no cancer whatsoever."

What is allegorized is a people who've been systematically brutalized into the deepest self-denial, terrorized into ignoring the cancer destroying their society.

But for all the allusions--evident or oblique--to the secret police, the Gulag, and the totalitarian state, as well as the impassioned outcries against Stalinism, *Cancer Ward* is about the universal and timeless problems of death, of faith, of freedom, and of how we should live our lives and what might give them meaning.

Like all the greatest Russian novelists, Solzhenitsyn tackles the biggest questions. *Cancer Ward* is a philosophical novel in the best Dostoyevskian sense of the term. Filled with passion, pathos, humor, and heart, as well as a vivid cast of memorable characters to embody every idea, every human emotion, *Cancer Ward* is a masterpiece and Solzhenitsyn a writer rare in our age who still dares to deal with serious things seriously and compels you, by the sheer unquestionable moral force of his conviction, to take them seriously, too.

This is perhaps the best book I've read in recent memory. Don't miss it.

It is almost unbelievable how the liberal elite in America covered Stalin's crimes until Solzhenitsyn's prophetic writings emerged. And not to be outdone, President Ford and Henry Kissinger refused to welcome the greatest writer of the 20th Century in order to placate the Soviets. May Solzhenitsyn rest peacefully in the assurance that one honest man changed the world. And may his literary works live forever.

As I read the first page of this excerpt, I felt that I had plunged into 1930's Berlin. The author does an excellent job setting the stage with her descriptive prose. Each character captured my interest as the story begins to unfold and I read of the characters' current predicament and am given just a hint of the broader issues that brought them to this time and a glimpse of their future struggles. Through the personal strife of the characters, the story explores the effect of the Nazi occupation on the artistic expression of the people of Germany. The author has done an excellent job of allowing the reader to connect with the characters and leaves us wanting to read more as we root for these unexplored victims.

"It's not the external that's important; life is what matters". I'm blown away by the intelligence, creativity, sensitivity and pure talent of this writer! Ms. Reish is truly blessed and so are those fortunate enough to read her work. If you are interested in the history of Nazi-era Germany (1930's) plus enjoy a romantic sub-plot combined with intrigue don't pass this up. This novel has obviously been meticulously researched down to the last detail. It draws you in from the very start into the worlds and minds of very bright, sensitive characters (Johannes, Britte, Mies) wrapped up in the modern art world of Nazi Germany. My only disappointment is that there isn't more to read! I can't wait to read the whole novel! Fabulous job Ms. Reish! :)

This excerpt promises a great read. Set in the era of the rise of Hitler in Germany, the novel features a young architecture student, Johannes Schroeding, who is arrested on the close of the Bauhaus modern art school. Each character is richly portrayed with great sensitivity. Every scene reveals how the Nazis cultural oppression affects the lives of these ordinary people and how they cope, some by hiding their true feelings behind a facade of acceptance. Ms. Reish has written a compelling, artistic, and powerful first novel.

CBR has managed to slide in between the terrifying images of the Nazis in control and the formal schooling of archtecture, to peer into the minds of the people who actually had to find a way to try to live semi-normal lives during this time period. One tends to forget that careers,marraiges and lives continued. Did all of these people follow along blindly? What were they thinking of the way their freedom of choice was being so strictly controlled? It will be interesting to follow these fascinating characters to see what becomes of them and their ideals.

What an opening. Black uniformed Nazis are coming to close the legendary Bauhaus Art School in Berlin down. They're demanding identification and when Johannes can find none, he's forced onto a truck. Britte must watch and it is here they realize they love each other. He's freed by the Nazis only to look for Britte and discover she's disappeared--again.

Meanwhile, Mies, the director of the Bauhaus struggles to reopen the school. The Nazis found no evidence of Communist support of the Bauhaus, but they will not allow the school to re-open, either. They toy with flying the Nazi flag, but cannot.

This excerpt is fascinating and beautifully written. There's a strong sense of both place and people here. The foreshadowing of the war, the camps is everywhere--the students taken away on the truck wonder if they'll be freed, some people just 'disappear.'

Outside of this context, I have read very little fiction about World War II, the hard facts are bad enough. This excerpt is compelling enough to make me wish for the rest of the story. Christine Beth Reish has done a wonderful job re-creating a time and people we can care about. Best of luck to her--and congratulations on her ABNA Top 100 position. This excerpt well deserves its place in the competition.

After reading the first few chapters of Jenner's "A Great Undoing", I'm hooked! What intriguing characters and the story....I can't wait to read more! This is good stuff Jenner.

I don't usually find grown-up fiction that has a lot to say about romance,
relationships, marriage, children and family, AND is hard to put down to boot! A
GREAT UNDOING gives the reader plenty of food for thought, as well as the
intense pleasure of recognizing bits of ourselves in the narrator's stalled
life. Jenner's book leaves us with insightful thoughts, surprising moments, and
so much more -- I wish her tremendous luck with it!

A GREAT UNDOING is a near-miraculous combination of smarts and style and substance! The prose is lean and flawless, the passages clip ahead at just the right pace, and when the characters throw words around at each other, you feel like you're eavesdropping in the best sense of the word.
Great job, Jenner -- I look forward to reading more!

A GREAT UNDOING shows a lot of promise -- it has an interesting setting (1960s Montauk), complex characters, a captivating narrator/heroine, and fun dialogue that always pushes the action ahead.
I really hope this book makes the Amazon Top 100 Finals -- I can't wait to read more!

Wow, it has been a while since a piece of writing has kept me distracted. I started to read the excerpt and was called away and begrudgingly had to put it down. When I was able to continue reading I was left with that same feeling as I reached the end of the first chapter. It is nice to read something that was deliberated and didn't come across like an author that was meeting a contractual agreement with their publisher. Jenner - keep up the great mind provoking writing style it is a pleasure to read. I look forward to getting my hands on a copy of the entire book!

I grew up (in the 1940's and 1950's) about 50 miles from where Silas House now lives, and I can vouch for the authenticity of his picture of life in these mountains. He's an excellent writer, and I highly recommend his work to anyone interested in the people of the southern Appalachians.
In addition, I highly recommend his work to anyone interested in the relationships among people. House's narratives aren't about the region - they're about people (as any good literature must be).

I read this book along time ago, but I can still remember it. It is an awesome story about the struggles of life years ago in the appalachian mountains. This story left me on the edge of the bed every night until I finished it. I want to read it again soon.

Silas House has written a beautiful book that is so descriptive that you'd swear you could smell the wet leaves as the characters walk through the woods after a spring rain. This love story between Irish Saul Sullivan and Cherokee Vine is not to be missed. Wonderfully drawn characters, (my favorite is Serena, the wild midwife who befriends Vine), and lyrical, evocative writing make this a story not to be missed. If you enjoy this as much as I did, read House's The Coal Tattoo next, followed by Clay's Quilt. This will follow the whole family's saga from start to finish. All of these are wonderful stories, but this is the best of the batch, followed closely by Clay's Quilt.

This is a beautifully written, beautifully told story of Vine, a young Cherokee woman in Kentucky of the early 1900's. Vine is a three dimensional character, well-defined and very real.

While the story is slowly paced, it does not lag in any way. House does a great job of describing what "Holler" life was like during that period of time, and especially what life was like for Native Americans. Esme, Aidia and Serena are also well written characters and add a great dynamic to the story.

I did find that the characters of Saul and Aaron needed a little bit more defining for me. Why did Aaron become the type of person that he did? Other than Saul being described as a man of few words, I never got a good sense of him. I'm not sure it was an entirely good idea to have written him out of so much of the book. I would have liked to have read more about the relationship between him and Vine. Regardless, this is still a great book that I highly recommend.

Silas House writes beautiful novels. He teaches rich American History many of us would never learn if not for his books. I love to read about the Appalachians.

This is by far my favorite book from that genre. I first read it in high school and have gone back several times over the years. I just purchased it again to give to my 13 year old daughter.

I grew up in Santa Fe, reading this book, serving Mr. Bradford coffee at Zook's Pharmacy on the Plaza. Mr. Bradford's book reassured me that my turbulent adolescence was do-able, by lighting the way.
I have not been back there in thirty years. Santa Fe has been taken over by the rich and the entitled and they have squeezed the soul out of what we knew growing up there, though there is plenty of beauty and spirit left to be sucked dry by the commercial people. But if you want to know the siren song of Santa Fe, read this book. Sagrado is, indeed, Santa Fe. This was what it was like there even in the 1960's and 1970's.
I mean, where else could you have that unforgettable horse AND world-class opera AND the mountains AND the humility of entertaining the Native Americans by just being white people on the Plaza?
I read this book, I can smell the pine wood burning in the farolitos, and the breeze in the chamisa after the Summer afternoon cloudbursts.

This is a wondrous short novel. Read it if you'd like to be a teenager again. Buy an old paperback copy showing a teenage boy and girl standing facing each other with their foreheads touching--a very sweet illustration.

Now a good review (recommendation) doesn't have to be long, so let me give you a few lines of description. A boy moves from Alabama to New Mexico during World War II, and while his father is away in the war, the boy finds friends and a home in the small mountain town of Sagrado. One of his new friends is an sculptor who carves stone heads and places them on a hillside.

On the great book cover: Sometimes book covers actually decline in quality with the many printings of a book. This has happened with "Red Sky At Morning," but remember you are buying the book for the story.

Another example of the decline in a book's cover is seen in the early cover for "Summer of Night," by Dan Simmons.Summer of Night (Aspect Fantasy) The 1991 "Warner Book" edition has a window with a cut out. Through the window you can see some boys riding their bicycles at night. When you open the book, you see a mysterious school in the background.

The later covers of "Summer of Night" were not half as mysterious or fun.

As many others have said, it's impossible to get tired of this book. My parents gave it to me when I was 18 and (again, like several others) the first time I read it I found it a little slow and disjointed. It gets better and better with every read - each time I pick up on the subtleties of a scene for the first time.

Rather than boring the reader with a bunch of obnoxious capers and hijinks, Bradford envelops you in his characters' community, and it's this day-to-day banality (which turned me off so much the first time) that really draws you into the story. Josh's adjustment to Sagrado takes time, but when it comes it's so natural and amusing that you're almost completely unprepared for the sobering conclusion of the story.

I had no idea the book was so loved until I read these reviews. There are so many special moments in the story - the big wet snowfalls that ruins Chamaco's fiesta, the horribly backward residents of La Cima, the refreshing "white trashiness" of the Cloyd sisters, even Parker Holmes tearing an elk sandwich apart with his teeth.

I wish these characters existed in real life, and I wish I could be their friend.

I thouroughly enjoyed this book, I do not know how I missed it for so many years. It was recommended in Nancy Pearl's "Book Lust" (which you really should buy if you are an avid reader.) I have never been dissapointed by her recommendations.

Josh, as the narrator in "Red Sky at Morning" is a 17 year old high school senior at the end of WWII. His dry wit mad me laugh right out loud several times. I loved his sensibility and humor. The cast of characters in this book reminded me of some of the characters in "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving.

This is one of my favorite reads of the year, so much so I will probably hunt down a hard cover edition for my collection.

This novel is absolutely wonderful....it is one that you will never part with ..... you will keep Lori Jean close to your heart and never forget the beautiful and tragic pages of the story as it is told so perfectly by our 10 year old little friend.....Please do yourself a favor and READ this book as soon as you can get your hands on it!! It is one for the ages!!

This was a fantastic read!! I couldn't put it down and finished it within 12 hours! (I should have been sleeping...) This story will break your heart and you will fall in love with Lori Jean. This was a fabulous book that I would recommend to any avid reader.

This book is not only a page turner, but it pulls you into the characters. It is well written and a must read!

J.L.Miles is a undiscovered treasure. I couldn't order her next book fast enough, "Coldwater Creek". It is turning out to be another fantastic read. She really gets it. The characters are so real. I love southern fiction and Ms. Miles did not let me down. I feel I have gained better understanding of other peoples' "worlds". I learn something from each of her books. I have already ordered, "Divorcing Dwayne". Ms. Miles writes with heartwarming HUMOR and wisdom.

This book was a page turner! I finished it in two readings - couldn't put it down until I found out what happened to Lori Jean. This story is very sad but well worth your time. I definitely recommend it.

amazing collection of course. purchased it on amazon in 1996 for twenty bucks when i was in middle school. fairly sure it played a major part in my alienation as a twelve year old, as it caused my weirdo sense of humor to flourish greatly. absolutely amazed it sells for hundreds of dollars. guess i should have taken better care of it, eh? i cut up the cover to put it on my wall. silly twelve year old.

This comic inspired me so much when I was in high school. I can't even begin to describe how hilarious and well-done it is. SUCH a shame it costs so much, because it's one of the things you'd like to share with the entire world. I wish I would have taken better care of mine...not that I would ever sell it anyway. I keep coming back to it over and over again, and I'm alomost 29 now. There is so much artistry and humor going on in every single panel. It's like a cornucopia of non-sequitor humor, jabs at cheap American culture, and sheer unadulterated cartoony mayhem. If you don't laugh out loud, over and over again, there is something seriously wrong with you. Plus, there are so many little fun extras (Fizzball, the Road Trip game, Sam & Max explain our Bizarre Universe). Get it and you'll be glad you did.

A re-issue has pretty much been confirmed which will most likely contain everything in this book, plus all the missing comics including the new webcomic. With all that it'll probably bring the page count alot closer to 200.
Otherwize it's an awesome book, but I wouldn't pay as much as people are selling it for. I don't blame them though. It's a rare item and rare items have high prices.

I don't pretend to know what legal situation/absolute insanity is preventing the re-release of this nugget of genius, but I beg you for the love of all that is holy: DO IT! PLEASE!

This is one of the funniest things I have ever had the good fortune to read. I borrowed it from a friend over 10 years ago, and I now wish I hadn't given it back (I don't see this guy much anyway...). From time to time, I'll try to explain this comic to someone, and the vacant, unfamiliar stare I get in reply is absolutely heartbreaking. Whomever it is that has the authority to reprint this, I am literally begging you to do so. I will gleefully pay upwards of $50 for a reissue, especially if it has some little tiny extra, like an introduction from Purcell; a bundt cake recipe, or just a couple of new sketches. I'm desperate, and $200 for a comic just feels dirty (though I confess, I've considered digging out the credit card for this).

Please.

I love Sam & Max, A 5 STAR collection to be sure, and know for a fact that this collection is soon to be reissued. To those sellers who are charging UPWARDS OF $300 (?!!) for this little black and white 160 page book, YOU MAKE ME SICK! For that much money, I expect the book to be delivered to me in a frikkin' gold plated briefcase by an armed-to-the-teeth Secret Service agent. I HOPE YOU NEVER MAKE A DIME, you bottom-feeding nostalgia vampires.

This book is so good. I couldn't put it down. I've read it over 10 times and burst into tears everytime. I recommend this book to everyone!

i loved this book. normally i read books and i end up putting them down.but this one is exactly the type of book that i love. its breath taking, romantic, the type of book a girl would read and read over and over again. this book sends a message that stays in your head forever and ever! if you go to a library and you find this book, i highly recommend reading it. it is a great book that at any time the oppertunity to read it should never be turnd down.
ashley .s.

The book I read is called Dawn Rochelle 4 novels. Its by Lurlene McDaniel. The book has many up and downs, and emotional. There are also some funny times, and romantic. Dawn Rochelle is thirteen when she is going threw the best times in her life. She popular, pretty, and just made the cheerleading squad. Till she finds out she has to get a check up.
"Dawn, you have cancer." The doctor tells her calmly.
They have her go threw chemotherapy till they can get the right blood type to get a bone marrow transplant. Her brothers the closes match, but he suppose to get married and his fiancée thinks its going to ruin the wedding plans.
When Dawns in the hospital she gets a roommate that ends up being her best friend threw out the book. The doctor recommends a camp for them both to go to. But Sandys not able to go because shes stuck in a difference hospital during the summer cause she ends up getting even worse threw out the book.
At camp Dawn meets two new friends. They make everything better for the whole summer and they do funny pranks on the directors and have romantic times by the fires with the one she thinks shes in love with. Days go by and camps over with.
You'll have to read the book to find out what else happens. Overall I would recommend this book because it's an engaging book.

In Lurelene McDaniel's Dawn Rochelle's four novels it is a heart wrenching book. As you are reading you want to keep reading more and more and you do not want to let your book down. This book is filled with life lessons to be learned. The book is about Dawn Rochelle who has found out that she has cancer. Now, only does she have to face death in the face, but also has to learn how to adjust to the outside world after recovering. She has to learn how to deal with death and losing the people she holds dearest. After she recovers she feels as though she is an pariah. Everyone treats her differently just because she has the disease. She has a different point of view on life now. She can see what truly matters in life over just the teenage things. This is a very easy book to read not overly pedantic

wow! i couldn't put the book down. i've read one and i read the books within half of a school day. even though i'm not going through what she's going through...cancer wise...i can relate to what she was saying. i burst into tears. i'm so touched by the relationship with her brother and her. i could just see everything. i loved it! i can't wait to read some more. i've heard great stuff about this author and everyone's been right so far. thanks.

The art style is ugly and (usually) unrealistic, but at least it's unique. This is a very original manga; the author obviously has a great gift for storytelling. It's worth the buy.

Monkey D. Luffy wants to be King of the Pirates. He has always had this dream, from when he was a kid, and now he is off on a small boat armed with a large heart and a rubber body. Yes, a rubber boy. You see, he ate the fruit of the gum-gum tree which turned him into a boy of rubber. And now he must go forth, fighting pirates and the law, to find the One Piece, the greatest treasure in the world. The problem is nobody knows where it it and he has no training in navigation.

Hehe... this is one of the most awsome mangas ever. Its about a little boy who wants to become a pirate. His hero is shanks and fights several enmey who are powerful... buggy, captain kuro, arlong, krieg, crocodile, mr 1-5, lucci, and enel...( i may have forgot some.) Anyways, he finds new abilities and funny ways to fight enemy pirates... BUY IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

One piece is one of the most popular Shonen Jump mangas, and Eiichiro Oda is still managing to make new volumes of the series. After re-reading this volume, I have came to the conclusion that this is a series that I want to be a fan of. Everything was well plotted. Luffy reminds me a little bit of the young Goku of Dragon Ball. There is quite a bit of humor, but it didn't really make me laugh. It did, however, make the scenes better.

Luffy wants to be the king of pirates, and he has to get the treasure of One Piece. But first, he must get a crew. This is where Zoro comes in. A bounty hunter arrested for saving a little girl from Captain Morgan of the Navy's son's dogs. After Zoro joins the crew, Zoro saves a shipwrecked crew of Captain Buggy, who is also a rubber man. Did I mention that Luffy ate the devil's fruit and now he's like rubber? No? Whatever.

This is an excellent volume. It's one of the best Shonen Manga up to date, but probably not the best. The scenes are better than those dry, desert lands like Trigun. There is humor, and it moves pretty fast paced except when Luffy tries to rescue Zoro and does.

Eiichiro Oda, One Piece: Romance Dawn (ViZ, 1997)

Now, come on, what can be cooler than pirates? Oda kicks off his popular manga series in a way that kind of surprises me: we get the backstory of Monkey D. Luffy, King of the Pirates, before we actually get to the plot. (Well, okay, there's a page or two that sets up the hidden trasure for which the series is named.) A truly pleasant surprise, that-- a manga that actually goes in chronological order! Romance Dawn is the story of how Luffy became a pirate in the first place, his amusing beginnings with his first boat, and the recruiting of his first partner (Zoro). If you've been watching One Piece on Cartoon Network, it's definitely worth digging into the manga-- especially if you wandered in halfway through, like I did. *** ½

I have read almost any book by Patricia Wrede that I can get my hands on and yet this one keeps popping into my mind when I am looking for something to read. I picked this up thinking that since I liked Magic and Malice and the Enchanted Forest Chronicles that I would like this one too, Well I was right and wrong, because I love this book. She is such an inventive author and knows how to creatively put a story together without it seeming like the trite story about a female heroine.

I really did fall in love with this book. The characters are just so lovable. Eleret's combat skills and serious personality is something I've always admired and Karvonnen's wit and humour is simply the best. The fighting scenes are also great, especially the last one (I've always seen it in my head perfectly...) Also, it includes a nice bit of romance in it with Eleret being clueless over Daner and Karvonnen's mini rivalry over her. But, it's not the kind of novel that would kill everyone's character to focus on the romance.

The perfect mix of romance, humour, and action make this book strongly reccomended to everyone, all ages.

I like this author anyway, and I think this is her best book. It is a murder mystery, a romance, a comedy of manners, and a good fantasy novel, especially as a wonderful example of fantasy/sci-fi's ever-present theme of "culture shock". It is extremely readable, excitingly fast-paced, has a lovely heroine, and does not falter in the details.

There's nothing really unique about _The Raven Ring_. It's a simple enough story about a young woman with a supposedly simple mission to complete in an unfamiliar place. She meets friends and enemies alike, and discovers that one of the items she's gone to retrieve is far, far more than it seems.

But if this book isn't strictly unusual in terms of plot or style, it's special because it's really, really good. The level of writing is very impressive for a fantasy novel, and it's perhaps telling that this was Wrede's last high fantasy novel. I'm not sure that she could improve on it (though who knows what she'll come out with next). If you've read the other Lyra books, it's a great addition to the series. If you read this book and enjoy the world, by all means look up the others, which were written much earlier. But there's no doubt that _The Raven Ring_ is the best of the lot, and better than most other fantasy, too. It deserves to be a classic.

I loved the book, the characters were realistic and completly based on people you can like and are amazed by. I loved the fact that the main charater was a girl who was a hugely able person. Most books have men as the warriors, but this one proved that women can be just as adept at anything they try as men can be. I loved that the main characters were not all honourable and that they shaped the story with believable actions. It also showed that people with perfectly good intentions can be as annoying as can be. I rate this five star for excellent characters, believable plot, and overall good writing.