Wizard Kings Books

A unigue story that combines magic and technology. Kase is a young boy who has found his way into an altenate dimension where animals talk and magic is common. He and his patner Murdox, a talking wolf-dog, are the two agents sent out when magical mistakes are made. But sometimes the duo can get in over their heads, such as helping an elf-king who is turning into stone. One of the most interesting aspects of the story is the tragedy the binds the two together. It's a unique twist to a story about a boy and his dog. Or is it a dog and his boy?

This book is great - a super imaginative, enchanting, comical, action-filled adventure. The main characters, Kase and Murdox, are hysterical, down-to-earth and endearing. The world they take you to is a cross between a fantastic thrill ride and a wacky sci-fi movie. What I really love about this book is that it is creatively dazzling while remaining unpretentious and genuine.

This is a great book. I found a Podcast of the audio book and really liked what I heard. So I decided to purchase the paper copy. This was even better than I expected. It's fast paced with action and fantastic visual effects almost like you were watching a movie. I read the book over the weekend and hardly put it down. I have to say that I'm impressed with this new author. I hope to see more in the future.

From the opening pages One Wizard Place captures the imagination with a mystical tale of unique characters and dreamlike settings. The reader will be intrigued by the fates of young Kase Hobskin and his trusty companion as they race against time,through fantastic challenges, to save an enchanted king.

One Wizard Place contains wonderfully detailed landscapes and action sequences that produce vivid images in the mind of the reader - all while maintianing a curious and playful tone that should appeal to adventure-seeking readers of all ages. A must read!

Behind the glass doors, guarded by stone statues of giant winged creatures, is the headquarters of numerous governmental offices. These include the Mythical Bureau of Investigation (MBI) and the Incantation Enforcement Agency (IEA). Justin Kasey Hobskin (known as Kace), works with his partner Murdox as an agent of the Counter-Curse division of the IEA. This is a position he took after a very nasty curse left his father turned into a wolf, and Murdox a talking wolf-dog(an unfixable condition that has left him very out of sorts). The counter curse department is a small one whose agents are in charge of righting magic that has gone wrong. It's a tough job to have. It is too bad that there are only the two of them doing it.

After returning back to the office after a long, tough job of clearing a house of a particularly nasty infestation of nixies, Kase and Murdox are given their next assignment. The elf king of Greylock has accidentally drunk a potion which is slowly turning him to stone. Upon visiting the king, the partners discover that in order to cure him they need a very rare and hard to get ingredient. They will have to travel far, find the needed ingredient, and get back to the king with only ten days before the spell becomes irreversible!

In this, his first novel, author D.M. Paul has created a wonderful world where technology and magic mix. He introduces us to city named Cloudview that is a hundred levels high, each level a city in its own right. Where its inhabitants travel around by slug system(what was once the bus system), the vertical train (between levels), and the horizontal tube(a one level train-like system) It is populated by a myriad of inhabitants who don't always seem to be what they are. This book, while written for younger readers, will enchant and delight adult fans of fantasy fiction as well. This is the first book in a three book series, Book two Sentinel will be released later in 2006.

I loved these books when I was ten, and eight years later I still do. they give a great look at medieval times, and young girls in particular, will enjoy watching Alissa grow up and become have fun at the same time.

My daughter, a tough critic, enjoyed these books so much that she has asked for the entire Stardust Classics series. I was delighted! The books portray strong characters in fairytale settings. The books are wholesome, imaginative, and well-written. Highly recommended.

This is the first book about Alissa from the Stardust Classics series. The Alissa books are about the adventures of a ten-year-old girl who is the princess of Arcadia, a Medieval fantasy kingdom.

As the only child of the king, Alissa will one day be the queen of Arcadia, a Medieval-esque fantasy kingdom. She recently had her tenth birthday, and her life has changed as a result. Instead of being able to spend her days having fun, she must learn etiquitte with her great aunts. And with an important alliance ceremony with a neighboring kingdom coming up, in which Alissa will play a role, there is extra pressure to learn to become a proper princess. Then she meets a wizard, Balin, who lives in a secret room in the castle. He begins to give her lessons in magic, which she is eager to learn. However, Balin foresees that a danger threatens the alliance and could lead to war for Arcadia, and he believes Alissa is the only one who can find who the villain is. Will she solve the riddle in time?

This is a good fantasy story for young girls. The character of Alissa will appeal to them; she is a strong female character. The setting of the kingdom is not described much, and the story is very simple, but young girls, including reluctant readers, are sure to enjoy this book, and want to read the rest of the books about Alissa's adventures.

It was a really good book for middle readers. I would recommend it to anyone who is having trouble reading harder books.

Wiglaf is a young man with twelve brothers who was only too glad to be signed up in the Dragon Slayers' Academy. It meant he would get his own room and plenty to eat! The down side is that sooner or later he's going to have to learn to kill dragons, and killing isn't something he's looking forward to. Not that he hasn't killed a dragon, of course. He just did it with knock-knock jokes instead of a sword. He and his other friends, including his pet pig who only speaks in Pig Latin (Ig-pay Atin-Lay, to those of you who speak it), trek off to Erica's father's palace for a weekend vacation. Only when they reach the palace, they find the king is sick with the pox and the people are threatening revolt! It's up to Wiglaf and his friends to save the day. They call Zelnoc the Wizard in to help, but he messes up his magic spell and ends up making the king speak only in Ig-pay Atin-lay, which makes no one--including the queen--very happy. Things take a decided turn for the worse when Wiglaf's pet pig ends up in hot water in the chef's kitchen!

Kate McMullan is the author of dozens of books. In addition to the Dragon Slayers' Academy book, she's also written Myth-O-Mania, the Fluffy series, and several stand-alones involving mythology and history.

The Dragon Slayers' Academy books are a delight to read. Fast, funny, and full of wordplay, they capture a young reader's interest and imagination from the beginning and hang onto it till the end. The problems facing Wiglaf and his friends in this book can easily be seen by the more clever young readers, and that rewards their cleverness, bringing a double pleasure to the reading.

These books are definitely for kids who want to read Harry Potter or any of the other doorstopper fantasy series out there but who can't manage that many pages or a sustained effort that demanding. McMullan has created a world and characters that are fun to drop in on and catch up on their stories. Best of all, these books can be read to beginning readers because the language is easy to understand audibly and even they can learn to enter worlds of fun and fantasy with their imaginations.

This a fabulous series! My 8 yearold son loves it! This particular book (#14: Pig Latin--Not Just for Pigs!) is a great story, but quite difficult to read because of the abundance of pig latin.

The Dragon Slayers' Academy children's book series is really fun for kids. Kids who love Harry Potter, but are maybe too young for such a big book can get started with this series, both my son and daughter, ages 8 and 10, love these and have read all of them so far. Great book to keep kids reading.

Definitely a great fantasy epic and one of my personal favorites, The Blood Wars Trilogy-Blood Hostages, Abyssal Warriors, and Planar Powers, brings to life the story of Aereas and Nina, two cousins, and their adventures in the "multiverse" that is the World of Planescape. The books are so incredibly well written that the reader feels that they have been transported to another universe and are actually present among the characters, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel, sensing what they sense.
The author has done a FANTASTIC job of both acquiring vast knowledge relevant to the Planes as well as presenting this material efficiently and successfully! His solid grasp of factual detail makes him very capable of providing the necessary background needed to carry out the very difficult task of writing Planescape novels, which is something often missing from the work of many Fantasy authors.
JR King has truly outdone himself and has presented us with a masterpiece of literature the likes of which we have seen only in JRR Tolkien's work and in authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends trilogies as well as RA Salvatore's Icewind Dale and Dark Elf Trilogies. Love, fiends, bravery, magic, swordfights and battles of epic proportion are all about. A great trilogy indeed and a "must read" along with Pages of Pain, sadly, the only other novel written in the Planescape setting.

In this plane-shaking finale' to the Blood Wars trilogy, J. Robert King writes an excellent story. What started off as a planar romp by two prime-worlders turns into an all out crisis which involves mortals and deities alike. As the pendulum of power swings from the lawful baatezu to the chaotic tanar'ri and back, Aereas tries to find meaning for himself and his family amidst the backdrop of the everpresent Blood War. J. Robert King proves that he is an incredibly capable writer in the Planescape genre by writing a thouroughly comprehensible conclusion to a story whose setting is in a place that is thouroughly incomprehensible. Though not as suspenseful as "The Abyssal Warriors"(volume two of the Blood Wars trilogy), it definitely is a worthwhile read if you have begun the series. At the end of this book you will read an ending that will surely rock the foundations of the planes!

Those familiar with Planescape will note that the book is not consistent with the setting--to which I say, so what?

This book should be judged on its ability to tell a story. And this story, spanning whole dimensions, heavens and hells, is beautifully detailed and well crafted.

The ability of any author to weave together not worlds but REALITIES is a testament to good writing. Anyone who likes books that force you to think about things like the nature of divinity, evil/good, reality, and other aspects of philosophy will enjoy this book, as well as those that like a beautifully and well told romance.

As a final note, let me say that the way the romance was handled was really well done. The female characters aren't sex objects even when sexually portrayed, and instead the sexual and romantic elements take you back to when you were an adolescent struggling with the issues the characters are.

It doesn't truly "live up" to the concept of dealing with the dragons of Dominaria. The stories, being short, are admittedly difficult to write. However, I felt minimal true involvement with the characters. Like any anthology, it has some good stories, some great stories, and even some outright boring stories. The stories of the fall of the Primevals and Urza's draconic creation were fun to read, and as such redeemed the book greatly in my opinion. The section about wild dragons was also a saving grace. It's a great book to borrow from the library, but there's minimal reread value...borrow it, don't buy it.

This is an awesome book you should get eveery single magic the gathering book

The Circle of Magic: The High King's Daughter was a book which I read when I was younger. It introduced me to the world of magic, knights, elves, princess and wizards. I enjoy reading this book even though I bought it alone and thus lost some important part of the plot. I would recommend anyone who wish to read this series to read the first book and continue to through the rest of the series before reading the last book:The High King's Daughter. The Circle of Magic series follows the traditional path, we have good and bad wizards, knights,minsterals and a princess. However, it is well written and easy to read. The characters are memorable and for most part a good introduction to the world of fantasy. However, it might not deal well with fantasy readers of older age as its effect is lessen and it is frankly, not in the league of Harry Potter. In short, this series is good for young children who is hoping to try fantasy and I am sure they will find it a good read.

This is the sixth and final book to the Circle of Magic set, and a wonderful journey it is! We meet our 3 heros again, Randal, the wizard-in-training, his cousin Walter, a knight, and his friend, a thief turned minstral, who is a girl around his own age, named Lys. They meet friends and foes they encountered in the previous books and a new cast as well, with a plot that stands on its own. They must defeat a powerful and evil wizard and bring the rightful queen to her throne. The major strength of the story is Randal, because he is flawed, filled with doubts and fears, but determined to do the right thing anyway. His growth of both power and conviction become more evident as time goes by yet we never lose the idea that he is simply human and can always make mistakes. This character, set against a story of action and adventure, makes it all a lot of fun besides!

Admittedly, I am the author and have a biased view. But, my novel has action, fantasy, dwarves, dragons, and magic. It's good versus evil, but not demonic. There is a strong female character cast as the villain and book two adds another strong female character as a hero.

I've had quite a few people reply to me that they loved the story -- two of them rarely read fantasy. And I've had several people tell me that they saw it as a movie while the read the book.

And lastly, most have asked when the next book is due out. With luck, it'll be out in 2009, possibly 2010.

Having read Mr. Murray's offering, I will freely admit two things. First, this story has stuck in my head. I find myself thinking about the characters and situations and wondering what happens next. Second, I don't care for the way the book was printed. I truly applaud the whole "anyone can publish" environment we live in, and as an author myself I know that hooking a publisher is a great thing. I just wish the layout of the text were more standard -- it's what I grew up reading and it's what I'm used to. Having said that, the story drew me right through, non-stop, and I am seriously considering contacting the author directly for the next installment, just so I don't have to wait for the publisher to print out the next story.

This book contains nine folk and fairy tales from nine different cultures. The stories are printed in a medium size type and with simple, yet bright and inviting fantasy pictures, it is an open invitation to children to expand their reading skills while being pleasantly entertained. These stories are sufficiently obscure to seem brand new to young readers and so provide a wonderful sense of discovery as well as a fun journey through the realm of make-believe. The tales come from the British Isles, Europe and Russia, the Mediterranean and also two from the treasure-house of North American Indian lore. John and Caitlin Matthews are brilliant scholars of folk history and of magical lore and their choices of these nine stories provide a beautiful opportunity to experience lesser known folk tales that are filled with magic and wisdom. Having been fortunate enough to visit the ancient stone circle in England called the Rollright Stones, my personal favorite story in this collection is "The Witch of Rollright" that tells how the ring of stones came to be standing where it is now located. The illustrations for this story include fairies dancing at the feet of the beautiful witch who kept the land safe from a would-be conquerer. The text contains tidbits of folklore concerning the offering of milk to the fey and the significance of the elder tree in pagan lore. All the stories have similar indigenous imagery. This is not your average fairy tale book but instead the Matthews have faithfully delivered gems of wisdom and whimsy from the simple people who lived with and understood these concepts as part of their daily lives. I heartily recommend this book.

This is one super book I love the diffrent storys and I realy like "The Sick Wizard"story.This book is excellent for younger children (4-9).In this book it says the contry of origin (eg"The Boy Magician Hopi)It is good to practice the story and tell others.

Great book, like the Sell Sword series a lot. this one was my favorite of the three. I like the character devlopement of Etrerri, and Jarlaxle is an interesting characters as well, but Athrogate, the rhyming dwarf of devastation stole this one for me... great character and funny.. hope to see more of him.

Although it doesn't contain my favorite character, Drizzt, I did find this book an interesting read. Alas, I didn't read the first book of the series, going directly to the second. But I didn't feel too lost while reading this book. It really makes you rethink your initial feelings towards certain characters. After reading this book, I felt that I actually liked Entreri a bit more -despite his previous actions. We get to see him in a different light - as he learns more about himself. The ending threw me for a loop, although it was a very interesting ending! I can't wait for the next book in the series!

Bob does a great job of character development and this one takes the cake. The dialog between Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle in this book is just priceless. Can't wait to finish and get to the last book in the series that I also recently purchased.

This addition to the Artemis/Jarlaxle story arc is another great book! Starts off kind of slow and demands some extra attention and focus because of the amount of new characters introduced. But if you just keep reading and try to keep everyones' names straight, there shouldn't be a problem. There are also some really intriguing characters introduced. And, as is expected of a Salvatore Forgotten Realms book, there's enough action and intrigue to keep the pages turning! If this is your first Salvatore book, I wouldn't recommend starting here (check out the Dark Elf trilogy or the Icewind Dale trilogy), but if you have already enjoyed some of Salvatore's novels, you won't be disappointed.

Finally! Finally R.A. Salvatore delivers. Many of his recent works have been junkers but this one is right up there as one of the better Forgotten Realms novels. This leaves me wondering why Salvatore can no longer deliver on his Drizzt novels when this story holds everything that I hope to find when I read the books on the kind hearted Drow.

The Promise of the Witch King has action and adventure on every single page. Not only that but Salvatore manages in this novel to keep mystery and unravels it in unpredictable ways.
I still don't see the real reasons why they left Calimport but perhaps that is still a tale to tell. I am hoping that he has many more books to write with Jarlaxle as the main character. Enteri is facinating on his own accord, however, he is already 40 so it is going to be hard pushed making to many more novels with an aging Enteri.

A must read for the Forgotten Realms fan.

Ok, let's start by saying that to call myself a fan of R A Salvatore would be a huge understatement. I have read just about every book he has written and my favorites by far are the books involving Drizzt and The Companions of the Hall. But my review really is to review the whiners reviewing The Orc King. And yes I know we are each entitled to our own opinion, so here's mine. First let me say after reading all of the negative and a few of the positive aswell that I am surprised that anyone that wrote a negative review can even read to begin with. Grab a dictionary or go back to school and learn how to spell and phrase a sentence correctly. Second on the list is for those individuals whinning that they couldn't tell where the story was going and what the point was. The fact that all of the main characters had changed and that by some weird chance Drizzt is not the fighter that he used to be. Well ladies and gents, that's story telling. Things change, Mr Salvatore has done a fine job of detailing the changing of everyones lives in his books. It's not a Simpsons cartoon that has been on for God knows how long and Bart is still the same age now that he was back when the show started. Drizzt and his friends have aged, they've grown and they have all had life changing experiences affect them and those around them.

I've now gotten rid of all my Drizzt books with the exception of the Icewind Dale trilogy. The series actually started going downhill with Legacy with the drastic change in Cattie-Brea and the way she viewed Wulfgar. (I could have tolerated her getting together with Drizzt if it had not been so obviously telegraphed - "Drizzt is now the hero, so we've got to bump off Wulfgar so HE can get the girl". Why couldn't he get his own girl?)

Anyway, though the series always lacked the greatness of the first trilogy (these are larger than life characters - dragging them down to the ground does not suit them), I still kept reading, hoping to get back to the group dynamic that made them so popular in the first place. It never came.

Now, worse, is this latest change to the story dynamic. I don't know if these changes are Salvatore's own idea, or thrust upon him by Wizards of the Coast, but it does not work. The change is - an orc kingdom living in peace with its neighbors while the elves, humans, and dwarves are the cause of most of the strife (referring, of course, to the glimpses of the future).

This is problomatic for two reasons.
1. It has already been established that goblinkin are EVIL. They are not the type of creature you can live peacefully next too. In fact, Sourjorn even took a look at this when Drizzt realized that humans were basically good, while orcs, goblins, knolls, etc were basically evil, by observing the behavior of the young. Orc young were violent and vicious while human young were viewed as innocents.

2. Reading about Obould's conquest and Drizzt's decission to see if this Orc King might bring something better to the orcs and the region in general made me think of Europe's initial response to Hitler's first conquest. "Hey, there's no reason to believe he'll invade anyone else. Let's talk to him." What about punishing Obould for his crimes?

Another problem for me is the lack of direction the series has taken. The Icewind Dale Trilogy had a goal - showing the formation of this unusual group of heroes, finding Mithril Hall, and freeing Reagis from his past. It neatly tied up all loose ends and issues the characters had and went out on a positive note.

The Dark Elf Trilogy showed Drizzt's journey from the Underdark to Icewind Dale. It clearly showed the story of the hero overcoming the circumstances of his birth to find acceptance and something better.

What has the series done since then? It has just meandered along with no goal or objective in sight. There is STILL no visible objective for the characters. The Hunter's Blades Trilogy looked like the objective was going to be the defeat of an Orc army. Wrong. Now what is the goal? Where is the story going? What are the main characters trying to achieve? It does not look like anything except getting along day to day. That just can no longer hold my attention.

I loved this story line. Not enough pages. I have reread it too many times.


...better to start from the beginning. DOnt forget to include the cleric quintet

The New book from Salvatore the Orc King is based on Hunters blade trilogy and starts where Two swords are ending.I was expecting quite a lot from the first book of new series Transitions because the ending of two swords brought an emotional charge and hope of great new series on horizon.Let me explain: The hole story and plot were below Salvatore`s artistic creation.Great plot and story where the best things from Salvatore and nobody could illustrate the world of Forgotten Realms like he did!The book begins with prelude which has to be skipped in order to enjoy the rest of the series because it tells you in advance how the book is going to end,so skip it(wish I had someone to tell me that)!The whole band is here,they are searching for ancient dwarf city and special weapon that could beat the encamped Orcs!I still have much to say but I m not going to do that because it could reveal the plot!Thing that bothers me the most is the ending which is unreal and mellow, but R A Salvatore is and always will be in my opinion the best SF writer!Greetings from Croatia

I believe that this book is the result of many different years in writing and the authors growth and an inflection of his inner beliefs. Having been a long time fan of Mr Salvatore from the early drizzt series and to the demon wars. I'm delightfully content at how his new books are developing. There is a good mixture of both character developement and a new 'battle' that supercedes swordsplay. I see the inner turmoil and constant struggle between what is good and wrong to be pressingly important that reflects our daily lives. The excerpts from drizzt inner thoughts also is a nice touch to essentuiate that point.