Book Description
Defenses Wrought of Mortar and Magic
Heroes need impregnable fortresses to assault, wondrous towers to explore, and majestic castles to protect. This book is stocked with everything needed to design any fortified structure imaginable, including:
Over 150 new magic items .
More than two dozen magical augmentations for stronghold walls.
Rules for magic portals, mobile strongholds, and trap creation.
Five complete strongholds, including maps, ready for immediate use.
Players and Dungeon Masters who want to create customized strongholds will find all the construction materials they need within these pages.
To use this accessory, a player or Dungeon Master also needs the Player's Handbook.
Customer Reviews:
A good resource that could have been great..........2007-05-08
This is one of those books that should not be judged by it's cover! The publishers were given a good product by the authors and then undersold it with the lame back cover (refer to the editorial review above - it's word for word).
Anyway, the book breaks down into the following five chapters:
1. Building a Stronghold
2. Stronghold Components
3. Strongholds in Your Campaign
4. Example Strongholds
5. Lists of tables
The best chapters are by far 1 & 2.
First the bad bits: Chapter 3 has some interesting information on attacking and capturing strongholds - but most of the information was self-evident. The biggest problem here was that the economics of a stronghold were glossed over. A simple table showing income say for various trade goods would've sufficed. But overall this is a small complaint, because a good GM can use the information presented to fill in those sorts of gaps if they are important enough. Often this sort of micro-management is frowned at by players, but I know some who enjoy this aspect of the game.
The second bad bit is Chapter 4. Really quite pointless in my humble opinion. The chapter details five 'sample' strongholds, but couldn't be further from the truth if they tried! Except for the 'Cheap Keep', the rest are so exotic as to be ridiculous. I appreciate that building a stronghold is a high character-level activity and that by 9 - 10th level characters usually have substantial resources and even bigger ideas but this chapter was bordering on the silly.
On to the 'crunchy' bits of the book. Chapter One takes you through the steps of building your stronghold. No additional details are presented, just the basic building block steps that you have to take. So when you get buried in all the detail, you can come back to this chapter to re-orientate yourself. This chapter shows that the rules are robust and functional in thier own right, although have no relationship to the prices mentioned in the players handbook.
A previous reviewer took a very dim view of this aspect because of the costs to establish a tavern using these rules would be in the area of 20,000gp (while I have some sympathy with his/her frustration, it should be put into context) These are rules for building a brand new structure in the wilderness, not for taking over an existing building in a metropolis. I've always thought the prices in the PH were silly, so my vote comes down in favour of the Stronghold guidebook.
Chapter two details all of the components that make up the interior and exterior of your stronghold. This is a very detailed chapter, with maps for just about every component. While this is and of itself a very good part of the book I have big gripe about it. When first reading the book, I thought great, I can photocopy the maps and use them to build the interior of castiles (friendly or hostile). But on further inspection found the maps not to be in scale to each other! What's the point of providing a scale for individual maps that only relate to the items within a paticular room? This chapter does have the handy addition of listing what staff normally go with this type of room and so you can build your staff up from the ground level, knowing what each staff member does, rather than being given, say 200 staff and not knowing what Person A does differently from Person ZZ. Combine this with the staff chart on page 42 and you can have a very detailed staff list.
If WotC were to release a castle interiors set to their dungeon tiles expansion then this problem would be solved, but until then, the maps look nice, but are otherwise useless.
I would like to address another complaint raised by another reviewer. The previous reviewer complained about repetition in the book. i.e. the entry of Bedroom Suite, Fancy was the same as Bedroom Suite, Luxury. Having read the book again, this is simply not true. Each description is different (although in some instances there are superficial similarities).
Overall, the book deserves its four stars and with a little tweaking of the PH price charts you can integrate this guidebook into your campaign without having your players shout at you (like a previous reviewer!).
Enjoy.
This book got me yelled at........2006-11-08
At first glance, this book is a valuable resource for anyone wanting to build their own castle, keep, or even manor house out in the countryside. It has a great deal of information and makes it relatively simple for whatever you're doing.
And then you try to use it.
It seems that whoever wrote this book doesn't own a copy of the basic Player's Handbook, since even a basic tavern for a rough-and-tumble crowd costs over 20,000 gold, when you can buy two galleons for the same price. Heaven forbid you should want to serve wine - that makes it almost 40,000. My players yelled at me when I first started trying to use these figures, and rightly so.
This book could have been a lot more than it was made to be. As it is, it simply isn't scaled to the economy given in the core books. It could serve as a point of inspiration for a DM's own material, but that's it.
Something that should be updated for 3.5.......2006-03-15
This is a great resource for handling all the DM and player based questions for building and refurbishing keeps, castles, and even villages. There's little that does work for 3.5
Also look for the dragon magazine article that went along with this. I'm sure it can be ordered from paizo.com.
Useful book - easy rules.......2004-08-26
I bought this book a while ago and have found it informative and useful. The system devised for this book on keep construction is easy to learn and use quickly. Players simply purchase construction "units", which can be any type, ranging from armories, bedrooms, kitchens, temples, etc., then draw/place the units on a map accordingly. This makes the details of creating and building a keep to a minimum, and standardizing tasks so that they are not so mundane.
Other information I found useful was the commentary on working keeps into your campaign as bases of operations, using NPCs and staff to maintain your keep, and defending your keep from enemies.
An essential book if you're a player or DM looking to build or add a keep to your campaign.
Heavily padded, like most 3rd Edition D&D books from WOTC.......2003-09-11
This book has the basics of "stronghold" construction, of course, and some of the rules are quite helpful, especially the advice on how and where to build a stronghold, and how and when to defend -- or attack! -- one. However, instead of providing solid historical examples of REAL strongholds and ACTUAL sieges, the authors pad the book in the typical 3rd edition style favored by WOTC ("Wizards of the Coast" -- D&D's current publisher).
For example, instead of saying that a spell is Reversible, as in 2nd edition, 3rd edition allows writers to simply rewrite the same basic paragraph over and over again. Millions of 2nd edition players were expected to be able to figure out that a reversible ward, or protection, or barrier against (e.g., Evil, Chaos, etc.) would work against the opposite alignment if the spell was simply reversed. In 3rd edition, these are ALL separate spells, not just variations on a theme, so if a spellcaster can place a Protection From Evil spell on a wall, for instance, the 3rd edition writers have the opportunity to insert three nearly identical paragraphs into the same section for the spells Protection Against Good, Protection Against Law, Protection Against Chaos, etc.
This cheating of readers (and especially buyers!) is carried on in the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook and amplified. The writers, for example, describe a "Bedroom, Basic," but don't add one or two sentences that "Fancy" and "Luxurious" variants take up this much extra space, cost this much extra gold, and need these staff members. Instead, we are treated to a separate section on "Bedroom, Fancy," and "Bedroom, Luxurious." ONCE might have been tolerable as an example, but this happens over and over again: we do not REALLY need, but the writers dump on us, repeated descriptions of "Basic," "Fancy," and "Luxurious" spaces in the stronghold for everything from bathrooms (despite the fact that, as the writers describe, the Medieval toilet was a "garderobe," a room with a hole which allowed the human waste to fall outside the castle wall) to throne rooms. ONE description of the difference between the three categories of space would have sufficed, but the reader must endure numerous repetitions of this type of room and that type of room as it ranges from a dirt floor with no staff member to one with marble floors and one or more servants.
All of the space wasted by repetitions could have been used for additional information about (for example) ALL of the staff needed for the stronghold and detailed descriptions of what their jobs are, or the many different types of siege equipment which might be brought in and the best ways to defend against them (there is a website for amateur siege engine makers which DOES provide that information, though -- just in case someone attacks your own, mundane home with a catapult or trebuchet!).
One area where there was a huge gap was the failure to establish the "Siege Engineer" as a prestige class (a gap filled by an article in "Dragon" magazine, which allowed the company to rake in even more money by filling a gap which they themselves had created).
Another huge gap which this reviewer noticed was the description of the counter-siege: an encirclement of a besieging army by allies of those besieged in a stronghold; many times in history a besieging army has been driven off or destroyed by a counter-siege, but we're talking about PC's and NPC's here, and they deserve to be told (or reminded) that one of Julius Caesar's greatest victories was in a siege directed against the Gallic King Vercingetorix and the counter-siege laid around Caesar's army by the tribes allied to Vercingetorix; although caught between the hammer and the anvil, Caesar and his men defeated the allied force AND took Vercingetorix and his fortress -- just the sort of inspirational story a player needs to know of, even if it is rephrased in Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms terms.
Still another huge failing is the lack of information about the realities of BEING a castellan -- how are the farmers treated? Are they free peasants or serfs, or slaves? Are the field workers marched off with the castellan's army when s/he goes off to wage war? What is the appropriate tax level which a Lawful Good castellan may impose? What about swearing fealty to the local Lord or Monarch? Players interested in those details should skip this book and buy the game "Stronghold," available for both the Mac and (broken) Windows. At $4 or $5 --used -- this book isn't a bad buy (bearing in mind that the "Siege Engineer" and who knows what else were published separately in "Dragon"). Anyone who can afford to pay full price, however, should look instead at books on war and fighting published by AEG, Mongoose, and other D20 System publishers -- the information in their books is fully compatible with D&D, and THEY don't pad their books with endless repetitions (bad grammar and typos, maybe, but not endless repetitions!).
Average customer rating:
- There is really something wrong.......
- The 2nd is much, much better
- Clear Some Time to Read this Non-Stop Romantic Thriller
- wonderful medieval romantic fantasy
- Book 2
|
Heart of the Flame: A Novel
Tina St. John
Manufacturer: Ivy Books
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 0345459954
Release Date: 2005-03-01 |
Book Description
Six months in an enemy’s dungeon might have broken a weaker man, but the former Templar knight Kenrick of Clairmont has emerged from imprisonment with an unyielding determination, consumed by a single, daunting quest: to find the Dragon Chalice, a mystical treasure said to grant its bearer unlimited power. It is a dangerous chase, one that pits Kenrick against foes skilled in dark, deadly arts. But no obstacle will prove more treacherous–nor more seductively lethal–than the fiery beauty called Haven.
Caught up in the battle for the Chalice, Haven survives a night of terror that leaves her wounded and near death. Her memory scorched by fever, Haven awakens to find herself in the care of the forbidding, handsome Kenrick, who offers his protection in return for her alliance. A tenuous trust is formed between the two, which soon ignites into a fierce passion neither can deny. But Haven’s memory of her past is slowly beginning to surface, and it will threaten the fragile bond she and Henrick share–and embroil them in a fight for their very lives. . . .
Download Description
Six months in an enemy’s dungeon might have broken a weaker man, but the former Templar knight Kenrick of Clairmont has emerged from imprisonment with an unyielding determination, consumed by a single, daunting quest: to find the Dragon Chalice, a mystical treasure said to grant its bearer unlimited power. It is a dangerous chase, one that pits Kenrick against foes skilled in dark, deadly arts. But no obstacle will prove more treacherous–nor more seductively lethal–than the fiery beauty called Haven.
Caught up in the battle for the Chalice, Haven survives a night of terror that leaves her wounded and near death. Her memory scorched by fever, Haven awakens to find herself in the care of the forbidding, handsome Kenrick, who offers his protection in return for her alliance. A tenuous trust is formed between the two, which soon ignites into a fierce passion neither can deny. But Haven’s memory of her past is slowly beginning to surface, and it will threaten the fragile bond she and Henrick share–and embroil them in a fight for their very lives….
Customer Reviews:
There is really something wrong..............2006-08-31
Because this is the Second book in the series, and I still don't get why the citizens of Anarvin sent to retrieve the Chalice (Seekers and Shape Shifters) are conspiring with the Villain????????
It just makes absolutely no sense to me. It is obvious that the Villain intends to use the Chalice's powers to dominate the world, what is the benefit of helping him??????
Arrrgghhh!!
Quick synopsis, in the surreal world (Anarvin) of magicians and immortals, that forbids entry to any mortal, a princess found a wounded mortal knight just beyond the borders of Anarvin. She brings him into Anarvin gives him a drink from the sacred chalice to heal him and long story short, he betrays her and her people by stealing the Golden Chalice and tries to take it back into the mortal world. But the Chalice bursts into flames and dispenses into 4 separate pieces as soon as it enters the mortal world, and legend has it that any mortal who finds all four pieces will have absolute power. We have a very wicked Villain who is set on gaining absolute power and will stop at nothing to find all four pieces. In the meantime the people of Anarvin have sent Seekers and Shape Shifters to retrieve the cup and bring it back to their world, while the only few other mortals who know about the Legend are bent set on making sure our Evil Villain doesn't get a hold of all four pieces. (The Villain has found only one of the pieces and as of this book, the Good Guys have found Two) What the Good guys plan to do with the last Chalice once they find it first is still unclear, logic would suggest that they should be able to just hand it over to the Seekers of Anarvin, but then Villain has these seekers helping him!!!
Another twist is that only a mortal can physically touch the Chalice and bring it back into Anarvin. But that still does not justify why the Seekers are helping the Villain since he plans to keep the Sacred Chalice for himself.
I'm VERY VERY frustrated with this series that started out with so much promise.
Maybe I just need to take a break from it and some how it will all come to me.
Though the story is well written and very compelling, with the mystery surrounding the Magical Chalice the Author has managed to blend in love stories between various protagonists but I'm much too distracted by the unknowns the give the book a higher rating.
The 2nd is much, much better.......2005-04-25
I must admit that the first book of the Dragon Chalice Series, Heart of the Hunter, was not my favorite, mostly because I disliked the heroine. However, the second in the series, Heart of the Flame, was much better. The heroine, Haven, was strong and sweet. Kenrick was strong and caring. Even though he does turn into a jerk for a few chapters toward the end you kind of expect that since he does have the shock of his life finding out Haven's secret. But he quickly redeems himself and turns back into a sweetheart.
The story, about a knight named Kenrick who we first met in Heart of the Hunter, is on a mission to find the pieces of the Dragon Chalice. Kenrick goes to his friend Rand's castle, only to find Rand and his family had been murdered by Silas's minion. While there he finds Haven half dead and begins to care for her. After awhile they soon become lovers and fall in love. Only there is something that Kenrick does not know about Haven and when he finds out...oh well I'll let you read the book.
The story was excellent, definately better than the first, and I can't wait the read the third book in the series.
Clear Some Time to Read this Non-Stop Romantic Thriller.......2005-03-12
In the HEART OF THE FLAME, medieval romance author Tina St. John continues her latest trilogy with the second installment featuring the former Templar knight, Kenrick of Clairmont. After spending six months in the dungeon of an evil foe (Silas de Mortaine) who commands and unleashes deadly shape shifters to track down the legendary Dragon chalice, Kenrick is bound and determined to recover the chalice himself and thwart his vile foe's efforts.
Sometime after recuperating from his ordeal Kenrick traveled to the keep of a good friend whom he'd asked to safeguard an artifact that could lead to another part of the Dragon chalice. What he'd found was burnt out desolation, his friend and family having been slaughtered and buried. While there he discovered a woman, more dead than alive - obviously a survivor of the attack whom he rescued and brought to his home to question. The woman called herself Haven but couldn't remember the attack and little else of her own background. Kenrick, desperate for answers and leery of her story wasn't sure whether or not to trust her. As she recuperated Kenrick fought being drawn to the exquisite woman he'd found beneath the rags. She was obviously a lady with a regal bearing and the passion that sprang up between them proved to be as fiery as her beauty.
Although Haven couldn't recall much of the raid she felt sadness and guilt at the loss of her friends. Nightmares of being strangled and stabbed by a faceless enemy were only part of the images and strange feelings that were slowly coming back to her. It wasn't until she met up with a dangerous enemy, that the truth of that terrible night would come as a shock that reawakened her suppressed memories and the horror of who, and what, she was. Loving Kenrick as she did, Haven was torn, knowing that it was she who had brought death and carnage to the people she'd befriended and that to stay placed the very man she'd come to love in mortal peril.
*** As Kenrick and Haven's story unfolds tense excitement is immediately generated by this exciting page-turner that will have the reader hooked from the first page with the mystery of Haven's true identity and lasting through to the very last page. Intrigue, romance, fantasy and the test of a true and selfless love will be sure to please in this sensually packed romantic thriller. This is one of those books that the reader will find hard to lay aside complete with appealing characters and cleverly woven intrigues and a highly anticipated longing for the next installment as good versus evil in the quest for the `Dragon Chalice'. Clear the time to sit down and enjoy this wonderfully exciting and fully enjoyable installment of St. John's latest trilogy. --- Marilyn, for www.romancedesigns.com ---
wonderful medieval romantic fantasy.......2005-03-01
In 1275 Cornwall, England former Templar Knight Kenrick comes to the home of his friend Rand only to see a massacre occurred. Kenrick knows the evil Silas de Mortaine apparently annihilated the family in search of the Dragon Chalice that Kenrick hid in his friend's home. Feeling guilt, Kenrick goes to the hiding place where he hid the chalice, but it is not there. He concludes that Silas has not gained possession of the object that would enhance his dark magic to the point of no one capable of stopping the malevolent wizard.
Kenrick finds an unconscious woman dying from infection. He nurtures her and takes her to the home of his sister and brother-in-law to further heal and to learn what she knows about whathappened to Rand and his family. Instead the woman Haven knows she must escape as soon as she is able to leave. Still as Kenrick questions her, she is attracted to him and visa versa, but she hides a secret that if he learns it will make him hate her, at least that is what she believes.
HEART OF THE FLAME, the sequel to the wonderful historical romantic fantasy HEART OF THE HUNTER, is a delightful tale that stars Kenrick, whose incarceration was the catalyst that brought his sister and in-law together. This time Kenrick's adventures are told even as he feels remorse over the troubles and probable deaths he brought to his friend. Still he courageously knows he cannot fold as Silas remains a danger to the world. Haven is his perfect counterpoint as she adds mystery with what she hides from Kenrick. Fans of medieval romantic fantasy will appreciate Tina St. John's fine novel.
Harriet Klausner
Book 2.......2005-03-01
England, Year of 1275
Sir Kenrick of Clairmont is a former Knight of the Temple of Solomon. He spent six months in Silas de Mortaine's dungeon enduring daily beatings and sessions of torture before he had been rescued by his sister, Ariana, and his brother-in-law, Braedon. (Book One) Kenrick is now consumed by the need to locate the Dragon Chalice.
Four magical cups that, when combined, make up the one called the Dragon Chalice. The Chalice is a mystical treasure said to grant its bearer unlimited power. De Mortaine already has one of the four cups. Kenrick possesses one as well. They race to locate the two remaining. But de Mortaine has advantages. He is a wealthy man who deals in dark magic and commands a small army of mercenary, changeling beasts.
Haven is caught up in the battle for the Chalice. She survives a raid by changeling demons, but due to an infected stab wound ends up wandering in a state of delirium at Greycliff, where Kenrick finds her. Haven awakens in Clairmont Castle where a caring Ariana tends her wounds and a raging Kenrick demands answers about the raid that killed his friend, Rand, and Rand's entire family. Problem is that Haven's high fever has scorched her memory of that fateful night. A tenuous trust forms between Haven and Kenrick. He gives her protection while her memory of the horrors she witnessed slowly returns. Passion erupts between the two, but the memories hidden in her past will threaten their bond of trust, if it does not kill them first.
***** Ariana and Braedon, the main characters of the first book, "Heart Of The Hunter", returns as secondary characters in Kenrick's story. You do not have to read the first book to understand what is happening in this one. Yet I strongly recommend that you do so.
Several surprise twists are woven into this intricate tale of dark magic and romance. There is never a dull moment within this powerful epic, so expect no breathing room. Do not begin reading until you are assured hours of uninterrupted time. The talents of Tina St. John will keep you on the edge of your seat and urging your imagination to believe in magic! *****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
Average customer rating:
- Great Beginning to the Young Jedi Knight Series
- Interesting back stories.
- I wish George Lucas had asked me to read this first...
- About what you'd expect from Kevin J. Anderson.
- Greatly Written
|
Heirs of the Force (Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights, Book 1)
Kevin J. Anderson , and
Rebecca Moesta
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0425169499 |
Customer Reviews:
Great Beginning to the Young Jedi Knight Series.......2007-07-18
This was a great introduction into the Young Jedi Knight Series and to Jacen and Jaina Solo, the twin children of Han and Leia. Before this series we saw glimpses of the children growning up. Now at the age of fourteen they are studying at Luke's Jedi Academy learning the ways of the Force. Jacen uses the Force to communicate with animals which he keeps in cages in his room and loves jokes. Jaina is more into mechinal things. They become friends with Tenel Ka from Hapes and Dathomoir humorless and prefers refering on her strenght then the Force and Chewie's nephew Lowie. It was fun seeing what each charactor was like and what the Jedi Academy was like.
Interesting back stories. .......2005-12-28
I read the NJO series before reading these and so I was familiar with the characters that were introduced. Jaina and Jacen Solo appeared in other books first. It is a pretty interesting read, but of course it was ment for a teen audience. I read it in probably less than two hours total time. It wasn't ment to be too indepth. It was an introduction for the series. I'm looking forward to reading the rest. It is worth your time to read because these characters play big parts in both the NJO and Dark Nest series.
I wish George Lucas had asked me to read this first..........2005-10-17
Please know that I LOVE all things Star Wars--movies, books, figurines, articles, the website--everything. This book, on the other hand, was a dismal failure to put it positively. What it has going for it: multisyllabic words, two of four protagnoists are females, and...that's it! This book was boring! It took about 5/6 of the book to introduce the boring characters and then the horrible TIE fighter just flew away.
Am I missing something? Please, save your money; read the other series, but don't waste a penny on this book (and I'm guessing anything written by Mr. Anderson and his ghost writer Ms. Moesta.
GEORGE L.: If you are reading this, please find new and more interesting and inspiring writers. Thanks! Don
About what you'd expect from Kevin J. Anderson........2005-08-01
After the atrocious Jedi academy series, and the downright silly darksabre, you would think that there would be no place to go for Kevin J. Andersons Star Wars books but up. Alas if it were only so.
Heirs of the Force the introductory novella to this 14 book long series is as mundaine, contrived, and poorly thought out as the rest of the Young Jedi Knights series. It may be required reading, seeing as how it sets up many of the main characters in the New Jedi Order series, but that doesnt make these stories entertaining.
Heirs of the Force introduces us to the teenage characters of Jacen and Jania solo as they begin their training as jedi's. Jacen is fascinated by animals and has a hideously poor sense of humor, jania is the mechanic and pilot with a no nonsense attitude. They are joined in their training by future hapan queen mother tenel ka, who by this point prefer's her dathomir witch pedigree, and force sensitive wookie Lowbacca who is the nephew of chewbacca. This novel covers their adventure as they stumble accross a crashed tie fighter in the rain forests of the pre-vong terra formed Yavin four, which has been there since the rebel occupation of the planet more then twenty years ago. As Jania's curiosity gets the best of her, and she tries to repair it, the pilot, who has lived in the jungle with a broken arm for twenty-five years now happens upon them, kidnaps the solo children and forces them to continue the repair work, as tenel ka and lowbacca struggle to survive the suddenly deadly forest of yavin and attempt to obtain help.
If My preceding paragraph didnt make you stop and and ponder if I was kidding (which I wasnt), then your suspension of disbelief may be just enough to eek some entertainment out of the main plot. The idea of qrol (the hermit/former tie pilot) is initially a interesting one until one stops to ponder how does a trained pilot survive in a rainforest without aid for 25 years with a broken arm? Or how come the rebel alliance, or the jedi, never happened upon him during their separate tenure's upon the jungle moon. Then there's little facts such as humidity's ability to corrupt electrical equipment, and how that little nugget of knowledge would factor into trying to repair a crashed aircraft thats been allowed to fester in a rainforest for 25 years that sort of takes all the believability out of the main plot. And while I am nit picking, allow me question how would a 13 year old amateur mechanic be able to successfully integrate a hyperdrive module onto a aircraft designed not to have one, and how come all the really dangerous animals only come out when two young jedi knights are lost in the jungle? yet after this there are no further cases of jedi being attacked by the same creature's. Okay, Ill stop nit picking now.
nit picks aside, while the main plot is poorly researched, thought out, and written, the characterization is even worse. I understand Jacen is supposed to have a poor sense of humor, but an attempt at comic relief ends up just being flat out painful when the person writing it has an even worse one. Eventually readers that even have a inkling of a proper sense of humor or what is funny will eventually start skipping paragraphs or entire pages whenever jacen utters "want to hear a joke". Then there's the character of Em-tee-dee. Lowbacca's translator droid whom im surprised functioned past this novel. C3-P0 may be annoying, but his schtick is often amusing and works as a character. He's meant to be annoying, and it works for getting a laugh or smirk from the audience. Anderson is incapable of working the same delicate balance in his characters, yet attempts to create a youger, chattier, and even more redudant version of C3-P0. To sum up the overall effect of the character and the writing, if jacen is irritating, then Em-tee-dee will just send you into fits of page tearing rage whenever he gets the spotlight.
This book and future ones in the series introduced vital and important characters in the NJO series, and in the recent Dark Nest Trilogy, but the elements and characters it introduces are handled far better by the superior writers that wrote those novels. The 14 young jedi knights novella's should be considered required reading only for the most obsessive of completists wanting to read all of the extended universe's chapters. For those looking for well written, character heavy, well thought out science fiction for young readers, look elsewhere. Perhaps the young adult novels chronicling young obi-wans relationship with qui-gon-jin and their early days as master and apprentice.
This novella, and the entire YJK series is, to quote the bard, "sound and fury, representing nothing". Meaningless and poorly written tripe with only a few interesting moments, such as Zekk's recovery from his tenure as a dark jedi, to brighten the overall storyline. Avoid at all costs.
Greatly Written.......2005-02-20
What is so nice about this book is that it is to the point on what the characters are doing, without being to wordy. And its still descriptive on the environment around them, but its nice and short, but magically tells you where they are without taking half a page to say it.
The whole series is great and easy read.
Not to long, not to short. To the point, but descriptive.
Just get this book.
Product Description
This book includes the three novels:
Heirs of the Force, Shadow Academy,
and The Lost Ones.
Product Description
multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.
Average customer rating:
|
Star Wars The Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force
Anderson & Modesta
Manufacturer: FL-1 Boulevard Books good reader 1994
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Young Jedi Knights
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ASIN: B000LELHZM |
Product Description
ALL THREE BOOKS OF THE THRAWN TRILOGY OR THREE BOOK CYCLE BY TIMOTHY ZAHN BK 1 HEIR TO THE EMPIRE BK 2 DARK FORCE RISING BK 3 THE LAST COMMAND
Book Description
The first book to give the full account of the lost gospel of Jesus' original followers, revealing him to be a Jewish Socrates who was mythologized into the New Testament Christ.
Customer Reviews:
Christianity, it`s Origins........2007-06-14
B.L.Mack writes that there is a frightfull lack of knowledge about the formatiom of the New Tastament among average Christians. His book is an overdue,refreshing, and challenging examination of early Christian origins.and the formation of the historical Jesus movement during the times and circumstances that conditioned it's development The conclusions arrived at are at variance with much of Christianity and it's many manifestations. An excellent read.
Brian Hoadley, Calapan City Oriental Mindoro Philippines.
Only for the most curious...an with a dose of NoDoze.......2007-03-27
Professor Mack posits the existence of an anterior "book" to the Synoptic Gospels, "the Book of Q," yet he can support this supposition only through deducing such a creature through his own predisposed notions about what such a "book" SHOULD have been, and in tune with his own idea of a classless, pre-socialist fraternity, in which Jesus becomes a social revolutionary, a glorified teacher, but little else. If this is all there is to Christianity, then give me unadulterated Marxism or Fascism any day. Poorly argued, and obtusely expressed, to boot.
Causing Quite a Stir.......2007-03-06
After reading this book I can see how it will be riling up the religionists. It is hard to let go of an idea. Something that was perpetuated as a true story. However, the fact is that Christianity was built on a myth. Several myths to be exact. And once you "believe" in these myths, no amount of facts can change your "beliefs" until you are ready to see the truth.
This book is doing just that. It is stripping away the myths of that time and showing how these myths were built one on top of the other. And it was done by scholars, not theologists. So there is no religious bias going on.
A very interesting find for those who are looking for the truth. And there are more truths to find about where all religions came from in Laura Knight-Jadczyk's book "Secret History of the World".
Q As Confirmation of Christian Myths.......2006-07-09
Dr Mack has written an attack on what he describes as Christian Myths under the guise of scholarship. This book has been overtaken by recent scholarship by Robinson and others and has little value with respect to the study of Q. I recommend instead that the interested reader purchase "The Sayings Gospel Q in Greek and English" by Robinson, Hoffmann & Kloppenborg. Mack presupposes the validity of his arguments in the prologue by claiming the birth and death accounts in the gospels are mythological. Then he proceeds to support this by pointing out the Sayings of Jesus in Q lack these accounts. Total sophistry! His rantings conform closely to the "secular-Progressive" movement in the United States, taking a strong anti-Christian (traditional) and anti-Church stance. His understanding of American culture as conformed to and practiced by the majority of middle and lower class Americans is negligible, and his statements concerning American attitudes and beliefs are limited solely to American academics and the liberal elite. Contemporary social issues are emphasized in his conclusions -- a nice bit of propaganda by a tenured academic who doesn't have to work in the real world. When he stated "Q's challenge to Christians is therefore an invitation to join the human race....", I eagerly awaited his next sentence that would enumerate those religions or societies which have eliminated myths and myth-making from their cultures and that Christians could join. Sadly Processor Mack didn't list any such examples in "the human race", and could only exhort Christians and Americans to understand and overcome their own religious and cultural myths for the good of mankind. So his treatise was just another politically correct polemic blaming Christians and specifically Americans for the troubles of the world. Using the discussion and presentation of Q to make his point was absolutely unconscionable.
Blind leading the Blind.......2006-06-18
A classic case of "Blind leading the Blind".
This book has some interesting Jew/Roman history at the time of Jesus. But professor Mack in this book builds his theory of "Christianity as a myth/ Four gospels lied about Jesus" on a ficitional gospel "Q"; Mack then used the ficitional "Q" to prove (the historical) four gospels in the New Testament are all "ficitional accounts about Jesus as Christ". His theory is built on shaky foundation.
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