Ramsey's Book Reviews

This page contains my summaries, reviews and WILL contain spoilers. I won't post on every book I read, but I'll try to include many. If you're more interested in things I'm writing, well I'm currently writing a shared story of fantasy in a yahoo group of my own construction. I also dabble with a couple of novels and short stories set in the Mystic Realms used in my RPG.

Other Blog Entries

# 5 - Monday, June 6, 2005 - 16:03
Subject: Song of Susannah by Stephen King

I finally broke down and got the 6th book of the Dark Tower. Now more than ever I am anxious to read the ending to this story. I have a feeling that it will be slightly disappointing, but this may have been the best book I've ever read. They travel back to the "real world" and set up plans to protect the rose (Roland and Eddie). Also, Callahan and Jake chase after Mia. She is intent on having her baby and giving it to the dark side. The baby is Roland's and it is said he'll grow up to kill Roland. You can never trust silly prophecies like that however. Anyway, excellent book! How long before I get to VII!!

# 4 - Friday, March 4, 2005 - 15:32
Subject: Master and Fool by J.V. Jones

This was the final book in this trilogy. Jack is destined to destroy Larn and Kylock in final confrontations. The book was quite good, but I found the story of Tawl's redemption to be more satisfying than Jack's showdowns throughout. I mean, Tawl, there's a proven hard nosed warrior. Jack is just a lucky sorcerer who has a hand in fate. Still, I think I wish it was Jack and Melli who ended up together. Tawl does do the redeeming thing though. Strangely you find yourself with mixed feelings about Tavalisk and his crew. The man is really evil and yet managed to always be on the 'right' side. Prophesized indeed. Anyway, it seems I enjoy stories of redemption lately and this one had a fix in it. They don't really say who the fool is in the prophecy so you're kinda left to interpret it. Crope turns out to be quite lovable as well. Baralis and Kylock - pure insanity. Maybor finds the light at the end of his tunnel. Amusing that his plight really didn't hit a chord with me at all. His feelings towards his children were touching. Anyway, great series.

# 3 - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 20:26
Subject: A Man Betrayed by J.V. Jones

This book was a pleasant addition to the second. We go to see a major fall of the knight. It was pleasant. Some of the characters are finally together, although many aren't. Its amazing how many villains there are in these books. In any case I enjoyed this book and I'm anxious to get onto the third. Again I find no difficulty in recalling those involved in plots and what is going on in the world. The 'size' of the world seems small to me, and I'm not sure the map has everything in quite the right spot, but hey, at least I can remember what most of the spots mean. In any case, I'm anxious to see Jack use his sorcery in a directed way. Reading about him when he found out he was betrayed was very astonishing. At this point its pretty clear what the prophecy means in most ways. The only things that aren't clear are the savior's mother, sister and lover. On to book three!

# 2 - Friday, February 25, 2005 - 11:41
Subject: The Baker's Boy by J.V. Jones

I enjoyed the book. This book was an introduction to a trilogy. It really read like one as well. There are quite a few main characters but I didn't have a hard time keeping track of them all (like others). I'll talk about the ones that stick out the most. Of course, there is the baker's boy, Jack who find he has sorcerer powers and runs away. He has a tortured past as you might expect. There is Melli - once betrothed to the prince but ran away because of that. Jack and Melliandra got together rather well and I suspect they have a future destiny together. There is Mabon and Baralis. These two guys are always trying to kill each other and otherwise plot for the best advantage. Baralis is a sorcerer who unwittingly taught Jack how to read by using him as a blind scribe for a library he was boring from an archbishop called Tavalis. Tavalis is a nasty creature who is constantly eating and picking on those around him (like his servant Gamli). Melli is Mabon's daughter. Baralis poisoned the queen and spawned a child Kylock with her without her knowing. Later, Baralis poisoned and basically removed the king. Kylock is his creature in many ways. There is some great banter between some of the commoners called Grift and Bodger. Those two are comic relief to be sure. Another major character in the books is a knight named Tawl. He picks up a boy named Nabber along the way as well. Tawl is torn throughout much of the book. His dead family and the death of the man who sent him on the quest (Bevlin) are just two of the reasons he is often felt unworthy of his quest. His quest to find a boy who was different. He went to some people in a place called Larn to learn more about the boy. It would seem that Larn tie children to rocks to help increase their connection to God and most importantly, to fortell the future. Anyway, I liked the book a lot. You can see that she does a good job of keeping the characters in the mind of the reader eveen if there are quite a few of them. Afterall, I recall them and don't have the book here. Anyway, that's it for now. I'm about 100 pages into the second book as we speak.

# 1 - Saturday, October 10, 2005 - 10:41
Subject: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King


In this book, Roland loses two fingers of his right hand but also manages to pull two gunslingers from New York. He stops the PUsher from killing Jake, creating a paradox. I don't usually reread books, but this has given me real urgency to know more about the tower. I've read Tower 1-5 now and I must say that rereading 1 and 2 has given me a lot more enthusiasm to read 6 and 7. Not that I didn't want to read them already. Hopefully they fulfill. I really enjoyed this book.