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outcolder's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this. Classic, pulpy adventure story like Edgar Rice Burroughs or the authors of Weird Tales but no jarring sexist or racist hangovers. I am committed to the rest of the series.
proloner's review against another edition
I read up to 20% of the book and by that point I knew this wasn’t something I would continue reading. At the start it was fairly interesting with Simon, the way he acted really characterized him as a badass in a bad spot given one last chance to make it out. My problem is that this character we read about for the first chapter seemed to switch out of nowhere into this loyal soldier for a country he’d known for a day. For me at least it felt out of place and connected to how he used to act largely strange. Other than that the large amount of info dumps at th r start with characters and places I’d never seen simply took me out and I found myself unable to come back in.
subparcupcake's review against another edition
I have to be honest... I didn't even finish this book. I don't do that very often, especially with books this short, but it had to be done. It hadn't caught me at all by the halfway point. It was taking me forever to read each page because I'd zone out and read the same paragraph over and over again without realizing it. The characters, the story... None of it was interesting to me. I know a lot of people love this series, and I really wanted to love it too, but it just wasn't doing it for me.
sandin954's review against another edition
3.0
A fun, quick fantasy with some nicely done action scenes and a bit of romance. Listened to the audio read by Nick Podehl who was pleasant enough to listen to though not overly exciting.
mikimeiko's review against another edition
2.0
Uhm. Maybe it's just too late for me and this book, I think if I read it 15 years ago I might have really liked. Or maybe not, I don't know. But I had a really hard time finishing it, and the conclusion didn't really pay off.
ofearna's review against another edition
3.0
ok, I've read this before, but can't remember it much
and this copy is gonna be easier to read than the "classic" binding...
OK, finished. I wonder how great this book would be if it was re-written today. When this book was first written all SciFi books HAD TO BE short and this one could really use more explanation. At least twice the length of what we were given. Also, all fantasy books had to have that stupid writing style trying to evoke olden-times. "Real" language would really help. But, this is still a great book for its time, about a decade before I was even BORN. Oddly, I don't even REMEMBER reading this in 2005
and this copy is gonna be easier to read than the "classic" binding...
OK, finished. I wonder how great this book would be if it was re-written today. When this book was first written all SciFi books HAD TO BE short and this one could really use more explanation. At least twice the length of what we were given. Also, all fantasy books had to have that stupid writing style trying to evoke olden-times. "Real" language would really help. But, this is still a great book for its time, about a decade before I was even BORN. Oddly, I don't even REMEMBER reading this in 2005
smiorganbaldhead's review against another edition
3.0
2.5/5. On paper, this seems like something I would love. The concept of the Witch World is cool, and I can see how it may have influenced some other works I’ve enjoyed. There is some interesting word building here. However, I found Simon himself a boring protagonist. The chapters from Loyse’s perspective were more interesting, but there weren’t many of them. Overall not bad, but disappointing relative to my high hopes for this book.
ashleylm's review against another edition
2.0
I thought I'd read this as a kid, and remembered nothing except that it wasn't as witchy as I'd been hoping, and that it involved a family who went to an alien planet. Upon re-reading it, I'm wondering if my memory is terrible, or I'm recalling the wrong book, as this is about a single man who essentially travels to another dimension. And, it's kind of boring. Not horrible enough for 1 star, just generically dull. (I'm a bit tired of the man-goes-to-place-and-instantly-connects-with-folks-in-power ... if someone ended up in our world, the chance that they'd become chummy right away with Bill Gates or Donald Trump (or Justin Trudeau or Shania Twain) is fairly unlikely ...)
People have their weird names, they're fighting some enemy from some place, yada yada yada, and I keep thinking "But Straub's The Screaming Staircase was so much fun, and I haven't read the new Naomi Novik novel yet, so why am I wasting my time on this one?"
Oh, and apparently it was written in the 60s, and is apparently mildly feminist in that there are women who do more than stand, serve mead, or scream. But other than that, it screams 1920s-30s to me, it's sword and sorcery and John Carter or any of those interchangeable swashbuckling manly heroes of the pulp fiction age.
So I stopped re-reading (or reading, depending on my memory) at the 25% mark. I'm getting better about stopping books since my father died this year and reminded me Life is Short. On the off-chance that I run out of better books and am still alive, I can always return to the ones left unfinished--but I think we both know that's never going to happen.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
People have their weird names, they're fighting some enemy from some place, yada yada yada, and I keep thinking "But Straub's The Screaming Staircase was so much fun, and I haven't read the new Naomi Novik novel yet, so why am I wasting my time on this one?"
Oh, and apparently it was written in the 60s, and is apparently mildly feminist in that there are women who do more than stand, serve mead, or scream. But other than that, it screams 1920s-30s to me, it's sword and sorcery and John Carter or any of those interchangeable swashbuckling manly heroes of the pulp fiction age.
So I stopped re-reading (or reading, depending on my memory) at the 25% mark. I'm getting better about stopping books since my father died this year and reminded me Life is Short. On the off-chance that I run out of better books and am still alive, I can always return to the ones left unfinished--but I think we both know that's never going to happen.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
eldritchscholar's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75