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mir_mortal's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ngreads's review
4.0
I found this book to be, in a word, interesting. I didn't give it five stars for a couple of reasons.
1. The whole little-guy-with-dark-hair-who-is-a-thief with the big-blonde-guy-who-is-the-greatest-swordsman-in-the-world-and-carries-at-least-three-swords combination/partnership is not particularly new or original to me (cough, cough, Riyria), although the character personalities of the two were, thankfully, quite different from the Riyria duo.
2. There were several grammatical and spelling errors throughout the book that thre me off. Thankfully, these disappeared over the course of the trilogy, and I hope that they will be nonexistent in the other two books.
Aside from those issues, I found the book to be charming, witty, and quite amusing. Eli is a really fun character to read about, due to his frequent unpredictability, and the concept of how the spirit world and human world interact through wizards/ Spiritualists and such is quite interesting. At times I found the book to be quite hard to put down, and if I had read it every day instead of on and off, I would've finished it sooner.
The idea was nicely thought out, and a fun read. I look forward to seeing what other adventures are in store for Eli Monpress and his companions in the further books of the series.
1. The whole little-guy-with-dark-hair-who-is-a-thief with the big-blonde-guy-who-is-the-greatest-swordsman-in-the-world-and-carries-at-least-three-swords combination/partnership is not particularly new or original to me (cough, cough, Riyria), although the character personalities of the two were, thankfully, quite different from the Riyria duo.
2. There were several grammatical and spelling errors throughout the book that thre me off. Thankfully, these disappeared over the course of the trilogy, and I hope that they will be nonexistent in the other two books.
Aside from those issues, I found the book to be charming, witty, and quite amusing. Eli is a really fun character to read about, due to his frequent unpredictability, and the concept of how the spirit world and human world interact through wizards/ Spiritualists and such is quite interesting. At times I found the book to be quite hard to put down, and if I had read it every day instead of on and off, I would've finished it sooner.
The idea was nicely thought out, and a fun read. I look forward to seeing what other adventures are in store for Eli Monpress and his companions in the further books of the series.
jmoses's review
5.0
I have to admit, I was blown away by this book. I picked it up on sale, for really cheap. My experience with "on sale" omnibuses is...mixed, shall we say. So I was expecting a decent read, but one that I read a book from, then read something else.
That's not even close to what happened. I think I started reading this set on a Thursday? And I finished it Sunday night. I have 4 kids. That should say something.
Everything about it exceeded my expectations, the characters, the setting, the plot, the _magic system_.
The characters were believable (at least the main characters) and easy to identify with, especially Nico,with her internal monologue (alright, it's the demon, but I say metaphor) about self-doubt and worth. All the main characters were well written without (quite) becoming a cookie-cutter fantasy character. Eli, I think, came the closest to that, but never quite reached it, thankfully. The secondary characters were a little thin in spots, I thought, but nothing outrageous.
The setting was similarly well thought out and believable. Both the overall political situation, and the individual pieces that we're shown.
What I love most about this set, however, was the magic system. I mean, "all magic is spirits in things" has been done before, but not like this, at least not that I've read. As the story wound on, more and more facets of the system were revealed to us that made it clear this was a well thought out system, and it was *interesting*. It was as interesting, to me, as the allomancy from Sanderson's Mistborn series.
Overall this work was excellent. It had it's drawbacks, to be sure, but they barely register against the unexpected enjoyment I had with this set. Hopefully the last 2 books in the series are as good, although the reviews seem to indicate not. Still, I will consume them and make my own opinion.
--edit--
Oh, and whoever classified this as "urban fantasy" on Amazon is an idiot.
That's not even close to what happened. I think I started reading this set on a Thursday? And I finished it Sunday night. I have 4 kids. That should say something.
Everything about it exceeded my expectations, the characters, the setting, the plot, the _magic system_.
The characters were believable (at least the main characters) and easy to identify with, especially Nico,
The setting was similarly well thought out and believable. Both the overall political situation, and the individual pieces that we're shown.
What I love most about this set, however, was the magic system. I mean, "all magic is spirits in things" has been done before, but not like this, at least not that I've read. As the story wound on, more and more facets of the system were revealed to us that made it clear this was a well thought out system, and it was *interesting*. It was as interesting, to me, as the allomancy from Sanderson's Mistborn series.
Overall this work was excellent. It had it's drawbacks, to be sure, but they barely register against the unexpected enjoyment I had with this set. Hopefully the last 2 books in the series are as good, although the reviews seem to indicate not. Still, I will consume them and make my own opinion.
--edit--
Oh, and whoever classified this as "urban fantasy" on Amazon is an idiot.
jonathanpalfrey's review
3.0
I quite enjoyed this series: the plot flows well, the characters are quite congenial. This is easy-to-read fiction well suited to passing the time on a journey. However, here are some things you may want to know before buying:
1. It's about adults, but it was apparently written for children. The characters seem conceived to appeal to children, and they're all sexless. Although they can be clearly divided into men and women, they don't appear to feel any sexual attraction to anyone. This is not a big problem for me, but it seems remarkable.
2. In this fantasy, absolutely everything (including inanimate objects, seas, rivers, and winds) has a conscious spirit associated with it, which feels human-like emotions and reacts to its experiences. This is not really credible, although I was able to suspend disbelief long enough to finish the book.
3. One irresistible force meets another rather too often, which gets tiresome. The characters tend to have some kind of special power, varying from one to another.
4. No sex, but quite frequent violence; although it's not written to shock, and I think children these days can digest this kind of thing easily enough.
So there we are: if you want a light, undemanding fantasy to pass some time with, and you're in touch with your inner child, this may be for you. I was happy enough to read these three novels, as I bought them all together, and they're easy reading; but I think I've had enough by now. I don't currently plan to read more of the saga of Eli Monpress.
1. It's about adults, but it was apparently written for children. The characters seem conceived to appeal to children, and they're all sexless. Although they can be clearly divided into men and women, they don't appear to feel any sexual attraction to anyone. This is not a big problem for me, but it seems remarkable.
2. In this fantasy, absolutely everything (including inanimate objects, seas, rivers, and winds) has a conscious spirit associated with it, which feels human-like emotions and reacts to its experiences. This is not really credible, although I was able to suspend disbelief long enough to finish the book.
3. One irresistible force meets another rather too often, which gets tiresome. The characters tend to have some kind of special power, varying from one to another.
4. No sex, but quite frequent violence; although it's not written to shock, and I think children these days can digest this kind of thing easily enough.
So there we are: if you want a light, undemanding fantasy to pass some time with, and you're in touch with your inner child, this may be for you. I was happy enough to read these three novels, as I bought them all together, and they're easy reading; but I think I've had enough by now. I don't currently plan to read more of the saga of Eli Monpress.
resident_corvid's review
5.0
This book series has been my favorite for a very long time. The world building is incredible, the characters intensely wonderful and lovable, and the story makes me laugh and cry every time I read it. These are the best fantasy books out there.
amanda_grace's review
5.0
The Legend of Eli Monpress is a fantastic series. Though it's not your typical epic high fantasy novel, it does what is sets out to do and that is to be a fun, entertaining read. This omnibus contains the first three books of the five book series. The first two books, The Spirit Thief and The Spirit Rebellion, are quiet similar in how the over all plot plays out. The plots are different, but I just felt that they were executed in a molded kind of sense. It also does take a bit before you really get a back story for the characters. That being said, the rest of the series strays from this mold and we get a deeper look into the characters and into the over all arching story. The third book, The Spirit Eater, is defiantly my favourite book in the series for a few reasons. 1) The plot got more deeper and interesting and 2) I was excited that we got to read more about the character Nico who, for the first two books, was quiet and more of a side/background character.
The story is told following multiple characters, one of which being the title character, Eli Monpress who is a thief and also happens to be a wizard. In this book, everything from a blade of grass to a chair to a door has a spirit and only wizards can speak to these spirits. Eli uses his ability to speak to spirits to help him become the world's greatest thief by sweet talking locks into unlocking and such things. He does this along with his two companions; Josef who is a skilled swordsman with a powerful, magic sword and Nico who is a demonseed and possesses super human abilities. Throughout the books they are being tracked by Miranda, a wizard who is trying to arrest Eli for his crimes.
The world that was created in this story is wonderful and I loved characters and overall plot. I found myself addicted to this series and spent many nights reading into the early morning. I highly recommend this series to anyone who is looking for a fun fantasy read.
The story is told following multiple characters, one of which being the title character, Eli Monpress who is a thief and also happens to be a wizard. In this book, everything from a blade of grass to a chair to a door has a spirit and only wizards can speak to these spirits. Eli uses his ability to speak to spirits to help him become the world's greatest thief by sweet talking locks into unlocking and such things. He does this along with his two companions; Josef who is a skilled swordsman with a powerful, magic sword and Nico who is a demonseed and possesses super human abilities. Throughout the books they are being tracked by Miranda, a wizard who is trying to arrest Eli for his crimes.
The world that was created in this story is wonderful and I loved characters and overall plot. I found myself addicted to this series and spent many nights reading into the early morning. I highly recommend this series to anyone who is looking for a fun fantasy read.
leeleet's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Rachel Aaron caught my attention with her Heartstrikers series but this series has cemented her as an auto buy author for me.
spammie's review
3.0
This is the first three books in the series. In all honesty I found it a little challenging. Now don't get me wrong, it was highly enjoyable, it just didn't hook me in. It just wasn't one of those that you end up still awake at 3am thinking 'just one more page'. The characters were well written but didn't feel like we saw enough of Eli. His back story is the underpinning thread and what kept me going to the next book. Apart from that element, each book had fairly the same recipe, especially concerning Josef. Whom I would really like to hear more about. Some of the characters need further exploration. I'm looking forward to seeing how the story line develops in the next book. It's definitely worth reading, it just didn't knock my socks off. :)
cornflower's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75