[OCT]≡ Download Beyond the Pale The Last Rune Book 1 Mark Anthony Books

Beyond the Pale The Last Rune Book 1 Mark Anthony Books

Download As PDF : Beyond the Pale The Last Rune Book 1 Mark Anthony Books

Beyond the Pale The Last Rune Book 1 Mark Anthony Books

When I think of epic fantasy I usually think of overwritten, overlong books that would probably bore me to tears. Thankfully, Beyond the Pale is not like that. At all. I can honestly say that I wasn't bored once while reading this novel. It's over 600 pages of smaller-than-usual text, but all of that is soon forgotten after one gets into the story. I recommend interested readers give it at least a hundred pages or so before giving up on it, because it does start out in our modern world. I actually liked that aspect of it. It made it easier to relate to Travis and Grace, who end up traveling from modern-day Earth to the land of Eldh, a medieval world of sorts. I liked both of the main characters, and loved the little touches of humor throughout the novel. I also loved the heavy use of magic.

As far as this novel borrowing heavily from other fantasy novels, I don't really have much to say to that. I myself haven't read a lot of epic fantasy, so I wouldn't really know. All I know is that I enjoyed this novel from start to finish, and wasn't bored once while reading it. That's a mark of a very good novel to me.

So why four stars instead of five? I thought that some of the relationships could have used more development, but that wasn't really a huge problem. The main reason I gave it four stars is because of the ironhearts plot point, which I thought was overused a bit. I just didn't find the ironhearts that interesting, and toward the end too many of my favorite characters were turning into them.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this novel. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more books in this series. There are six in total, so I hope the rest are as entertaining as this first one.


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Beyond the Pale The Last Rune Book 1 Mark Anthony Books Reviews

I have to admit that I wasn't really expecting much from this book. The blurb on the back cover was what prompted me to buy it in the first place; I'm a sucker for good "advertising" like that when it comes to fantasy novels.

But, surprise! I opened to the prologue, with the unlikely title of "Brother Cy's Apocalyptic Traveling Salvation Show", and was instantly hooked. This is a well-written beginning to a six-book cycle, which apparently concerns threats not only to the other-dimensional world of Eldh, but also to our Earth as well.

Anthony does not seem to develop his two Earthly protagonists too well. I could not get a clear picture of Travis; one could compare him to Clark Kent just beginning to discover his powers, but that's a very broad generalization. And Grace Beckett strikes me as a Vulcan transported to the world of fantasy who is beginning to learn about her emotions. There is also a strong indication that she was abused in some way in her childhood, but nothing definite is mentioned. Hopefully Anthony will expand on their characters in later volumes.

The residents of Eldh, however, are much more fleshed out and well-defined - the Lady Kyrene seemed very sinister, King Boreas is a little more intelligent than his hulking appearance makes him seem, and Durge and Beltan are just a bit more than the standard noble defenders of the realm.

Of necessity there are some characters who are cloaked in mystery. Falken the bard and the Lady Melia, as well as Queen Ivalaine pose more questions than answers at this point. Exactly who are they, and what do they know? Are they trying to save Eldh or do they have other purposes in mind?

I do not see even vague similarities to Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series here, despite several reviewers' claims. In fact, there are far more similarities to David Eddings' "Belgariad" and "Mallorean" cycles than anything else.

I look forward to the next book in this series.
I remember reading this series when it was still in progress, and enjoying it a great deal. Someone mentioned it in passing recently, so I thought I would hunt down the books and see how the story ended. In 1999 I must have been a little less critical, because now I find it only average. Some of the reviewers have called it derivative of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time and Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant, and I can agree with some of the similarities. It's got a bit of David Eddings in the use of simple fantasy archetypes as major characters, and a tiny sprinkling of Anne Rice's Talamasca in there as well. Still, it's only the first book, and I'm curious to see how it all develops. Epic fantasy is usually action-packed in the self-contained story arcs, but often takes time to hit its stride in the longitudinal narrative. I'll just have to see where it leads.
When I think of epic fantasy I usually think of overwritten, overlong books that would probably bore me to tears. Thankfully, Beyond the Pale is not like that. At all. I can honestly say that I wasn't bored once while reading this novel. It's over 600 pages of smaller-than-usual text, but all of that is soon forgotten after one gets into the story. I recommend interested readers give it at least a hundred pages or so before giving up on it, because it does start out in our modern world. I actually liked that aspect of it. It made it easier to relate to Travis and Grace, who end up traveling from modern-day Earth to the land of Eldh, a medieval world of sorts. I liked both of the main characters, and loved the little touches of humor throughout the novel. I also loved the heavy use of magic.

As far as this novel borrowing heavily from other fantasy novels, I don't really have much to say to that. I myself haven't read a lot of epic fantasy, so I wouldn't really know. All I know is that I enjoyed this novel from start to finish, and wasn't bored once while reading it. That's a mark of a very good novel to me.

So why four stars instead of five? I thought that some of the relationships could have used more development, but that wasn't really a huge problem. The main reason I gave it four stars is because of the ironhearts plot point, which I thought was overused a bit. I just didn't find the ironhearts that interesting, and toward the end too many of my favorite characters were turning into them.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this novel. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more books in this series. There are six in total, so I hope the rest are as entertaining as this first one.