Dry Water

Mr. Nylund has done the unimaginable! He managd to keep me quiet for two plane rides. This book entwines its reader with curiousity and allows the long dormant thoughts of whimsy to return to the most "well-grounded" people. I am only 15, and i have yet to lose touch with that side of myself; never the less, I was mystified by the tapestry this tale seemed to weave. I will not ruin the story.. but even reading the back will have you enthralled! lol I hope that any one over the age of 18 will not take my age as a sign that it will be childish. heh, I'm no ordinary 15 year old... I've been reading Mr. Dickons since first grade, (just call me matilda, but it's a true story) ; ) ; ) Thank you for reading my review, and i hope you've found it helpful! ~`*Bright Shadow*`~

There is more compressed into this novel than in any other fantasy I've ever read, and I've been a fan for forty years. Poul Anderson's sf novel The Boat of a Million Years covers as broad a span of history, but in three times the pages and half the complexity. Charles de Lint and Terri Windling have defined contemporary mythic fiction for me, but I was even more bowled over by this book than I was by The Little Country. For creatively dramatizing the complexities in the mythic war of good and evil, Nylund rivals Clive Barker.From the strength of his writing skill, imagery, and characterization, I believe I'll like Eric Nylund's other books too, although I don't expect the rest of them to be like this one; he does say that this is inspired by Roger Zelazny. I don't have space in my small room for keeping many books, but this is a keeper. It's worth hunting down a used copy. Hope that the publishers wise up and reprint it.

Nylund has not only encorperated mischief, intrigue, and action, (which, really, who could ask for more,) but he has given people a point of view into, and from, a world of magik. He let's you create your own world around his. This book is an awesome journey and should be shared with any and all who can listen or read!

I tend to find great books in the bookstores based on a hunch, which was what happened with Eric S. Nylund's superb contempo-fantasy novel, Dry Water. After I started reading, I was hooked-- the book goes in several startling directions, and can almost never be pinned down. With each page of Dry Water, I found myself thinking, "no normal author could get away with this!" Between trippy magical effects and surreal juxtapositions of the mundane and the fantastical, it's amazing that this book works as well as it does. Aside from the mind-blowing plot, the story has some recurring themes that keep it grounded, such as the release of guilt and the rush to change the world. Raja the witch and Nick (aka Judzyas) the necromancer are perfect foils for one another, showing how both seeking complete change and desperately clinging to stasis are unwise courses of action. Dry Water is both deeply complicated and a fun, exciting read. I'd recommend it to anyone who isn't, to borrow a phrase, a "narrow-minded quirkophobe"- and especially to fans of Philip Pullman and Jack Chalker.

Nylund's style is easy to devour, and his plot intricacies, broadly looping and carefully crafted, make Dry Water one of the better books I have read this year.His smooth, believable descriptions of magic and fantasy add to what is, underneath it all, a well-spun down-to-earth story. Reading this book confirms the wisdom of truly thinking sideways.