Lord of the Isles (Lord of the Isles, 1)

I'm not gonna go into a lot of exposition here on why this is a great book, just take a chance and judge for yourself. Even if you wouldn't list it as one of your top favorite fantasies ever, you'll still have a good time with it. In the end, that's how I judge a book to be worth reading or not: Does it COMPEL you to keep turning the pages? Are you driven to keep coming back to it whenever you're able to do so? If it's part of a series, as this one is, will you buy the next one in the series? If you answer yes to all these questions, then it's a book worth reading. This book is, based on my answering yes to all these questions, a book worth reading. It's ridiculous that so many people criticize the book and author for not keeping with "conventions", because, let's face it, conventions make for a whole lot of monotony after a while. Unlike a couple of people here who hated the book and said they've read 50-70 fantasy novels in their time, it's probably not exaggerating to say I've read several hundred over the last couple of decades, so I'm very familiar with Fantasy's staples, and I can tell you unreservedly that this book unequivocably qualifies as a Fantasy, to Hell with whatever else anyone else is trying to compare it to for it to be considered "in" in their opinion. And some of the people who criticize Drake for not knowing or not using these conventions also accuse him of heavily borrowing from other, supposedly better writers. If this is the case, if he's lifted so many ideas from other writers, then how is it possible that those writers' conventions would at the same time be missing from this book? Just curious. In parting, just let me say that I read this right after having read several of Goodkind's Sword of Truth books - and it was a refreshing change! To those who said that Drake's character's aren't very fleshed out, let me tell you that his writing seemed very "mature" to me after finishing Goodkind's books, which are full of characters Goodkind keeps reminding us are hardened, stoic, even noble types, and yet they spend almost all their time either crying or getting angry or jealous and then apologizing for it, and probably at least two-thirds of their conversations are artificial, unnatural sounding expositions that serve no purpose but to remind the reader of what's come before, and to remind readers that all the rest of the characters in the book either love or hate or hate-to-love Richard because he's so wonderfully kind-hearted and sincere, that incorrugible but oh so good-hearted boy. Whoever accused Drake of ripping off Jordan - hello! please tell me that you don't think he's any more guilty of that than Goodkind; and yet you probably loved Goodkind's books, right? (I can honestly say, though, that Jordan never came to mind when I was reading Drake's book - though he DID when I was reading Goodkind, and often.) That's all.

I am sick and tired of the pages and pages of boring garbage some fantasy writers fill their books with. The "Hero" of the story sit and whines and complains about the task given to him/her by fate and refuses to use the "gift" given to them. The heroes in "The Lord Of The Isles" are good old fashioned hack and slash type who spend more time doing heroic deeds than thinking about them. They accept who they are and what they are without pages of pseudo psycho claptrap. The people who claim this makes them one dimensional are too rigid in their thinking. The plot is rich with sub stories that will make you want to read the second installment as quick as possible. Action all the way through. You don't have to wade through 700 pages of nothing to reach 20 pages of action like Jordan's books. I like all sort of sci-fi and fantasy, Anybody who wants real heroes will enjoy this book!

Tired of spineless hero's whining "why me?" or worried about actually using some of the "awesome powers" they control because they're afraid to hurt somebody. Then come read a really good book filled with real hero's. Strong Male and Female characters stride through the story with clearly understood purpose and ability lending the needed suspension of disbelief necessary to propel the book to near epic status. I definitely enjoyed this book, it had an Andre Nortonesque quality that I haven't seen done well in quite some time. Bravo to David Drake!

This is one the most gripping fantasy novels I have ever read.Drake begins this saga with a aging sorceress who after thrown a 1000 years in the future because of a magical upheaval.She is befriended by some young people in a seaside town.They embark on a danger-filled adventure of magic and romance.This novel is has chilling scenes of sorcery, plot twists and plenty of action. I really enjoyed the characters of Garric, Casmal, two young men who find out of their magical destinies.This is novel also boasts more scenes of monsters, demons, and other assorted nasties that you see in most fantasy novels.

This book shows off Drake's talent for creating extremely detailed, interesting worlds. The characters are very believable, no heroes for the sake of being a hero here. Only drawback would be low excitement level, it is more like Drake is telling us about a historical event than telling us a story.