Mother of Lies

I have enjoyed most of Mr. Duncan's books, and this short series is no exception. While good, I did not think it was up to the same level as some of his earlier works. Just my personal taste, but I found some of the violence overdone, but that seems to be the norm for most fantasy books these days. Also, I found the Dodec concept rather distracting. I may have missed something, but I cannot fathom why this has much relevance to the story (and it shows up in a technical appendix which did not interest me at all). Even though this may not be his best (in my opinion), this series is still well worth reading and is full of interesting characters that I grew to care about.

This is another in a long line of outstanding fantasies by David Duncan. Imaginative world, great characters, lots of twists, just what one expects (I'd actually rate it at 4.5 stars but not an option I guess). Others have given lots of details on the plot so won't repeat here. Would add that others have suggested the King's Blades books by him. Those are good books, but the best by far is the Seventh Sword series starting with The Reluctant Swordsman (my favorite fantasy series ever). It currently has 19 ratings all of them 5 stars! It shows how someone from our world might really react if thrown into one where magic/gods really existed. Duncan also has two other excellent fantasy series: One is Man of his Word series (first book is The Magic Casement). If you like creative, intelligent fantasy, lots to look forward to.

I wasn't really sure what I was getting into with Dave Duncan's "dodeca" books, but I've enjoyed much of his other writing, so I thought I'd give it a chance. I'm glad I did -- the world, the characters, the magic, and the plot threads were all top-notch and a real blast to read through. The background for the story consists of the unique world -- a dodecahedron -- and a magic system in which 12 distinct gods assist their followers in directly affecting the world. What could have been a trite or simplistic approach instead comes out in interesting, complex (but thankfully not overly-so) interactions, as we watch the primary characters grow. Sadly, the books are relatively short, and at least so far, two is all you get. Because the story takes place on only two of the world's faces, it seems a fertile environment for additional books set in the same universe. As you can guess, I really hope this to be the case.

Dave Duncan did it again. He created a new unique world, which is weird and cool, even though physically impossible, as he himself admits in the appendix to the book. He brought to life monsters, heroes and bloodlords... and you can forget about your night sleep until after you close the last page. For the fans of the previous works by Duncan I would say only that in my opinion "Mother of lies" is one of the best books by this author. The characters are complex and interesting, and the plot has so many twists and surprises, that I actually had to go for a very long lunch break, to be able to finish the book. For new readers who never has heard about Dave Duncan - please do yourself a favor and grab "Children of Chaos" (the first book in "The Dodec Books" series). If you love fantasy books, you will not be disappointed.

A solid production. This is the sequel to Children of Chaos and better than that book. Characterization and plotting are adequate and Duncan has done a good job of producing a clever alternative world. The door is open for a sequel.