Ships from the West

Why are these books out of print? I thought this series was pretty good and pretty original. Way better than a lot of fantasy out there. I like the real world parallels brought into the book like the question of religion. These books aren't amazing and the character development is not great but they are a fun little read. Great break while waiting for Jordan to get healthy or Martin to release another biblical fantasy.

What will surprise readers most is the fact that there is a huge time gap between book four and five. Books one through four where pretty much an uninterrupted stream of events and the sudden leap in time left me a bit disconcerted at first, especially being the last book, but once I adjusted I truly enjoyed what Kearney did. In a lot of ways this seemed like a book long epilogue. He promptly ties off loose ends and by the end of the book no story line is left unfinished, I didn't say all questions were answered though. It is not neccesarily a happy conclusion but for me it was a satisfying and interesting one with some unexpected surprises. Some reviews state that he seems to have gotten tired of writing and just quit, but I will say that after impatiently waiting for the next books from authors like Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, Terry Goodkind, and R.A. Salvatore it is a nice change of pace to have a well written series end in a timely manner.

The series as a whole was excellent, but the end seemed far too simple, and left many questions unanswered. I was shocked to discover that this 5th book jumped us many years into the future. Not only this, but the author failed to fill us in on most of what happened during this gap. Also, the author ends up killing the main characters off in mass quantities, and does so in situations that make it seem that the author got tired of writing about them and needed them to go away. For instance, Kearney puts the kings, lords, and military leaders of Astarac and Hebrion on the same boat, and then sinks it. After spending so much time with a character as awesome as Abeleyn, it seems that he was cheated out of a good end. We also say goodbye to countless other characters in similar circumstances. One of the things I was very sad about was that Bleyn's identity as Hawkwood's son is never revealed, not even to Hawkwood before his death. The battle at the end of the book also seemed unrealistic. Aruan's mighty army has destroyed the invincible mega-armada of Hebrion and Astarac in less than one night, and yet Corfe is able to do so with a single field army. Aruan has his Flyers attacking his enemy in Charibon, but then does not use them for his own protection when he is attacked by Corfe's small Bodyguard force? Regardless of what seems to me to be a quick ending written by someone who was tired of writing, the rest of the series is very well put together. The characters had much depth and history to them, and I enjoyed the politics between the kingdoms and such. The last chapter of this book was cryptic and intriguing, and leaves you with a last thought to ponder on.

May I recommend this Pentology to any reader interested in good fantasy. Exceptionally smooth reading, interestingly developed mythologies and characters. Well worth your time, & highly recommended.

This book is the best I have ever read. Its ending is perfect. I advise anybody with good taste in novels to purchase the entire series. The ending is unbelievably perfect and every character has its own issues and flaws. I feel that these books are superior to the Tolkien collection, and I am sure anybody with a love for fantasy works will enjoy the adventure that nearly brings humanity to an end.