The Last of the Renshai

I was not going to leave a review until I read the last review. You know the crazy one that gave this wonderful book one star. I just would like to go over some of the troubling things that this reviewer brought up. One of his main complants was the fact that most of the characters were dishonest in one way or another. I did also notice this but I took it the way that it was supposed to be taken. No person is perfect ever. At some point all people try to get out of something and all people do somthing dishonest. It happenes in real life and because of that I believe that it makes the book that much more believable. Another one of the complants was the fact that there was no clear good guy or enemy. Again I would agree there was not. Which also made the story more believable. I mean since when in real life does the bad guy have a tatoo on there forehead saying I am a the bad guy. And now we come to the strangest thing that was complained about, the violence. Please take the time now to scroll up to the top of the page and look at the cover of the book...Welcome back. While looking at this book you saw a man swinging two swords down at people from the top of a horse. Now after seeing that could you please tell me how anyone picking up this book could not think that this was going to be violent. Yes your kids more then likly should not read it but that doesn't bring down the book for an adult. Actually I feel stupid now that I did this you should just read the book 35 out of 36 people thought that it was a great book. I personally would rank this as my favorite of all time and I have read a lot of books. (like most every one on this site)

Rache believed that he was the last of his kind. A race of undefeatable swordsmen who kill on average of six enemies for everyone one of there kin slain. As the last of his kind Rache does have the right to teach his skill to others. But who? His chocies are twofold A psychotic gladiator that hates his guts Or the daughter of the local lord Before this becomes a problem Rache life changes for the wrost. Rumors begin to grow of a war of wizards and Rache hears stories that he may not be the last of his kind after all. My impression-I have always been a sucker for these vast sweeping epics. My fasination began with the 13th Warrior. This is a great serise, if you can get through the dull part but the book always heats up agian.

I love this book; I've read and re-read it a couple of times. I don't understand why some have said they dislike it. The characters grow on you. The only complaint I may have is that perspectives jump, and you find yourself reading impatiently, wanting to get back to your favorite point-of-view.

For those of you already convinced that you want to read these books, but are scrambling through reviews looking for which book comes first--I've been there, this is the first book of the series.Public service announcement out of the way, on to the review:Like many others, I have "read a lot of fantasy", but I will not appeal to my background to either praise or pan these books; that is hardly necessary. This isn't Tolkien, Eddings, Jordan, Brooks, Goodkind, Tarr...or any of the others. This work stands on its own merits.Reichert builds an interesting world full of intriguing characters. While I will agree with one of the reviewers who said that there was no clear protagonist or antagonist in this story, I do not see that as a flaw. It is not always clear in life who is the "good guy" or the "bad guy". In exceptional stories, the good aren't all good, and the bad aren't all bad. Is there violence in this story...yes. Again no apology needs to be made, like it or not, violence is a part of the genre. If you have a low tolerence for violence, may I suggest the Myth books or Pratchet's Discworld novels.My only complaint with this series--and it's minor and doesn't hinder me from given this book and trilogy 5 stars--is Reichert's take on swordplay. Armor and sheilds hinder combat rather than help it? Tell that to the templars! It's an interesting combat philosophy, but if it were really used the Renshai would have been slaughtered centuries before.That said, Reichert is a good author, with a strong grasp on character development and interesting plot twists. I fully enjoyed all three books and was pleasently surprised many times with the direction the story took.

Who the heck gave this book a 1 in its review? The critic talked about how the characters seem flawed and with sins, gee don't we all have flaws? Don't people get sick of the surreal characters and perfect people written about in books? The guy mentions the lack of antagonist in the story, gee, just like real life, we don't always know who is who, and of course, there are always TWO sides to the story, the antagonist to some is the protagonist to another. Our esteemed critic goes on.... "Each of the main characters have a moral confusion about how to react to their situation in life." (Ugh, if I'm not mistaken we all seem to do this in our lives.) "This leaves them making serious errors in judgment that get them in trouble." Damn! I love those perfect characters that never do anything wrong, never screw up and always do the right thing... doesn't that make a hell of a story? Get real! "It almost seems the author picked these heroesto be the greatest warriors, but they dont know how to use their power for a righteous cause..." "Every character seems not to care that what they do hurts others without justification." Geez! These are vikings we are talking about! The tribe was kicked out of the northlands for BEING TOO VIOLENT. What do you want... responsible daisy-picking pacifists??? "These are not heroes to be revered or respected, but to be condemned for their self-centeredness and lack of conscience." The critic just described a book about real life! People are selfish, they make mistakes, they don't always make the best decisions! He unwittingly gave a great review of the book! Compared to the droll of typical fantasy, where there is always a clear evil guy hurting the good dudes and almost beating them down, until a hidden good dude rises out of the ashes just in time to save the day for mankind, Reichert uses a class a lot of other writers don't use... because they lack imagination! Bravo! Your scathing review encourages me to read the book, not some surreal happy-town novel where "everything is gonna end-up ok." Damn, I always got disppointed with Star Trek, Next Generation for the same reason, a good story does not have to always end with a happy ending. (This one is not that unhappy either!) By the way, the whole series is very creative, and has a good thought out use of Norse Mythology. A must read for any viking fanatic, (I'm not) and a good story for those who aren't.