The Paradise War

As an avid fantasy reader, I was reluctant to try this trilogy because Lawhead is not one of the best known fantasy writers. My husband bought me the book because Lawhead is a Christian and he thought I should try it. I was very pleasantly surprised! The writing is excellent. The story is interesting, meaningful, and epic in scope while still progressing rapidly enough to finish in three books. It contains all of the elements I look for in a fantasy: vivid description, many interesting and well-developed characters, problems to solve, quests, romance, war, tension, intrigue, and a happy ending. I couldn't be happier.

You know, I've just read the new Harry Potter. And a couple of other books that I'm not proud of. And I really had nothing to say about any of them, one way or the other. But I wanted to write something about this book. Gosh, ITS SO GOOD! Thats that! I was so impressed and pleased to have stumbled upon this book.I just happened to pick it up; I read one of Lawhead's others before and remembered that other reviewers had said that other book wasn't one of his best. So I decided to try it and apparently found his best. Geez.The ideas that it has, they're so savory. Could it be that the fairy world is just a go around the cairn away? His logic, argument, writing style, magic, whatever it was, had me convinced that there truly is another world out there. And it is beautiful. Imagine that world----that world with out our modern conveniences---the most profound perhaps, imagine that world with out our modern sound. We are always bombarded with it.That first part of the book is there to convince us that there is another mysterious realm. Its a fast pace to get there, too.Simon, the main characters friend, is an intriguing enigmatic fellow. We think we know him so well until the last of the story.The next part of the book is gaining acceptance and appreciation of that other realm.And the last part is fighting to keep it whole and sound. It seems an uphill battle---can't wait to find out in Book 2. You can not die and not have read this! I couldn't believe this book hadn't won any awards---if I had one to give, I would. Perhaps this review will suffice.On to Book 2! The Silver Hand! Oh, and if you go to Stephen Lawheads official website, you can get a pronounciation guide to all our favorite characters! Yay!

In a trilogy that lies along the spectrum of two other British-born trilogies--Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and C.S.Lewis' "Space Trilogy"--this is a fantasy that will be hard to put down. I took a few weeks to read the first volume, a week to read the next, and a few days for the third. The inner logic pulls you forward while the events continually surprise. There is here the beauty of Ireland (though in a more primal form), the heroism of the Celtic warriors, the subtlety of kingship derived from the people, the tenderness of friendship and romance. Though one need not be familiar with Celtic lore to appreciate these books, those who have done some study in it will it come to life.

Although I am a voracious reader, I rarely read fantasy...I suppose because I am tired of being dragged into "created worlds" that rarely seem to be believeable or worthy of the time involved in figuring them out. This series of books (and I will tell you right now, like previous reviewers, GET THEM ALL, you will want to start Book II the MINUTE you finish the first!) is completely engrossing. I knew nothing of Celtic history or legends, but this author wove the threads of "real" legends and lore into his "otherworld" so completely and so perfectly you never question the reality of it all!! And to be perfectly honest, right up to the LAST sentence of the LAST book, he had me hooked. I am ashamed to say I put off more than one chore/responsiblity to get in ONE MORE CHAPTER before falling asleep at night!! (haha) It is rare that literature of this caliber comes along anymore and I for one cannot wait to read everything else Stephen Lawhead has written or will write in the future!! He has a true gift! Do yourself a favor and curl up with a set of books and a story that is completely sensory and real!!! ENJOY!!!!

The Song of Albion trilogy are some of the best books I have ever read!! They deserve 10 stars! I read fiction critically, paying attention not only to the quality of plot, but also quality of writing and, most importantly, development of characters. Stephen Lawhead's books in general, and this trilogy in particular, satisfy me in every detail. The plots are original and very well researched, and the writing is excellent, with inspiring but not over-used metaphors and subtle alliteration. The characterization is excellent! I could not believe when reading some of these reviews that the reviewer had read the same books that I did. I can truly say that I have never read books in which the characters are better developed than in these. These books deserve to be compared with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, which are my all-time favorite books!Read these books if you like, as I do: Celtic mythology; high fantasy; believable fictional characters; writing that is at once both poetic and gritty; anything written by Tolkien; well-written fantasy with Christian values...I could go on, actually--let's just say READ THESE BOOKS. For those people who thought that the Celtic mythology setting of these books was not accurate and rather forced, I beg to disagree. Having studied Celtic mythology informally quite a lot for the past couple of years, I happen to know that these books are VERY well researched. The more that I learn about Celtic mythology, the more I am impressed by the accuracy of the Song of Albion setting. You will have learned more than you know, as you will find if these books inspire you to look further into this fascinating genre of mythology! And the Otherworld setting is, to me, very believable. I could almost believe it is real. It was a mysterious experience to visit a full-sized model of Stonehenge at sunset, during the time-between-times. Another great thing about these books is that musicians Jeff Johnson and Brian Dunning have written music to go with them. I originally heard of these books through this music. I have all the "Songs from Albion" CDs and highly recommend them, especially if you like contemporary Celtic-style music that is original composition, with a touch of New Age, rock, and medieval styles. That is my review of the series. About this book in particular--I do not need to go over the plot since that has already been done here, and I would not want to ruin it for you anyway. This is my second favorite of the three books. It is a great start to the series. Don't be discouraged if it doesn't seem very "fantasy-ish" at the beginning. And don't get it without getting the second one. You will not want to wait. The best thing about this book as far as author's style is the wonderfully character development using the first person. I enjoy writing myself for pleasure (and am preparing to publish my first short story), and I know how difficult it is to develop a char