A whack on the head has Covenant back in the fantasy realm, and discovering that several decades have passed since he was there last.

He is in now in the middle of a war buildup, with new politicians, magic wielders and others to deal with, although the Bloodguard still stand.

So, your good old nasty quest to find a magic item of power you may or may not know what to do with.

Plus a couple of large battles.

: The second volume in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever, now part of the Voyager Classics collection. After scant days in his ‘real’ world, Thomas Covenant found himself summoned once more to the Land. There, forty bitter years had passed while Lord Foul, immortal enemy of the Land, moved to fulfil his prophecy of doom. The Council of Lords found their spells useless, now that Foul the Despiser held the Illearth Stone, ancient source of evil power. High Lord Elena turned in desperation to Covenant and the legendary white gold magic of his ring. Nobody knew how to use the white gold — least of all Thomas Covenant.
The Illearth War (Voyager Classics)

• The Power That Preserves (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Book 3)
• Lord Foul’s Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Book 1)
• The Wounded Land (The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 1)
• The One Tree (The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 2)
• White Gold Wielder (The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 3)

OVERALL SCORE: (A+)
READABILITY: (A), PLOT: (A+), CHARATERS: (A), DIALOGUE: (B), SETTING: (A+), ACTION/COMBAT: (B+), MONSTERS/ANTAGONISTS: (A-), ROMANCE: (C+), SEX: (Light), AGE LEVEL: (PG13)

This is a very entertaining fantasy story, by one of the best fantasy writers of today, while it may not be quite as good as his “Belgariad” or “Malloreon” series, it comes close.

**SPIOLERS IF YOU HAVENT READ BOOKS 1& 2 YET!**

In Book 3, Sparhawk the Knight Militant of the order of Pandion Knights and Queens Champion, has finally cured his Queen Ehlana, and restored her to her throne. But Annias is still close to taking the Archprelate Throne of the Elene Church, with the help of Martel and the evil god Azash. This story revolves around the election and the politics behind it for the first have of the book, and it is fascinating and very entertaining! Then Sparhawk must go and use the Sapphire Rose to complete the quest in a dramatic ending.

Won’t disappoint – Princess – Sydney, Australia
This is the last book in The Elenium and so all loose ends are getting tied. Sparhawk must save his pretty, young Queen, and this is accomplished pretty much in the first five minutes and for the rest of the book we watch as Sparhawk must save the world from the evil God, Azash and his underlings, Adus, Krager and Sparhawks sworn enemy, and one time friend, Martel. He must play a game he doesn’t like, waiting for Martel to make his move and to follow him and try to stop him. He must do this without getting killed (his wife would NOT appreciate that) or allwing Azash to get his hands on the Sapphire Rose, or Bhelliom, the most powerful object in the world. Surprisingly, there is also a moment towards the end of the novel when you will need a tissue or two. All in all, this was a great book and has firmly cemented its place as one of my all time favourite books. If you’re thinking about reading this book, then stop thinking and start doing, you don’t know what you are missing out on.
: The concluding volume of the masterful Elenium trilogy, now part of the voyager classics collection. The jewel of life is rescued from the distant cave of troll-dwarf Ghwerig and the Queen can be saved. But in returning to the Elenia, Sparhawk and his companions risk delivering power into the hands of their enemies. The unholy triple alliance between Otha, degenerate sorcerer-king of the Zemochs, the renegade Pandion Knight Martel, and Annias, traitorous Primate of Cimmura, stands ready to seize the jewel in the name of the evil god Azash. Sparhawk calls the jewel the sapphire rose: to prevent Azash gaining dominance over the whole world, he may have to unleash its full power, but no one can predict whether the world itself would survive such an event. This brilliant conclusion to The Elenium is fantasy on a truly epic scale which could only have been created by the greatest of modern fantasy writers — David Eddings.
The Sapphire Rose (Voyager Classics)

• The Ruby Knight (Book Two of the Elenium)
• The Diamond Throne
• Hidden City (The Tamuli Book, No 3)
• The Shining Ones (Book Two of The Tamuli)
• Domes of Fire (Tamuli)

OVERALL SCORE: (B+)
READABILITY: (A-), PLOT: (B+), CHARATERS: (A), DIALOGUE: (B-), SETTING: (A+), ACTION/COMBAT: (C+), MONSTERS/ANTAGONISTS: (A-), ROMANCE: (C), SEX: (Light), AGE LEVEL: (PG13)

This is a very entertaining fantasy story, by one of the best fantasy writers of today, while it may not be quite as good as his “Belgariad” or “Malloreon” series, it comes close.

The main character is Sparhawk, a militant knight, who is erasable and direct, (kind of like John Wayne playing a paladin). He and a group of Church Knights, his squire, a young thief, and a styric mystic, embark on a just to save the beautiful young queen, who has been poisoned by the evil Prelate. God’s get involved and things get complex for poor Sparhawk!

In Book 2, the group splits up and the search for the cure continues, but the action and plot slow down. This is a typical middle book, not as good as the first or last in the series, but a bridge between. Sparhawk, really gets to travel the world and meet some unpleasant characters. One Lady who likes to sacrifice children then eat them is particularly nasty.

CONS:
Some of the characters actions aren’t always logical. They are very quick to kill minor character without much provocation, but major ones they let live when they should kill.

The Ruby Knight – by Robin – –
I have read the two first books, The Diamond Throne and Ruby Knight, they are both very good. However, I will focus on the ruby knight.

I give this book five stars for an excellent story, short and good environmental descriptions and a great character build-up.

Sparhawk is the main character of the book, he is a Pandion knight, which is a religious knight order of the church. He and his fellow knights goes on a mission to find a magical stone whom can save the young life of their queen. On their journey in the Ruby knight they encounter magical beings and other evil creatures, they use different tactics and methods to get away from them, and solve the mystery of the since long missing stone, lost in the old battle by the Randera Lake. Azash, the evil god, sends out his spies to find and eliminate the Fellowship.

This is the second book of three, it brings an extra touch to the whole story, the first one mostly brings one detail about the land the live in (Elenium) and some character based story, completed with some background information. I love David Eddings books since they are so full of life, they are both romantic as well as exciting. He uses a quite simple language compared to some other authors, like Brian Craig – Plague Daemon, I never finished that book, it was great fun, when you could read a full sentence without checking the vocabulary.

Back to Eddings, this is the 14th book I have read, written by David and Leigh Eddings.
The Ruby Knight – –
I have read the two first books, The Diamond Throne and The Ruby Knight, they are both very good. However, I will focus on the Ruby Knight.

I give this book five stars for an excellent story, short and good environmental descriptions and a great character build-up.

Sparhawk is the main character of the book, he is a Pandion knight, which is a religious knight order of the church. He and his fellow knights goes on a mission to find a magical stone whom can save the young life of their queen. On their journey in the Ruby knight they encounter magical beings and other evil creatures, they use different tactics and methods to get away from them, and solve the mystery of the since long missing stone. The magical stone called Bhelliom was lost in the old battle by the Randera Lake. Azash, the evil god, sends out his spies to find and eliminate the fellowship.

This is the second book of three, it brings an extra touch to the whole story, the first one mostly focus on giving you details about the land they live in (Elenium), and some character based story, completed with some background information. I love David Eddings books since they are so full of life, they are both romantic as well as exciting. He uses a quite simple language compared to some other authors, like Brian Craig – Plague Daemon, I never finished that book, it was great fun, when you could read a full sentence without checking the vocabulary.

Back to Eddings, this is the 14th book I have read, written by David and Leigh Eddings.
: Presevred within a tomb, Ehlana, the Queen of Elenia can only be saved by using the Bhelliom, a magical jewel that has been lost for centuries. Sparhawk, the Queen’s Champion, must set off on a quest to locate the stone. But the evil god Azash has plans for it himself.
The Ruby Knight (Voyager Classics)

• The Sapphire Rose
• The Diamond Throne
• Hidden City (The Tamuli Book, No 3)
• Domes of Fire (Tamuli)
• The Shining Ones (Book Two of The Tamuli)

Set into this the concept of transcendence, can a man (or Warrior-Poet), become Gods? Can we cast off what limits us as humans and become more. More than that, we go on the quest to become God with Mallory. We see through his eyes, we go on his quest.

By reading this novel, we do become more than what we are. We become someone else and it is intoxicating.
On my top ten list – Stuart A. Giles –
Flat out one of the best sci fi books I’ve ever read. Gives a distinct sense of the eternal, frequently triumphant. If you want to read a book that gives a sense of the amazing skill a human is capable of, this is a good one to start with. The rest of the series doesn’t disappoint.
Memorable, sweeping sci-fi – Ritesh Laud – Houston, TX USA
I’d actually nearly finished reading Zindell’s “Requiem for Homo Sapiens” trilogy before realizing that:
a) There exists a prequel known as Neverness that I should have read before the trilogy.
b) The reviews of Neverness here are for the most part very very positive.
c) The book had already been sitting on my shelf for a couple years. Oops!!

Well, when compared with the sequel trilogy, Neverness is clearly the work of a less mature Zindell but it makes up for that by moving at a faster pace and bringing the story to a somewhat better close. We also have to keep in mind that the brilliantly rendered setting explored in the trilogy was given 90% of its conceptual basis here in this novel. Zindell truly creates a new universe with Neverness, nearly on par with Dune. That alone makes it an astonishing effort in my mind, even though I would rate the story itself at four stars. It’s a great story but there are quite a few holes in the plot, such as how exactly the Ieldra & the Elder Eddas are relevant to anything. Also, the many forays into mathematics were too obviously contrived and just came off as plain silly to me.

The book is quite long at 552 pages in the paperback version, but reads quickly and includes many memorable scenes. A couple that come to mind include the ultimate fate of Katherine, Mallory & Soli’s pursuit of the Timekeeper, and Bardo’s hilarious issues with tumescence.

I recommend Neverness highly. It pretends to be deeper than it really is (it can’t compare to Dune IMO), but Zindell conceives and crafts such a beautiful alternate reality that it’s really a must read for sci-fi fans.
: The universe of Neverness is and filled with extraordinary beings, such as the neanderthal-like Alaloi and the Order of Pilots. Against this backdrop stands Mallory Ringer, who penetrates the Solid State Entity. There he makes a discovery. One that could unlock the secret of immortality.
Neverness (Voyager Classics)

• The Broken God
• The Wild
• The War in Heaven
• A Fire Upon The Deep (Zones of Thought)
• Aristoi

There are also the usual PKD failings, lack of characterization and long bits of non-plot-related ramblings. Of course, anyone who is familiar with his work will know that these are not reasons to avoid the book. He more than makes up for any deficiency by sheer genius and imagination.

But the main reason to read this book comes toward the end (so I won’t spoil it by telling you all about it) where you, the reader, can see how the vugs view the humans. I think this is the best piece of Dick’s writing that I have ever read. These few pages are worth the book’s price alone.

This is early PKD, and I recommend it to any fans out there. It is a fast read, and it gives you plenty to think about. If you are new to this brilliant author, I would start somewhere else, though. Perhaps with some of his more accessible works, like Ubik or The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
: Philip K Dick’s classic dystopian novel set in the future where the remaining human survivors on Earth must gamble for their future with aliens from Titan, one of the moons circling Saturn. Roaming the pristine landscape of Earth, cared for by machines and aliens, the few remaining humans alive since the war with Titan play Bluff, allowing them to win or lose property and also form new marriages in order to maximise the remote chance some pairings will produce a child. When Pete Garden, a particularly suicidal member of the Pretty Blue Fox game-playing group, loses his current wife and his deed to Berkeley, he stumbles upon a far bigger, more sinister version of the game. The telepathic, slug-like Vugs of Titan are the players and at stake is the Earth itself. The Game-Players of Titan is a brilliantly conceived vision of a future dystopia, full of imaginative detail, moments of pure humour and thought-provoking musings on the nature of perception, as the seemingly straightforward narrative soon turns into a tumultuous nightmare of delusion, precognition and conspiracy.
The Game-players of Titan (Voyager Classics)

• Now Wait for Last Year
• Galactic Pot-Healer
• A Maze of Death
• Clans of the Alphane Moon
• Time Out of Joint

Do whatever you can to pick this up! It’s a quick read and one of the best sci-fi books I’ve read.
entertaining for the first half of the book – T. Graves – Denver, CO
some hilarious ideas and writing with good fiction ideas in it for the first half, but things stalled dramatically halfway through.
Not Free SF Reader – Blue Tyson –
Stark is a troubleshooter who has a specialty in recovery of things that people can’t find. In this case he is tasked to find a scientist.

However, it is not that simple, really, the City he lives in is very bizarre, indeed, with different parts being completely different and having completely different rules. As in rules of reality, more Cynosure or Wonderland than just the bad neighborhood or slum type of thing.

Didn’t quite work for me, but is not bad.
: Michael Marshall Smith’s surreal, groundbreaking, and award-winning debut which resonates with wild humour interlaced with dark recollections of an emotional minefield. Now part of the Voyager Classics collection. Stark is the hero the future is waiting for — God help it. He’s smart, alarmingly cool, and has immaculate taste in shirts. He’s a troubleshooter in the City, a lawless sprawl of Neighbourhoods which covers the country from coast to coast. Each is totally geared to the desires of those who live in it, from can-do corporate types, through deranged criminals, to people who just don’t like loud noises. Stark accepts a job from Zenda Renn, the human face of the Action Centre — where people who have to be doing something all the time hang out. Someone’s missing. Zenda needs him found, and soon. In a world where the past and future, reality and dreams meet and have a fist fight, Stark is the only man who can make a difference. Time’s running out and there’s no going back. Only Forward.
Only Forward (Voyager Classics)

• One of Us
• Spares
• The Servants
• Straw Men
• Blood of Angels (Straw Men)