FI Books

i did not get a cd rom with my windows 98 can you please tell me were i can get one or is there a place on the internet were i can download it please reply back to me thank you yvonne

This is one of those books that didn't need to be written because it adds nothing new versus the other books on the market. No glaring mistakes, but not as much value here as in 'Windows 98 Registry for Dummies'. Dummies (and I normally don't like them) covers same ground but has good CD, and foldout key map (I made mine into a mouse pad). Writing styles a matter of taste. Honeycutt is very much a Microsoft cheerleader (his Win2000 Pro book reads like one long ad). Dummies writer is more objective, wittier.

This book has the same strengths and weaknesses of all reference books on Windows 98. Each provides useful knowledge but none are able to cover every major procedure, issue, or problem in Windows 98. Perhaps, that is the underlining problem with Windows; too many topics to cover in one book.

I am not fond of Windows95/98/ME but there is nothing on the market that is close to it, unless you decide to join the other eight users of Apple computers.

This book provides good useful information but it does not give enough specific instructions about tweaking the registry. This book finishes a close second to "Win 98 Registry; Little Black Book" which is loaded with that type of information. I use both books and consider both very valuable reference materials.

If you plan to work in the registry, you will need this book.

This book covers the Windows Registry in superb detail. I recommend it to anyone desiring to understand how Windows uses the Registry. It will teach you how you can use the Registry to tweak the Windows user interface. Editing the Registry is safe as long as you follow the safety guidelines set forth in the early chapters of this book. Don't buy the Dummies book (or any other Dummies book for that matter) unless you are a dummy. The typical power user needs something more technical. This is the book for him.

Wow! Jerry Honeycutt has written the best Registry book of any Windows version. Clear, concise, and more. What can I say. From Beginners to Experts this is a must. Worth every penny.

I had asumed that this book come with a CD & didn't come with a CD, I was dispointed to say the least. But I like to read the book & learn more about Windows ME & all it's bad points & how to fixes them. I'm glad I had purchased the book.

Most users with the skill necessary to implement the suggestions in this book have either found their own solutions or learned to live with the annoyances. I believe that this book would have been much more useful five years ago when Windows ME was new.

The book devotes a long chapter to the registery and related utilities. This chapter teaches the skills needed to implement the solutions described in the remainder of the book. The excelent treatment of this topic has applications far beyond those documented.

This book will not explain the meaning of all those error messages, but instead will give you solutions for them. It has detailed information on Windows registry, hardware updating, interface customizing and so on.

Maybe one chapter is indispensable to read (the registry), but in most cases, you'll get directly the solution for your problem, without having to read a whole chapter; however, just read it as a textbook and you'll understand a lot about your system.

Most tips and solutions work for the generic W9x (95, 98, 98 2Ed) and some even for W2000. Anyway, the book explains the differences (if any) between WME and the former.

One recommendation: Try one solution or tip at a time, otherwise Windows will not let you know how well are you working.

With Windows XP soon upon us, please pity the few hundred thousand ME users who are stuck with a dead-end OS. ME was really only a stopgap solution, a way to implement new features in Win 98 while Microsoft worked on XP. Some of these features included system restore, an image viewer, better multimedia and better hardware support. ME inherited a lot of Win 98 stuff while being new enough to force users to pay for software updates (including Photoshop, Norton Anti-Virus and Home Site).

Typically, a first release of a OS is buggy, and after a few years, it really becomes robust and useful. But after XP is released, it is unlikely that consumers will buy ME anymore or that OEM manufacturers will ship computers with it. It also is unlikely that Microsoft will release a service pack, now that its efforts are focused on XP. That means that the people unfortunate enough to have bought consumer PC's during the intervening year will be using a legacy OS with diminishing support for new hardware and software.

This minority will need to solve problems on their own, using books like this one. This excellent book goes over the differences between ME and 98, ME Secrets and ways to tweak the registry for certain things. The first part is interesting from a usability point of view. It covers the user interface in thorough detail, with shortcuts and insights as to why Microsoft chose a particular solution. ( A good number of these tricks can be found elsewhere, but I found several new ones: such as using Microsoft Family Logon for a security, tweaking the search tool, removing stubborn icons, disabling autorun for CDROMS and stop Windows from randomly checking your floppy drive).

The book contains an excellent appendix on DOS, a fairly thorough guide to what System Restore does and a good troubleshooting guide to hardware installations. It also contains an outstanding discussion of file associations and how to change or preserve them. I also found the section on error messages and general protection faults to be unusually helpful. Several other chapters (which didn't especially interest me) focused on editing the registry and vb scripts to automate windows tasks.

Topics I would have liked to see more coverage on was software installations and plugins. Particularly, removing and reinstalling programs and especially MS Office. Recently I installed and reinstalled Office 2000 and found the error messages from ME and Office very confusing. I realize this is an OS book, not a book on applications, but still it would have been nice to know some procedures for managing software installations. Also, there was not much discussion on Windows Update, which seems to cause a lot of problems.

Perhaps it is unfair to point this out, but the best source of information for ME troubleshooting seems to be news groups and the MS site, not books like these. Although this book was published later than the first dozen or so and seems to be more carefully written, no one can expect it to contain info about the latest bugs and fixes. Newsgroups have informed me about bugs related to Norton AV, Windows Update and helped me figure out the ME doesn't support RAM over 512 MB.(!!!) You wouldn't find solutions to these problems from these books.

Another book I highly recommend is Ed Bott's "Special Edition Using Windows Me," which is a little bigger, a little easier to read, with more more screenshots and a little more thorough treatment of the OS. The Bott book tends to have info about multimedia and extras like msn messenger, while the Oreilly book is more readable and discusses a few topics in depth.

I started my life with PCs using DOS then reluctantly made the transition to Win 3, then 95, then 98 and now ME. Me has a nice new feature or two but that doesn't justify the bloated OS.

This book will help you make your ME computer run and look like a Win 9x computer. It will explain the registry, help you decide what to get rid of, let you change the look and feel of the OS and show you some basic VBS programming. There is much more.

It is a well written book and when I change operating systems I would look forward to another book on it by Mr. Karp.

(There are so many tips in this book it is kind of like having a subscription to about 6 PC magazines and getting the info all at once.)

Wow!!!!! Fabulous!!!! Smashing!!!
I'm totally lost for words of how to describe this book...
I finished reading the story last night and still feel the energy that emerged from within the pages. I felt like I was actually there.

This is a story that grabed my interest and took me on a ride all through to the end. I couldn't or didn't want to put the book down. Even after the story ended I was still looking for more. My imagination was going wild. I actually felt like I was living in the story. It took me to a place I know and love, my home, sweet Trinidad. I felt like I could actually vision the place and the events.

Eventhough this is not the only book I've read by Roslyn. I keep wanting more....

Roselyn, I wish you all the best. keep on, keep on...and let the words flow. You go girl!!!!!... let the energy flow...


Luv to yuh.... J

In Candy Don't Come in Gray, Roslyn Carrington takes us to the islands. Here we get a peek into a different Caribbean lifestyle and its' societal rules. Ms. Carrington uses the lives of Matilda and Jonah and their families to educate us.

Matilda is the love child of her mother and a married man. Matilda spends her entire life being kept a secret from her father's other family. Nevertheless, Matilda's mother never complained about the set-up and went to her death bed still loving Matilda's father. After an unexpected tragedy, Matilda must now face life without even the Wednesday visits from her father. Should she now confront his family? Was he duty bound to finally acknowledge her?

Jonah is a man in a difficult situation. After literally running into Matilda, he recognizes a family resemblance: both Matilda and her half-sister, Justice - Jonah's wife, share a trait that only their father could give. Jonah finds himself in love with both sisters. Who and how will he choose? Jonah also discovers some things about himself when he attempts to strike out on his own without the support of his father-in-law.

Candy Don't Come in Gray is the third novel for Ms. Carrington; I have not read her other novels so I can't make a comparison. Unfortunately, I figured out the plot by the second chapter. However, Ms. Carrington did, through a few unexpected surprises,
keep my interests. Consequently, I would read another novel by Ms. Carrington before I make any final judgments.

Leanna
R.E.A.L. Reviewers

Mattie, the main character of this novel, has issues that resulted from the way her father cared for her. She felt as if she was nothing, and mirrors helped her see if shes really there. Everyone in this novel was touched by Dominic, her pops. This book is original to me. Dominic wounded everyone around his finger, and the was still under his spell after he died. Jonah saw him as a father figure and mimiced his ways but later on he discovers he's not Dominic and has to coup with it.
Some authors put tooo much drama in their novels, in this one there's not as much and it still kept your attention. It's worth reading.

I have read both of these author's spectacular books and I am so proud that she represents our culture so richly with all the layers it possesses. I suppose when you are born and are a part of a particular culture there are so many things one takes for granted, and her books bring back all of those memories, the good and the bad.Thanks.

A wonderful, touching and at the end even suprising story! The best book Roslyn Carrington ever wrote!

Was interested after seeing that the video game the visual, in depth storyline behind it was heading for novella format. After reading it I was a bit dismayed the way some of the villains were portrayed and I feel there was some loss of detail here that could have been avoided with a little bit of research. If you liked the video game and the characters involved with that you may or may not like this.

The descriptions of the ships and planes and other various craft was not only spot on but extremely elaborate and at least in that standpoint I feel that the writings stayed true to the main course of characters and their lifeline in the sky. Perhaps with enough success we shall see more Crimson Skies novels on the shelf in the future.

This has everything that you could want in a crimson skies novel, and it even goes into more backgrounds of characters like John Kahn...it was a fun read, and nice to hear the story base of after the seccession of numerous states, the United States became a bunch on nations...or something like that.

What an excelent composition of histories based as an excellent follow up or add on to the Crimson Skies game. Just addictive reading and I'm just thinking about buying the other Crimson books. Again, as in the Halo series, hope to see the movie soon!

Short Review for quick buyers,
I liked this book. I was hoping more on Nathan Zachary (the main charcter of the Video Games) But its got some pretty cool tales on his enimes like Paladin Blake.
This is for the aviator or mystery type reader.
Check it out!

'Crimson Skies' is an enjoyable read, and serves to provide some detailed background material to the game. While all three of the stories were well done and had good character development (although the bad guy in the second story should have been a bit nastier), I found the 'technical' side of the stories to be sadly lacking. Granted, 'Crimson Skies' is a fantasy set in an alternate world. But when you start describing helium-filled Zeppelins as having steel frames, extensive armor plating and batteries of five inch guns, you are leaving all resemblance to reality far behind. I guess some might consider this to be poetic license, but to me it just seems like sloppy research. I mean, the U.S. Navy really did develop a series of airships in the 30's that were designed to launch and recover fixed-wing aircraft. In the age of the Internet, it's pretty easy to find the history, plans and specifications of the 'Akron' or the 'Hindenburg'. Why describe Zeppelins that defy the laws of physics when, with a few hours of research, you could describe realistic airships instead? For another example, the final story makes use of the fact that the hero has a 'secret weapon': his mechanic has equipped his plane's engine with a 'nitro boost' system - but it can only be used for short periods of time because 'the pump has to build the nitro pressure back up'. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that by the 1930's people had figured out how to build pressurized canisters. And even the briefest research into the history of drag racing would show that the time limit on the use of nitrous oxide was based on the fact that the dramatically increased horsepower tended to cause engines to throw rods, pistons and other normally internal engine parts through the side of the block. The problem with nitro wasn't running out of it, but shutting it off before the engine blew up. So why did the author invent an elaborate problem that doesn't exist, when the real problem is both simpler and more dramatic? The stories actually have some very clever ideas in them (like using nitrous oxide in an airplane engine, or building a Zeppelin with a full-length flight deck), but they're spoiled by the authors not bothering to find out how these ideas could actually work.

A little serious research would have paid off in other ways as well. The 1930's was a Golden Age of Aviation, and the chances for an airplane buff to play 'what if" are almost unlimited: What if a helicopter like the Bell 47 was developed in the '30's? What if Howard Hughes had gotten the Spruce Goose to fly? How about some top-secret plans for the fighters and bombers that were really used in WWII? Did the wide spread use of military Zeppelins preclude the development of navel Aircraft Carriers? (this last point was a serious debate in real life). And a little research into how to fly airplanes (or better yet, a few hours of actual flight instruction in a Cessna) would have yielded much more realistic descriptions of the flight scenes. Of course, I'm sure this book was targeted at people who are into video games rather than those who are seriously into classic airplanes. And I didn't expect the publisher to hire a Martin Caidin or a Tom Clancy to write a tie-in book to a video game. But they could have at least given the three authors a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator and said "Here, play with this for a week and then write the story".

I'll let others review the story of Alexa and her friends (which I loved) and review only the audio component. The reading by Aasne Vigesaa was fantastic. I want her to read all my stories to me! Her voice is beautiful, well modulated, and she does a great job at creating just the right voice for the many characters. In addition, the CD was structured better than any I'd listen to. The audio was divided into section every 2 or 3 minutes, so if you had to take the CD out, the next time you played it, it was easy to go right to where you left off.

Well, if you've finished, the lastest series and are looking for a new one. I think you'll be happy with this! We've finished, Harry, loved Artemis, reread Twilight, waited for bk two of Fablehaven, enjoyed Spiderwick, and took a futuristic trip with Ender. So this was a big surprise and a much loved journey, one I think you'll enjoy. Excited Teacher.

This is one of those rare books that has the ability to entrance both children and adults alike. The story is very well written with the nice feel of well told magical fantasy, one that might be told around a nice roaring fire in winter or on a porch during a nice summer night, and it brings with it such a comfortable feel that even when reading it, the story feels as if it is being read to you by a master storyteller.

Alexa lives in the land of Elyon, a land of filled with giant walls that encircle the cities of Elyon, described to be like the spokes in a wagon wheel with the paths between them also walled. Along with her father, Alexa has made yearly trips in the summer to the city of Bridewell always dreaming of seeing what is on the other side of walls that have made up her entire life. Tales she has heard in her 12 years tell of the uncharted wildernesses beyond the walls which are filled enchanted forests, mysterious hills and mountains and creatures of all types.

While her way beyond the heavily guarded walls is not easy nor might be what she expects, a chance find after a night's walk will plunge her into a choice between staying safely in the walls, or to start on her quest to find what might endanger Bridewell and perhaps all of Elyon.

Though told from the perspective of the heroine, Alexa Daley, she is by far not the only major or important character in this story, which is rich with animal characters, which through the use of a special stone, Alexa can easily talk too and who aide her in her exciting and breath-taking quest.

This book swept me of my feet and into the land of Eloyn! It has twists and keeps you at the edge of your chair, chapter after chapter! I read this book on vacation and I spent 2-3 hours a day reading! I highly recommend this book - you will put in your top 5 favorites for sure!!!

Famous Children's author Madeliene L'Engle once stated that writing children's literature was harder than writing for adults because children ask more questions; children just do not accept what an author writes the way most adults will. Her statements have always stuck with me and since doing a children's literature course a few years back, I have continued to read children's and teen fiction regularly. Usually I look for books that have a lot of buzz about them, have then been nominated for a Newbury, or Mr. Christie, American Library Association or here in Canada a Governor General's Literary Award (more commonly know as the GG's.). If so I try to pick it up and give it a read. Because of that I tend to browse the children's and teen sections at Chapters when I happen to be in a store.

The cover of this book captured my attention and almost compelled me to purchase it. The representation of our Heroine Alexa is a very striking image. I purchased this book when it came out nearly 2 years ago and yet only just recently picked it up to read. I now regret that I did not read it sooner. In part, I hesitated reading the book because the cover art was so powerful and cast such a spell upon me, I feared the text not living up to the story I had begin to build in my imagination. Those fears were unfounded.

The Story is set in a walled kingdom. A Kingdom built like 3 spokes on a wheel. Alexa is from Lathbury, the south western spoke, from the hub of Bridewell. This walled Kingdom was built by the Warvold after his extensive travels in the wild mysterious world. He built walls around the central town of Bridewell, and walled roads out to the three surrounding towns of Lunenburg, Turlock and Lathbury. Yet upon the eve of his death, he hints to Alexa that the walls, once thought to be the salvation of the towns and their civilization, he now considers to be a mistake. Alexa begins an adventure shortly after the Warvold's death that will affect her and this kingdom for time to come.

Yet the Warvold's death has caused a society once stable and thriving to start to spin out of control. Alexa sneaks outside the wall and meets a dwarf and a talking wolf and is summoned to a council, the severity and importance of which not even the participants can realize. Can Alexa fufill a calling upon her life that the Warvold foresaw and that some others are trying to help happen and others wish to thwart?

This is one of those great books, originally written for children, that can captivate an audience of any age. Carman has an extremely mature voice and he writes in a manner of a master wordsmith. Carman only conceived of this series in his mid thirties; it is an extremely well- rounded and crafted world - a pleasure to visit, and I plan to re-enter the land of Elyon again and again.

(First Published in Imprint 2008-02-22.)

If you like to draw and enjoy fantasy, then V. Shane's FANTASTIC REALMS: DRAW FANTASY CHARACTERS, CREATURES AND SETTINGS is for you. Packed with both step-by-step inlay illustrations of close-ups for drawing hands, inking approaches, and capturing action and color drawings of full finished products, FANTASTIC REALMS offers everything from coloring keys and notes on texturing and shading to using variety and bar sweeps to give an atmosphere to movement.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book is an excellent resource for learning how to draw all kinds of different things that would appear in a fantasy setting. It's got fantastic tips about shading, texture, and coloring. I just wish there had been a bit more information about some basics, like proportion for people like me who haven't had any formal training in how to draw.

I used to draw animals and buildings years ago and decided I wanted to go back to that. And add fantasy creatures to my ability.

This books covers drawing people, creatures and buildings. If you already having some drawing skill, this book is a great help.

.
"Just like adventurers getting ready to go on a quest, artists must prepare themselves before setting out to create fantasy worlds and creatures." (V.Shane, pp15).

How odd it seems that the very first lesson in this book is to `Begin with Seeing,' yet without awareness of the world around you, how can you create a world within or without, the one in which you live?

This truly is an amazing creative book. For example, get a spray bottle out of the kitchen and study it until you see a creature emerge from the contours of the bottle. If you have trouble seeing something different, squint, or turn your head to the side, because you will be able to see a wild animal that is dangerous or a creature that is gentle, or battle raiment for your hero or villain. Something is there waiting for you to find it, much like stereographs.

This is the power of fantasy art.

The book will take you through the basics of fantasy drawing, the tools you will need and additional supplies that come in handy. You will see sketching & shading techniques known as hatching, crosshairs, contour lines, and others. Darker lines make deeper the shadows. If you want a sword gleam, keep it light while all around it is muted and darker.

By following the exercises in this book, you will create heroes and villains, dragons of many shapes and spirit, motion and stillness. There is a new world in this book and it is here for you.

It is so exciting to know that you can combine the knowledge you gain from all of the books on drawing to create cover art or coming books.

well Shane, you kinda already know what i think about your book, but im here to tell everybody out there about how great and super helpful this book is!!!

the night i got this book, i spend 2hrs reading and studying everything cover to cover. the way its writen is easy to understand and the little tips are very handy to use. the next day, i made a few little sketches of many different creatures and humans. then i tried clading knights in a wide range armors and giving creatures much needed textures. i finally drew a small pic of a dragon and show it to my mom to ask what she thought of it. she could tell a great improvement in my art, with lines, postitions, textures, structure, etc.

i used to always draw the same thing, little cartoon characters, mostly using the same format. im starting to learn to draw different things now, letting my imagination wander further and try new things. i never use to draw multiple sketches to decide on were things should be or the position of the character. now i do and i have a better understanding of how things should look, im more organized. backgrounds werent my favorite thing to do, most of my drawings and sketches dont have them at all. slowly, more of my pictures are starting to have enviroments for the characters to be in.

this book has helped me in so many ways, im still improving on things. i use it for refernce all the time and have it next to my sketch book. its just an excellent book to have, i really really like it alot!!!

-Erin Carter "LinkinParkRocker21"

Tenny's book God Chasers was excellent but this book has so much in it that is leading the Body of Christ away from true unity. For someone such as Tenney who evidently has studied the Tabernacle of Moses and the Tabernacle of David the treatment of divine order in this book is pathetic. This book is more harmful than helpful and it is disheartening to read the reviews of others and realize how far we have come from aligning ourselves with the Bible.

Tenney's insight into "Church unity" is incredible. We all know we're supposed to get along, but for centuries we've found a way not to do that. Today, to be the church God wants us to be, we must work together.

Revival in South America was birthed in the unity and meeting of pastors from around the denominational spectrum. They worked and prayed together to see the purposes of God fulfilled in their cities and countries. The impact was revival and awakening that changed the course of history for the Kingdom of God.

We've seen unity produce strength in the relationships of pastors here too. In Ft Wayne, Indiana, dozens and dozens of pastors from Assemblies of God to Catholic meet together a couple of times each month to pray together. If that weren't enough, they attend a three day prayer summit once a year to seek the face of God for their city. They have united to reach their city of over 200,000 people. The result is a unity and strenght that allows churches to work together in evangelism and ministry support. They serve each other and are growing in spiritual strength.

Read Tenney's book and look for the way you can unify the body of Christ in your town. When we all adopt the Father's dream of a unified church, we will see many more people won to the Cross of Christ than we do now in separated and segregated churches.

If you have a problem with your spouse or your family or mabye even people in your own church. Believe me this is the book to read. This book will change your prespective on unity. By the time you get this book read you will definately find unity with your spouse, brother, or mabye even your pastor. I give this book a five star rating, it deserves it without a question.

If you don't intend on being serious about your relationship with God, you don't need to read this book or any others that Tommy has written.

Tommy is so in tune with the palpitations of God's broken heart. Every time we turn on our brother to attack or condemn we intensify the pain. You will learn through these pages and the multitude of scriptural references God's everlasting prayer request and your responsibility to provide the answer.

Our wandering hero confronts her first demon in Inferno, and Cooper does not disappoint. From beginning to end, this story moves, and is populated by interesting characters.

Nemesis, Book 1, was a kind of promise to the reader to deliver seven sequels of harrowing tales of good vs. evil. This is the first delivery, and Cooper nails it.

After a promising beginning with Nemesis, the Indigo series falls into a dip in Inferno. Indigo is led by her quest of reparation to a mining town on the edge of a desert. As they arrive in the town, it is clear that something is very wrong and Indigo does not have to look much farther to find one of her demons...

The character of Indigo is a lot of what made Nemesis such an interesting book. She is a little bit faded here, and much more predictable than she was initially. The plot is very flat, and many of the plot points feel like retreads of the first book. Worst of all, Indigo becomes tiresome and petulant instead of convincingly enraged. Her challenge could have been handled with much more depth than it really was.

Cooper remains a talented writer, and I realize that this book is not a good indication of her skills. This is really a two and a half star review, but I am giving it a little bounce for the promising start in the first book. I will give the third a try, and see if it improves.

Indigo's journey takes place five years after book one and she's comes to this town being tyrantically controlled by a cult. It doesn't take long to realize that the first of the demons is at hand in this cult and Indigo, along with Grimya, and Jasker a priest of fire must face this threat. But the greatest threat is not within the cult, but from within Indigo herself.

This book is not my favorite of the Indigo series, but it does have a very important role on Indigo's personality. Really exploring her temper and sense of hatred.

Not my favorite, but a must read.

I absolutely love this book it has a lot of emotions. As I read the book I felt emotionally involved. I think that the book was well written because the author able to make me feel like I was one of the characters in the book. There was a time when I felt cheated because Quinas acted as if he was really hurt by what Indigo and Jasker's elementals had done to him. The telepathic she-wolf really did care for her friend yet, Indigo didn't see that. Nemesis, Indigo's enemy that will dog her in her footsteps, had such a hold on her that she couldn't see that.

"Inferno" finds Princess Anghara/Indigo and her stuttering wolf in a burning realm of torment and terror. A village of copper miners is coerced into joining the cult of Charchad, who turns out to be one of the demons that Anghara/Indigo loosed upon the world in Book One of this series. Anyway, Charchad forces the villagers to mine uranium (we never learn why), and death, radiation poisoning, and really icky mutations make life miserable for all who stumble into his realm. Indigo and Grimya, her talking wolf, join forces with Jasker, a priest of the Fire Goddess Ranaya, in order to destroy the cult of Charchad and the demon, Aszareel.

Indigo spends a large part of "Inferno" trapped in lava flows, torturing a mine overseer (who, admittedly, is slimy, revolting character), and snarling at her allies. I can't figure out why anyone would like her or want to help her, especially the poor wolf.

"Nemesis: Book One of Indigo" was definitely a better read than "Inferno: Book Two of Indigo". I'm still debating whether I should venture into Book Three. I keep hoping Indigo will lose the stuttering wolf and develop a more winning personality, because I really admire Louise Cooper's writing ability. Her "Time Master" trilogy is one of the best reads in Fantasy.
Maybe the "Indigo" series is just not for me. Check out "Inferno" if you must, but Niven & Pournelle's "Inferno" is a far better read (not to mention Dante Alighieri's).

I was hoping for so much more than this book turned out to be. Enjoyable but nothing profound.

I enjoyed this book, but expected more from it than I got. The characters were well developed but seem to sleep walk through the story. There was no real heat between the main characters, they seemed to seek each other out for warmth and comfort not because they truly cared about each other, which is OK, I guess, if you're into that sort of thing. Some of the scenes in the book were brutal, like the West is (was) back then. But the characters seemed to hold back their emotions from everyone, including us.

Last Year's River contains an excellent use of contemporary thoughts blended with an honest and accurate representation of yesterday's 'pioneer' culture. Like Shakespeare's best works, this novel's base is one of love, drama, spite and hate and will warmly accomidate the interests of male and female readers alike. A real page turner based on feelings of personal involvement and attachment, by the reader, to the characters. This no doubt stems from excellent writing and an obvious concern for detail. The overall structure of the novel is meticulously broad-based that allows the reader to mentally expand and explore beyond the book's cover. A very fluid novel that I recommend to other readers looking for a change from the standard 'stamped and printed' novel. I am looking foreward to this new writer's next novel.

Well.
I heard this was a good book.
You heard that? You heard about Allen Morris Jones?
I heard.
And you think I should read it? You think it's worth my time?
I say it is.
Well. Cough.
All right then.

Does this writing style remind you of anyone? How about Cormac McCarthy, Kent Haruf, or Annie Proulx? "Last Year's River" is an impressive debut novel and one that will appeal to a large audience. It is full of amazing passages about the West (specifically Wyoming and the fringes of Yellowstone), dialogue that leaves you wanting (to throttle the various characters at one time or another), and thankful to live in present times (versus back when an out-of-wedlock pregnancy meant social death). My only criticism (and reason for the three-star rating) is that the plot is somewhat predictable -- especially with the flashbacks told in Virginia's voice at the beginning of the chapters. That said, this is a hugely readable story -- gritty, closely observed, and vivid. Add Allen Morris Jones to your list of serious western novelists!

This really is a wonderful book, but not accurately described, I think, by the editorial reviews and book jacket, which lead you to believe that it is plot-driven. It's more of a character-driven and introspective novel with a richness of detail that is very evocative of the time and location. It was hard for me to believe that a man wrote this, inasmuch as the protagonist is a woman and his characterization resonated so profoundly with me. The careful attention to detail does not weigh down the storyline, though; this must have been very hard to accomplish! One side note (that shows my ignorance about this form of writing): why does the author not use quotation marks when writing dialogue? I found this a little disconcerting, but then it also contributed to the feeling that so much of the converstion mirrored the characters' internal dialogue(...)

This book showed up in my son's school library and he checked it out. Mind you, he's the kind of kid who would much rather play video games to reading, but somehow this caught his interest. He read the whole thing through and requested I buy the other two in the series. Anything that will get my son reading is 5 stars in my book.

This book stinks. The plot is ok but very slow and only picks up in the last few chapters. He writes as if we're [...] who cab be enticed by a good summary/plot and not care about terrible writing. I meant to buy the whole series bu thabk goodness I only bought the first.DON'T buy this book. It's TERRIBLE and a waste of your money. He's lucky you can't give anything no stars because this shouldn't even have 1/8th of a star.

A unigue story that combines magic and technology. Kase is a young boy who has found his way into an altenate dimension where animals talk and magic is common. He and his patner Murdox, a talking wolf-dog, are the two agents sent out when magical mistakes are made. But sometimes the duo can get in over their heads, such as helping an elf-king who is turning into stone. One of the most interesting aspects of the story is the tragedy the binds the two together. It's a unique twist to a story about a boy and his dog. Or is it a dog and his boy?

This is a great book. I found a Podcast of the audio book and really liked what I heard. So I decided to purchase the paper copy. This was even better than I expected. It's fast paced with action and fantastic visual effects almost like you were watching a movie. I read the book over the weekend and hardly put it down. I have to say that I'm impressed with this new author. I hope to see more in the future.

Behind the glass doors, guarded by stone statues of giant winged creatures, is the headquarters of numerous governmental offices. These include the Mythical Bureau of Investigation (MBI) and the Incantation Enforcement Agency (IEA). Justin Kasey Hobskin (known as Kace), works with his partner Murdox as an agent of the Counter-Curse division of the IEA. This is a position he took after a very nasty curse left his father turned into a wolf, and Murdox a talking wolf-dog(an unfixable condition that has left him very out of sorts). The counter curse department is a small one whose agents are in charge of righting magic that has gone wrong. It's a tough job to have. It is too bad that there are only the two of them doing it.

After returning back to the office after a long, tough job of clearing a house of a particularly nasty infestation of nixies, Kase and Murdox are given their next assignment. The elf king of Greylock has accidentally drunk a potion which is slowly turning him to stone. Upon visiting the king, the partners discover that in order to cure him they need a very rare and hard to get ingredient. They will have to travel far, find the needed ingredient, and get back to the king with only ten days before the spell becomes irreversible!

In this, his first novel, author D.M. Paul has created a wonderful world where technology and magic mix. He introduces us to city named Cloudview that is a hundred levels high, each level a city in its own right. Where its inhabitants travel around by slug system(what was once the bus system), the vertical train (between levels), and the horizontal tube(a one level train-like system) It is populated by a myriad of inhabitants who don't always seem to be what they are. This book, while written for younger readers, will enchant and delight adult fans of fantasy fiction as well. This is the first book in a three book series, Book two Sentinel will be released later in 2006.