- Hardcover: 512 pages
- Publisher: Orbit; First Edition edition (27 April 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841490067
- ISBN-13: 978-1841490069
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,450,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
Superb detail ... shudderingly believable (Frank Herbert )
Outstanding ... the best ever, by the best in the field ... the ultimate combination of imagination and realism (Tom Clancy )
Outstanding ... the best ever, by the best in the field ... the ultimate combination of imagination and realism (Tom Clancy )
Tom Clancy
'Outstanding ... the best ever, by the best in the field ... the ultimate combination of imagination and realism'
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First Sentence
They burned the city when Whandall Placehold was two years old, and again when he was seven. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
They burned the city when Whandall Placehold was two years old, and again when he was seven. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When you have written as many good books as Niven, you have bits left over from them. Thus we are presented with remnants from Magic Goes Away,in what looks like the rejected first plot of Destiny's road. We then are subjected to a bit of "who am I really" that didn't make into "World out of time". The 'political' structure is "The State", just not done as well. The principal character is Louis Wu's idiot son. Nessus is back as a wizard, but in a dull and pointless way. However, there is some innovation. Mr. Niven has managed to produce an implausible Fantasy novel. I think this is a first, given the freedom of ther genre, it certainly isn't easy. The level of mundane technology is far advanced from the period it is allegedly set, and the characters seem to act as if they were first generation holodeck simulations before they got good at it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Page 56, chapter 8. I know who the main character of the story is but I have known that from page 1. The rest of it is still a complete mystery and nothing has happened yet to keep me interested. As far as my understanding of book writing goes (note, I might be wrong), the idea is to hook your readers to the story as early as possible. This book totally fails to do so. It is probably very good once it's got going but I doubt my patience will last that long. A book desperately in need of a weight-watchers program to cut off the lengthy bits.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I tried. I really did. I've loved the work of these authors. However, it did not read like anything else they'd written, and I found it a complete bore. About 1/4 of the way through, I put it down, and have never bothered to pick it up again. I cannot recall an occasion when a book has left me so disappointed.
Perhaps it gets better. But life's too short to keep on wading through such stuff.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fantasy as it should be...
I can only thank Niven and Pournelle for tipping their sublime talents toward the fantasy genre and lighting it up. Read more
Published on 31 July 2009 by Nigel P. Matthews
A burning question
In fantasy fiction, the author holds all the cards. Location, characters and events may be fully invented or adapted from reality as the writer wishes. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2005 by Stephen A. Haines
The Fire God's broken rule
Utilising the same system of magic (one where mana is a non-renewable resource, which is rapidly diminishing in some parts of the world) as some of Niven's short stories this book... Read more
Published on 3 Feb 2004 by Crazy Eddie
Interestingly different - and enjoyable
I enjoyed it. Niven and Pournelle are trying out a logical approach to magic. This is not hard SF, packed with techno-realism, but it has a clear plot and lots of action. Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2003 by a2025398
Keep reading - the last two thirds are inspired.
I too found the first few hundred pages a bit of a chore. Far too much time is spent on the main character and the surroundings that define his behaviour. Read more
Published on 30 April 2001
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