Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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57 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not quite up to expectations., 27 Oct 2002
I must say, that although this book was not quite meeting my expectations which I had before I read it, this was still quite an excellent book. Just simply put, I've read better. There was nothing wrong with this book, other than that the writing quality was not the greatest I've ever seen.
When I bought this book, I was expecting it to be much like J.V. Jones' Sword of Shadows series. I was hooked into those in the first chapter. The writing was amazing in A Cavern of Black Ice and A Fortress of Grey Ice, and they are some of my favorite books now. Well, those were written several years after The Baker's Boy, so I could guess that the writing wouldn't be as good.Other than the quality of the writing, this is one excellent book. The characters are, like in other J.V. Jones books, very intricate and well created; they mature well throughout the book at appropriate times and places. There aren't any unreal changes to characters, and all changes only occur after some sort of key event. The setting wasn't quite what I had expected. It's not quite as powerful an element as in Sword of Shadows, where the freezing northern wastelands play a constant part, which I had certainly hoped to see. To me, the setting is one of the most important parts of a story. I love to have a clear image of what all of the surroundings look like, how it feels, smells, and also how different weather effects the setting. One extreme example of this is the forest in which much of the book takes place; J.V. Jones didn't even describe what types of trees there were, leaving much of the setting to the imagination. In The Baker's Boy, I didn't get that clear image which I love to see, which certainly took away from the overall quality of the book. The plot, however, was excellent and well planned out. There were plenty of shocking plot twists caused by constantly planning lords who are all attempting to gain power in the abscence of a king, who had been poisoned by an arrow in a hunting "accident." Two extremely powerful lords, Baralis (King's Chancelor), and Maybor (an extremely wealthy lord), both have plans to gain power, and both center around who Prince Kylock (the poisoned king's son) is to marry. These plans are all nearly destroyed as the baker's boy Jack realises a great power which he holds, and runs from the castle with the daughter of Lord Maybor, persued constantly by Baralis' men. The plot was intricate and extremely well planned out, so it's certainly one of the strongest points of the book. This is certainly a good book. The writing is just about made up for by the characters and plot. I would recommend this to anyone who would like to read a good book, and the occasional plot twist, of course. *Pleeeaaassse give me feedback!!!! Helpful or not?*
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great version of the kitchen boy plot., 19 Aug 2001
This is the first volume in The Book of Words trilogy (followed by A Man Betrayed, and Master and Fool).At Castle Harvell, Jack, a thirteen-year-old orphan, is the baker's boy. Since he doesn't know how to read, the mischevious king's chancellor and sorcerer Baralis employs him as a blind scribe to copy the precious books of Tavalisk the Archbishop of Rorn's library. After five years of hard work and little sleep, Jack has secretly learnt how to decipher the signs and dreams of adventures where he'll find out the truth about his origins. In the meantime, Bevlin the wiseman enrolls Tawl, one of the famous Knights of Valdis, to go on a quest to find the young boy whom the Prophecy in Marod's Book of Words speaks of. Four years later, he'll find himself locked, bound and starved in a dark and damp cell, prisoner of the repugnant Tavalisk. Simultaneously, Lord Maybor, the richest but also most ambitious lord of the Four Kingdoms, and Baralis have made arrangements to have the king wounded in a hunting party. As a result, a soon stalemated war with the neighbouring lands will assuredly keep the queen's mind occupied and let them scheme quietly to steady their positions. And as one of his moves, Lord Maybor wants his daughter Melliandra to be bethroted to the queen's son and heir, Prince Kylock. Finding out about what has been arranged without her consent, Melliandra runs away. At the same time one afternoon, after oversleeping and letting some precious loaves of bread burn, out of sheer panic and still unaware of his powers, Jack performs a miracle and goes back in time. When he hears that Baralis, who can feel when sorcery has been performed, is coming to get him, he has to flee from the castle. Although it is easy to guess that Jack, as well as Tawl, will have a great role to play in the story, this first volume focuses mainly on the numerous and intricate intrigues of the mighty. The book is well written, the pace fast and humourous when the tension needs relaxing, and there's plenty of wooing as well as a great deal of food to go round. I enjoyed it thoroughly!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good start to an imporving trilogy, 27 Jun 2002
In this, the first of Jones' Book of Words trilogy, the strengths and weakness of her series are well established. The principle weakness is that it is really too reminiscent in both style and plot to Tad William's Dragon Bone chair series. The greatest strength is that Jones does the whole thing rather better. Where William's novels had something of a habit of dragging on and on, Jones keeps the writing much tighter and leavens the mix with a much lighter touch. She has a nice wry wit and her characters are thoroughly engaging. The villains and the heroes are depicted in terms that gives them a clarity and complexity well above that seen in most fantasy fiction. She writes a very good fight and has developed an intriguing world.
The second and third books of the series are better than the first, as her command and sureness of touch increase. She one of the best authors to emerge in the genre in the last ten years and I look forward to reading many more works by her.
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