or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
69 used & new from Ł0.01
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Myrren's Gift: The Quickening Book One
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Myrren's Gift: The Quickening Book One (Paperback)

by Fiona McIntosh (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
RRP: Ł7.99
Price: Ł5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: Ł2.00 (25%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Wednesday, November 11? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
14 new from Ł1.24 55 used from Ł0.01
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Paperback 3 used & new from Ł14.21
Mass Market Paperback (Reprint) 15 used & new from Ł0.01
Library Binding Order it used
Turtleback Order it used

Frequently Bought Together

Myrren's Gift: The Quickening Book One + Blood and Memory (Quickening Trilogy) + Bridge of Souls (Quickening Trilogy)
Price For All Three: Ł17.95

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Blood and Memory (Quickening Trilogy)

Blood and Memory (Quickening Trilogy)

by Fiona McIntosh
4.0 out of 5 stars (4)  Ł5.97
Bridge of Souls (Quickening Trilogy)

Bridge of Souls (Quickening Trilogy)

by Fiona McIntosh
3.5 out of 5 stars (10)  Ł5.99
Destiny (Trinity)

Destiny (Trinity)

by Fiona McIntosh
2.9 out of 5 stars (8)  Ł4.99
Odalisque (Percheron)

Odalisque (Percheron)

by Fiona McIntosh
4.7 out of 5 stars (3)  Ł5.97
Revenge (Trinity)

Revenge (Trinity)

by Fiona McIntosh
2.5 out of 5 stars (6)  Ł5.98
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 672 pages
  • Publisher: Orbit (20 Jan 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1841493732
  • ISBN-13: 978-1841493732
  • Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.8 x 4.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 22,640 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Review

'It's a 'just one more chapter' sort of book. Don't start reading MYRREN'S GIFT in the evening if you have to get up early the next morning!' ROBIN HOBB 'Fiona McIntosh is a bold new voice in high fantasy. MYRREN'S GIFT is a rich, satisfying confection of vivid detail, engrossing characters, and their dark doings, all beautifully written. I was enthralled from page one.' LYNN FLEWELLING


Product Description

When Wyl Thirsk, General of the Morgravian Legion, is forced to watch the torture of Myrren, a young woman accused of witchcraft, it seems little enough comfort to speed her passing. But Myrren is grateful for even this small mercy and promises Wyl a gift. He thanks her but dismisses the notion - what could this poor, doomed girl have to give him? It is only years later that Wyl, shorn of his friends and allies, betrayed by his king, and forced to make an impossible choice, remembers the dying words of the young woman about to burn for the crime of witchcraft. As his enemy's sword draws closer, Wyl finally understands the meaning of Myrren's dying words, and he wonders: had he known what that one act of kindness would bring, would he have behaved otherwise? Gripping the reader from the very first page, Myrren's Gift marks Fiona Mc Intosh as one of fantasy fiction's most gifted storytellers.
See all Product Description

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)
See all 2 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Myrren's Gift: The Quickening Book One
70% buy the item featured on this page:
Myrren's Gift: The Quickening Book One 3.4 out of 5 stars (19)
Ł5.99
Blood and Memory (Quickening Trilogy)
10% buy
Blood and Memory (Quickening Trilogy) 4.0 out of 5 stars (4)
Ł5.97
Bridge of Souls (Quickening Trilogy)
8% buy
Bridge of Souls (Quickening Trilogy) 3.5 out of 5 stars (10)
Ł5.99
Betrayal (Trinity)
7% buy
Betrayal (Trinity) 3.3 out of 5 stars (10)
Ł5.98
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting idea, taken in non-interesting directions, 30 Jan 2006
By Robert J. Kerr "jitsukerr" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I'd been toying with the idea of buying this for a while. The cover blurb was interesting, and I liked the cover. (So I'm shallow.)

I think the title of this review sums up my reaction to the book. McIntosh demonstrates several "first novel" problems -- poor to 1-dimensional characterisation; multiple confusing point-of-view shifts, often changing every paragraph (and no, it wasn't meant to be omniscient); info-dumping -- and these added up to marked lack of appreciation for her prose. Still, the story itself is quite interesting, even if some of the plot twists are telegraphed rather obviously. I do think it would be a better book were it edited severely, and marketed as a YA fantasy. For those of us fantasy addicts awaiting the newest Bakker or Erikson, "Myrren's Gift" is not enough to tide us over.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, 24 Jan 2006
I'm always hesitant to start reading more fantasy, not least because a trilogy is now the minimum requirement and multiple trilogies are becoming standard. The potential for spreading thin plots even thinner is high. Nevertheless, I decided to try a few "Part One's" including Myrren's Gift. Definitely one of the worst books I've read for a long time - hackneyed fantasy stereotypes whose motives can't be explained by the author through narrative or dialogue so she just tells us "X is brave", "Y is evil", etc. Bad characterisation, bad writing, bad plot, bad structure. Bad, bad book.

The contrast with Greg Keyes' Kingdom of Thorn and Bone or George R R Martin's Song of Ice and Fire couldn't be more stark. There is good fantasy out there but Myrren's Gift isn't part of it.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid at all costs, 5 Jan 2006
I liked its cover, I liked the blurb on the back, and I especially liked the author's thanks to Robin Hobb for her support. Well, I thought, if no lesser light than Ms. Hobb thinks Ms. McIntosh is worth supporting, then this must be good. More fool me. Without question, this is the worst book I have read in many a year. There is nothing to recommend in this book, and by the time I was a quarter of the way through I was skipping paragraphs, and then at the end whole pages. the only descriptions worth anything are of interior décor, and they are painfully twee in any case.

Added to that are the non-existent characters and the way her characters either discover boundless depths and qualities in each other that they can respect, or else fall in love with each other within five minutes of meeting, there is the plot that staggers from east to west, back again, then north, then south, then back east, the ridiculous politics, and the dizzying change of character viewpoints, often within the same chapter or even paragraph. For example, in Chapter 13, from the POV of a mercenary launching a sneak attack we lurch to the motives of the king who ordered it, and then lurch again to those defending against it. The 'Quickening' has a huge logical hole in it (i.e. how did Wyl remain Wyl when Myrren gave him the gift of it?) and the 'twist' at the end was visible a mile off. It was just a coin's toss whether Wyl would end up as Celimus (caricature of a one dimensional matinee villain) or the assassin. Really quite dreadful.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Great story, badly delivered
Myrren's Gift is the first title I have read by this author and it has left me feeling very let down. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Shaheer Ullah

5.0 out of 5 stars Addictive
I'm often scared off by heavy fantasy, so I'd taken to bypassing the whole section in my bookshop and on Amazon. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. A. J. W. Rae

2.0 out of 5 stars Too much torture
Read the reviews and blurb and thought great just my kind of book. Bought all books in the trilogy. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Teeney808

2.0 out of 5 stars Dull
What is an interesting premise becomes a very dull book. I think it's because the characters and the setting is somehow very suburban, middle class and trite. Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2007 by Colin Brown

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Fantasy!
I stumbled across this book and very quickly read all three. I loved Fionas writing, descriptions and insights. Read more
Published on 3 Jul 2007 by J.Ryan

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant read
I found this trilogy in a cheap book shop and I am so glad I bought it. as soon as i started reading it I was hooked. Read more
Published on 13 Jan 2007 by Claire Jones

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected!
I'd picked this book up a couple of times before and had been thinking about buying it for a while but something about it made me decide against it... Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2007 by Emily M

4.0 out of 5 stars A good little fantasy novel
I love fantasy and have read quite a few books regarding that very subject (Feist, Gemmell, Hobb, Pullman, Brooks, Jordan). Read more
Published on 12 Oct 2006 by Mr. C. J. Howard

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Thoroughly enjoyed this whole series. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys this genre. I actually found the reduced amount of magic/fantasy quite refreshing. Read more
Published on 7 Sep 2006 by P. Martin

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book i read in ages
I though this book was fantastic, it left me wanting more and more, i'm not a heavy reader and this was a nice little book for me to read on my holiday. Read more
Published on 8 May 2006 by Sarah Oliver

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject








i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.