The Ninth Talisman: Volume Two of The Annals of the Chosen [Mass Market Paperback]

Let me begin by saying that I am a fan of Watt-Evans. I really liked the Obsidian Chronicles, I enjoyed the Esthar books and I liked the first volume in this series. The Ninth Talisman, however, was quite a dissapointment. My major complaint was the relatively slim story, and the inordinate amount of padding. The book itself is a slim 312 pages, shorter than most children's books in this post-Harry Potter publishing world. In and of itself, this wouldn't be a problem. One of the things I enjoy most about Watt-Evans, particulalry his Esthar books, is his economy of style. Generally Watt-Evans can deliver a good story with exciting charcters that doesn't require one to commit to thousands of pages of reading. Unfortunately, in the Ninth Talisman Watt-Evans does not deliver a particulalry exciting story. In addition, much of this slim volume really appears padded, particulalry when the main character thinks to himself, "The Wizard Lord may be acting strangely, but he did build the roads and everyone seems to like him." Words to this effect recur over and over throughout the text, essentially everytime the Wizard Lord gets mentioned. I wouldn't be surprised if about 100 pages of this book could be eliminated by not repeating the same formulation and rehearsing the same arguments over and over again. This really feels like half a book that has been stretched out to one book. I do not recommend you purchase this book, but rather check it out at the library. Also, to avoid too much dissapointment for the overly rushed cliff-hanger ending, you might want to wait until the next volume in this series comes out before you bother reading this one.

Volume 2 of the Annals of the Chosen (The Ninth Talisman) takes up just a few years after the end of volume 1. We still follow Sword, as he gathers with the new Chosen to consider a moral dilemma not faced the Chosen before.

While the first book could stand alone as a novel, the second assumes most of the world knowledge imparted in the first. Further, (small spoiler) the second book does not have a conclusive ending; it's like a TV series with a "to be continued..." at the end.

The prose is still contemplative, following a guy who is not necessarily as nimble and sharp-witted as your typical fantasy hero, but who is also no dullard. In fact, the character seems to have grown through the previous adventures -- as they say, travel is fatal to bigotry!

However, the book dangles a number of carrots in front of the reader all along, while not really delivering towards the end. It's as if a house of cards is carefully built, and then haphazardly whacked when it gets in the way of delivering a tense suspense ending. That's too bad -- with a different take on a few other characters, and a less heavy-handed treatment the crucial moment, the book might have gotten five stars.

Well, four and a half -- I don't like a book that leaves the reader with that "to be continued" feeling as much as this book does, and that dings it half a star just in itself.

This is the second book in the The Annals of the Chosen series, and it follows true to the form of the last book. In the last book, the story was somewhat interesting, very original and interesting, but poorly written. This book, however, is worse than the first.
Bogging this book, and my brain, is the repetition. Usually repetition of style is good, but not for him. In every chapter, the reference to the Wizard Lord of the Galbek Hills, or the Galbek Hills, is brought up. And not only is that annoying, the story of what happened is repeated. The only reason I could guess he kept restating that incident over and over again was for those people who are skipping around the chapters and might miss it-- although they would have to be extremely blind to not miss the reference over and over. But the only reason those people would be skipping is because of the useless repetition...

Not only is the repetition annoying, but it's REALLY ANNOYING. He recounts a story of something from the last book to a few characters, but to the two or three people (I can't remember) people he tells it to, it only gets more annoying hearing it. He could have written that the character explained the even to the person rather than having him talk about it for half a page. The repetition is so bad that it is like watching a Speed Racer marathon because it is almost to the point-- and at some places it is to the point-- that characters repeat the same thing in word and/ or in thought.

Also, the UNREALISTIC CHARACTERS AND DIALOG are very annoying. This whole series keeps me watching the story rather than watching the main character. The main character can't be sympathized with mainly because we don't know who he is. When we think he's one thing, he turns out to contradict that. What really confused me was when he seemed reserved, then he meets somebody and is talking about how skilled he is with his "little stick" (take a few seconds to guess). I almost felt like putting the book down at that point because it was if I was reading from a perverted teenager rather than somebody who has been alive for a great deal of years more. Also, when that scene should have turned awry between the two characters, things continue on without problem. And worse yet is the part where he is talking to friend, and something he says takes up about 10 seconds... in there, he says things that seemed weird and would usually make the other person in his conversation give him a questioning eye, but no... he continues and the other person sits and listens as if nothing weird happens...
The dialog between the characters is very short and very unintelligent.
"Are you really going there?"
"Yes, of course, I must say."
"How do you think it will go?"
"Well."

That is not very good... for any writer...

This series seems like it was done when he was in his early to mid teens and now, only after establishing himself as a writer, he has picked up the manuscripts and sent them in without editing them one bit.

I continue to read these because I like his style, but the fake characters and conversation, and the annoying repetition of the main character's thoughts and reasoning along with all of the other repetition strip this series of any dignity...

His style is, however, good enough that I will be buying the next book soon, because I've learned how to skip the crap and get to the finish... I hope you can do the same...

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews  3.5 out of 5 stars