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3.0 out of 5 stars
I Wound Up Liking It Better The More I Read, Nov 27 2001
The main story is that Rohannan Melior (of a different world/dimension(?)) arrives in NYC as a result of his quest to find a sword that's been stolen from his family, and which will result in their disgrace and banishment their land's Court if it isn't returned soon. Of course, as soon as he arrives, he is mugged and the sword is stolen. Unfortunately, if a human handles the sword, they will shortly tranform into a ravaging monster with a craving for human flesh. RM hooks up with a group of mismatched Columbia University friends, and the quest is on to find the sword.At first, I didn't like any of the characters except RM - the stranger in an even stranger land. They didn't seem to ring true, their speech patterns or something didn't seem right for their ages, or maybe they didn't behave as my college friends and I did. But gradually, once the background of some of the characters was revealed, their behavior became more understandable, given their flaws. (Though I still found myself checking the copyright date a couple of times.) There was still a little too much pretentious quoting and epigram-throwing for them to be believable, but I guess the author had to get it out of her system. The mugger who wound up with the sword was a tragic character, slowly taking that one extra step at a time that was leading him away from his dreams. I wasn't all that happy with the ending until I realized that it was just the set-up for the sequel, which I will try to read. It was an interesting book, worth reading, but the characters could have been a little less stereotypical.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Elves in NYC, and a Grendel in the Subways . . ., Sep 5 2001
I really identified with the characters in this book, perhaps because most of them are around my age and living in a similar area to where I live. This is a well told, emotional and complex tale of an elf-lord in NYC and the treasure he must find. The ending sticks in my memory. (I won't spoil it here for those who haven't read this yet.) This book appealed to me more than the others in this series, I enjoyed finding out what happened later on. By the way--anyone who reads this will recognize the Babylon nursery rhyme reference, try checking out Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones.Okay, that being said, this book struck me with a strong sense of deja-vu. Many years ago I encountered a book called THE GLOVE OF MAIDEN'S HAIR. The book, by Michael Friedman, is about an elf-lord magically transported to a modern-day city. He's the one who rescues the heroine from muggers, but there is a lot of this story that parallels. The style and the emotional quality and the actual stories themselves are very different, but if you liked this you might want to see if you can find a copy of THE GLOVE OF MAIDEN'S HAIR, it's a little dated, but worth a read.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
I loved this book, Jun 4 2001
Wow. What a way to start a series! I couldn't put this book down until I finished it (which wasn't really the smartest thing to do, with finals and all). The story is wonderfully written, and very unique. Has there ever been a heroine in a story who's a normal librarian? The ending actually almost had me in tears, since it's so different from what I expected. I agree with the person who said it first; have the second book ready! And when you read that one, be sure to have the third book ready! :)
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