The albino orc? Really?
936639
His nemesis, the albino orc? Someone has been watching too many Hobbit movies!
2705365
While part of my recent WH40K reading kick, I picked up Crusade for Armageddon.  I thought this was set during the 2nd Battle for Armageddon, but it's actually the 3rd - so my mistake.

We start out with why the Black Templars really hate the greenskins.  I'm not a big fan of the Black Templars, but actually them in this one.  I also appreciated that we had some good non-Space Marines in this one.  Enjoyed the storyline and the expected big finale
2157164
I bet one of the queens would prefer to have been responsible for Morrowseer's death. And I want to know what happened to the Dreamvisitor. Why did Starflight feel Sunny's warmth but hear Fatespeaker's voice? Will they really make a NightWing their queen? I feel Battlewinner was innocent, what will Blister do when she finds out her "boyfriend" Morrowseer is dead? I may even miss Morrowseer myself. I think Blaze should be the next queen. I'd actually like it if they were all combined by an animus-touched object so there would be one queen smart, beautiful, nice ( but sometimes mean), and tough. This is my most absolute FAVORITE, out of all of them and I have them all ( except for 5 obviously ) I totally recomend this book for you!!!!!!!!!! FIVE EGGS TO HATCH ON BRIGHTEST NIGHT, FIVE DRAGONS BORN TO END THE FIGHT, DARKNESS SHALL RISE TO BRING THE LIGHT, THE DRAGONETS ARE COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  " Dakness shal rise to bring the light", should be taken out, and I believe they are meant to srop the war. Why did Morrowseer have to ruin it for them??!! There shoul be a movie for the series!
1239421
Eclipse starts out on the return journey from the mountains, where Jaypaw has told Lionpaw and Hollypaw about the prophecy. I still find it strange that Stormfur and Brook decide to stay behind-they were treated as dead when they arrived back with the tribe in&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Warriors-Power-of-Three-3-Outcast/dp/0060892102/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Warriors: Power of Three #3: Outcast</a>, and doesn't Stormfur want to meet his half-siblings?(Millie gives birth in this book, and it is the first litter Jaypaw delivers). When they return home, things are still tense with Windclan-pretty funny for me, because I started reading the books after this one was published and I can remember clearly how much help Windclan needed in the past, especially since I just reread&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Fire-and-Ice-Warriors-Book-2/dp/0060525592/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Fire and Ice (Warriors, Book 2)</a>. A mysterious stranger named Sol appears, and predicts that "the sun will die". During a massive battle, the sun dies-the titular eclipse. While eclipses are rare even among Twolegs, I still find how the cats freaked out kind of lame-the sun came back! Also, I assume that this was a solar eclipse, so wouldn't the cats hurt their eyes if they looked directly at it? Due to Sol predicting the eclipse, a Clan leader makes a shocking annoucement that makes me wonder what's going to happen next. This book also wraps up the plotline involving Cinderpaw. There was one mistake in the book that I found that was mentioned by another review-"Tigerstar" is called "Firestar" in one of Lionpaw's dream sequences. All in all,I think it's the best of Power of Three so far, and among the best Warriors  books in all. I can't wait until I have&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Warriors-Power-of-Three-5-Long-Shadows/dp/0060892145/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Warriors: Power of Three #5: Long Shadows</a>&nbsp;in my hands!
2956548
in a sense, i am attracted to this...simultaneously, i am repelled...

i have plenty of germanic blood in my veins...but this is 2005..."pure" blood dwindles by the day here on planet earth.

we don't have the luxury any more to seek such islands of idealist purity.

(you can practice aesir or vanir worship whatever color your skin is....)

i call on Odin/Wotan and Freya often....depending on the season.

sometimes it is Legba and Oya....

i guess the idea of a re-Attained 'purity' is attractive to many....the many who have FORGOTTEN how much they can find within themselves without racial bias, without any blood doctrine...

get over it.

i don't care how white you are and how far back you can trace your nordic roots, we all came out of a lovely cradle/cauldron known as Africa.

blood and soil was a good idea up to 900AD...or so

kings and queens and clans are all dead or dying ideas.
3799825
Not as much a campaign as an anthology of scenarios. They aren't as detailed as Masks, HotOE, BtMoM, Gaslight, Shadows of Yog Sothoth, or some of the other classic CoC adventures. The Keeper of Arcane Lore must do a lot to flesh out these stories and generate handouts and such.  The Invictus line isn't as well developed as some others.  The Legacy of Arius Lurco being an exception. I think it would benefit much from some direction from Sandy Peterson.
4801401
Zelazny collectors, you must buy this book to complete your collection, but you don't have to like it.  You'll find a little too much liscence has been taken in the creation of characters for this role-playing game.  Understandably, some of the characters died in the books and need to be resurrected in some fashion for those wanting to play them, but some are over-embellished.
Most notable is Corwin, a tarnished hero, who needs no improvement.  A variation of Corwin's game character is that of a wizard, supported by bits of Ganelon's description of Corwin's "sorcerous" abilities.  Any paranormal ability may be considered sorcery by the uninitiated; Ganelon also called Corwin a demon.  His claims are based only on witnessing a hellride, which any Amberite has the ability to perform.  Corwin is too pragmatic to ever seriously study sorcery; he depends on his sword, strength, and animal cunning.
(His sword's name, by the way, is spelled GrAyswandir, which has a beautiful visual and aural flow to it.  Wujcik spells it grEy- which is just plain wrong.)
Of course, forget about the clashes with the original and this is a great place to start a great character-based role-playing game!
2388299
Would be even more inspirational if the dragon did not have weird anatomy of a human. Human shoulders, human fists, we just assume he's an Argonian (nerd alert! put on a helmet).
4737418
I agree with Lyra's review. I too was a little disappointed by the type of sea creatures featured. But, come on, use your imagination! A purple walrus or a pink whale...how about a red, white and blue snail! Although the name doesn't really go with it, I love this book! And all the rest od Mr Merritt's books too!  How about an animal alphabet book!?
4200849
I have only praise for Lord of Light and lately, 25 years since I read it in high school, I have this notion that Lord Of Light is Zelazney's back handed homage/parody of Lord of

the Rings.  There are so many odd parallels, Christian vs. Hindu, and the Sauron like Lord of the Dead who causes revulsion in just about everybody.  Anyway, it's just a thought.
1391035
I am horrified by this doll. First of all, she looks anorexic. And she is in these ridiculously high-heeled boots, even though, like her mother, she is otherwise dressed for walking through the woods. What message are we sending girls when we give them dolls like this? That they need to have stick-like legs and wear back-breaking shoes to be fashionable and cool?

Not to mention her "big, bad secret," the wolf ears under her hood. This begs the question of how/why her mother, Little Red Riding Hood, got it on with the wolf who killed her grandmother. Just what is the implied story here? Did the wolf rape LRRH? Or did LRRH fall in love with the horrid beast who murdered--and ate!--her grandmother? So Cerise Hood's "big bad secret" is that she is the bastard child of a vicious wold and the little girl whose life he destroyed? Who thinks up these sick products, anyway? I wouldn't want my daughter playing with this twisted thing.
1218266
The author of this book, Diana Cooper, is introduced as the principal of the Diana Cooper School of Angels and Ascension. The lady seems to be a one-person cottage industry of angel-related books and similar products! Most of her ideas are strikingly similar to those of the I AM Activity and the Summit Lighthouse, suggesting some kind of previous contacts.

"The Wonder of Unicorns" claims that some angelic beings are really unicorns. Apparently, horses come from Lakuma, an ascended star in the constellation of Sirius. On Earth, horses reincarnate until they are transformed into magnificent, radiant, white unicorns and ascend to the higher planes around Lakuma. However, they occasionally visit Earth to aid spiritual seekers.

Cooper also reveals that birds come from Sirius and periodically visit Lakuma to receive spiritual teachings from the unicorns. These birds have different colours than on Earth: sparrows are orange, wrens are pale pink and peacocks are blue (the author seems unaware of the fact that peacocks *are* blue). Weirdly, all blackbirds are white, except a few that are lilac! Since the book is published in Britain, I suppose this refers to European Blackbirds (black thrushes). Dolphins, fish, cows and dogs also come from Sirius.

The unicorn kingdom at Lakuma is ruled by the king and queen of unicorns. We also learn that the more spiritually advanced unicorns have golden horns, while those on the lesser rung of the hierarchy have regular white ones. White animals born on Earth carry the Christ consciousness, including white lions and white peacocks. Cats protect their families from lower astral spirits, ghosts and negative thought forms. When the going gets really tough, they are aided by unicorns. Naturally, the unicorns were present in Golden Atlantis where everyone had a designated unicorn just as they had a guardian angel. The unicorns spread divine essence, purity, dignity and light. Still, there seems to be a certain confusion between unicorns and the Pegasus, the winged white horse. Occasionally, unicorns are depicted having wings in Cooper's book. However, they are quite distinct angelic beings. Or so we are told.

OK, I don't wish to offend anyone, but I couldn't help laughing when reading "The Wonder of Unicorns". Surely, Cooper doesn't *really* believe in all this? That question aside, I admit that this isn't my kind of spirituality. I'm not a supporter of Ken Wilber, but I suppose this is a prime example of Magic-Mythic. And yes, the book is published by Findhorn Press. Besides, I happen to like blackbirds, so what's all this stuff about turning them white or lilac? :D

The above were the gems from this little book. Most of the rest is exceedingly boring and contains meditations and visualizations designed to make you see...well, unicorns. A number of blessings are included, as well. It seems unicorn energy can be used to bless "soaps" on TV by spreading love, kindness, friendliness, empathy and justice. Imagine that. Personally, I rather think that "Dallas" would make all enlightened (and lilac) animals go back to Lakuma!

I admit that I didn't like "The Wonder of Unicorns", so I only give it one star. But sure, if you actually believe its possible to get in touch with angels and other spiritual beings, I suppose you might find this and other books by the same author of some interest.
281202
A few years ago, one of my sons brought HUNT FOR THE SKINWALKER to a family outing at Moon Lake at the southern edge of the Uintah Mountains about 20 miles west of the Gorman Ranch near Roosevelt, Utah. We read parts of it around a campfire in front of a cabin in the moonlight, about 200 yards from a mountain lake that's surrounded by mountain peaks. We were looking for Skinwalkers all night! While the incidents described in the book are bizarre beyond belief, if you talk to people who live in the Uintah Basin, they'e not isolated incidents. Study the petroglyphs and etchings on sandstone walls all around the Four Corners area, and you will see depictions of creatures that make you wonder what those ancient inhabitants really saw. Native populations in the Mountain West all have myths and legends that hark back to the stories that Kelleher and Knapp describe in their book. And, if you know people who live in northeastern Utah or northwestern Colorado, some of them might share a story or two themselves that will keep you up at night. Just because we cannot explain something doesn't mean it didn't or can't happen. We might consider ourselves "modern, but we should never assume we have all the answers. Hubris is a widespread character fault common to so many people in high places; it gets in the way of truth.
3158439
4+/5

Jake really got across the horrible depressing reality beneath the thin veil of normalcy.

The first planning meeting was another good snapshot of the Animorphs' personalities. Of course Rachel would be eager to fight. Yet so would Cassie, given that the Yeerks have sunk to new depths (pun intended). I expected Marco to focus on the tactical details. Come to think of it, Ax would too.

This combat seemed far more bitter than what the Animorphs had been through so far. Jake really conveyed the panic at another close call that was even closer than usual. He also seemed to reiterate the absurdity of the Animorph life.

The Nartec mythos was just plain cool. I liked the slow reveal of that. A different entity was good as a novel resolution to the Sea Blade situation.

I already figured human military forces might be able to overwhelm aliens with sheer numbers. So I wasn't surprised when that came up as a possibility for dealing with Nartec use of the Sea Blade.

Cassie's wisecrack about Nartec discrimination is one of the few references to her blackness. Marco is Latino, so he might make a similar comment. However, that would seem like just another one of his jokes, so it makes sense to give the line to Cassie.

The Animorphs and Visser Three cooperating against the Nartec was an interesting variant on the standoffs he often gets into with the Andalite bandits.

Ah, the blown hatch was the ace up their sleeve.

Why didn't anybody think of Draconing the torpedos?

Yeah, the Nartec were partially just working with what humans gave them.
2420367
There are a great many legendary books, which either exist, are rumored to exist, or are fabricated from whole cloth. The Necronomicon (meaning roughly, The Paths of the Dead) fits the catagory in all three ways.
  The legend has it that Lovecraft heard of the book (through a friend who was an Ordo Templis Orientalis member), whose title was known in occult circles long before him, and was fascinated by the mere sound of it. There was no earlier mention of it being compiled, translated, or edited by any mad Arab scholar. Lovecraft seized upon the notion of a real ancient "grimoire"  with gleeful abandon. It gave to his dark tales an even darker backdrop of ancient things malignant and vengeful.
  The book itself appears to be a romantisized 19th century compilation of Sumerian and Chaldian lore which at that time was just beginning to reappear (the cuniform writing recently decoded) in the world. Very heavy stuff for its (pre-Hollywood) time.
  The late 19th century saw the rise of modern Occultism (mainly starting with Helen Blavatsky in the 1870s) which delights in ancient religion, myth, and ritual. Putting all such trappings aside, the Necronomicon can be seen for what it actually is - a first hand glance into the mindset of a world view and civilization  which existed (and fully functioned) thousands of years before the more recent Judeo-Christian ethos came into being. The Necronomicon is an insight into history, not gothic fiction.
2953234
Gotrek Gurnisson is a dwarf slayer seeking his doom (glorious death) to redeem himself for past wrongdoings. Felix Jaeger is his human companion, writing about the deeds/adventures of the slayer. Gotrek saved Felix's life, long ago, and Felix swore a blood-oath to record Gotrek's doom, to restore honor to his name. Unfortunately, Gotrek is so skilled in fighting that he is still alive.

In&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Shamanslayer/dp/1844167739/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Shamanslayer</a>, Felix returns to his home to confirm his father's death at the hands of skavens. Before Felix can carry out his revenge, a knight from the Order of the Fiery Heart demands that the rune sword, Karaghul, be returned to the templars. However, Felix -- desperate to keep the sword he has grown attached to -- manages to make a deal with the old knight: discover the fate of the missing knights of the Order, and recover the holy regalia.

After Felix and Gotrek set out on their new mission, they cross paths with two old friends: Snorri Nosebiter and Kat. Even though Felix was originally a poet before becoming an experienced swordsman, it was still strange to see him turn into a nervous wreck around Kat. The backstory with Snorri and his memory loss was also disturbing. Shamanslayer portrayed Gotrek and Felix in a slightly different way from previous Warhammer books.

Their group discovers that the missing templar knights were overtaken by beastmen; as they follow the trail of the herd, they realize that these beastmen belong to a herd numbering in the thousands. Urslak Cripplehorn (the shaman) and Gorgorath the God-Touched (a warlord) have found a way to increase their herd, and destroy their enemies at the same time. They are also planning to conquer the forests of the Empire through an elaborate ritual.

Gotrek figures he can either stop the ritual, or finally meet his doom. Felix feels he has no choice, due to his oath, but he wishes he was free to pursue a relationship with Kat. Snorri tags along, hoping to get his memory back. It was not the ending I was expecting, but I loved this book.

If you are a fan of the Gotrek & Felix series, you might like&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Grey-Seer-Warhammer/dp/1844167380/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Grey Seer (Warhammer)</a>, which features the skaven Thanquol. I loved reading his view of his past with Gotrek and "his pet human."
908210
Generally, it's a story of posession. The problem for me was that priests looked like demons themselves. :) Espesially the black one.