Enjoy it for the epic journey, the missing details and less than exciting finish notwithstanding.
353370
When I was much younger, I read the original Sword Of Shannara books when they were first released. Since then, I have read none of the others. Picking up this trilogy had some risk as I have not read any of the intervening books. Such fears were unfounded as the trilogy is very stand alone. The necessity of having read any of the other Shannara books not present.

Unlike those first early books that are now described as The Original Shannara Trilogy where each novel was also stand alone, this one is a continuous story running through all three books where reading all is required.

The tale is filled with the standard classic epic fantasy requirements - young heroes set on perilous journeys to overcome a great evil, encountering danger and mayhem along the way. In meeting those requirements, the trilogy fit the bill.

Sadly, where it lacked against others was in the details. Things happened without explanation or hinting of them prior to occurring. There are also some glaring holes in the story that never get filled. FROM THIS POINT ON IS A SPOILER ALERT SO DON'T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW. The biggest is how the liquid night is delivered across the Forbidding into the waiting hands of Iridia. After all, the wall separating the four lands from the Forbidding is impassable, yet supposedly the transfer happened without ever explaining how. They don't even explain how Iridia and demon communicated through the wall. The second thing is why the Moric entered Paranor from the Forbidding in a different locale than where Grianne exited. It is explained in great detail how Grianne can only return to Paranor at the exact spot she left. Why didn't the Moric have to return at the exact spot as well? He used the same staff to go back, same rules should apply. Nor, for that matter, is it explained how a demon that is a changeling has the ability to consume characters from the inside out. There are other instances that troubled me, but these the most.

There were a lot of things entertaining about the trilogy. It's too bad the missing details left me unfulfilled.
606562
Another instalment in what I have found to be a great entertaining story.  Good development of the strategies, and the 'luck' needed sometimes for things to work out.  But I do want to see Alexander conclude on a successful note.  Such is the time involved with Alexander through the series that it would be a bit of a downer if his victory proves a hollow one at the personal level.  The book moves along at a good pace, but one problem with these epics is that a lot of previous stories are raised to explain things.  When you've read the previous books it can be a bit tedious.
2624538
This novel is a an epic journey through the life of a man and his sister and the disasters and loves which befall them. To give detail is to spoil the story. For me, I found I did not care for the protagonist, James Norbury and therefore I had to find my interest in the secondary characters. There are many. There is also a bounty of points of view and plot threads. They do weave together but at times you may feel as if you are reading separate books in tandem.

I enjoyed the authors skills in the writing and she has a lovely hand at character, place and locale. I found the book plodding for the first several hundred pages and then a rush to conclude at the end. This book is quite an investment in time and attention. The pacing of this book is very uneven and frustrating much of the time. I was exhausted at the finish, feeling like I had completed a literary marathon.

There is the potential in the ending for a series or sequel. For me, this one book is quite enough for this story. Lovers of Victorian era fiction may find this book delightful. This is not a fast paced page turner, more like the opposite. I felt like the author could have benefited from a good editor. Less is so often more, Proceed with caution.
4778328
There were some plot points I felt that could have been explored more in detail. The build up of earlier books made you expect that certain characters could have been developed more. But the ending was refreshing, though not totally unexpected..
2250722
The action scenes are epic, the narrative is more fleshed out, and the characters grow more likeable by the chapters. However, it sort of lacks the depth of what's going on in the story world. It feels more like series of complicated events instead of a cohesive flow of development between one chapter and the next.
1842075
It's very short compared to historic FFs. Ending felt tacked on with a big missing story gap from the break point and the start of the final scene.
4131969
The live story has a satisfying finish, but the story feels unfinished, because we aren't told what becomes of the evil Aurangzeb.

ERG
1759725
Okay, so here's the deal. I just ordered this, but I've already seen the movie, so I'm gonna go ahead and review it now.

I gave it four stars. The reason why is simple. I think it was decent overall. It served its purpose, and I came away from it feeling like I had enjoyed the experience. However, I do think it has a lot of room for improvement. It would have been nice if the movie had told the whole story, from the early days of Joshua and Estelle in Rolent all the way up to Weissman's defeat. Unfortunately, it did not.

The bottom line is this. If you can accept it for what it is, then it's actually pretty good. It's not a retelling of the whole Trails in the Sky story. What it is is a shorter version with a lot of events condensed into one hour-and-a-half long movie. I enjoyed it enough to purchase it because it really did feel the same to me at some points as playing the game did. I think they could have portrayed Estelle as stronger and more accomplished than they did, because in the game she is actually really impressive, but as far as her personality goes I think they did an excellent job with it.

4 stars is pretty good considering I heard a lot of negative things about this. I'm glad I took the time to watch it now that I've finished the game. I expect that I will be watching again.
4972286
Not as good as some of the preceding ones but one that definitely fits with all the rest and continues the adventure.
3390479
while this movie fell short of my expections (most recent hollywood films have been falling short of my expections lately)there is still a lot to like about the movie story is good nothing special but is still good. its basically a simple adventure story main charactor has to rescue the princess from an amry of giants. the biggest let down for me was the ending. I thought that the giant army would battle the human army now does this happen my answer would be both yes and no (i will let the person watching the film decide for themsevles) i guess my problem was i had high expections for this movie and it fell short of what i wanted to see but still check it out its a great movie in its own right and its still very entertaining just don't have high hopes for anything super super epic. is it epic again i answer both yes and no but again its still worth watching
2522046
After the last three books, where everyone embarks on a long journey for their own reasons and end up in the same place, this one is mildly surprising for breaking that mold, and having everyone embark on a long journey for their own reasons and ending up across the world from each other.

Rand travels to the desert to recruit what he views as his promised people, the tribal Aiel.  Mat goes with him, and obtains some neat little items and a scar.  The Aiel Wise Ones, a group of matriarchs, are introduced here.  Unfortunately, rather than making them an interesting counterpoint to the manipulative Aes Sedai, Jordan prefers to just make them a grittier version of the same.  Egwene also tags along, and is apprenticed, after a fashion, to the Wise Ones to learn about dreamwalking.

Perrin travels to the Two Rivers to ward off various threats to his hometown.  On the way, he is involved in an inane subplot involving Faile's commandeering of the expedition as revenge for him (completely understandable) trying to protect her.  Frankly, Perrin deserves better than to be caught up in that kind of adolescent crap.  I kept expecting Loial to wash his hands of the whole affair and leave for the stedding.  Once they arrive in Emond's Field and surroundings, the stupidity tapers off and Perrin leads the defense against both Trolloc hordes and insidious Whitecloak plots.

Elayne and Nynaeve embark for Tanchico, to combat a Black Ajah plot to attack Rand.  On the way, they are assisted by the Sea Folk of porcelainware fame.  This first glimpse of the Sea Folk is interesting, and hints that their women may not be as arrogant or domineering as they are seemingly everywhere else (this notion will be nicely disposed of later, but it's nice while it lasts).  In Tanchico, our heroes meet a new Forsaken and guerilla strike the Black Ajah.

Overall, this book maintains the inertia of the series while developing along different lines than the previous three.  Tarmon Gai'don is still in sight (though no one seems very concerned about it), and the characters still seem focused on that fact.  There is a sense that the story is starting to get away from the author though.  Several new elements are introduced without being clearly tied into the main story.  Still, fans of the series won't be disappointed.
3350338
I enjoyed the book and read through it during a day of travelling, but it was hardly full of surprises given that the film has informed us where it would be going.  It did, however, provide a decent back story and a look at the how the Republic politics have formed.
3919846
You know, it doesn't really go that far, but man did i enjoy the journey
3290019
I enjoyed finally seeing the end of what happened to Huw Morgan.  But I was unable to be excited about the man, the character, as I once was.  Perhaps there was so much promise in the little boy, with his idealism, the way he saw the world, coming to understand more, but still innocent.  All this was present in the first book, and to a certain extent, in the next two in the series.  Here, I see mostly a man who has grown weary of the world, tired.  One who is well-traveled, and well-experienced, and not inspiring.  He responds to adventure not as if it is adventure, but as someone who knows how to handle it, and endure it, for it is simply another step in life.  There are some exciting times in the book.  But most if the time I was left sad, that there was so much promise in this character to begin with, and now it seems here there is a man who can not stop thinking about any woman who is remotely pretty, and one who must have sex with any woman who gives him any amount of interest.  There is a moment that you wait for throughout the book, hoping for, anticipating, and in the end are left disappointed, for there is very little revealed of this moment.  And the romantic love that finally results is perhaps the least interesting, the least exciting, of all those in his life.  It is as if Llewellyn simply grew tired of writing, and needed to finish up the book, to get it out to presses.

Yes, I'd still recommend it.  For those like me, you have to know what happens in a man's life, and once the story begins, you need to know how it ends.  And there is enough of the Welsh feel and history here to satisfy to some extent.  But it may be less the Welsh idealism and love of life, and more a reflection of the dissatisfaction of the way things have turned out, almost a dour Scandinavian regret and angst.  By the end, Llewellyn seems to present Huw as an anatype to represent the history of Wales, as it moves into a modern era controlled by England, and people desire their own control, but know in the depths of their being they will never fully control their own lives.  This might be very accurate, and very revealing- but it is never enjoyable to read about someone who doesn't enjoy their own life, or fine enjoyment in the lives of their countrymen.
3153427
On the whole, this was a pleasant read.  I'll try to give a sense of where the highlights are and aren't, since the book could have used some more rigorous editing to make it more uniformly good.

The bits on the early history of trigonometry were fascinating.  I particularly appreciated the clear and complete explanations of problems from the Egyptian Rhind papyrus and from cuneiform sources.

Not all of the later historical developments are equally worth our time.  The sidebars on Vite, Lissajous, and Landau were particularly good, but the ones on Agnesi and De Moivre didn't add much.  (This is unfortunate in the case of De Moivre, but I think a sidebar just can't do justice to so great a mathematician--the fun and beauty is lost when you try to squeeze the highlights together.)  I agree with Maor that the big names should not be allowed to slide into oblivion, but in a book like this the subject matter should always pass the stricter test of what intrinsic "delights" it offers.

In this genre, the digressive nature of a "journey of discovery" is part of the appeal.  But sometimes the thread connecting the episodes was hard to discern here.  Chs. 7-8, 10-12 are tedious and feel like padding compared to the well-sustained interest throughout most of the book.

On the other hand, Ch. 14 ("Imaginary Trigonometry") is a masterpiece.  With only a basic knowledge of how complex numbers work, readers can appreciate three beautiful examples of conformal mapping (w=sin z, w=e^z, z=w^2).  These mappings are chosen and illustrated to your imagination much better than any of the visual exhibits in a standard applied math textbook like Greenberg's "Advanced Engineering Mathematics."

It's in the nature of such a book that sometimes the key problems presented are solved with the help of something that Maor thinks is too advanced or tedious to present to his audience.  The result can be that the story of historical progress is obscured by these "rabbit out of a hat" moments.  At least, I found that I had to stop and look up the missing pieces, in order to make some of the developments as impressive as they were supposed to be.  (I also had to look up some "well-known theorems" in Euclid, read up on the background to Stirling's factorial approximation, etc.)
3900694
Historically correct. Nice completion without being too predictable or too Hollywood-ish.
2915532
Although on the whole I enjoyed Brisingr, I found it much slower than the previous volumes. The extremely detailed background information, the long journeys and constant brooding by our hero was often more tedious than entertaining. If I actually had to recount what happened during this book, I could explain it to you in a few sentences. Remember Mr. Paolini, that good editing is crucial to an enthralling story. Given all that, it was still a good read, and yes, I'll have to read the final chapter.