Return to Spiritlands, retitled.
342077
"Return to Spiritlands" is a great CD. So great, in fact, that it has, apparently, been re-released under a new title: "Ancient Canyons." If you already have "Return" -- you don't need this CD. If you don't have "Return" -- you do need this CD. Admittedly, some of it is a little synth-heavy for me, but the overall excellence and sophistication of sound is worth the flirtation with newage.
2716854
I have read where this is a better sounding re-do of previous Herrmann albums. Two discs, beginning with JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH and ending with JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS. If Hermann were a surfer, he could have spanned the Pacific in one trip.
3986601
Not having read any Spawn for a long time, this was an interesting return to a much-loved series. It seems to start straight after Spawns crucifixion and involves his quest for revenge for the death of loved ones (trying not to give too much away!). God and his envoy, Mike, lead Al to his next destination and quest. Belial is after Al and will try to get to him any way that he can. Archangel Gabriel also appears.

Its well-written and engaging and ends on a bit of a cliffhanger so theres more to come. The artwork is worth a look and I look forward to reading more in the future.
4491807
The Masters Return fulfills all of our expectations on how we can return our planet to the Eden it used to be. This book is a must for any seeker of true knowledge and widsom. A MUST READ
2175411
For the price it's a return to the past. I read some of these issues when they were originally out. It's nice to see them back in print.
75483
After an illness wipes out most of humanity,  Ish is left alone.  This book follows Ish as he finds a few of the "Last Americans"  and forms a new tribe,  which he hopes will give birth to a new civilization.  I enjoyed watching the reestablishment of the natural environment through Ish's eyes.  However,  the book was actually ra little too fast paced,  and I would have liked more detail about the individuals that surrounded our main character. I believe this was a strategy that the author intended for some reason - he even called sections of the book "The Quick Years."  However,  those were years that I would've enjoyed reading more about.
4539362
I accidentally read this book before "The Nightmare Stacks", so I was pretty much in the dark about what was happening up north, or who Cassie was, or why we have a concentration camp filled with elves.  On the other hand, since this was the next book after The Annihilation Score, it was a welcome return to form.

Bob is back in this book, after being absent from the last two Laundry books. At this point, Bob has climbed the greasy pole to upper management of the Laundry thanks to inheriting the Eater of Souls from his former boss. He is still separated from Mo because, while she no longer has her accursed violin, he fears that he can lose control of the Eater while sleeping.

Each of the Laundry books seems to exploit a different genre - James Bond, LeCarre, Superheroes, Tolkien.  I'm not sure what this one incorporates, unless it is simply Lovecraft, because the Eldritch horrors are beginning to appear in spades.  Thus, we see the return of Reverend Schiller with his cult of tongue-ridden parasites. Schiller's parasites are new and improved and now target the genitals to gross and creepy effect.

At the same time, Bob gets tasked to meet with an agent from the occult operations division of the US Postal Service.  (The USPS got into the occult as part of Comstock Act; along with intercepting porn and drugs, the Post Office began to acquire magical arcana and occult objects.) It seems that the Comstock Act division has been outsourced and privatized to Schiller's crew. Now, Schiller is in Britain with a similar agenda, plus Schiller is making inroads into suborning the upper echelons of Britain with his genital parasites.

Because of the disaster in Leeds, the Laundry is out in the open, and the public and the government now know that there is both a magical problem and a standing bureaucracy that seems to fall outside of regulatory oversight and the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act. Before you can say "Cthulhu wears boxers," the Laundry is shut down, its employees are terminated, its various operations are left to swing in the wind, and England is wide open for take-over by the genital-parasite demon cult.

This book works like a three-ring circus where the reader's attention is constantly moving from one act to another. All the balls are in the air until the very end. Will Britain succumb to the genital-parasites? Why is the Chief Auditor meeting with the most dangerous man in Britain? Will Mo and Bob be able to work things out? Why is Bob's nemesis, Iris Carpenter, being released from her internment and rehabilitated?

This book obviously represents a break with the old Laundry, the hidebound, tradition-filled, secret operation. How Stross takes the Laundry in a new direction remains to be seen.

This book is a return to Laundry form. Bob is older and more experienced, but every promotion leaves him in the role of the newbie. Stross plays the bureaucrat, legalistic game well in how the Laundry restructures itself so as to continue to operate as a subject to the Crown but not the government.

The story is exciting, suspenseful and humorous.  It is well-worth the time and investment.
4328474
I read all of the Warriors books last year and love them. I am so glad to see there is a new series again since I was really missing it. I got this one and love it! It is so great to be back in Warriors land. This book begins the "back story" of how the cats became clans. I can't wait til the next one comes out.
1501589
It is not a question of "new thinking"; someone put an inappropriate label in Gorbachev's work.  It is about time to give
the lands back to their ancestral owners.  The land is still the aboriginal owners property; some lands were taken away by
stealing, swindling and "occupying".  The grass still grows, rivers still flow and the sun still shines.  Where is my land?
2747578
Once again we are teleported out from reality. To another realm another time logicallly the future but somewhat reminiscent of the past. Lantern has once again spun us a tale to be read by the firelight as we gaze at the stars and wonder what if or perhaps what was.
876952
Great to have Charlie, Angel and
 Louis back!  Loved it.
2557864
I felt the Man-Kzin Wars series was going down hill and I nearly didn't buy this most recent book. However, the stories in this book, to me, seemed to return to the Man-Kzin universe I enjoy reading about. I don't know why but I've always enjoyed stories set in the Larry Niven Known Universe and this book felt like I was back there.
1493685
"The Heroic Age"
(Marvel Comics, 2010)
----------------------------------
This anthology book provides a good snapshot of where Marvel Comics is headed in the (apparent) aftermath of its nearly decade-long parade of continuity-changing, mega-crossover "event" books (House Of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, Seige, and several others I may have missed...) For those wishing that Marvel would get back to basics and produce good, old-fashioned, free-standing super-adventure books, this new direction is being billed as what you've been asking for. Of course, there's a lot of tie-in activity, and tidying up after all the meta-events -- the resurrected Steve Rogers is now the new Nick Fury, in charge of global policework and espionage, and he's widening the ranks and scope of the Avengers, so that pretty much anyone who's not in the FF (and even some who are) is now part of the far-flung group. This particular volume is not actually a graphic novel, per se, but rather a collection of "Number One" issues and one-offs from various relaunched, new, and re-imagined titles -- there is some cohesion, but more than anything this is a snapshot in time showing what's meant to be a return to "normal" for the Marvel Universe... You'll have to start reading the individual titles to see where they go from here.

Anyway, it's been a long, strange, and frequently wearying trip. Looking back on the meta-event decade, I find myself surprisingly nostalgic, and now more willing to go back and reassess what Bendis and company have wrought. I'm also curious to see where Marvel takes it from here, to see if they can successfully simplify things and make more streamlined books that are fun to read again. Here's hoping!  (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)
4468260
Really enjoyed this return to the characters we knew in the early works.  Glad to revisit past experiences at just the right level to tell this current story.  I really enjoyed the early Vampire Chronicles books and was hoping for a return to those.  This book did not disappoint.  Well done
3612818
A nice back-story to the Whill of Agora series. It tells the beginning of Chief the Spirit Wolf, and the land of Valnoss.  It is more of a young adult tale.  A little like the Hobbit to the Lord of the Rings. For best reading it should be read after Whill Vol 4 and before Vol 5.  It was written in that interval and there a lot of back references to this story in Vol 5.
3759624
Basically, a repackaging 2-CD release of two Spirits Burning titles 'Behold The Action Man' (see my review) and 'Make Believe It Real'. Although some might assume this would make a nice gift to get for someone who has never hear Spirits Burning, I believe that it would be better to start from to at their very first title 'New Worlds By Design' ('99) and work forward from that in the project's chronological order. There's obviously one other purpose for this 2-CD piece - to give something else to the completists and die-hard fans.
3264708
John Huling only gets four stars here because I have to reserve five stars for Return to Spiritlands, which somehow is even better.  John captures  nature through inspiring music.  The flute is every bit as good as Paul  Horn or R. Carlos Nakai.  John, more please!