Every bit as good as the other legendary Market Wizards books
589748
Having read Jack Schwager's other books, I had high expectations for Hedge Fund Market Wizards... I wasn't disappointed. Once again, Schwager interviews a number of extraordinary traders where we see many of the same themes as before (controlling risk namely), but there are plenty of new lessons to be learned here.  The really great thing about this book is Schwager himself. He is extremely knowledgeable about trading, so he knows exactly what the best questions are to ask. I was thoroughly impressed, and I'd certainly recommend it to anyone with a career related to the financial markets.
342811
I Love Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. This book was good and a must read if your reading the entire series. If compared to the other 13 or so books in the series it would rank at the middle somewhere, Probably because all of the other books are SO good. This is no. 13 in the list of which know there are 14 books and all of them, I can honestly say I have read more than twice
Get them all including Chicago Wizard Mr Harry Dresden, who listed as the only name under the sub-topic of WIZARD. He can either find a lost object or kill a bridge troll and if the price is right, Slay a horde of Red Court Vampires, It's all in a day's pay.
4130071
Call me a sheep. I'm as big a fan as the next kid of Harry Potter on the edge of my seat awaiting each new installment. So while I'm waiting, it was good to find Jenny Nimmo's Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy.

Another boy going to another school not solely comprised of wizards, but with enough of them to make it seem so. While the series may seem clone-like, I still think it's fantastic for the slightly younger wizard in your household. They're much easier to read with simpler story lines, but still have enough pull to keep the youngster enthralled.

This is the third book in the series which also includes Midnight for Charlie Bone and Charlie Bone and the Time Twister.
1756127
I liked this book far better than the Wizards of the Coast's Book of Challenges.  The first third of the book is dedicated to the expansion of the rogue class with new skills, feats, prestige classes, and guild development.  This was a pleasant surprise, especially since my gaming character is a rogue.  I also like the layout of the trap information--each trap, magical or non-magical, has its own stat block for planning game structure and sketches that show the plausability and feasibility of the trap.  The last part of the book provides examples of challenges and puzzles.  Overall, it is an excellent product by Fantasy Flight Games.
1478848
I am reading all of the Redwall books in the chronological order, not the order he wrote them in.  Martin the Warrior is therefore 2nd.  I'd already read Redwall and Mossflower and they remain among my favorites of this series, but Martin the Warrior is just as good.  His characters are well-developed, just keep in mind that the intended audience is children.  I love the way he creates different ways of speaking for the different types of animals.  Molespeech happens to be my favorite.  To some extent, the book formulas are fairly predictable.  Insane villain leader, celebratory feast, etc., but these in no way diminish the enjoyment (for me) of truly delightful storytelling.
2116965
One more necessary lesson and safety tip from among the hundreds that Dresden has provided in his chronicles.

Having read all the Dresden books, I always anxiously await the next episode. Amazon reviewers have dissected Butcher's writings well enough that one more Turncoat review seems unnecessary. BUT ... a review of Buthcher's Dresden creation in total may be useful for someone looking for a great series to immerse themselves into.

Finding a "great" series to spend an enjoyable hundred hours or so is a tricky business as the avid reader well knows.  I can report that there are few series that I've enjoyed more than shadowing the wizard Dresden in his exploits around Chicago and both the seen and unseen worlds. Buthcher is a master of word imagery in a nouveau-arcane way. Buthcher's style is quite unique and contagious. He writes with affection for the story and it's characters as few can do. He introduces such smart-alecky, word-thoughts that you can barely refrain from injecting them in casual conversation.

Dresden and every friend and enemy along his path combine to create a raucously mundane story about your above average wizard just trying to make a buck and save the planet from the forces of evil. Buthcher makes it all work ... he's got an `industry' going here that must be coveted by his authorial peers.

Read every Dresden book. They're worth twice the price.
3376475
Jim Butcher is at the top of his game at the moment, and he's the only author I still buy in hardback (having switched almost completely to ebooks otherwise). Of course, I buy in hardback not only because I have the earlier books in that format, but because the ebooks are overpriced and I can't lend them to my wife, but never mind.

This is a fine continuation of the Dresden Files series, with all the classic elements. Harry Dresden starts out in trouble and gets deeper and deeper as the book progresses. Before we even get to the heist (I love heists!), he's broken his arm and is in generally bad shape, he's been forced to work with one of his greatest enemies, and one of his allies has been so badly injured that Harry has to go to the bench. Fortunately, by this point he has a deeply impressive bench.

Things go boom and catch on fire, extremely powerful supernaturals find it amusing when Harry is tricksy, dark deeds are done and then avenged. It's classic Dresden all the way around, and I look forward to rereading it multiple times.

I went back and forth on whether it was a five-star book, and eventually decided it's high up in the fours. It's very good, but it's very good in the same way as a lot of the earlier books in the series. It doesn't bring anything particularly new to the table, and it's not so profound as to win five stars that way either.

There was also one thing I thought was out of character towards the end. I find it hard to credit that the "righteous" Michael would accept a cut of the proceeds of a heist under any circumstances. Otherwise, well done.
2552378
This book is fun and also offers some excellent insight into the ways wizards think and how they would confront the problem of dangerous creatures and also why they find the less dangerous animals beautiful. There is also a lot of information on classifying the different species of magical creatures, as well as a distinction between a magical "being" and a magical "beast." The opening of the book, a forward by Newt Scamander is also exciting, as he explains what drew him towards the subject of magical creatures and his travels around the world. Whenever I read this book I feel close to Harry's world of witches and wizards. As Dumbledore's says, if you refuse to buy this book because you don't think charity is signigicant enough, I can only hope that when you meet a manticore along the way, a wizard is feeling charitable enough to help you!
4389495
I've read all of the Disc World books and this didn't disappoint.  I love the style, the recurring characters, and zany things that seem to only happen in Disc World.  This one has the Wizards of Ankh-Morpork struggling to form a soccer team to play in a tourney.  The  book does have an underlying "moral of the story" as do the others in the series but that doesn't take away any of the fun.
389648
This is a wonderful book. I have become slightly disenchanted with some of WotC's lackluster D&D books over the past few years, but this one is a step in the right direction!

Any DM is going to love this book. It contains hundreds of magic items to include in your campaign, most of which are very appropriate and useful in any setting. Plus it has some great tables in the back for random treasure, something many DMs struggle with.

My favorite new magic item is the Runestaff, a staff that instead of using charges to cast spells, grants the user the ability to swap his prepared spells for the spells on the staff, or, in the case of a sorcerer, use the spells on the staff as if he knew them.
3253460
I have to say, this book far exceeds my expectations, and surpasses the bar set by other 4th products. The book provides (as others have stated) 3 encounters for every level, forming a large variety of mini-dungeons for your PC's to explore. The combat encounters are actually challenging and balanced for immediate play with no tweaking needed. They can also fit into most campaign settings... with the sole exception of Eberron. And it's not really that the encounters don't fit in Eberron, moreso that they don't provide the Eberron flavor you'd look for in your campaign.

The encounter starts off by telling you which Dungeon Tiles are used. This is an older book, and most of the tile sets are out of print, but all of these can be recreated (at least well enough to give your players the jist of the room) with the current Dungeon Tiles Master Sets. It also gives you a bit of background information about the type of mini-dungeon this will be, so you can easily weave it into your home campaign.

The binding is excellent, the book is straight meat-and-potatoes content for DM's who could use a hand with some quick encounters. I definitely recommend this book to anyone DM'ing 4th edition.
2552856
While I was perusing through the "d20" section of my local Border's store, I stumbled across this book.  I pulled it out of the shelf, thinking, "Okay, the art seems cool; does it have the content to back it up?"  I quickly found that it did.  First of all, I must say that Monte Cook is a pure genius!  He really knows how to make a fantasy campaign setting (if only he had also worked on Forgotten Realms - that's already sweet, and he would have made it even better...).

After being a player and a DM a million times in the standard 3rd (or 3.5) edition settings, looking through this book really got me excited.  Everything in it is so new, so fresh, so creative, while still retaining the original "D&D spirit", that it makes the game so much better.  The races are extraordinarily awesome, especially because it takes you away from the standard elves, dwarves, halflings, and so on.  The classes have the same effect; they're much more in-depth and personalized, and again are a digression from the standard classes (fighter, rogue, wizard, etc.).  I could go on and on (the magic system, the new feats, truenames, etc.), but that would take too much time.

Now, I'm not saying I don't like the 3rd edition or 3.5 set of rules from Wizards of the Coast.  I still love that too - I just really like Monte Cook's version as well.  I highly recommend this item if you are already familiar with 3rd edition and are willing to try out something new - it's really sweet!
4805888
Wizards of the coast continues to build upon its ever-burgeoning Ebberon setting with their latest hardcover supplement, Dragonmarked.  In Eberron there are twelve houses (think clans) of Dragonmarked.  The Dragonmark is a symbol that appears on one's body and simply cannot be removed.  It is etched in various colors and provides various magical abilities to the holder of the mark.

The thirteen different houses of the Dragonmarked are introduced in vast detail.  You'll learn the rich history of each of the thirteen houses including its greatest members, notable events, house organization, guilds associated with the house, entry requirements, notes on playing as a member of that house, advancement, and much more.  These various houses afford players a chance to play within a very rich tapestry of past history and current associations, something that most starting players are usually lacking. They also allow a player to join a house that closely fits his class and personality; if your DM allows you to pick which house you want to join.  The houses are also associated with certain races such as the House of Jorasco, populated by halflings, and the House of Kundarak which is the house made up of dwarves.  These various houses continue to lend a more mythical feel to Eberron, compared to the Forgotten Realms.

Chapter two presents a full dozen new prestige classes of Dragonmarked characters and some of them are quite enthralling.  The Shadow Hunter is a special class that combines excellent combat skills with a high degree of stealth and magical powers to make themselves truly proficient combatants. They can uses their powers of darkness in defense to hide from opponents, or on offense to blind their foes.  Each prestige class includes everything you need to know about joining the class, all features and powers, organizations, play tips, sample encounters, and NPC reactions.

Chapters three and four introduce dozens of new feats, spells, and magic items to flesh out your Dragonmarked character even more. The book is, of course, accompanied by the always-excellent artwork from a host of talented artists.  I suppose you could fit Dragonmarked into the Forgotten Realms but I think its best to keep it within Eberron as its designed.  There's an extreme amount of detail in this book but it can really create some very unique characters.

Reviewed by Tim Janson
3883231
I just received my copy last week and was delighted with what I saw. The author has really done his homework, provided great backgrounds on the metaclasses, and expert types. Using the ready-made NPC experts straight out of the book has already enriched the campaign that I'm playing in. If you want to add experts to your game, you can't go wrong with this book.
3966270
The game designers of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay continue to amaze me with their lush detail and beautifully produced supplement books.  Renegade Crowns is another gorgeous book featuring outstanding artwork.  Renegade Crowns is a campaign supplement that covers the Border Princes or Borderlands as it is also referred to, giving players a richly detailed, yet open-ended region to set-up their own campaigns and adventures.  Note that it is not a guide to the Border Lands themselves, but rather a way for the GM to carve out their own region. Within the first few chapters, the GM will find all the information to quickly create their own unique region in the Borderlands through the use of various random tables.

These tables include things such as geography and landscapes, types of border princes, inhabitants and communities of the region, characters, encounters, and more.  These allow the GM to get their campaign set-up very quickly yet there's so many options and choices provided that you never get the feeling that it comes off as bland and cookie-cutter.  You could set-up a campaign a hundred times and never duplicate the exact region because the tables are so diverse.  There are also tables for generating all types of random Border princes from Knights to bandits, to priests and merchants, all with their own unique characteristics.

Chapter six covers the hazards of the Borderlands including numerous different types of monster encounter tables and notes on designing monster lairs.  A fantastic example of a region called Masserschloss is included and takes the GM on a step-by-step tutorial on creating a region.  I highly recommend that every GM read this tutorial as it is extremely well-written and fully explains the entire process from start to finish. This really may be the most important section in the entire book.

The final few chapters deal with becoming a border prince, first by seizing power and then by holding it. This covers everything from internal court intrigue to protecting your region from external attack from rival lands. There are many adventure hooks provided throughout Renegade Crowns to get the campaign off and running.

If your desire is for power, then becoming a border Prince is a great way to go!

Reviewed by Tim Janson
579943
Warrior Mage (book 1 of The Chains of Honor Series)
I was given this book in trade for an honest review.
I loved this story!! I loved the characters and the detail given to each person of interest. It's nice because the author gives us a lot of insight into their character but it leaves you wanting more, which I'm fine with because she gives us so much up front. The storyline runs along that same premiss, giving us plenty of action, emotion, adventure and clear cut storyline but definitely leaves us wanting to know more and what's going to happen next. In this book you'll encounter wizards--good & bad, pirates, rebels & much more. Of special interest is the young boy, or young adult as he insists so much in the book because he's 18 years old; he's a wizard in training and unfortunately hasn't had any magical school training so he's not nearly as proficient as others his own age. Yanko is a shy, quiet, selfless, full of self doubt and a young boy on the brink of manhood; all of these traits will be tested and bested on this adventure with the help of a couple of old and new freinds. These freinds are really good at helping Yanko to not take himself so seriously all the time which really adds that key personal interaction, and humor always helps a story. I love the witty ones.  Yanko, is pitted against evil magic wizards and wizard hunters in the middle of a civil war and a quest of profound importance to his country and its people. He's determined to succeed. This is a series and the writer states the next book is soon to follow. Can't wait!!
This book is well edited and for ages 13+.

Sent from my iPhone
4292941
Calling all Harry Potter fans! If the bespectacled wizard has you yearning for more fantasy stories, then you're going to love the Septimus Heap series, with its wild adventures and quirky characters, imaginative spells and bizarre contraptions --- not to mention wizards (including an ExtraOrdinary Wizard), witches, evil schemes, hidden royalty, dragons, spell charms, human-munching trees, vicious beasts, ghosts and much more. These books sparkle with laugh-out-loud humor and, thanks to the characters' close-knit family ties, warm the heart as well.

It is said that the Heaps' newest baby, Septimus, will have great powers because he is the seventh son of the seventh son. In the first installment, MAGYK, we meet some amazing characters: the Heap family, bossy ExtraOrdinary Wizard Marcia Overstrand, a "queenling" who doesn't know she's a princess, Stanley the Message Rat, a mysterious boy called "Boy 412," the evil DomDaniel, and a ghost who used to be the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. As good and wicked forces fight each other to gain power and secret identities are uncovered, readers literally will be on the edge of their seats.

  --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon