The Crystal Palace [Paperback]

Phyllis Eisenstein (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 1 pages
• Publisher: Roc (November 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451156781
• ISBN-13: 978-0451156785
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #715,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A fitting sequel to the Sorceror's Son., November 26, 1999

By 

Mark Lamont. (Winchester, England.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Crystal Palace (Paperback)

This book was, I think, one of the best fantasy books that I have ever read. In the previous book, Cray finds that he has inhereted a powerful legacy not only from his sorceress mother but also from his similarly empowered father. The Crystal Palace shows within its pages how Cray's knowledge - not his enthusiasm - of sorcery increases.To fill this void within himself Cray must look beyond his life and his world. Eisenstein is a mistress of her art and this book serves to exemplify her skill.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but pales in comparison to Sorcerer's Son..., May 25, 2001

By 

Esn024 "esn024" (Toronto, CANADA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Crystal Palace (Paperback)

I have to say: I absolutely loved the Sorcerer's Son (the book that this is the sequel to), and I thought that this book started out good as a sequel and as a normal book. However, although the book had many twists and surprises I thought that the overall experience was duller than the first book, and there are some errors that do not fit with the first book.

It seems that although Eisenstein has in some areas expanded the sequel from its origin, in other areas she has shrunk it back, at the expense of the book; for instance (no spoilers except if you haven't read Sorcerer's Son yet, and even then it's a minor one), we are now told that Cray's mother is the only sorceress/sorceror who is not evil and doesn't recruit demons in the whole world, wiping out a lot of possibilities for other characters and contradicting in a way with the first book.

I also thought that too big a chunk of the book was spent inside the crystal palace with somewhat repetitive talk going on between Cray and Aliza. I have nothing wrong with character development, but I would have preffered that Eisenstein had drawn out a story in which the character development could happen "on the move" as it did in the first book.

Another splotch for me was the badly chosen "evil" in the book. (possible spoiler) Having wiped out other possibilities by saying that Cray's mother was the only one who practiced magic besides recruiting demons, we get barely a sense of real danger from the evil sorcerer in this book since we see that he's not even as strong as the one in Sorcerer's Son. It seemed like Eisenstein kept on trying to add on special evil powers to him all through her book to cover what she realised was a rather weak archfiend.

However, I can't deny that I still love Eisenstein's writing more than most other authors'.

So I give this book a "4". In comparison with Sorcerer's Son, however, I would give it a "2.8"

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SPECTACULAR!, November 14, 2000

By 

"gamemeister3" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Crystal Palace (Paperback)

This book has great memorable characters that you can identify with as well as think of them as your own friends.A fantastic sequel to the book,Sorceror's Son.Kudos to Phllis Einstein for her effort.A third book would very welcome.