Customer Reviews

Geomancer (Well of Echoes) (Well of Echoes 1)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is a little funny, because I am often so critical of Ian Irvine, but I keep buying and reading his books. There is a compliment there in its own right. Is that the kind of critic that a writer wants to have? One that keeps on complaining, but also keeps on buying.

To be clear, I like a whole lot about what he does-- both here and in the View from the Mirror series.

This said, I have a sinking feeling that we are going to have yet another weak central character who I don't really like as a person. I understand that is part of what Irvine does-- work with characters who are talented, but not terribly heroic. Unfortunately, I really found it difficult to like Tiaan. She gives in and she whines. And once again that character is given a foil of a weak man to play against-- in this series it is the fickle Minis with whom Tiaan is paired. I sincerely hope that this develops somewhere in the continuing books, because this character element is the thing that gives me the strong "here we go again" feeling in the review title. In his last series, nothing annoyed me more than this character dynamic.

I am in any case curious to see what happens in this post-Charon Santhenar. I will buy the next installment, even if I grumble while I do.

I purchased this novel after reading The View From the Mirror series. Geomancer invloves new characters set on Santhenar. Their personalities are marvellously created with the same brilliant talent as Irvine use in the first series. It was a pleasure to read Geomancer. I eargerly await to see Tetrarch in my local store! Happy reading to you all :)

After reading The View from the Mirror series, I decided to go on to the next series, which is set in the same world. Geomancer has turned out not only a great read, but also engages the reader. I am definitely looking forward to the next book. Some reviews on The View from the Mirror series have been quite unforgiving. Although Ian Irvine's books are not the best ever written, they are not as bad as the reviews display them as. You really have to finish all the books in the series before you make a judgement or comment on his writing.

Geomancer is positively the best book I have ever read. Ian Irvine is a phenomenal story teller! The book is about a young Human woman named Tiaan, who is an Artisan (someone who makes controllers, magical devices used to power veichles) at a Manufactory in the mountians. The world of Humans is at war with a fearsome race of winged humanoids called the Lyrinx, who are determined to take the planet as their own.

The book is set in a totally unique time and place. The technology of the time is midevil, and yet futuristic. For example, their weapons are swords, spears, and javalins, yet they have veichles similar to tanks. It is this mix of new and old that makes the book soo interesting. There are also various fantasy elements in the book, such as Mancing, which is the use of the secret art, or magic.

This book is totally new and unique! This deserves a 10 out of 5! I can't wait to finish the series! Definatly a MUST READ! I highly reccomend this book! You'll fall in love! :D

Sincerely,

James Peters

I am an Ian Irvine fan and couldn't find this book in the local 2nd hand shops
Ordered if off Greener books London for 1c thinking it wouldn't arrive and it didn't so wrote them an email asking were it was and they said they would resend it and I got it within a week
Great-service and a great book thanks

The Well of Echoes is my favourite Ian Irvine series. Geomancer starts very oddly in a manufactory set in a world where life is hard and full of strange and wonderful machinery. The characters are a mixed bag. Nish is clearly central and a bit of a toady in this early phase. Tiaan is an artisan with a hidden talent who is framed for a crime she did not commit and she is forced to flee. The world is beset by war with brutal alien creatures. Clankers are the main weapon to defeat the enemy and these are powered by an unknown force which is starting to fail in some regions of the world. Nish and Tiaan's future are clearly intertwined as he sets off in pursuit of her. The novel is beautifully written and full of surprises. Characterisation is brilliant with a slow but good development of each person. Nish's father is superb and you eventually start to feel sorry for Nish as eventually he starts to show a glimmer of heroics.

David Burrows
Author of The Prophecy of the Kings

The first instalment to a new quartet that continues the events that began in the "View From The Mirror Quartet." This story picks up about 200 hundred years after "The Way Between The Worlds" in a gruelish battle against an adapting species that fled from the void. We follow our main characters Tiaan, Nish and others who take part in the war against the destructive power of the enemy forces.
This was the first book that I read in the Three Worlds series, and it blew me away. I loved every page and word of this exciting and brilliantly written novel. Ian Irvine really spent time perfecting this story, and it shows. I loved the aspect of a non good vs. evil type plot, because it allows for the reader to really be taken back by each characters experiences and connect with them on a person level. The story line and characters is original, which allows for Ian Irvine to create a vast world that no reader has ever experienced before.
I really recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about adventure/fantasy/fiction.

It's a pity Amazon doesn't support 4.5 stars.

This is very unlike many fantasy novels which are Good vs Evil. Irvine's style makes his work absolutely unpredictable - which is one of the qualities I look for in a book. (Predictablity and "pure evilness" really, really annoy me).

It is bascially about an alien spieces (lyrinx) who have been deprived of their homelands and have decided to invade the land on which humans live. So the two races wage war against each other.

We realise the lyrinx are not EVIL. They have goodness in them, and are only attacking because of their situation. We also realise the humans are not purely GOOD. They betray each other and are very self-serving sometimes.

The characters he creates are realistic heros - not unbelievably brave, smart and brimming with goodness. They are selfish, cowardly to an extent, blinded by their emotions and possesses many other natrual flaws.

Though sometimes, the characters become so flawed that you end up disliking the bulk of them.

Despite that, it's a very good read nevertheless.

this book is awesome. i really liked the storyline and the character development. the story was thrilling, and the plot about geomancing and the art of working with stones is way cool.

after about 1/4th way through i couldn't put it down.

I loved Geomancer! I was so excited to find a fantasy series that doesn't have any of the standard (and tedious) fantasy elements. Geomancer has well-developed characters with strengths and faults, a very blurry line between the good guys and the bad guys, and nonstop, unpredictable action. I enjoyed it so much that I ordered the rest of the books (Tetrarch, Alchymist, and Chimaera) from Amazon UK, so I've read the whole series. It's definitely a series, so if you don't plan on continuing, the ending of Geomancer might seem like a cliffhanger.