Customer Reviews

The Map of All Things (Terra Incognita)

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

 

 

Unlike the first book the Terra Incognita part two ends very abruptly. This isn't a bad thing but makes waiting till the third book release very painful! If your reading this review I will assume you've read the edge of the world and will not be spoiling much! This book starts off 6 years after the events of the first book. If you haven't read the first book in a while no worries Kevin J. Anderson has a nice recap of what has taken place prior to. Look forward to seeing many of the characters returning and playing a bigger role in this book such Criston, aldo and some that you may think are long gone..... The book is filled with sea monsters and epic battles while the war between Terra and Uraba keep escalating bigger and bigger. If your dieing for more sea exploration this book does a great job taking you into even more magical places that even posses more wonder than the skeleton island! The plot is thickening, secrets and starting to spill, and the Gods may be more than a story! This was a fast fun read and I would recommend it to any person looking for a great adventure book! May The Compass Guide You!

I almost didn't continue the series because of many of the poor reviews. But I was having difficulty finding something to read, so I said what the heck (well that's not quite exctly what I said, but you get the idea). I admit much of the "magic", "sorcery" and Sea Monsters are a bit over the top, and yes it's a bit predictable - but if you can take it in stride the book is worth the read. Don't be too critical.

The second book in Anderson's fantasy trilogy abnegates many of the features that made the concept and execution in the first book interesting, even compelling.

(1) The two religions competing over Ishalem are almost expressly equated to christianity and islam, quite removing the interesting possibility, so well sustained in "Edge of the World", that they are protestantism and catholicism. The allusions to political intrigue that alone reflect the church of Rome are too heavy-handed to be interesting.

(2) The very subtle elements of fantasy in the first volume are strengthened: sea monsters, aquatic ex-humans, magical spells all play an unnecessarily strong role.

(3) The continuing characters lose most of their complexity and conflicting motivations, intentions, and actions. They become parodies of their earlier selves.

To be fair, perhaps all this is quite intentional, because Anderson's world has entered a dark and unsubtle period. But even if so, the third book will either end in light -- the stronger presumption -- thus even less subtly than what we have had so far; or, if not, it will be a total waste of fantasy, since our own world as it is is quite dystopian enough not to require fantastic treatment.

But the second volume is disappointing enough that when the end comes, it's all too likely I won't bother to read it.

I really enjoyed the first book in this trilogy and was excited to get the second one. Happily, I can say that I was not disappointed. I enjoyed this book very much, the story is fantastic, and now I have to wait for the third one. The waiting for the next book is the only bummer. For anyone who likes Kevin J. Anderson, this is a must have, and for all fantasy readers, it's a great addition to your library. Enjoy.

I really enjoyed this book! I don't know quite what else to say. :-)

I would say it had to do with the setting, but it doesn't, I liked Saga of the Seven Suns quite a bit and its in space. I would say that mostly its the characters in the book that I like. :)

Except perhaps to say thanks to Kevin for randomly signing books in an Omaha airport one day... which was why I picked up the first book - it was before i had my kindle and I went from place to place traveling without knowing what new books came out. He had just signed a bunch of the books at the bookstore and had em there. heh!

I was a little worried from the description of this book that there would be a little too much doom and gloom. There turned out to be a good deal of exploration and discovery. Of which, I was glad.
As with the first book, there were no real "good" or "bad" guys. Just people caught up in the tide of things that they can no longer control. Along with some extremists on both sides. The war has lasted for years and you can see how all the main characters are being weighed upon after atrocities and bad decisions. At times, you just wish you were able to put the leaders of both countries in a room together and let them talk.
The action scenes did move along well. There was still some downtime to move the characters themselves forward too.
New elements were introduced that will play out in the final book. New characters were introduced and old ones removed from the stage.
I'm not sure how the third and final book in the set will end, but I am going along for the rest of the voyage.

I've enjoyed a lot of Kevin J. Anderson's other writing, and I enjoyed the first book of this series, so I had high expectations coming into book two. It's a good read, but it feels like it lacks the depth that Anderson was so good at in the Saga of the Seven Suns. Clearly he's trying to keep this story shorter, but the scope of the story and number of plot lines is great enough that it feels like we're just skimming the surface and jumping from character to character. By the end of the book it seems like practically all the characters have lost any sense of reason.

I still give it three stars because it's a decent read and there's not a lot of good stuff to choose from right now in the genre. Michael Stackpole's Age of Discovery books feel very similar though and are a little better in my opinion. I'm still looking forward to the conclusion of this series though.

Great book, can't wait for someone else to read it so we can talk about it.

The only good thing about this book is the cover and the empty pages in it. KJA has again made clear he is an "Dollar a page" type writer. Lousy story-telling, flat characters and FAR to many adjectives. It is all tell tell tell and not show. When will he ever learn?

I enjoyed reading this book. It started out a little slow for me, but I think that I couldn't settle down to read it. After a couple of days, I settled down and really started getting into the characters and how they were interacting. By the end of the book, I was enjoying myself and enjoying the setting up for book three. I was totally surprised that the book went into the Fantasy aspect. That the legends that characters had been hearing all their lives was being seen. Usually, in other books I've read, the legends remain legends. But now we get to see how everything ties together in Book 3. I'd recommend reading this book in conjunction with the first book.