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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great first book, November 13, 2005
This review is from: Nomadin (Paperback)
Nomadin is Mr Cormier's first published novel, which I could not quite believe when reading the book. The prose flows with an expert's hand and the pacing is excellent throughout. The characters are well rounded and not typical stereotypes of the genre, which would be an easy trap to fall into in a tome that sits comfortably with its peers in the YA market upwards. Mr Cormier scatters similes throughout his work to good effect, painting vivid pictures in the reader's mind, making the read thoroughly engrossing.
A liberal amount of humour is written into the book which serves to entertain the reader in this 'young boy coming to power' novel. It is this and the storytelling ability of the writer that keeps the reader wanting to read on. And, when the end is reached, wanting to read book two, which the author informs us is on its way.
The book ends with a few tangled webs still left to resolve. Usually, this would disappoint me, but Mr Cormier manages to end on a feel good note with all the major plot lines addressed while opening new ones for book two.
Nomadin is well worth a read and I would recommend it to all those that enjoy feel-good books. It is well written, holds a good plot and has enough hooks and twists to keep the most critical reader happy. Shawn Cormier is a welcome new talent in fantasy.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Darn Fine First Effort!, November 25, 2005
This review is from: Nomadin (Paperback)
I came across this book searching for something else along the lines of fantasy and was interested in the story immediately. I bought the book and started reading the night I recieved it. I work long hours and don't have alot of time to read but I still managed to finish this book in 48 hours, an amazing feat for someone with my schedule.
When I started to read this book, I will admit that I had one complaint. While some people may be comfortable with using their own imagination, I found that I wanted to know more about the look and feel of the characters and their surroundings. I don't feel the author thoroughly described the characters and the world of Nadae as he introduced them. I would have wanted to know alot more physically about Ilien and other characters from the start. I would love to have known things such as hair color, eye color, walking gait, if for no other reason than to better immerse myself in Cormiers world. I admit I'm greedy when it comes to this type of authoring. This is my only shortfall for the book.
Even though I disagreed with the way the characters were initially laid out, I found that story itself was fast paced and enthralling. I was constantly fighting back the urge to skip a page and find out what was going to happen next. It was a difficult thing to do. The sheer number of individual characters that show up within the first book change the story and send it into more twists and turns than I thought could possibly happen in a first book. While he travels all over Nadae, Ilien finds out very little of himself until towards the end, still not knowing for sure where his path lies. It leaves you begging for more of Ilien and his compatriots.
It's a good thing I bought the second book, too.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely fantastic!, November 13, 2005
This review is from: Nomadin (Paperback)
I absolutely loved this book! I am an avid reader of both adult and children's books and I could not put it down. I nearly missed my stop on the tube(metro) several times because I was so engrossed!! And all my friends who have read it really enjoyed it too.
Mr Cormier does brilliantly for a first time writer and I still find it hard to believe that he is. The characters are well rounded and not so perfect that one cannot connect with them. In addition he never complicates the story to the extent that younger children (or some of us older ones!) get confused and can't follow it. The ending also leaves you intrigued and desperate to read the next one.(which is also really good!!)
I hardly noticed any similarities between this and other writers and if there are a few: WHO CARES???!!! All fantasy writers have a lot in commmon: Terry Brooks, David Eddings, David Gemmell etc all follow the same pattern, which is basically taken from Tolkien anyway. I mean look at Stan Nicholls: he wrote a whole trilogy on Orcs?! Plus I feel this is aimed at slightly younger authors than the possibly referenced books(and I emphasise the 'possibly' here) so it really doesn't matter at the end of the day.
Overall this is a fantastic book, well written, easy to understand and would be appropriate for any age range. I would highly reccommend it to parents wanting to give their child a fun book for Christmas, to a child to put on their list for Santa Claus, or even us big kids who need some escapism every now and again. I'm 22 and I loved it!
Enjoy!!!!!!!
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