Customer Reviews

Nomadin

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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!!!!!!!

While the first review was very negative, I wanted to write that I bought this book for my son for Christmas. When it was done, he complained that I had bought him another book that he had to wait for the sequel. And he's waiting. He loved the book, the magic, the adventure and the humor.

This book is a fantastic novel of magic, fantasy and genius that no person should miss out on! A great book for all ages, it is much like the books The Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Fantastic, Shawn Cormier! Bring on some more!

I loved this book! The first review said it copied this author, and that story, and yada yada yada. But I'm not one to sit around tearing a book to shreads over who copied who, therefore I enjoyed it very much! It was a great book and I can't wait for the next! If you like fantasy, then you simply must read this book!

What more could a fantasy reader want. This book has it all. It's filled with magic, mystery, edge of your seat thrills, humor, adventure, sadness, and a wide varity of creatures. My only complaint about this book, I'm not sure exactly what era/time it takes place in. It starts out leading the reader to believe it's our day and age however, it never confirms this and the remainder of the book doesn't explain this very well. However, the page turning need to read this book soon makes you forget to care about what era it's taking place in. Ilien is a good main character and his talking pencil is hilarious. However, it does seem that death follows him or does it? The giant dogs are ingenious, Anselm becomes a favorite character as well as Kink. Windy seems a bit flaky and isnt described terribly well, but again it's easy to forget this as the adventure unfolds. The ending of this book is a cliffhanger. It leaves you needing to read the second book to answer the questions it leaves open. If you are looking for a good read with a bit of everything in it, this is the book for you.

After reading a chapter sampler, I was hooked and knew I had to buy the book to see what became of llien.

A book of mystery and magic which I could not put down until I had reached it's end, eager for the next in the triology.

The signs of a good book, maybe even a cult classic in the making

It is amazing that so many books are produced for young adults that carry over the same theme. There is no end in sight, and many times the characters are never truly developed, or the plot confusing and left open for many, many more books to come along. The difference here with this incredible novel is that the characters are well developed and the story line brilliant. I have read many fantasy and horror novels, starting from my early years with Tolkien to De Lint and on. Cormier is well placed among them. Not that I am making him the equal to Tolkien, but his novel captures the same essence and makes one wish they were there, following the adventures, fighting the horrifying creatures, and traveling the same roads as our hero. I look forward to book two and three!
Cormiers handling of the people and places as well as the action is impeccable and diverse. He would capture any childs, or adults, imagination, and it is no wonder that so many here are lost in his magical world. I will not go into depth about the novel, no spoilers here, just read it and come away feeling you just took part in a great adventure that I personally hope never ends.

Michael Presutti
Author of Last Words

A fantastic journey! Awaiting Book 3, Mr. Cormier. - Rita Schiano,author "Painting The Invisible Man" Painting the Invisible Man