Customer Reviews

Once a Hero

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I started reading this book very critically because I feel that a lot of the Star Wars / Star Trek / Dragonlance / Forgotten Realms / RPG novels are extremely poorly written. Michael Stackpole has a background writing RPG games (very good ones, I might add), Star Wars and Battletech books. Despite myself, I wasn't expecting much, but what I got was one of the very **best** books I've ever read. Michael Stackpole writes rings around all but the best and the greatest of writers, with whom he stands proudly shoulder to shoulder. "Once A Hero" has started me on an addiction for Michael Stackpole's **stunning** fantasy. I've torn through "Talion: Revenant" and "A Hero Born" as quickly as I could get my hands on them and was not disappointed. Sadly, this book, "Once A Hero" is out of print, although it's readily available online used. Michael Stackpole has other fantasy books in print and if you're a lover of quality, engaging, high-spirited fantasy then you'd be mad not to seek them out. I will read his books over and over again as the years go by. They're that good...

Every now and again, a book comes along which raises the bar for its genre. "Once A Hero" blows the bar to the stratosphere. Stackpole's epic tale, stretching across two interweaving storylines 500 years apart, contains enough action, character, humor, romance, intrigue, and betrayal to satisfy anyone. Don't even read the plot summary on the back: start at page one, and I dare you to put the book down for any length of time before you get to the end.

Stackpole's command of language is fantastic, and he uses it to great end in creating the different cultures of his world. In compact style, he defines Elven, Reithrese, and Human characters, makes them real, makes you care about them, and goes wild. From the enigmatic title character, Neal of the Roclawzi, to the evil Takrakor to the mysterious Dreel sidekick Shijef, Stackpole guides the reader through swordfights, mass battle, cruel cultures, hopeless love, and everything else needed to make a satisfying fantasy work.

To try to summarize this work is to cheapen it. I am not excessively familiar with Stackpole's other work, but this is magnificent.

Too bad this is Out of Print.
This is possibly one of the best fantasy stand alone novels i have read in years. Combines all the elements: comedy, drama, high action, with a splash of intrigue and romance.
BEWARE: ONCE BEGUN IT'S HARD TO PUT DOWN!!!

This was -- as far as I can remember -- Michael Stackpole's first non-series (Battletech or Star Wars) novel, and still probably my favorite novel of his.

The basic form of the book consists of two seperate time periods and arcs -- one in the past, centering around "the hero" Neal Elfward -- the other in the present, centering around Genevera, an elvish lass. The two inevitably converge, a technique Stackpole also uses to good effect in Talion: Revenant.

In terms of characterization, many of Stackpole's characters do represent archetypes, but they're executed well and with with enough individuality to be believable and interesting. The setting is similar -- it's the sort of setting that will be fairly familiar to most fantasy readers -- but Stackpole gives the standard archetypes he uses believability, and adds his own spin to it, using it for the book's "theme" of racial tolerance.

Overall, this book has enough action, adventure, and magic for any fan of the epic fantasy genre, plus interesting characters, and even a bit of romance.

I am and always have been a big sci-fi buff. I was introduced to Stackpole while making my way through the Battletech universe. I picked up "Bred for War" before spending the summer in Germany back in 1997 and have since added almost all of his books to my collection. "Once a Hero" was the first fantasy novel I had ever read and now split my reading time almost evenly between the two genres. His control of the english language still leaves me captivated, even after all these years, and has inspired me to write short stories of my own. Granted this book contains a lost of stereotypical fantasy aspects (elves, magic, swordfighting, etc), but that is what people expect from this kind of story and this book does not disappoint. This book is, however, extremely dense and it took me a lot longer to read than most novels. I found every aspect of this story intriquing, from its general layout and plot development, to the smallest details and sarcastic remarks. Even though this one is out of print and is, more often than not, expensive, I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy novels.

Had high hopes for this one...The writing was maybe a bit stilted in places, but the ideas and characters were at least interesting. I gave up a couple of chapters in, though. It seems like the Kindle version might have been OCR scanned, because there were a pretty fair number of typos and formatting issues. The typos were sometimes bad enough that you actually had to stop and step out of the story while you figured out what the sentence was supposed to say.

Overall, the Kindle version was bad enough that I couldnt enjoy the book, and I ended up putting it down and starting another book. I'd say, if the book seems interesting to you, consider it in paperback instead.

As most have said, this book is a great story that is very well written with good character, and I thoroughly enjoyed it on that level. It is a typical, deliciously good book of the caliber you expect from Michael Stackpole, and this book does NOT disappoint and I would say I highly recommend it to anyone who likes any of Mr. Stackpole's excellent works. And if you liked this story, get yourself Talion:Revenant, as you will not be let down by that story either. And who knows, you could help Mr. Stackpole change the face of e-publishing by doing so (See the Authors Blog for more on that).

That all being said, now for the negative, and the only reason that this is not a 5 star "book" in my opinion. The kindle version, as displayed on my Kindle 3, leaves me a bit disappointed in the "digital editing" for lack of a better term. A lot of individual words wind up with strange characters in them, and in one chapter somehow "I" became "1". It makes for a disjointing read at times, as JUST as I'm getting really immersed, I have to pull back and try and figure out just what in the heck that word is supposed to be. I like my books to be as well written as the story is, but getting pulled out of that story once you are immersed is just down right frustrating and really takes away from truly enjoying the story.

Overall, a good read and a good buy.

I enjoy reading Stackpole's work, and this book was no exception....but, the Kindle edition is full of formatting and grammatical errors. There are random punctuation marks throughout sentences. These errors really take away some of the joy of reading this book. I would recommend buying the paperback edition.

What kept the book from getting a fifth star should be noted first. As a kindle book the formatting done to present it was terrible. Between words that are filled with strange characters or new paragraphs beginning midsentence. For some this could be a deal breaker, but if you can muddle through, I recommend you do.
Once past the formatting I though the book was fantastic. Interesting landscape, races, characters, and I even loved the working of two storylines separated by 500 years.
A comment on the 500 year storyline gap. I read the reviews and saw that some loved this, and others hated it. I loved it, and here is why: it adds an element of suspense and drive to read further. What is more, it reminds me of Lord of the Rings when Tolkien split the Two Towers into two separate books, each covering a different story line. While Once a Hero's split is not quite as dramatic, the effect is similar.
In the end, I loved it.

This is one of the best books that I have ever read and by, in my opinion, one of the greatest authors out there. Stackpole doesn't get as much credit as he should for all his books. He's mainly known for his X-Wing books, which are good. But this book and Talion:Revenant are, in my opinion, a whole lot better. In this and Talion, he doesn't switch between the viewpoints of many different characters. Similar to Talion, it switches between time periods, but in the case of this book, it is a 500 year span. But you get the swing of it pretty quickly.