3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One Giant Circle of Fantasy and Romance, June 28, 2010
This review is from: The Palace of Impossible Dreams (The Tide Lords) (Hardcover)
I was on the waiting list for this book to be released finally in the US. It was on preorder with Amazon. As soon as it was available, Amazon shipped it to me. I inhaled the book in 3 days. It really kept me going, but was a bit of a let down, since it spent a large portion of the book getting Cayal what he wanted, while slowly building on the other aspects of immortal trouble brewing.
I felt I made one giant circle with this book in the series. Pretty much, things eek'ed forward just a bit in the greater picture, but not much else happened. There was a lot of saving of the mortals by immortals, Cayal still trying to die, more pieces of the puzzle put together. But there was no real solution found. It all just left you hanging at the end.
I'm just feeling a little put out that the whole ending was basically similar to the ending of the second book, just different circumstances. Though I have to admit, I had guessed the cliffhanger as soon as Prisoner 282 was found. Not too many surprises, but kept me wanting more at the end. To be realistic, I'm hooked on the series and wish the fourth book was ready to go. Will be hard to get back into the series if I have to wait two years for the next installment.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Immortals have Struck Again!, August 5, 2010
This review is from: The Palace of Impossible Dreams (The Tide Lords) (Hardcover)
I have been a fan of Jennifer Fallon ever since I browsed Borders one night and found The Immortal Prince. I have loved this series and every twist and turn telling the story of the ordinary humans who are inexplicably given immortality and the powers of gods.
Unlike The Immortal Prince though, this, as well as its previous book, The Gods of Amyrantha, simply serve a transitionary part of the greater epic. I am really trying to see where the author is going with this story, and the book is nothing if not a page-turner. I love all the characters, including the evil and amoral Tide Lords, victims of time, circumstance, and human nature, the human resistance group that despite all odds, still hope to find an answer to the impossible, and the crasii/scards who seem to have only one purpose in life: to serve the mortal and especially, their immortal masters.
The character changes in Declan as he struggles with the fact that he's immortal and a Tide Lord are a large part of this volume of the story. His creation creates quite a stir among the immortals as he is the first one to have been created in the last two thousand or so years. It calls into question the origin of the immortals as a whole, and how some of the first immortals came to be. The plot continues to unfold as Lukys' true colors begin to show as he gathers the immortals to his palace of impossible dreams for his own reasons. I have a feeling that whatever he has planned, won't be doing the world any favors.
Arkady's part of this story was also interesting as her experiences begin to reshape her life and her demenor. However, it is Cayal's behavior that actually irked me this trip. I loved him in the first book, as a suicidal anti-hero who while has done some really bad things, is not really that bad of a guy. There was such romance between him and Kady in the first and second book, but he seems to have forgotten all about it in this one. Honestly, though Fallon tries to lean towards Declan and Arkady being a couple, I'm not really thrilled with that. I like Declan, but only as a protective older brother type. Cayal is the one who needs redemption and has not known true love his entire long life. He and Arkady deserve to be together, especially after they experience such sweet romance in book 1.
Declan and Kady both discover horrible shocks about their life and their past. All the immortals are scrambling to find an artifact of ultimate power known as the Chaos Crystal. War is on the horizon and the Tide is nearly at its peak. The Immortals are beginning to come out of hiding, as when they do, it won't be pretty. There is only one book left in this series, and I have no idea how Fallon plans to wrap everything up in so short a time. I really like the immortals despite of the fact of how they have no concept of the value of human life. They are simply humans who have too much time and power on their hands, and the result would be the same of anyone who were in their shoes.
I can't wait till the next volume, and yet, I dread its coming, since that means that this awesome tale would come to an end.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
engaging fantasy, June 26, 2010
This review is from: The Palace of Impossible Dreams (The Tide Lords) (Hardcover)
Intrepid but obstinate Arkady remains married to Stellan, the heir to the Kingdom of Glaeba, but their relationship for practical purposes is in name only. She focuses on one issue; destroying the immortal nasty Tide Lords, who have one objective: rule the world.
Arkady's strongest ally in her attempt to end the Tide Lords constant intrigue is spymaster Declan Hawkes; though his prime motive for supporting her is not altruistic but instead he admires and desires Arkady. Ergo he tries one failed attempt after another to bring down the Tide Lords. At the same time, Declan stubbornly makes his tries to win Arkady by defeating her enemy; ironically his rival for his lady is not her husband but Tide Lord Cayal who courts Arkady while also considering suicide if an immortal can kill himself; as he sees her as his only anchor to live. Inside the Time Lord haven, their human-beast slaves the Crasii plot revolt from their masters as they want freedom.
The third Tide Lords fantasy (see The Immortal Prince) is an engaging entry although as with The Gods of Amyrantha the overarching theme does not move forward very much. The story line is loaded with subplots in which the best ones involve the big power control schemes of the three prime groups competing for dominance. Some fluff events especially in the harem feel more of a detractor, but the fascination remains with comparing the mortals, the human-beasts and the immortals as they share so much in common yet continue as enemies because each wants to own the world. Fans of the saga will enjoy the return to the Fallon mythos.
Harriet Klausner
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