Customer Reviews

The Road to Ehvenor (Guardians of the Flame)

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

 

 

This book kept my attention and added more humor than in his past Guardian of the Flame novels. The magical elements were more inspired and Walter's POV was refreshing. I've read all of the Guardians of the Flame series, and I enjoyed this one the most. I decided to comment on this book because of its other review on this page. It's funny how different each person's opinion can be. In case anyone wants to know, the book I least liked in the series was The Heir Apparent because of a tedious middle section. In contrast, The Road to Ehvenor was both exciting and humorous.

I bought this book becouse I LOVED the previous books when I opened the book and read the first few pages the pov was confusing but as I got into it I got used to it Walters witty coments added a great touch of humor this is one of the greatest books I have read in a long while

Just when you think that Joel Rosenberg is getting ready to wrap up the Guardians of the Flame series, he turns the stage over to a different character, and turns it all personal and intimate and kicks it onto a higher plane . . . .

. . . without losing the element of fun that's made this series so great.

This series had rolled along very nicely, not a typical fantasy series but with some of the same elements. There had been five books and some people felt that they got weaker after Karl's death. I thought they were weakest right before Karl's death and that his death let me keep reading the series. Still, a five book series is getting pretty long and I didn't expect what happened with books six and seven.

This book and the next one, _The Road Home_ make a very large jump in quality. It is almost a shame that Joel didn't pour this excellence into a stand-alone novel or two or into the start of another series. Because almost no one is going to read these books who hasn't read the first five. Now reading the first five is no tough chore. They are fine but they don't measure up to the Road books.

The things that make these books so great are the depths we plumb into Walter's thoughts and feelings, the echos of Tennyson's Ulysses and Andy's tragic situation. Other than that, we get more rollicking storytelling and a bit of the usual humor.

This is my review of _The Road Home_ also. I'm lazy.

When I read the first book of this series, which I found at a yard sale, I was sucked right in. I loved it! All of the books that had Karl in them were great. But----, as far as I am concerned, the further the series goes, the weaker it gets. It is like Mr Rosenberg is digging for a storyline, some character that can fill Karl's shoes. Duh! Can't be done. All I can say is, when he killed off Karl, he killed off the series. What a shame!

Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series is one of my favorite fantasy tales, but this one seemed to be "just another sequel". The character development and depth that I enjoyed in the first couple of books in the series didn't seem to be there.

I suspect that those who are familiar with the Guardians of the Flame series either enjoy Slovotsky greatly or loathe him. Since the entire tale is told from Slovotsky's point of view, don't say you weren't warned.

I did find the narrative interesting--some of the most moving parts in this novel involve Walter's reminiscences, which turn out to be relevant to the plot. Sort of.

And you see, that's the problem: plotwise, this is the series' weakest novel (unless it's _The Road Home_, which I haven't read). You do see some interpersonal relationship tangles--or, as Slovotsky puts it, "musical beds"--but most of the time I scratched my head trying to figure out the *point* of everything that was going on.

Read it for Slovotsky's humor and for some interesting, if extreme, first-person storytelling. (Perhaps this would have been better as a collection of vignettes? Beats me.) Just don't expect anything heavyweight.

I found myself dissappointed in this Guardians of the Flame novel. With the Heir Apparent and The Warrior lives I was drawn back in hard, but this novel really let me down.
Point of view in the story has shifted to Walter Slovotsky, and he is a character that I have a hard time identifying with. He is arrogant, rude and insensitive. He cheats on his wife constantly, uses women like 'shake-n-bake' bags and has the gall to be hurt when she is unfaithful to him.
The pace limps along for much of the book. Had Mr. Rosenburg spent as much time on plot as he did trying to impress us with his culinary knowledge it would have made for a much more interesting read. As it was everytime Walter began to eat I started skipping pages.
Later installments in the series are better, but he would be better served by moving Jason back into the limelight. The Cullinane family makes for better characters.

This series is great! The concept was creative ad well entertaining. Joel Rosenburg delightfully colors his characters with strengths and weaknesses, making them very easily to relate with.

Yet there is one major flaw I see in Mr. Rosenburg's writing of this series. EVERYONE has to sit "tailor-fashion".... Do you know how OLD this has become after re-reading this series straight through? Walter Slovotsky sits tailor-fashion on the boat, Tennetty sat tailor-fashion while sharpening her blades, even Ahira gets to sit tailor-fashion! WHAT'S UP THE TAILOR-FASHION SEATING ARRANGMENTS? This descriptions is laced through all the books like wormwood in how much it is used. It begins to detract the reader from the excellent story that is written here.

The only negative critique I have for Mr. Rosenburg is that he needs to write his characters as sitting in some other way than "tailor-fashion". He has worn holes through this term, and should not use it again.

I wonder is Ellegon gets sit tailor-fashion in The Road Home....?

the first 3/4 of the book i could do without. 3/4 of cairator development in the 6th book and very little plot development or action is a grate way to bore a reader. after the first Walter dream segment skip the rest, that never goes any were.