Customer Reviews

Scales of Justice

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In this book, Liam leaves the town of Southwark to investigate crimes on the court circuit in an official capacity as one of the Duke's Quaestors. His first town involves two capital crimes: A brother and his wife charged with conjuring a demon to kill his brother and a wizard found dead in his bed with a hideous smile stretched across his face. Liam is able to solve the crimes and the court travels to the next city. But, as they travel, Liam begins to feel that all is not right in the court. His fellow Quaestor, in particular, is acting suspiciously. Before Liam knows it, he is accused and convicted of summoning a demon to kill the Duke's Aedile! How Liam solves the mystery and saves himself is an action pacted adventure that you won't want to miss!

Once again, Daniel Hood has used superb characterization and wonderfully evocative language to bring his fantasy world to life. The characters are very three-dimensional and are normal people with strengths and weaknesses. This book stands alone (and Hood does a splendid job at giving new readers a quick synopsis of previous adventures when necessary), but will reward dedicated fans with more fascinating glimpses into Liam Rhenford's cloudy past. Take the time to find and buy this book - you will love it!

A legitimate puzzler whodunnit in a fantasy realm? At first glance, preposterous. It would be too difficult to avoid cheating. Which is what they said of mysteries in Science Fiction before Asimov showed how it could be done. Daniel Hood has pulled off the equivalent feat with his novels of Liam Rhenford, crafting fully satisfying mysteries in a detailed and vivid Fantasy realm. I should confess--I first discovered these stories when the publisher sent me a copy of Beggar's Banquet for review (not understanding that I do not do SF&F reviews). I was first intrigued, then hooked, then wowed. I spent my own money on the other two novels in print, will buy the fourth (actually the 2nd) if it becomes available again, and will snap up those that follow.

Daniel Hood again succeeds in creating a world which is as fascinating as it is accessible. Hood's talent lies in making fantasy meet reality - his characters are accessable, his settings imaginative, his tales spellbinding but never beyond the grasp of reality. It is easy to imagine oneself inside the story, riding alongside Liam and his hilariously humorless "sidekick," Fanuilh.

Most importantly, each successive novel builds on the previous and encourages frequent re-reads, but doesn't necessitate the new reader to buy the set. Pick one up. You'll soon want them all!

Dan Hood has created a wonderful cast of characters that resurface anew in this fourth book of the series. Liam Rhenford and his dragon familiar are "on the road" for a bright new change of pace, and the action and intrigue make for a compelling read. I missed the banter between Liam and his friend Coeccious, but enjoyed the expansion of characters and settings within the wonderfully intersting fantasy world created by Dan Hood. High Recommended.

I love the Liam rhenford series. liam is a queator which is like a police detective and solves a case adn gets arrested and thrown into the dungeon, but saves the world from an evil demon. yay. i hope more buy his books so that manuscript on Hood's shelf doesn't get really dusty.

Think of a pre-wheelchair Perry Mason in a world where swords and sorcery are the order of the day. Hood just keeps getting better.

Charles West

If you ever have the chance to find and read any of the books in this series 1) Consider yourself lucky, some sell for over $100 on Ebay and similar websites and 2) You will never regret picking it up.

Expertly written with a good dish of humor and quirkiness, the Fanuilh books in general are a great read and also one that you can reread over and over again in years to come. The way Daniel Hood weaves the story keeps you guessing throughout each fantasy detective story and, while they could all be read as stand alone books, they share enough elements that it is a progressive and complete story throughout the series (ie - its still best to read all of them because they *do* go together, but if you just found one you can really start whereever in the series).

The *only* con to these books is something out of the author's hands; their availability. I don't know why it is so abissmal, however it is nearly impossible to find a good copy (ie not a "reading" copy or "library" copy) online for anything resembling a reasonable price. Being out-of-print obviously doesn't help.

I will say, however, that after scowering second-hand bookstores there is a good chance of finding one or two of them. When I found the first three in one go I didn't realize how lucky I was, until I learned there were actually more books in the series. It wasn't until 6 months after searching that I found Scales of Justice hidden in a bookstore for the unbelievable price of $4 (and in almost new quailty!).

Good Luck and don't let this book or any of Hood's pass you by!