The Shattered World [Paperback]

Michael Reaves (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Baen (March 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671559516
• ISBN-13: 978-0671559519
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,999,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Tomb of the Necromancer, May 29, 2003

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shattered World (Hardcover)

The Shattered World is the first novel in a duology, followed by The Burning Realm. "There was once a beautiful world of green and gentle continents ... Shining cities were built by the hand of man, and empires rose and fell. In measureless caverns beneath the ground, an inhuman race known as the Chtons ... pursued their own ways ... the world was shattered by a cataclysm that sent the fragments spinning into the void ... A cabal of sorcerers ... provided an envelope of air ... and created runestones ... that provided weightfuness on the surfaces of the fragnents and kept them orbiting each other ... "

In this novel, the thief Beron is caught with the stolen goods on him, found guilty, and remanded to the custody of Ardatha Demonhand for punishment. She informs him that the trial was really a ruse, for she wants him to steal a talisman from Pandrogas, the master of Darkhaven. In return, Ardatha promises to remove the curse from him that forces him to occasionally shapechange into a bear. Unknown to him, the talisman is the runestone for Darkhaven and it is being stolen for the Circle, of which she is a member.

Marquis Tahrynyar has fled to Darkhaven with his wife Amber after an assassination attempt by his enemies. He has been on Darkhaven for a year and during that time Amber has begun to love Pandrogas. While he is not happy about the affair, Tahrynyar owes his life to Pandrogas, who rescued him from the Demogorgon, the ruler of all Chtons, after his ill-advised reading from the Red Grimoire.

This story is a quest for the lost runestone. Pandrogas also searches for the magic of the Necromancer, while Amber comes to realize that she too is capable of magic.

Recommended for Reaves fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of sorcery and intrigue.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quintessential Fantasy, August 19, 2007

By 

Judah (Terre Haute In USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Shattered World (Paperback)

As far as dramatics go, this novel is awesome, with a sustained climax of a hundred fifty pages of exotic settings and danger. It takes place in a world destroyed and recreated in cataclysm, where land masses are asteroids floating and orbiting in an abyss filled with breathable air and unpredictable weather.

For me, this is the highest high fantasy I ever read. Why? Because of the beautiful language. It's not like I have an English degree or anything, but I play the Magic the Gathering card game. I kept seeing obscure fantasy words that appear on magic cards... stuff like azoic, sedge, tor, odylic, and autochthonic. This simply reinforced everything together in a united whole. Having one of the main antagonists be the demonic Lord of Snakes, Demogorgon (reminded me of Demigorgon from the original AD&D supplement 'Deities and Demigods'), simply added to this total experience. Is there a prestige class for cloakfighters yet?

Anyway, as much as I loved that stuff, I could not stand a small part of it. One main character is a thief named Beorn, who can turn into a bear. For the first fifty pages, all I could think of everytime I saw that name was Gandalf and Bilbo getting fat on honey while staying at Beorn's house during winter after coming back triumphantly from slaying Smaug in Tolkien's "The Hobbit."

If you like unique and strange fantasy realms, do yourself a favor and buy this book.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Surprise., September 27, 2000

By 

Francisco Pimentel "thermopyle" (São Paulo, São Paulo Brazil) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shattered World (Hardcover)

It isn't a well known book , actually I only know of me and my brothers having read the book. When I showed it to them they gave me a frown at first and took a lot of convincing to make them read it but once they read it they loved it just like me. The world is richly pictured and very cohesive. The characters are not so well thought out except the thief and his lycanthrope problem, he is a truly 3 dimensional character and you love him from the start. So do give this book a chance it will surprise you