Customer Reviews

The Paladin Chronicles

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

... that this book ever made it past the first editor's inbox. The basic idea of the book could make a nice story if well presented and well written.

Unfortunately, the book reads as if written by a 12-year old with a profound dislike of literature, basically like: "And then Bombawhatever said: "We have to fight proudly" and then 99% of the humans on earth were killed by the very deadly plague but the survivors got along quite well with the help of the Paladins and then the Zillians were killed because they only had one cannon on their ships but we had two..."

Usually I value the story higher than the style of writing but when the style is as bad as in this book, I cannot enjoy the story anymore. I was not able to read more than 20-30 pages.

"The Zillians are coming!"

Printed largely across the back of the book, this phrase did nothing to prepare me for what I found inside. Zillians? Does he mean a lot of something? Seriously, Zillians?

Luckily, the book goes up from there. As a matter of fact, it sky rockets! The Paladin Chronicles is a wonderful story that looks to the future of mankind. It asks the question: With all of our differences, prejudices, and downright dislike of each other, can we pull it together to protect ourselves from an attack not of this world. And more: can we bring salvation to the other races of the universe?

Though a lot of the story is told in the form of histories, the book does not suffer from this at all. As a matter of fact, it does a great job of showing just how long lived the characters at the time are. It also shows just how far mankind has risen, just to fall again due to hate, distrust,

Philpot has done an excellent job of writing. Any given page of the book is reminiscent of past masters of science fiction. Card, Heinlein, Asimov: all of these and many more have definitely left their mark on the style of the author. The Paladin Chronicles outlines not just the story of a war, but also the lives of the character prior to, during, and slightly after. Stories of unrequited love, massive space battles, and galactic history all mix to make The Paladin Chronicles a must read book for fans of science fiction. I for one will definitely be buying the sequel when it comes out.

This review is developed from a few excerpts in a collection of posts made in an Amazon Shorts Forum in which Brad Philpot and I shared an ongoing commentary from my reading Brad's PALADIN CHRONICLES and his reading one of my nonfiction books. You are invited to visit that forum if you're interested in reading more of this discussion, which began (on Jan 1, 2010, page 53 of the forum) these exchanged commentaries on those two books a few pages prior to the posts included below; then evolved, mostly from John Cassell's purposeful development, into a dissertation about the differences between a Writer and a Storyteller.

Excerpts from posts by Brad and Linda discussing his PALADIN CHRONICLES, from page 54 in the forum in Amazon Shorts titled, "Toasting John Cassell's novel, "HELL'S QUEST: 1971": An ongoing commentary):

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Brad, I've finished reading THE PALADIN CHRONICLES!

The ending of PC is excellent, outstanding even! It's poetic, metaphysical, artistic, spiritual; with that mood providing pleasing, soothing contrast to the clean, profound physics of the sci-fi, and to the military concepts you've dramatized.

I was warmly surprised to discover who the omniscient narrator was, and what he did (and why) with a chapter or two of the chronicle he was writing. The way you described the sheet of paper falling from his hand was literally "poetry in motion"... artistry in ascent (okay it was a descent... a floating, pendulum swing, feather fall... your wording was perfection).

I particularly liked the way you came full circle with the ending chapter's chronicle giving slight contrasts and alterations of the prose used for your opening of the saga (the preparatory background describing the conflict between the Elders and the Zills). The mood change the ending gave to the rest of the book was pulled off beautifully, and reminded me somewhat of Clark's 2001 with its concluding scenes' transition in mode/mood from sci-fi's cool temperatures to the metaphysical, spiritual art of the ending on the star child embryo. The Paladin Chronicles as a whole was artfully done and fully entertaining with not one space allowed for lulls in reader involvement. - Post from Linda: Jan 28, 2010; 6:18 pm PST

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Linda, Thanks for the comments. Methinks the passage you were referring to was this:

"... lowered his arm and when his hand came to rest at his side, his grip on the page was loosened. It slid out of his long spindly fingers and started its slow glide to the floor alongside the bench. Like a ship gently swaying on a calm sea, it rocked from side to side on its downward path until it slid softly to a stop on the floor below the bench."

It may be true that occasionally the storyteller's hat comes off to be replaced by an ill-fitting writer's hat, if only to give a brief acknowledgement to the virtues of literary prose, but mostly I'm a storyteller. I'm happy you found some entertainment in reading it. - Post from Brad: Jan 30, 2010; 7:52 am PST

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Brad, I'm glad you posted a copy of that passage in PALADIN CHRONICLES. That is clearly an "acknowledgment to the virtues of literary prose." Well said! I wanted to quote that passage but didn't have time to find it and type it into my post. Your having done it in a response is more effective anyway! - Post from Linda: Jan 30, 2010; 7:35 pm PST

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Brad, I really liked the balance of horror you used which revolved mostly around the tastes of the Zillians for live food of sentient species who were feeling terror at the time of the feast. You provided ... scene, extremely well done, of that behavior, which was just the right amount to get the point across clearly and essentially. And the way you developed Lensil's reactions, physical, mental, emotional, and moral to being a forced observer to that scene was awesomely accomplished. Just the thought of the Zill's tastes kept the reader on edge through the whole book, so that was enough of an elevation of the feeling of horror to get the benefit of that mood without descending into the type of horror for horror sake which I can't read.

The rest of the book was engrossing and entertaining through other more complex, mature yarn spinning literary devices, mostly the warmth and sympathy developed with your characterizations and George [an enhanced, wholly loveable, space traveling dog]; but also through the great physics concepts which were easy enough to follow even for a person who has no background in dimensional physics. When I recall the feeling I had when reading the scene I mentioned and which you quoted in a recent post... the scene with ... dropping the piece of paper... what I felt was the actual laws of PHYSICS in play with that drop. Your words were that perfectly descriptive. And you accomplished the same feeling in the way you described what happens to passengers in a space ship making jumps to travel 40 or 60 times the speed of light. Well done! - Post from Linda: Feb 1, 2010; 1:22 pm PST

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Note: If you go to this forum and want to focus on the posts related to this novel's commentary, type "PALADIN" into the Search Customer Discussions box found on the right side of the pages, near the top. To get to the Amazon Shorts category discussions, go to Philpot's Amazon Short, Preternatural Creatures, then scroll toward the bottom of the page to the list of Customer Discussions and click on the Toasting...HELL'S QUEST discussion.

Relishing the good company of storytellers,

Linda Shelnutt

When I bought the book it had 9 reviews and score of 5 stars but one I started reading it I was astonished at how it was possible for such inflated ratings.

The storyline is completely linear and told in a way that you *know* what's going to happen next, there are some obvious "retcon'ing" to make the story work without bothering to do proper editing and the style is of hollywood Tv series script (that I found particularly hard to follow).

I rarely rate books but I felt compeled to write this review to try to adjust it to where I sincerely think it belongs.

PS: retcon = retroactive continuity: patch the past storyline in the present storyline.

You're gonna LOVE the Paladin Chronicles. Excellent science ficiton by a NASA technician working in our space program. I mean this guy has the exposure any sci-fi author would envy and can pack a lots of twists and surprises in the plot as well.

I bought this book as soon as it came out. My son on leave from Ft. Bliss read it in one sitting.

A great writer and a great American...B.W. Philpot

FIVE STARS

The cover of the book was certainly lure enough, the title interesting enough, but when I began reading, I knew instantly that I needed to hold on and be prepared for the "G" forces of plot, characterization, and speed of the science fiction I held before me.First at hand, the author developed the story extremely fast and then threw in bio-technical, military, and situational suspense and intrigue that kept me fixed to the book. At times, especially at the end of the story, the author gives the reader a glimpse of his poetic voice. This was a truly enjoyable read. Thank you Mr. Philpot for a delightful time in your pages of a fantastic sci fi adventure.

I downloaded the sample, short but the intro sounded interesting. A buck 75 later I found out there is no story or protagonists just a dry history tale. Told in the form of an introduction. Not a satisfying read at all. Problems with the writing mentioned elsewhere are present. A description of this uncommon style should be mentioned before purchase, and would have resulted in a better rating from me. I might have bought it anyway and with no feeling of being cheated.

Another reviewer notes that while the story is written in the form of histories, that fact doesn't detract from the book.

I couldn't disagree more. The book in fact reads like just like a history book....of the dullest period of history you can imagine. To say the book is boring is to understate the matter. Of course, if your idea of great SF is futuristic history book, then I suppose this book would be right up your alley.

The cover of the book was certainly lure enough, the title interesting enough, but when I began reading, I knew instantly that I needed to hold on and be prepared for the "G" forces of plot, characterization, and speed of the science fiction I held before me.First at hand, the author developed the story extremely fast and then threw in bio-technical, military, and situational suspense and intrigue that kept me fixed to the book. At times, especially at the end of the story, the author gives the reader a glimpse of his poetic voice. This was a truly enjoyable read. Thank you Mr. Philpot for a delightful time in your pages of a fantastic sci fi adventure.

This book had potential, the story itself was an interesting concept, with aliens who unsuccessfully tried to shape the development of one species trying again with humanity. The story telling itself was a let down, with uneven character development, a story line that tried to cover too many angles and left several unfinished. I can't say I would recommend the book in its current form, if it was edited and filled out a bit it could live up to the promising concept.