A Prison Unsought: Exordium #3 (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author), David Trowbridge (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Brandon vlith-Arkad, heir to the Phoenix Throne, along with the Rifter pirate crew of the Telvarna, seeks a means of rescuing Brandon's father, Gelasaar, who is fighting his own battle with his former fosterling, Anaris. Original.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction; 1st edition (August 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812520262
• ISBN-13: 978-0812520262
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #560,341 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reprint these books!, August 24, 2000

By	Erroll Harper (London, UK) - See all my reviews

Wonderful and wonderous...

My comments apply to books 1-3(I look forward, with delectable anticipation to reading books 4-5!). I cannot praise this series enough.

Why read these books?

The pacing is excellent. Nether too fast nor too slow. Science Fiction thriller fans will want to stay with it (and turn pages). Fans of writings on complex, intrigue-bound societies will delight in the almost delicious, subtle and intelligent interactions of the characters. Faultless.

They are extremely well-written; their style has a hint of romanticism; a dash of the lyrical and plenty of originality.

The characters are numerous but the authors manage to make them "rich" enough to be memorable(even the minor players) to the reader. This is handy, since this volume is space-operatic in overtone; the canvas quite large(but absorbing).

One minor criticism I have is the way our chief protagonist(Brandon vlith-Arkad) manages to ride with a zen-like mastership over events both good and evil. Possibly, more cynicism, on the character's part would have been in order. No real criticism, however since he appears like a (mildly inscrutable) but central entity who brings the other rather more 'emotionally-rich' characters into sharp relief(no doubt this style is part of his training) and disperse the attention away, somewhat from him as "hero" (no bad thing!).

It is not easy to juggle and balance atavistic action with political "manoeuverings" and relationship game-play. To my mind, the authors have achieved this.

Reading (the amazon.com) interview with Sherwood Smith I can see why authors like Austen, Wodehouse and Tolkien(who influences everybody in the world!) are mentioned. Whilst indirect, readers familar with their writings may see the influence.

The publishers really need to re-print this volume(and re-market!) if only so that, at some future point in time,I can buy another set and discard my rather well-thumbed versions!

Fabulous.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lightning strikes thrice, November 22, 2000

By	Vincent Stoessel (Columbia, Md) - See all my reviews

This is a book that I have put off reading for years. After fully enjoying the first 2 books in the series, I really didn't believe that the authors were going to be able to keep up the suspense and intrique of the first 2 novels, but I was wrong. This book is a very satisfying read for those that like their science fiction really well thought out and with awesome character development. I would say that Smith and Trowbridge on this project are like the Guy Gavriel Kay of Science Fiction. If you can find copies of these books, grab them!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dorothy Dunnett in Space, July 28, 1997

By A Customer

Nobody does high society intrigue like these guys do. Incredibly complicated, good sf values, humor, action, everything is there. The publishers ought to get more from these authors.