I borrowed this in high school from the local YMCA library and have beeen looking for a copy to add to my collection. From what I remember , this first cycle was a lot better than "Return to Eddarta" and "The River Wall" - found at a thrift shop. Rikardon may have the insight and wisdom of an old guy nearing death but he's still a bit too sensitive and feminine (for my taste) in portrayal. Gandalara is a small world so don't think this is an epic even if the whole series is made up of seven books. It isn't written in the grand style of Tolkien nor in the grim atmosphere of Donaldson's Covenant series. It concentrates more on the personalities and how they develop as they face their tasks and learn about the world they've entered. Worth reading if you don't want anything heavy.

These books depict a journey both physical and spiritual. The hero, Rikardon, and his partner Tarani make many discoveries about themselves and the world they inhabit. Many of the discoveries are a surprise and I won't give them away.

Suffice to say this series is very well written with well fleshed out characters (both human and non), a good historical background woven into the story, and a fast paced and detailed storyline which makes the book(s) hard to put down. They should not be out of print.

I first read these books back in the 80's when the were still in paper-back singles. Let me tell you I pined and fretted until the next one would be released!! I would finish each book in about 20-30 hours of straight reading! These authors have the uncanny nack to make the story so tangible, you'll feel the heat off the desert foor. The mind link of the hero with his horse-sized ridable cat will have your brain in agony when their telepathy is severed during one of the books.You'll find yourself having a glass of water always at hand to deal with the arid and hostile enviroment described within. I just can't enough good things about this series. Positively the most impact ever made on me by fiction! If you find these gems, never ever lend them out as I so foolishly did.The best part of the whole series is the suprise ending that make you reasses your position on this fragile planet. Great outlining of story line is the key to this series success. Vikki did a great job of finishing for poor Randall, who deteriorated before the completion of the Gandalara Cycle. If you have luck of obtaining this series, you'll never regret the time and trouble incurred!

I loved the gandalara cycle as a whole and highly recommend it to anyone who can find it. They've been out of print for a long time, but the plot, the deasert scenes and the telepathic horse-sized ridable cats are the best! There is also an interesting twist at the end, and a talented illusionist named Tarani who really lifted the story, by far the best literature I've every read, if you've read The Catswold Portal, The ghatti's tale and the black gryphon, and loved 'em, I promise these top them all!

I highly recommend this series to any fantasy lover. These books rate a spot on my bookshelf right next to my Narnia series and the Lord of the Rings. The wondrous relationship between Ricardo (or should I say Rikardon) and Keeshah, the large desert cat, made me long for a Shaum friend of my own! Oh, to feel the wind in my hair, riding across the hot shining desert on the back of a huge, telepathic cat! Anyone who is hooked on the Ann McCaffrey dragonrider series, or even the new Phillip Pullman series (The Golden Compass) will love these books. I have reread them numerous times and never tire of them. They will keep you hooked right up until the last book, The River Wall, where the mystery of Gandalara is revealed, as well as Rikardon's true purpose for being transported there from his own world. Believe me, at 30+ years old I have read everything from C.S Lewis, Greg Bear, Frank Herbert, you name it. I still love these books better than any of them. Its a real shame they are out of print. If you can find a used copy do so, and you won't want to part with them!

... if only to know how things turned out (I've read Cycle 1 and "Return to Eddarta"). There have been absolutely no clues in the earlier books (at least to someone as ignorant in geography as moi) but although I relegated the connection between our world and Gandalara as only incidental it shows up again in a surprising way in this final book.

Rikardon and Tanari's relationship have become less interesting now that they're on each other's side but the development of their characters doesn't stop and things are always happening from the first book to this seventh.

I hope I can find the whole cycle 2 trilogy to complete my collection.

With the unfortunate and untimely death of Randall Garrett, Vicki Ann Heydron writes an outstanding end to the Gandalara Cycle. Vicki, Randall's wife, creates a wonderful conclusion using their collective notes from their years of work on the series.

All of the questions from the first books are answered with a surprising twist of enlightenment. This book is written exceptionately well and is very entertaining. One could read it as an individual work and still be very well entertained. However, it is suggested the reader purchase the entire set of books that makes up the Gandalara Cycle to fully enjoy the whole storyline.

I only wish there were more copies available for public purchase. You'll find the availability of the series to be rare with good reason. Those who do own the entire Gandalara Cycle will not easily give up their copies! If there is a good resource for finding it, Amazon.com is it.

Good luck and happy reading!

There are only a few series-stories out there in existence that excells from the very first book to the last, the first chapter to the last, the very first page to the very last. George Lucas's infamous Star Wars series, the entirety of JMS's Babylon 5 series...and the Gandalara Cycle. To find a single one of this seven-book, out-of-print series is a treasure; to find an entire set is incomprehensible, because virtually all I have heard who had read it refuse, outright, to part with their copies. 'The River Wall', the conclusion to the series, not only brings to a climactic close the ongoing storyline and the plot-twist revelation, it delves into the very nature of sentient existence with the ease of a boat being pushed onto the water; Ms. Heydron carries the reader to the conclusion that we are more than just tool-using, verbose descendants of apes. That our nature is not defined by our DNA, or our physical shape, but that it's how we think, and what we do, that defines us as worthwhile beings. We are Human, and we are Gandalaran, too. Ms. Heydron and the late Mr. Garrett have written a series sentient beings can be proud to read.

At last! In this book we learn, at last, where Gandalara really is (closer than you think) and the thrilling purpose Rikardon (nee Ricardo Carillo) was brought there to fulfill. Will he save the Gandalaran people and their magnificent feline companions? Will true love and heroism prevail? A truly wonderful end to a classic sci-fantasy series. All the research, forethought, humanity, and understanding that went into the creation of this "universe" come together in a heroic and hopeful end.