This was a spectacular find. I loved this novel and found it very hard to put down. There was no way for the reader to know which direction the novel was going to next as there was a new twist around every turn. The characters are very real, and never stray from the form the author has constructed for them.

The story line was also one of the most original I have read to date. Yes, this is set in the time of castles and magic, but you will be amazed at how different the story is from others in its genre. I wasn't dissapointed.

Excellent book that I found years ago and have always remembered - simply and elegantly told, with a big huge "ah hah!" moment payoff that's just so much fun that I'm dismayed by a review below that gives it away. The review was written with all good intentions, I know, but trust me:

If you intend to read this book, don't read the review below entitled "One of My Favorite Books"!!

This is one of my faves... anyone into fantasy should check it out... has some great plot twists.

I will admit that I am a voracious, but picky reader. I like a lot of books, but seldom love them. However, this is a series that I do love. It is not all 'Hollywood endings' and stalwart, dashing heros. The Fey world is well developed and the characters are very interesting. I don't think it is a great idea to pick this book up without having read the previous ones. Although it can certainly be read on its own, the story will more rounded if read in as a series. In order to fully absorb this book, you should read the series from the start. I place Kristine Rusch up there with Guy Gavriel Kay, Robin McKinley, Katherine Kerr, and George R.R. Martin (my current faves.) My only fault with this book (and it's slight) is that I think Rusch forms a stronger relationship between the male and female sibling main characters than was previously there. Bottom line, I will certainly keep buying and enjoying this series.

With the recent decline of some of my favorite authors like Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Raymond E. Feist and even Terry Goodkind to a lesser extent, there hasn't been much to get excited about in fantasy. This was the first novel I've purchased in months and I loved it. This is the eleventh book I've read from Rusch, including all the Fey series. This one in particular stayed focused on the main characters with credible tension, disagreements and magical battles. The characters are as real as an author can get. I like this series because it moves through time(unlike Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time). Main characters do die in this series and we get to move on and read the stories of their children. If you're looking for a Rusch novel outside the Fey stories, try Traitors. I can't believe she's so low in Amazon's sales rank. Rusch is a great author.

I haven't exactly finished this book yet, but on the first day, I've read more than a hundred pages. Part of that speed comes from me reading the entire series, and part of it comes from me waiting over a year for it to be released. Anyway, it is a fabulous book so far as all of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's are. It promisses to be her best yet. Read all of the Fey books which are: The Sacrifice, The Changeling, The Rival, The Resistance, Victory, The Black Queen, and The Black King. All of them are great. Very captivating with excellent character developement. You really get attached to the characters in this series to where they almost seem like friends. So quick read all of them.

The Escape is an excellent book. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell what the story's about from the blurb on the back, so I suspect many people don't read it. The Escape is a time-travel story, and a very good one. The main characters in the book are Torres, Kim, and Neelix, who are separated from the others. We also get to see a lot of Paris and Tuvok working together, which is interesting. The plot is really interesting and very twisty - after all, it's time travel. At first, all the talk of Time Periods, Real Time, time-jumping and back-timing is very confusing, but the authors do an excellent job of explaining it and making it clear. I couldn't figure out how they'd solve the problem, and the whole book was very intriguing. This is one of the more inventive books I've read - most authors don't want to tackle the confusing concept of time-traveling, and it's great when someone does. Even though the book is a very early Voyager, the characters are well done and there are few errors. The Escape is a well-written, suspenseful, and fun time-travel story!

This is the kind of story that would make a great Star Trek episode. I loved the whole concept of this novel. It was well thought out. The characters were very interesting. I enjoyed every page!

This is a very original story that looks at marketing and fads in an extreme way. Rusch is becoming a top author in science fiction. She's up for two 2001 Hugo Awards this year -- and for good reason.

Extremes is the second novel in the Retrieval Artist series, following The Disappeared. In the previous volume, Miles Flint and his partner, Noelle DeRicci, are detectives in the Moon Police. They survive and solve three cases involving the Disappeared, people who have been helped to vanish from official view after being convicted of crimes on alien worlds.

Such Disappeared are considered criminals under interstellar treaties signed by the Terran authorities and all Terran police are directed to assist any aliens or bounty hunters who are tracking down such fugitives. These were Miles's first cases as a detective and the obvious injustices in all three instances are more than he can ignore. When he receives a large sum of money, Miles resigns from the force and buys the business of a friend who is a retrieval artist.

After learning as much about the business as he can from Paloma, the former owner, Miles awaits his first case. He is approached by a junior attorney with the firm of Wagner, Stuart, and Xandor, Ltd, to discover the whereabouts of a Disappeared. Miles is suspicious of the offer, especially when the woman mentions that Paloma had worked with them in the past. Fearing that he might be used as a Tracker, Miles refuses the case and then visits a research cafe near the University campus to investigate WSX. Shortly thereafter, Ignatius Wagner, the younger son of WSX's senior partner, shows up to persuade him to take the case.

Meanwhile, Noelle and her new partner, Leif van der Ketting, are directed to the site of the Armstrong Marathon, where the body of a woman has been found on the course. The body appears to be Jane Zweig, the co-owner of an extreme tours company. Zweig's partner, Brady Coburn, has discovered the body curled up in the shade of a very large boulder. When Noelle views the body, she finds several discrepancies that leads her to believe the death was not an accident.

Miriam Oliviari is a Tracker who has come to the Armstrong Marathon looking for Frieda Tey, a medical researcher who has been accused of exposing a group of subjects to a rapidly mutating virus and then cold bloodily observing their struggles and deaths. Miriam has joined the marathon staff as a contract medic in order to collect DNA samples from various suspects. She knows of an incident on the course, but is not concerned since it was reported as a male runner.

These three cases rapidly converge into a single disaster. Noelle gets to show her administrative talents, Miriam displays her leadership abilities, and Miles performs a hot pursuit in space. This rapidly moving story is an excellent sequel to The Disappeared, but sets such a high standard that it may prove a hard act to follow.

Highly recommended to Rusch fans and anyone else who enjoys fast moving suspense stories with twist after twist.

In the far distant future, mankind has treaties with at least fifty alien species because Earth and her colonies want to trade with them, humanity is subject to their laws. If a person has run afoul of an alien species and doesn't want to be held accountable under alien law, they disappear. Retrieval Artist Miles Flint, based in the Armstrong Dome on the moon, searches for the Disappeared for matters they left unfinished but don't hand them in to the law.

People, agencies and governments hire trackers to find the disappeared and hand them over the proper authorities. Tracker Miran Oliviari has come to the Moon Marathon run outside the dome to see if she can find Frieda Tey in her new identity as a business entrepreneur. She is wanted for the murder for the killing of many people in a scientific experiment gone awry. Before the Tracker can confront her prey, police detective Noelle Ricci investigates the murder of a marathon runner that Oliviari believes was Tey. Flint comes into the scenario when a client hires him to find Tey; a job that almost gets him killed when he figures out who she really is and where she is going.

Unlike the first book in this series, THE DISAPPEARED, there are no aliens residing on the pages of this novel. This is a medical thriller police procedural set in the future with humans judging their own. The antagonist of Extremes uses smoke and mirrors to conduct an illegal and unethical scientific experiment and in the confession, disappears. Only one person will find her and the person who blinks first will die.

Harriet Klausner

This four-part story that spans the entire "Star Trek" universe (until the fifth show arrives, that is) begins spectacularly, continues well, and almost peters out before returning with a bang. The first segment, "First Strike," takes place in the 23rd Century and depicts Kirk as a hero in both his accomplishments as a warrior (impressing even the Klingons) and in his determined efforts as a diplomat who wants to avoid the war in the first place. "First Strike" could easily stand on its own. But "Soldiers of Fear" fortunately avoids the danger of becoming just a remake/sequel to "First Strike." The added element of new technology for the villainous Furies -- a weapon that strikes at the very minds of the Enterprise crew -- creates an interesting element that maintains our fascination with the story. Then the whole thing goes south in "Time's Enemy." The initial premise -- involving time travel and the mysterious appearance of a centuries-old Defiant -- is certainly intriguing, but the story itself is rather dull and turns out to have very little to do with the Furies story as a whole. In my opinion, it is completely unnecessary, especially considering that the fourth segment, "The Final Fury," picks up exactly where the second segment left off. I wasn't much of a "Voyager" viewer at the time, but I became interested in the series when "Invasion" so fluidly continued the same story from the original characters to the Next Generation to Voyager. I would definitely recommend "Invasion." But skip the DS9 segment, which is as boring and pointless as the other three segments are exciting and epic. Well, three out of four ain't bad.

This was an immensely spellbinding and interesting read... The concept of having such a wonderfully continuous storyline is great, and extremely well thought-out. The stories blend nicely, and tell different parts of the complete story in each book. The characters, especially in the last two books, are portrayed very lifelike and true to their roles in the TV series -- they had me laughing at quite a few occasions! I had to put down everything else to finish this book first!

If you're like Trek then you will like this book. The 4 novel saga spans the centuries and does so with the greatest of fluidity. The basic premise is simple, an epic war took place in our little piece of universe before we got here. The loser of the war wants the universe back and the winners are nowhere to be found. The first novel introduces the losers and reveals that their presence has actually been well documented in the history of our quadrants aliens through mythology, from the Vulcan mythology to Human mythology and so on. The second novel finds Picard and the NG crew fight the FURIES off again in a true epic. The third novel gets a little more technical but finds us finally introduced to the victors in that epic war fought so long ago. These creatures are just plain cool... If not a bit gory... LoL. The 4th brings us back to the FURIES as they attempt to simply transport their entire planet into the alpha quadrant! This is by far the best of the 4 and completes the saga perfectly. I read this installment in a day. All and all it took me 10 days to read the 958 pages and that's saying a lot for me... You'll enjoy this..

A magnificient book for any of the Fantasy loving book go-ers. Rusch has an awsome way of writing. It pulls you into the story and builds the world around you. One of the best books I have ever read.

If you think the first book is great, than I assure you that this one is magic. What a plot. The characters are much more exciting than in book one.Espescially the Fey becomes a love-hate affair for me. This is reading on the edge of your chair. Great compliments for a fantastic writer.

I found The Fey: The Changeling exciting and intrigueing. I fell in love with the major Fey character Rugar and was very disappointed when he was killed out of the story by one of his own. I feel that Rugar should have remained in the series to see what relationship would have developed between his grand-daughter Arianna since he did not have much of one with Gift, his grandson. I saw strength and vulnerability with Rugar and found him magnificent as the Black prince that loved his daughter and his people strongly.

I secretly want the Fey to win this battle and I am currently reading the first book of the Fey, because I did not know this series was available until now. So my favorite character of the first two books was Rugar. Jewel was very close to her father and admired him, I was kind of disappointed that she felt that to bridge the gap between the two peoples, she had to intermarry into the enemy lines. I was equally disappointed that she was killed off so horribly.

Nevertheless, I am hooked on this series and anticipate the series of the Black Queen.

I borrowed this book from a co-worker with no expectations as I'd never heard of Rusch. I found myself glued to the book and only put it down by falling asleep because it was so late. Rusch does a fine job explicitly describing fantasy lands, people and magic. This is especially true towards the end when we are inside Arianna's mind. I am now interested in reading the Fey series. I also recommend that if people like these books, they should read Stephen King's Dark Tower series.

It was a good book, and it was cool to catch up on what's been going on since "Victory". It seemed that she spent almost the whole book on buildup though. It didn't say QUITE as much as I wanted to know, and there wasn't much action until the end. It was still excellant, and every Fey fan should read it. But it wasn't quite up to the last one's standard.

This book is the next installment of the Fey series, beginning 15 years after the last book, Victory.
Arianna is now Black Queen and has kept her people at peace for her entire rule. But they are beginning to grow weary. For hundreds of years, the Fey have conquered one nation after another, thier goal world domination.But this young queen from the peaceful yet deadly Blue Isle stands in thier way.
On top of this, Arianna is fighting a battle of her own with her old enemy, Rugad, who threatens to destroy everything has worked for.
Her only hope is her brother,Gift. But he is a world away, and getting to Arianna in time is practically impossible.
I reccomend this to anyone who enjoys a book with an exciting plot and unforgetable charecters.

The Fey series is such a good read! What first got me hooked on fantasy stories and faeries is A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton (BEST book ever). My fave characters in this series are Jewel, Nicholas, Arianna, Gift, and Coulter. The love between Jewel and Nicholas, and (my guess is) between Arianna and Coulter is really poignant. The only reason that I didn't rate this series a five is 'cause the author mercilessly killed off several of the characters I enjoyed--Solanda, Burden, and especially Jewel. Sob, sob. I am also hunting up and down for the 4th book, THE RESISTANCE. I wish the publisher would just continue to print it. Happy reading!

I love this series and only wish it was possible to get the 4th book without paying an arm and a leg. Still I read them all and skipped the 4th. It is an excellant well thought out book with interesting characters and a completely captivating world. The characters are real people with multi dimensions. They react like real people and die like real people. KK Rusch has created a believable world with adult themes and lets not forget the great and original magic. The followup black king and black queen are great too.

This writer really is the best. Since Tolkien I've never read a serie like The Fey. What a beautiful plots, twists and turnings. The book is full of surprises and well plotted. I can't stop and have to get the next two books. Really marvelous Kristine. Your serie belongs to the top 3 in the world.

As usual, I was intrigued by the characters and repulsed by the excessive brutality of these books. Ms Rusch begins by fleshing out the inhabitants of her story, to the point where you want to know them better and are rooting for them, and abruptly having them disemboweled. In other cases, the characterization seems totally thin.

On the other hand, you do truly get caught up in the action, and she doesn't give away much of what she's got planned. But there is just too much violence for me to truly throw my heart into this series. Characters seem to hold grudges for no reason. There is nothing really "sacred" here except the love of Nicholas and Jewel, which gets harder to understand as the series progresses. The children seemed spoiled and unlovable. Also, you might find yourself having to read it multiple times to truly comprehend her explanation of magic. The plot is often moved along by rather blatant deus ex machina, and she seems to be deciding who will live or die by rolling dice. There are also a lot of visions from the earlier books which are not wrapped up.

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend these books to the squeamish. There is much to draw the reader in, but every time I got into it I was shocked into distancing myself from the gore and wholesale genocide. Like being burned by the "pretty flames..." It'll be interesting to see how far she can take this now that there is peace between these races and Ms Rusch will have to find other devices besides blood and violence to get things going.

After avidly following this series (and I'm not one of those fantasy readers who commits to reading umpteen books set in the same world), I was disappointed in this ending. The joining of Nicholas and Matthias to defeat the Black King brought the legend of the Roca full circle, and to some extent resolved their differences. (And gave the ruthless Rugad a fitting ending.) But the events following that climax were depicted incredibly weakly. How did Jewel get the Fey to accept a "half-breed" as queen, considering that the Black King had left other heirs? (Perhaps that dilemma will be dealt with in more depth in the next series.) How did Nicholas, Arianna and the others get back to Jahn without encountering Fey armies? Were the fierce Fey truly that demoralized by the King's death? I also wasn't satisfied with the somewhat pointless wandering of Luke and Con, or with the "resurrection" of Sebastian. Nevertheless, I will definitely be reading the Black Throne series. Knowing Arianna, Gift, and Coulter are worth any minor flaws in the book's content.

These books just get better and better. The fourth and fifth books are especially good. The story is fascinating: I love the discovering of the true nature of Blue Isle's religion. The characters are not perfect people, which makes them all the more intriguing; Coulter is definitely my favourite character! Altogether: WONDERFUL!