A fun novel, recommended to me by Bob Gore, who knew that I liked pirates (especially as seen in Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides). Bob said that Chase the Morning wasn't as good, and he was right, but it was still worth reading, and worth examining to discover why it isn't as good.

First off, the story. Steve's a hollow young urban professional in some modern European city in which the residents speak English, visit pubs, drive nifty sports cars fast, and engage in shipping and receiving. Steve decides to chase a whim one night and finds himself rescuing a dimunitive fellow from the intent of three dark fiends. No fantasy involved however. The dimunitive fellow is just a short guy, and the fiends are simple muggers. Wrong. These people were using swords. Steve tries to shrug off the incident, although it is the most exciting thing that has happened to him in quite a long time. And he can't quite forget it, and finds himself again down by the shipyard. In no time, he finds himself involved completely, as he again saves the short guy's life, watches some kind of voodoo creature escape from a bail of hay, and then has his secretary abducted by the fiends (the "wolves").

It's not On Stranger Tides or A.A. Attanasio's Wyvern. There is a real sense of two different worlds colliding in Chase the Morning, rather than some alternate world (On Stranger Tides) or some new world that strangely resembles our own, but is consistent within itself (Wyvern). Chase the Morning is a fantasy novel in which someone from the real world finds fantastical things happening to them. This can be okay, except most readers are so familiar with the genre (which ranges from C.S. Lewis' "Narnia," to Stephen R. Donaldson's "Thomas Covenant"), that the new author should know what's been done. Rohan seems somewhat attune to the genre, but I think it's obvious that he missed the Donaldson books in particular, and that his work suffers from it. In fact, trying to compare Chase the Morning with Lord Foul's Bain better brings out the problems with Rohan's book than trying to compare it with Powers, in which the only things really shared there is an idea of a milieu. That's because Steve is supposed to be an anti-hero, like Donaldson's Thomas Covenant. It's tough to write a story in which your main protagonist is an anti-hero, because a reader's first inclination is to identify with the protagonist of the story, especially in a field like fantasy, where the hero is often a thinly veiled wish fulfillment character of the reader (see Orson Scott Card's widely successful "Ender" books for the clearest recent example of the same). Covenant works because he is an intensely unlikeable character; he is often so intensely unliked that readers can't make it through the first part of Lord Foul's Bain because they can't, and don't want to try to, understand Covenant. Donaldson overcomes the problem by allowing minor characters to become personifications of the reader: the mother of the girl he rapes in the third chapter (and who knows of his atrocity) takes Covenant to the lords not because of what he could mean to "the Land" but because she hopes that they will be able to punish him (which she is unable to do because of his "power") or because she hopes that something good can become of his evil deed (that the lords can use him to save the Land). This is complex stuff for a fantasy novel.

Rohan's Steve, on the other hand, is a likable character. Oh, sure, he's described as hollow, but I think most readers wouldn't necessarily find that a damning description. Steve's unlikable traits are always described (told) to the reader; when the action gets going, Steve's always doing the heroic thing (shown). The reader translates this as Steve's the hero, so when the plot rolls around to using the fact that Steve's a dweeb who is worthless as a human, the reader's inclination is to say, "What?" So Chase the Morning is a flawed book. Rohan is someone with potential, though, because he realized that without the anti-hero idea, his novel was just another rehash of the same ol' dropping the modern character in the fantasy world. That is, Rohan is at least trying to go beyond formula, and while he fails, one should applaud the effort.

What I liked about this story is Rohan creates a concept that has so many possibilities that he could write and endless series of books off it(here he has written 4 so far). I didn't know what to expect next in the story because it was totally different then any other fantasy I've ever read. Highly recommend though I would have rated it higher if it was easier to get a hold of the complete series here in the United States. I would more highly recommend his Winter of the World series, but this is definitely a great read too.

If you can get hold of this book, do. Rohan manages the difficult 'crossing of the line' between the real world and Fantasy with consumate skill. His wordsmithing is superb when it comes to crafting an 'almost visible' fantasy world. The book takes the reader into a world of tall ships and then into the blood and passion soaked heart of the 16th century Caribbean - and then into the heart of voodoo. The characters - such as Gyp the pilot and Mad Mall are vibrant. I loved it. The plot twists and shakes and allows us windows into the frailties which make us human. Yet it is a triumphal book. It's time it was reprinted.

HOLD ON THERE! I have read all of this author's books. They are fantastic.
And I also have seen his presentation. He is not only good - he's great.
This guy is one of the best presenters I have ever heard. He not only has
the gift to connect with any age student, but his message was motivational
and inspirational to all of the adults attending. I understand he has
visited schools (at no charge) across the county - some 800+. My advise to
anyone reading this, GET HIM TO YOUR SCHOOL! We should all be encouraging
someone who takes the time to work with our kids. The only question is,
"Why aren't these books in book stores everywhere?" As a parent, I know
there are hundreds of us that want to see just that. Any publisher reading
this, "Call him." In fact, I will plug him. His number is 800-371-7709.
And to ANYONE who would try and stand in the way of his success. "Shame on
you." Maybe you should question your own character traits.

This book is so cute. It is in black and white, but my kids don't seem to care. I have yet to experience that! His books are all my kids talk about. He is even taken first place over "Potter," which I'm thrilled about. They are still young and impressionable. He also writes GREAT character books. I love this guy whoever he is. He made such a wonderful impression on them.

Magnificent Presentation!!!!

Excitement describes the atmosphere at our school due, to the motivational presentation given by Mr. Finklea during his recent visit. We had many, many students who voiced their dreams of becoming published authors. What an impact he made upon the students' learning! Motivation is one of the most important keys in a successful education. Our students enjoyed reading all of Finklea's books! Who are you calling Junior? received a five star rating from our students because they enjoyed solving the riddle in the book. This is a great Accelerated Reader book to read aloud to kindergarten through second grade students.
Michael Finklea visits elementary schools at NO CHARGE for more information call 800-371-7709!

I enjoyed the content of this book. I must stress that it is an intro to networking with Tcp/IP. It is rather vague in details on quite a few subjects in the CISCO arena. I was a little dissapointed with it's delivery of IP subnetting. I was looking for more of a detailed description relating down to the binary or hexadecimal values. Overall, I think it is a good book to start off with and to gather the terminologies from. It does give brief descriptions of many of these but doesn't exert details with many. If you are the person looking for an intro into CISCO routers dealing with an IP point of view, this book is for you.

This book is for those who wish to design networks at the router level. If you aren't designing networks, you may find this book not quite as useful. The Cisco Internetwork Operating System is out of date but most of the commands in the book still work but newers IOS will have a terminal wizard now that will setup up most things in the book much easier.

By the way, I am a network administrator.

although this is a pretty good book for beginners, it is not the best. But, then again , I am yet to find a execellent book for beginners on cisco routers.

This is a great book for a person who is interested in sprouting; it is very detailed and is truly full of very interesting and useful information. The book also helps to nullify a lot of the myth about toxins and hidden dangers in sprouts. The real dangers, in actuality, exist in cooked, processed, adulterated, toyed-with, sprayed, chemicalized, distorted foods (which our grocery shelves are full of). I am now 50 years old. Back in my youthful college days, I used to sprout a great deal, eating living foods exclusively. Though I stayed being a vegetarian, I got back into the cooked food craze... eating food like it was a drug for "taste" only. I work with the multiply handicapped and even though I am a teacher I have to do a lot of lifting (of adults who are not at all feather-weight). My arthritis (which runs in the family) was killing me, despite taking all kinds of natural and man made supplements. Getting back to live food was the answer I needed. Steve's book was inspirational and very helpful. I should have never deviated from what was truly the most nutritious way to eat!
There are many ways of sprouting. I happen to like the sproutpeople.com sprouters best of all. Steve's book is a priceless tool for anyone interested in sprouting... it has all kinds of neat tips and suggestions.
Also, one suggests doing a web search on Dr. Budwig's Diet... as most people are seriously deficient in essential fatty acids of the proper type. I take my oil with a little bit of live yogurt.
Anyway... I would not want Steve's book, including his Kitchen Garden book... missing from my shelves!
As Hippocrates said: "Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food."

Yes, as one person noted, the humor is sort of out of place. Bad puns throughout. I'm still giving it a 5 because it's the most helpful sprout book I've seen.

Friends of mine recommended it to me - they have an attractive set-up of baskets of sprouts growing in little seed-germinator covered plastic trays. They are thrilled with the book, and we are excited about starting to sprout. We did sprouts years ago in jars, but this system is better.

Though the book could be more condensed, it's still an easy read in a few hours. And where else is this vital information available in such thorough detail? If you are considering sprouting, you will find the information valuable.

I thought this book was terrific! It opened up a whole new world to me. Sprouting makes me feel like I can take part in growing my own food and can control the quality of the food I eat.

Being a Dutch reenactor and figure painter, I thoroughly enjoyed this well-illustrated book....till I arrived at the Dutch-Belgian uniforms. I know that Dutch-Belgian uniforms are not well documented in English sources, but the several errors I found ( cuffs, plumes, shakoplates etc. ) made me realize there's still a lot of work to be done in order to make sure the figure painter that wants to paint ALL of the uniforms at Waterloo has all the proper information he needs.

This book has 80 color plates! A complete description of each regiment's uniform, even those not pictured, is included. Haythorthwaite (say it real fast three times!) writes well, although those with no experience of Napoleonic uniforms may need the dictionary close by. This book is all the reference I need to paint my figures

Philip J. Haythornthwaite has assembled an impressive collection of highly readable, popular historical accounts on history's greatest soldiers, Napoleon Bonaparte.

This work features 80 color plates, usually with two soldiers depicted per plate, sometimes three, supported by sufficient text, to show what the soldiers were wearing at Waterloo. Its emphasis is on what they actually wore as opposed to what the regulations prescribed they wear. Originally published in 1974, this new edition features the same color plates and text, but the bibliography has been expanded to include additional significant works that have since appeared. An introductory history of the Battle of Waterloo, a short section on flags, and the orders of battle for the combatants round out this work.

The first two books in this trilogy were both in the 5 star category. Scott Rohan's weaving of the past, the mundane and the mythical into a wonderfully detailed and evocative magic-carpet is excellent. This sort of skill hasn't been seen since Zelazny. I found this book less entertaining than the the first parts of the trilogy, because Rohan has chosen Europe as his canvas. He does it well, but it is an overworked canvas, with nazi-villans, again. With the whole of history to draw on, there are plenty of other disgusting characters available. I preferred Fisher as a man still learning to come to terms with himself. The publishers have not re-issued the earlier parts of one of the best fantasy series of the last twenty years. These books have been inadequately publicised and have not recieved the degree of aclaim they deserve.

It's obvious that author Michael Scott Rohan has become very comfortable writing in the world of the "Spiral" that he's created. This is his third book he has written using this world and the same main character and it shows. This one definitely flows a lot more smoothly and his confidence is also reflected in the character of Stephen Fisher. No longer the self doubting hollow man (thank god) that he was, he is now the CEO of a major shipping company and can move between the "Core" and the "Spiral" with relative ease. Luckily Mr. Rohan has the imagination to come up with quite a challenge for his main character or it could've gotten boring watching Stephen Fisher swagger through life. One thing I did miss though was there wasn't the boat trips on old sailing ships that served as a catalyst in the first two books. Despite that though this book does seem to be an overall step foward for this series. I knew this was a good one when I kept being late because I just couldn't put the book down and wanted to read "just one more page". I hope this isn't the last we've seen of Stephen Fisher, the "Core" and the "Spiral". =: )

In the beginning of this book we learn that main character Stephen Fisher didn't settle down with the damsel in distress he rescued in his last adventure and live happily ever after. In fact he's become more obsessed with his career and has moved up the coporate ladder. This however has left him feeling empty and even more hollow than ever. Once again this leaves him open to the dangers of evil that plagued him in his first adventure. I realize this is an important foundation element for this story but in my opinion this also where Mr. Rohan almost sinks his own ship. In the fisrt third of this book there are so many examples, descriptions, etc, of how empty and hollow Stephen Fisher is you just want to shout "All right already, I get the point, get on with it already!" It got to the point where I was getting depressed reading about this poor hollow man and just about promised to myself that I'd make sure I never became very successful financially for fear that I may end up like this empty shell of a man. Luckily as the adventure began to heat up appearantly Mr. Fisher became too busy to think about how depressing his life was and the book became a lot more fun to read . Yes there is plenty of high seas adventure, fights (with humans and other mythic creatures), chases, romance and even a cameo from two of the characters from the last book. What more could you want from any sequel? Once again Mr. Rohan's writing style makes it real easy to slide into the world he's created which teeters between the hard reality of the modern world and that of the magical "spiral". In the end I was able to forgive the author for the rough start of this story and really ended up enjoying it. This book was kind of like a wild ship ride on an old sailing ship itself. In the beginning you're out to sea on a ship which has sprung a leak and you start to list. You finally get the hole patched when you're blown into a storm and all hell breaks loose. In the end you break free of the storm and are left slightly battered and bruised on a beutiful tropical island with wonderful soft breezes and you feel all is right with the world.

Michael Scott Rohan has created a beguiling world of mystery and subterfuge. As Stephen Fisher tries desperately to transport an irrigation system to the island of Bali, he comes up against some formidable and fascinating characters.

With a little help from his friends, including his shapely ex, a maori warrior and a sorceror called Ape, he battles the forces of evil to complete his mission.

The storyline rocks along and the characters are powerful and imaginative. The religious and mystical themes are well managed to give the story depth.

The only real failing I found was the author's errors in dealing with his maori character. He calls white men pakahes, instead of pakehas. His cloak is from the Tanaraki, instead of Taranaki and he calls women vahines instead of wahines. Little errors, but enough to grate on those who know (ie: the 4m or so people who are NZ residents or ex-pats.).

Good value for money and well worth a read.

I expected a lot more from this book and the marvellous Ms. Llywelyn. Unfortunately, the characters are very one-dimensional. They either prematurely terminate, or fail to develop with any intensity as the "story" progresses.

....It is as fine a novel as any of Llywelyn or Scott's other work. While the characterization here is acutely archetypal, excusing it readily from Proustian descriptive depth, it is truly memorable. The dark goddess Pythia is absolutely Lovecraftian in her gross morbidity and utter vileness. Hero Horatius strides manfully from the literary gene pool that spawned Odysseus, David, Beowulf, and Superman. The sensuously depicted settings easily bring Dante and Milton to mind. This is masterful storytelling at its finest from two of contemporary fiction's best.

Although usually not a big fan of fantasy, I found this story to be exciting and almost impossible to put down. Ms. Llywelyn and Mr. Scott have done a superb job of writing with their descriptions of the netherworld, its dangers and pitfalls . The premise that Horatrim's ancestors bestow upon him the powers needed to overcome all odds and to defeat the powers of evil are certainly in keeping with the modern idea that we all inherit certain qualities from our forbearers. I hope that there will be a sequel to this book as I really want to know what happens to these characters in later life.

If Catholics want to understand why unity is impossible, I would read this book. Protestants should read it and try to figure out how much truth should be sacrificed on the alter of unity. The most important sections was how the false claims of the papacy rose. I would suggest Calvin's Institutes as another reference. Michael Horton is also an engaging writer. Also deals with core issues such as justification and Catholic veneration of Mary.

Horton writes an excellent executive summary, if you will, of what truly continues to divide the churches of the Reformation from Rome.

Primarily as then, Rome's insistence on adding to Scripture alone as the only source of theology; of adding to grace and faith alone as the only source of salvation, continues to erect a huge, major divide between the two. As Horton correctly quotes Avery Dulles in Rome's continued holding to the anathemas of Trent as still prevailing now in Vatican II times, this is absolutely Rome's position.

My own church speaks in detail about this. See "The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in Confessional Lutheran Perspective" available at www.lcms.org/ctcr/docs/pdf/justclp.pdf, or read Robert Preus' excellent work: Justification and Rome.

The authors present a helpful picture of church unity at the end of the millenium. Far from being anti-Catholic, the authors point out differences in the core beliefs of the reformed faith and the Catholic faith. Highly recommended.

This book is probably the worst of the Rogue Squadron series. It does have some of the things that we all love in the Rogue books like space battles and good characterization. However, it is not all woven together as convincingly as books like "Mandatory Retirement", or "In The Empire's Service." Plourr being a princess, (in case you didn't guess from the cover, don't worry, it isn't a spoiler, you find that out in the first 3-4 pages)is very implausible, and goes against everything Stackpole had before hand estabilished. Also, the story lacks the general importance in the SW world. In "In The Empire's Service", you felt the conflict to be a galactic concern, here it is nothing more than a small government squabble. Overall, this story just lacks the appeal of the rest of the series. I do have to give it points for good art, and a good flashback of Plourr's brother (you'll see), but overall, "In The Empire's Service", "Mandatory Retirement", or "Battleground:Tatooine" are miles above this story.Buy those instead.

I feel very strongly that The Warrior Princess is the worst of the Rogue Squadron line to see print in a collected edition. This is the fourth story arc in the series, and it's just not that good. The art's not bad, and there's some good character development, but I just couldn't care less for the story or for the bad guys.

The premise -- This is really a retelling of the Anastasia story and the Russian revolution with a few modifications. Years ago there was a people's revolution against the King of Eiattu, and he and his whole family were brutally killed -- except, possibly, for the two youngest kids. Now, it's years later, and the world is divided into several factions -- the Priams, or nobles, who want things the way they were, the common people, who simply want some equality, and then there's the Empire who just wants to take control. The twist is that many of the people have been organized into a People's Liberation Battalion by the long thought dead son of the murdered King, but he wants to lead the people against the nobles. And as it turns out -- one of Rogue Squadron's pilots, Plourr, is the long lost princess. The nobles want to bring he back and put her in power to take away her brother's validity. But of course she won't be their pawn.

I found this story, like my explanation thereof, drawn out and boring. Moff Leonia Tavira was a stupid character, the background was obviously somewhat unoriginal. This did have its points though -- there were some interesting new characters, some great character development and interaction, a few surprises, and we get to see Plourr kick a lot of butt.

Overall, though, I can't really give this book a recommendation. It's not bad, but it's just not that good.

'The Warrior Princess' is probably my favorite first-half XWRS story arcs. Stackpole uses politics in an expanded role, and it won't be the last time. Plourr Illo is the main character here, for better of for worse. Her history and that of her planet are rather interesting and parts of them parallel of the Russian Revolution, which is good in the opinion of the speaking history buff, at least.

The art is by John Nadeau again, and he does it well. The architecture and landscape of Eiattu is well done, from the wide-open fields to the majestic royal hall. David Nestelle returns as colorist and does a superb job once again. Overall, 'The Warrior Princess' is one of the most visually well-done XWRS comics.

Perhaps most important is the script by Scott Tolson. 'The Warrior Princess' introduces four new Rogues: Nrin Vakil the Quarren, Ibtisam the Mon Cal, Herrian the Bith, and Feylis Ardele, ex-TIE pilot. Tolson writes good 'banter' dialogue and sets up the four new additions well. He does a particularly good job setting up the relationship between Nrin and Ibtisam, and it is one that will continue to evolve for the rest of the series. It is also interesting to note that the lettering size is shrunk by about a third compared to the other arcs. Tolson likes to write a lot of dialogue, and he does it well.

Overall, it is a good read. Those who dislike Plourr may not be too fond of it, as she is the main character, but at the same time we also get a chance to see another side of the usually brash and loudmouthed pilot. The introduction of four new Rogues makes it worthwhile, though. And, like in 'Battleground: Tatooine', it introduces a host of new characters that will appear later on, including Rial Pernon, Count Labaan, and Leonia Tavira of the 'I, Jedi' fame.