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Title: The Runelords: The Sum of All Men (The Runelords, Book One) by David Farland ISBN: 0812541626 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: April, 1999 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99

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Average Customer Rating: 3.93

Rating: 5
Summary: Farland Saves The Day!!
Comment: After reading some of the early hype of "The Runelords", I decided to order it. I was getting pretty bored of what was being offered in the Fantasy section and looking forward to someone to come along and revive the genre, especially with a great series. Look no further. This is a very good book. Mr. Farland keeps the interesting characters to a minimum and does NOT lose the reader with complicated and overburden storylines. He creates an imaginative and creative world with GREAT battle scenes. No more "wimpy" fights/battles. His description of the battles are awesome. My favorite: the 2 fingers in the eyesockets move. I strongly recommend this book not only to the Fantasy newbie, but to anyone who has had their tastebuds longing for a new, invigorating, and captivating series. I know alot of people are waiting for the next Jordan book (he's getting tiresome) but definitely get this book. You won't be disappointed!!

Rating: 4
Summary: An epic and satisfying read
Comment: Having read most of the reviews of this book I feel I have to make my own comment. No this is not a new Tolkien and one here compared it to junk food, which in a way is true if you do see Tolkien as a gourmet meal. But I have to say after reading this through that I became involved in this book, because it had a fast moving and somewhat complex plot, some spectacular scenarios but foremost it was epic. I love epic books such as A Song of Ice and Fire and Magician by Raymond E. Feist because they are larger than life, through them you can get lost in something out of this world. This book delivers on that part and it is an involving fantasy world and his magic system is thought through and there are enormous battles and tragic fates for many characters. One of the things that I was intrigued most by in this book is how everyone is not just made demigods without losing anything but how they truly do suffer and lose people, friends and family. There is one truly heartbreaking scene where a soldier, one of the good guys, has to kill a small, innocent and mute eight year old girl because she is his enemy's servant. Farland really makes us feel how a part of this soldier's soul dies with him when he has to do this monstrous deed. The thing that I think most people don't like with the Runelords is its simplistic writing, because it is simple in many ways, it only covers in detail the important and epic events, not how the leaves in the green forest look, which might be a turn off for some who like Tolkien writing but not for others who want the book to progress into the important, "cool" stuff. Comparing this to junk food is in a way the right thing to do, it tastes good and its not healthy getting too much of it, because you won't have much of a life to go back to and you'll keep on coming back for more. I recommend it to those who may want more quantity in fantasy and yet do want that bit of quality. This is not a book for nitpicking, no fantasy books ever hold when you start nitpicking, just enjoy it.

Rating: 3
Summary: New magic, Interesting Plot - but some stupidity
Comment: For starters I'd like to say that this book offers a refreshing take on the fantasy genre.

Forget about Dungeons and Dragons type spells, here magic is summed up as more of a commodity. There a certain traits or attributes that people can bestow upon another (but at great cost as those who bestow such powers loose their own abilities) so instead of casting spells and such, people gift to others their powers of wit, stamina, brawn, sights, hearing, smell, etc... The people who receive these gifts, they become superhuman. Those who gift others become deaf, blind, or even vegetables at worst. This magical aspect of the world I really liked.

Also, as far as this being a gripping book, I'd say it is. Save the first 50 or so pages, once I got sucked into the plot I found myself too curious to see what was going to happen next to put the book down. Character development is adequate, the main characters are interesting, and the antagonist is pretty fascinating too.

There are however a couple big negatives:

I know its fantasy, but some of the laws of the land in this book are so unrealistic and naïve it's turned me off. I'm not giving anything major away here, but to say that executing or even imprisoning an assassin is against the law, and not challenging this concept, well that's just foolish.

Also, the love story began in such a way it makes you think the protagonist is a fool. Which after he falls in love you see he's not. So the start of the love plotline is disappointing to say the least.

The above two statement made me loose a lot of credibility in this world. But save those two major errors it was a very enjoyable read. Despite my objections I'd still recommend this as a refreshing novel for the fantasy genre.

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