Read this some time ago, I remember it was a decent story but also really derivative. ( )

As much as I liked the premise of this book (and I really, really did - it reminded me a little of War Of The Flowers, which is one of my favorite fantasy novels), I struggled with Beyond The Pale. I found the writing interesting in parts, but too flowery and description heavy to hold my interest for long, so I ended up taking frequent breaks as I read. I also thought the dialogue was stilted and unbelievable, not at all like "real" people speak. I found the main characters irritating, particularly Travis who was so passive and frightened of everything that I just couldn't take him seriously as a supposed hero. The author had some interesting ideas, and the book is fluffy and light...but even so I didn't find this to be a fast read at all. I will not be continuing with this series. ( )

I decided this is a good year to reread this whole series. I've read it a zillion times over the years, but it's been probably ten years since I've read it beginning to end. I'm curious to see if I love it quite as much as I did when I first got my hands on it. ( )

To be fair, I bailed on this somewhere near the beginning, but (in terms of pages read) would be definitely the middle of most books ... this book is long.

Too long, as it turns out, as it just feels stretched out and sloggy. There are a few decent/interesting moments, and then everything crashes to earth again as uninteresting people do expected-fantasy-trope things. It may very well get better near the end, or in book two, or four, but I'm not going to wait for that any more (this year I've really taken "life is short" seriously ... my Dad died, and I'm feeling mortal, and my worst fear is that I'll die some day without having read all my favourite undiscovered books ... and time spent on a book that definitely won't be a fave is time wasted. So I bail).

The beginning is a bit Stephen King-ish, and then the just-past-beginning is a bit Donaldson-ish (i.e. Thomas Covenant), and as I've said neither is very grabby. Still, others have liked it--if you're a huge fan of slow set-up, little explanation, and travelling in woods, go for it. If you're after a lesser-known, fun, fantasy series from a few decades ago, I'd read Duncan's Magic Casement series instead.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )

2 people from earth are whisked away to another world where magic, etc, etc, is real. An evil king from a millenia ago is on the rise and it is up to the 2 travelers to stop or slow him down. I enjoyed this book. It is a finished series, with 6 total. ( )