[BM3]≫ [PDF] The Fifth Ring Mitchell Graham 9780060506513 Books

The Fifth Ring Mitchell Graham 9780060506513 Books

Download As PDF : The Fifth Ring Mitchell Graham 9780060506513 Books

The Fifth Ring Mitchell Graham 9780060506513 Books

I honestly like it better than lord of the rings. That is the closest thing I can think of to compare it to. There are a lot of cool twists they have that set this completely apart from LOTR though.


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The Fifth Ring Mitchell Graham 9780060506513 Books Reviews

Some have complained about "The Fifth Ring" being a Jordan rip-off. To some extent, it is, right down to women who fold their arms under their breasts and say "Men!" in exasperated voices. However, such an analysis misses many things that Mitchell Graham does right. Most notably, when Mathew Lewin and his friends have to flee their rustic little down with a hoard of bad guys on their tail, they actually act like real teenagers. They experience nervousness, confusion, homesickness, and their relationships have ups and downs just like in real life. In that sense, at least, Graham is already better than Jordan. His plotting is not as bad as some people have suggested. Somewhere in the rulebook of formula fantasy, it says that the hero's father must die or be taken out of commission during the first few chapters. Sure enough, Mathew's dad meets an untimely demise right on schedule, but the way that it happens is at least somewhat unexpected.
Though better than many standard fantasies, "The Fifth Ring" is not without certain flaws. The opening chapter consists merely of a character mentally reciting an infodump for our benefit. In fact, archbaddie Karas Duren turns out to be a total wash, and the chapters told from his perspective are a waste of time. Furthermore, the "all manner of hellish abomination" mentioned on the back cover turns to be just some lame orc wannabees named "orlocks". There are continuity issues too. Character often travel hundreds of miles in a single day, quite a feat in a society with only medieval technology, and entire armies inexplicably cross the entire map without being noticed by their opponents.
Writing is a mixed bag. There are some good passages where the characters' emotions feel genuine and the dialogue rings true, and even a few good jokes along the way. On the other hand, we also get endless streams of clichés. It seems like every five minutes, a character has a bad feeling in the pit of their stomach, feels a chill run up their spine, or wonders whether to believe their ears. So in short, "The Fifth Ring" is worthy of neither the ringing accolades handed out by some fantasy fans nor the scathing criticism dished up by the others. But it is a book that shows promise. If Graham does clean up his writing style and work on developing decent villains, might he actually go on to be one of the major fantasy authors of this generation? Stranger things have happened. This guy bears watching.
I liked this initial offering from Mitchell Graham.

This is a story of magic rings and the people they align themselves with; resulting in the inevitable good vs. evil scenarios.

This book is well written and easy to read; the characters are interesting and show some development throughout the novel. As with any good fantasy, this story has magic, some great battles, a splash of romance, friendship and betrayals, and above all, an interesting tale.

The only minor negatives were
1.) a somewhat slow and tedious midsection. (the beginning and end were well paced and interesting)
2.) a map of questionable quality; poorly drawn and of limited use (more accurate detailing would have be extremely useful). Yet, having said that, I'm grateful for a map (any map), as some fantasy writers don't include one with their books, making the movements of their heroes so difficult to follow at times.

A good first book to this series; a few minor shortcomings, but I'm looking forward to book 2.

4 Stars
Good book. Hard to understand sometimes.
"The Fifth Ring" showcases the current state of the fantasy genre - and boy, that's a depressing way to look at things. This overstuffed tome is packed with all the usual fluff magic rings, power-mad sorcerer kings, reluctant young heroes, and all the rest. It's like someone took all these elements and threw them into some Fantasy-o-Matic machine and "The Fifth Ring" plopped out the other side. No, it's not the worst fantasy novel I've ever read (that distinction falls upon Dennis L. McKiernan's "Iron Tower"), but it's generally boring and fails to accost my attentions. How anyone could compare this newbie author to better ones, like Terry Brooks, is beyond me. It is passionless dribble, better left sitting on the shelf. I hate to bash a first-timer, but this is exactly the kind of work this genre does NOT need. Fortunately we have George R. R. Martins and David Gemmels in the field, or all might well be lost.
Have all 3 books love the trilogy, very great story.
I put off buying this for quite awhile because I couldn't "look through" the book on , nor could I find it at the local bookstore. I decided to jump in and am glad I did.

To paraphrase an earlier poster, don't expect this to be a Pulitzer Prize winning novel. It's not. But it still makes for a good read, with interesting characters and well-written battle and sword fight scenes. There's also a dash of sci fi sprinkled throughout, as when certain characters refer back to The Ancients, who built different types of machines which were destroyed in some cataclysmic war that killed off most of The Ancients.

IMHO, the most interesting character is Father Thomas. Yes, he's a priest, but he's no ordinary priest...and part of his past life, which hints that it was anything but dull, emerges in this book. Quite a character, and I'm sure we'll get to know more about him as the series continues.

BTW, I agree with the poster who took umbrage with the poster who questioned the "sexual advances" made by Lara toward Mat (Mat is the chap on the cover). I really don't know where this came from; there's some flirting between the two, and Mat starts to notice and feel certain things about Lara, but isn't that normal for a guy in his late teens?

One more thing There is a slight twist near the end of the book which took me by surprise, happening when it did. I'm sure this is the strand which the author will use to help flesh out the next book in the series.

In short, if you're looking for War and Peace, this ain't it. But if you're looking for a decently-written fantasy that will keep you turning the pages, this should fill the bill.
I honestly like it better than lord of the rings. That is the closest thing I can think of to compare it to. There are a lot of cool twists they have that set this completely apart from LOTR though.