Review: Really good read and series overall
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 23, 2013
I have really enjoyed all three books in the series. The author has a good writing style that keeps the numerous individual character journeys moving towards the bigger picture. I liked the variety of unique creatures, weapons, and magic incorporated as well as the relationships between the characters.I did have a few issues that were slightly bothersome for several books, but didn't ruin the overall series for me.Spoilers alert (just in case)I know this is fantasy, but sometimes I think the author went overboard with the number of forces and the practicality of mobilizing, feeding, communicating, and moving them in the field. One example was about 100,000 warriors  supposedly boarded seven eleven ships and then went up a river that was narrow and shallow. A modern day cruise ship made of steel holds like 4,000 to 5,000 people. In this story, approximately 14,285 people would be on each ship going up a shallow river. I know magic helped push the ship up, but it didn't seem very realistic.  Why were the seven (actually eight) ships built that big by the elves hundreds or thousands of years ago to begin with. No explanation I can remember.One battle had almost 1,000,000 garonds assembled. Where did they all come from. Some battles had 200,000, some 500,000 in boats going up a river. Towards the end of book three, the main character is worried that his troops may have killed all the remaining garonds  captured and they may have gone extinct. Really! It would have been nice to have more description about where they live, how they were all controlled under the dark master's influence, etc. Just more about them.There were minor inconsistencies with timelines between each book.In the first three books, I believe the elf recalls there were two occurrences when elves and man mixed. But in the beginning of book four, an old elf says "we've mixed in too much human blood" and this occurs over 2,000 years before book one begins.Still a really good series.JeffIndieproofreader@gmail.com