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HomeShop at BookSurgeEducationBilingual EducationTales from the Long Road: THE GRAY MAN |
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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 2 customer reviews )
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2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 When's the next book comming out? May 02, 2007
By NSherman
Wow! Where do I start? The Gray Man is a murder mystery, spy novel, crime story all rolled into a fantasy adventure book! I was really pleased to see heroic characters who don't come out of a fight without a scratch! Despite there being elves, humans and other fantastic races there wasn't a moment I didn't believe it! All I could do was keep turning the page to see what happened next. Normally, a story just has an interesting lead character. I want to know about everyone in south city! One thing is for sure, this is not a children's book! There is violence and sex but is suitable for older teens and adults. Court intrigues, assassins, civil unrest and an engaging plot make this book a winner. I have to ask when are they going to make this a movie?
1 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 An average fantasy novel, but solid potential Aug 25, 2007
By Andrew Gray
"Beezer Review"
Tales from the Long Road: The Gray by Wolfgang Porter is a quaint fantasy adventure. From looking at another book by this same author, it appears that this book is actually the second book with these characters. It is possible, that by having read the first book (which I didn't know existed) before reading this one, certain events, and conversations would have made more sense to me and had more meaning. As it was, this book is all I had to go on.
The plot of this book is straightforward and to the point. However, there are actually a number of sub-plots woven into it as well. The main plot of this book revolves around the murder, and subsequent investigation - basically, a classic murder/mystery. One of the sub-plots involves a forbidden love interest between a human and an elven female and just what those feelings mean to each of them. There is also a sub-plot of a group of elves wanting to go back to the `old way' of things. This may fall into the category of something I missed by not having read the first book. Overall, the plot is well laid out and flows smoothly. The events make sense, even for someone who has not read the first book.
The characters in this novel are best described as average. There is really nothing about the characters that makes them stand out. They are neither unique nor detrimental to the story, they are just there. There is brief glimpses of interesting tid bits scattered through the story, but nothing on a consistent basis that made me really care about the characters. Of course, as the title suggests, the main character is the Grayman. He is the classic rogue character found in many fantasy novels today. Most fantasy clichés for characters can be found in this book. However, Mr. Porter does a fairly good job at adding his own touch to the characters so at most times they don't feel like clichés. However, at other times the character feel like two-dimensional cutouts and perceptive readers will be able to anticipate what is going to happen next.
As a whole this book is average in terms of what is available in the fantasy realm today. As I said above, the plot is well constructed - but the characters are hit and miss at times. A criticism I have about this book is that most of it is told from the third person perspective. However, most of the scenes involving Grayman's point of view are done in first person. This jumping back ad forth between perspectives makes the book feel disjointed. Just when the reader gets a flow going and gets into the story there is a change in perspective and jars the reader out of the flow. As a reader I would like it one way or another. Jumping back and forth just feels amateurish. My main complaint with this book though, beyond anything else, is the ending. As a whole this book is average in terms of what is available in the fantasy realm today. As I said above, the plot is well constructed, but the characters are hit and miss at times. A criticism I have about this book is that most of it is told from the third person perspective. However, most of the scenes involving Grayman's point of view are done in first person. This jumping back ad forth between perspectives makes the book feel disjointed. Just when the reader gets a flow going and gets into the story there is a change in perspective and jars the reader out of the flow. As a reader I would like it one way or another. Jumping back and forth just feels amateurish. My main complaint with this book though, beyond anything else, is the ending. There is a good flow towards the end of the book, events are starting to come together, and just when Mr. Porter had me wanting to keep turning the page the entire story abruptly ends with the worst words ever. "To be continued." As a reader I felt cheated. I felt like I was no further in the story than when I first started it. It was extremely disheartening to know that nothing much, if anything at all, was resolved during the entire novel. Except that the author was simply trying to force me to get the next book in the series. There are much better ways to end a book, than with "To be continued."
Overall, this book was simply average. If not for the solid plot, I would have rated this a little less than three stars. Especially with the terrible ending. Overall, this book was simply average. If not for the solid plot, I would have rated this a little less than three stars. Especially with the terrible ending. There are some positives within the pages and Mr. Porter obviously has some talent as an author. I don't see myself recommending this book to anyone but someone who is a hard core fantasy fan who has read most everything out there. I don't see myself recommending this book to anyone but someone who is a hard core fantasy fan who has read most everything out there.
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