Ending an Ending

I finished Danny Birt's BRILLIANT "Ending an Ending", and was greatly impressed by it! Chock full of rich and meaty characterizations, it was without a doubt a very filling read! I LOVED IT, and highly recommend it to anyone who wants vivid, unique characters in a wonderfully nonstandard fantasy adventure.

"Ending an Ending" has been criticized as being too cerebral, and cerebral it is, but the "too" part depends upon the reader. I found the depth refreshing. The philosophical self-reflection by the main character who was quite literally trying to find himself and his place in the world was an exciting change of pace, all the more satisfying because it challenged us to think about and digest what we'd read.

Here was a story that did show more require me to think, to participate even, and this truly was a strength. Birt plays a lot with writing conventions, much to the story's benefit. His original and creative approach to storytelling wholly complemented the story he was actually telling, as well as the unique characters he populated the world with. It wasn't just Different to be Different, it was form following function.

I am EAGERLY awaiting the other four books in the Laurian Pentology! show less

Ending an Ending is the first in the Laurian Pentology by Danny Birt. In the interest of full disclosure, Danny and I are regulars in the Green Dragon group here on LibraryThing, so I know him a bit. Having said that, Ending an Ending is a pretty good fantasy. Danny plays a bit with the types we usually find in the genre and manages to break out of the stereotypical box. But then, he tells us that in the forward.

Danny's story is involving, and his characters feel real. The book is interwoven with some interesting philosophical questions about the nature of his universe given the differences from our own and how higher powers might interact with their creation. It's fun to see how he plays with these ideas, and the story ends on an show more exciting note pushing us into the next volume in the series. There are a couple of flaws with the work. The early chapters are a bit too expository and the plot could use a little juicing up in these chapters.

All in all, it's a pretty good book, and I'm looking forward to the next one! show less

Well this is the first act in the Laurian Pentology. I liked this book but it did have 2 problems that should have been caught by the editors in my opinion. I really wasn't impressed with the first chapter because it felt too much like 'telling' exposition, it was the authors way to try and bring us up to speed on the world we have just been plunged into. I felt he could have done a better job showing, and after reading the rest of the book, I know he could. There were one or two other spots in the book where it went from showing and painting a wonderful picture to 'telling' us what was going on, only noticeable because they stuck out from the rest of the wonderful prose. 3rd and this could just be me, but I had a hard time following show more how much time had supposedly occurred between some scenes.

Now that the negative stuff is out of the way I want to say I really enjoyed the story and it is a great mystery and lots of fodder for one to mull over till the next book. I will definitely be purchasing the next act when it becomes available and I fully expect it to surpass the first one. This is a fun read and constantly leaves one wondering what is going to be happening next.

Sanct is an enigma, he doesn't know what or who he is nor do most of the other people he meets in his journeys, though most have some guesses. He accepts himself to be a Seren which is a type of messenger/hand of a god. He doesn't have any direct knowledge of what he needs to do, just a general direction he needs to travel and little insights when he meets the right people. Things always seem to work out alright for him but is that really a good thing? Who seems to be watching out for him and why and who IS he? Big questions that he has no answers to. show less

This was my experience: the email said the order had arrived. Brilliant. I'd read a review on this book ‘Ending an Ending’ and because of that, was rather looking forward to reading it. When I left the bookstore later that day I had a few blocks to walk, and so started reading. I hadn't even left the mall and I was grinning from ear to ear, I'd only read the warning! THIS was a book you could sink your minds teeth into. After this small taste, I wanted nothing more than to curl up in a corner and read it without pause.

I won't write any spoilers here - there's enough information on the guts of the book as it is. For those of you who will read the blurb provided by the publisher, you’ll either be interested, or you won’t. I'll show more say this though, It's so nice not to be treated like your brains have fallen out the back of your head just because you’ve picked up a fantasy book.

Suffice to say, the rest of the Laurian Pentology is on standing order with my bookstore, and I’m really looking forward to getting that next email.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading this one yet, you're in for a real treat. For those of you who have, you’ll know what I’m on about. show less

This was awesome. It is intelligent, imaginative and certainly doesn't wait around for you to catch up. A refreshingly original world and story with the seriousness of a Neil Gaiman and the unusual settings of Discworld. The philosophy is interesting and engaging and adds yet another dimension of enjoyment to reading this book.

First of a series called the Laurian Pentology, this book takes place on a flat, polytheistic world where the gods take an active role in everyday life. People called Seren awake from Sleep, which could last weeks or centuries, knowing the name of "their" God. Their mission, and destination, is generally implanted in their brain. Sanct is the exception.

He has no idea who his God is (which is totally unheard of), and has come into possession of a staff of great power. No matter how much he tries to get rid of it, the staff always returns to him. In his present mission, Sanct has this vague feeling to travel in a certain direction, but agrees to go in the opposite direction to help Pander, who he met on a previous mission. They travel to show more the castle of Seighn, where Pander’s mission is to prevent an assassination, but he doesn’t know who or how or when. While there, the castle is destroyed by a magically-created earthquake, and the King and Queen are killed. Pander and Sanct get their daughter, and heiress to the throne, Eiry, out of the area, fast. Whoever caused the earthquake will be looking for Eiry.

Along with several others, a young man named Claren joins the group. He was subject of some high-level magic, which scrambled his neural circuits, causing him to talk in gibberish. After his brain is unscrambled, he and Eiry instantly fall for each other. Alaris, a mage of great power who seems to know everyone and everything, finds an isolated farming community where all of them, especially Eiry, can hide. The urgency is because the amount of time allotted to the world is quickly running out, so there is the great danger of everything just ceasing to exist.

This is a fine piece of storytelling, and of world-building. It may seem a little slow, and will take some work on the part of the reader, but it is very much worth the time. show less

I finished reading this book because it was part of a group read and I felt some obligation to other members of the group. I found it to have too many false leads and blind alleys. Characters were introduced and then seemed to be dropped for no particular reason. I became somewhat attached to a protagonist only to find he was not the protagonist, at least not in this book. It seems to be very clearly a book setting up characters, scenes, conflicts, and descriptions for the future books. Nothing was really resolved that I could tell; however, the book was sufficiently convoluted that I may have missed what was resolved.

I do give the author high marks for some interesting approaches to characters; and some interestingly different powers show more and characteristics. There were many spots where my curiosity was peaked however I often stopped being curious because I got lost, or bored, or both. show less