Rating: 
Summary: .......d@ZeD from the excellence of the book!
Review: This is my story of the story.
One day, I went to the bookstore and saw this book in hardback. I fell in love at first sight, not even realizing that it was the sequel to Willow.
My friend, unfortunatly, fell in love with it too. I couldn't get it till paperback, but she *siiiigh* got it for her birthday. I nearly cried!
Then, I went to the bookstore (exactly one year later) to find a good book. I hadn't read a really good book in a long time. My friend (yes, the same one!) pointed it out to me. I got it! And I'm not sorry I did!
It held me in it's power for three days straight, non-stop reading, unless I keeled over from lack of sleep and nourishment. (Oh, ok, that was a *little* exaggerated, but you get the point!) I was dazed during the whole time I was reading, powerless to do anything but read.
This book reminded me of the movie, which I hadn't even thought of for ages, and now I'm a Willow fan, too although I can't find any action figures! (j/k)
Now, if *that* doesn't convince you that it's a great book, then I don't know how I'll ever get you to understand!
...just please read it? : )
Rating: 
Summary: Shadow Moon
Review: This is one of those books where:
I read it.
I put it back on my shelf.
Someone asked me "How was that book? What was it about?"
And I, in all my eloquence, said...
"Ummmmm....I don't know."
The descriptions became tedious, though they were very well written, and did little to forward the story.
Some characters from "Willow" were discarded (aka killed) early in the book and Willow himself had his name changed to Thorm Drumheller. (This was done probably to create distance from the movie.)
However, I found it difficult to follow the story between the lengthy pages of description (though well written, they became cumbersome after a few dozen pages of it) and the rapid introduction and exiting of characters.
Should be read by: those who like "flowery style," like that of Tolkien, le Guin, etc, which include massive amounts of detail to create a lifelike world, those who adore the movie Willow and want to know what happens NO MATTER WHAT THE CHARACTERS BECOME/DO.
Should NOT be read by: those who like faster moving books without lots of description (those who prefer Hemingway's style to Fitzgerald's, for example), those who adore EVERY SINGLE character from Willow, just as they were, and those who need a book to move quickly (from early in the book) and to maintain its pace.
This book had its faults and its strongpoints, but it wasn't up my alley. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would find it very enjoyable, but I'm not one of them. More power to those who like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Forget all you know...or think you know (SPOILERS)
Review: When a fan of Willow discovers that there are, in fact, sequels floating around out there, he or she might tend to get excited. Then that person starts Shadow Moon and finds themself a little thrown: Willow is now Thorn Drumheller (why?), Mad Mardigan and Sorca are dead (WHA!?), and Elora Dannan is brattier that a room full of six year olds(well, at least that isn't hard to believe). It seems hard to pick up a world that we left happy and at peace, and then try to establish and expand that world while it is on the verge of a war. Claremont and Lucas seem to be lost in their own immaginations, which are so jam packed with details that they have difficulty sorting them out, and thus leaves the reader equally lost.
That being said, once you settle down and take the world for the world, accept the differences for the differences, and jump in for the ride, Shadow Moon is a good start for what develops into a very good trilogy. Thorn (Willow) has lost just about everything and everyone he knows in a catastrophic magical event that destroyed all of the magical locations around the world. Elora Dannan has grown up respected, coddled, and spoiled, and even a bit feared after the being transported halfway across the continent. It is a world where enemies can still be friends, where allies disappear at a moment's notice, and where the greatest danger often wears the face we trust the most.
Slowly but surely, the mythology that was only hinted at in Willow is unwrapped and unveiled.
Take the book for what I think it was meant to be: a start, a beginning, a stepping stone to the next two books. Use it to adjust, reaquiant, and learn of the world that has a story to tell, and an adventure to take you on.
Rating: 
Summary: Wherefore Art Thou, Willow?
Review: While not the best fantasy movie of all time, Willow had its charm, not in the least of which were its senses of hope, wonder and humor.Well don't come into here looking for any of that because it's gone; stripped away to make room for dark, brooding, and hugely convoluted. Since it occurs in the prologue, it's no great spoiler to tell you that just about every character you knew and loved from the film is killed off in the first twenty pages or so, leaving you with a core cast of Willow and the inexplicably French Brownies, and even they are rendered nigh unrecognizable. The void is 'filled'-and I use that term as loosely as possible- with a dense soldier, a tomboy Princess, a zombie warrioress and, well, another dense soldier. Are we entertained yet? Adding insult to injury, the story itself is a confusing, muddled mess so what should be a tense battle scene or a poignant moment is rendered unreadable. Claremont has a handful of favorite description nouns, which becomes readily apparent the fifth or so time someones says or does something with asperity, until you're rolling your eyes so often concerend parties will ask whether or not you're having a stroke. The worst of it is, the few times we do get any insight into what happened to other people between the prologue and the present things are presented so vaguely you're still none the wiser. Did Willow's son somehow get turned into a hellhound? Does Willow kill him? Is it the same hellhound that appears at the start of the book? I have no idea and I read the friggin' thing! The dragon is the only piece of entertainment you'll find because he's the only one with any heart or humor to him, but even that was short lived as the author very kindly takes him away from us after a few, all-to-brief scenes. The solitary other plus the book has going for it is that it's so unlike the film in every way that it's unlikely to taint your feelings for it. A few of the characters have some coincedental names, that's all. Save your money and re-watch the movie.
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