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Summary: One of the best character in fantasy
Review: I loved the writing in Godstalk. (Even the title is concise but evocative.) I often go to the library and just pick up the book to re-read the 1st page. The marvelous details that make me believe Tai-tastigon must exist in some alternate universe make the book absorbing. Jamethiel, the main character, is one of those rare fantasy characters that is both flawed and absolutely sympathetic. One of my favorite fantasy novels.
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Summary: A Rare Gem of a Book
Review: I was idly searching in the back corner of a small used book store when I found the book God Stalk. Feeling bored, I decided to buy it and started reading. I didn't put it down until I had finished it at exactly 12:00 that night. God Stalk is one of those books that you can't put down, with a world that is rich in color and adventure. Imagine my dissapointment when I found that there were no other books that I could find by him (one of these days I'm going to find The Dark of the Moon).
Rating: 
Summary: Light but strong
Review: I was surprised at how engaging I found this book, since science fiction isn't really my "thing". It's confusing at first, and a bit difficult to get into, but once it has caught your attention it holds it very well. Stylistically I admit that it is a little lacking. Hodgell uses a few too many adjectives and the action can get so confusing that I was only able to piece together what happened by reading on. It is not great literature, but then I don't think that it was meant to be. The story is about a young woman named Jame who returns home, after ten years which she does not remember, to find her village destroyed and everyone dead. When the book begins she has left to find her brother, whom she believes to still be alive. Most of the action takes place in a city called Tai-Tastigon, where she is waylaid on her trip. The rest of the plot is too complicated to detail here, suffice it to say that a lot of things happen and many of them involve fighting. The title refers to the fact that the notable thing about this city is that it has an enormous number of gods and much of the heroine's time is spent reconciling that to her own monotheism. Due to my aforementioned unfamiliarity with the genre, I can't really say how this stands as a science fiction book. I can, however, say that I found it very enjoyable and thoroughly worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: An incredibly enjoyable, entertaining, and enthralling work
Review: If I could give it more stars, I would. I bought God Stalk at a yard sale several years ago, and didn't read it for a few months afterward. I couldn't believe what I had missed. Certainly deserving of more laud and press than it apparently received, and definitely worth pursuing.
Rating:
Summary: Too much dancing, not enough fighting...
Review: Jame belongs to a race reknowned for their fighting ability, but instead of fighting her way through her problems, she dances, mothers, & bargains her way towards a solution. In short, Jame finds feminine rather than masculine solutions to her problems which is great for female readers who like soap operas, but not quite satisfying for guys who like a lot of sword and sorcery. God Stalk has enough quirky details and air of mystery to it, that puts it in a class above the Terry Brooks, Weis and Hickman children's fare. Plus there's some interesting background stories. But for all God Stalk's strong points, there's good reason why this book went out of print. At times, it seems to wander. Jame is kind of boring...
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Summary: An hard-to-find, amazing work of fantasy!
Review: Jamethiel of the Kencyrath is one of a triple people, created long ago by the Three-Faced God (Torrigon--Creation; Argentiel--Preservation; Regonereth--Destruction) to defend against the encroaching evil of Perimal Darkling. When the Three-Faced God abandoned the Kencyrath thirty milennia ago, all things connected with divinity became shunned and hated: the reason that Jame, branded as god-gifted by her silver eyes and ivory claws, was driven out of her home as a child, abandoned to vanish into the haunted wilderness beyond the keep's walls. The story of "God Stalk" begins ten years later as Jame reappears in the Ebonbane Mountains, her last memory of her banishment from her home, her only thought to find her missing twin brother Tori. Instead of Tori and her family, however, she finds the city of Tai-Taistigon: a darkly colorful and fascinating place full of gods, demons, and the occasional trade war. In defiance of everything she has ever learned, the young Kencyr enters the Thieves' Guild under the tutelage of the Master Thief Penari, dances the sacred, spellbinding Senetha in a local inn, the Res aB'tyrr, and tests the limits of her monotheism in her wanderings through the Temple District of Tai-Tastigon. She encounters vivid characters such as Penari, the Master Thief (senile three-quarters of the time, but who's counting?), Loogan, priest of Gorgo the Lugubrious God (whom Jame first destroys and then resurrects. Oops), and the enigmatic Bane, a Kencyr like herself who gives up his soul to redeem his honor. And even the dead are active characters here. This was one of the best fantasy novels I have ever read, and that's saying plenty, as I am a voracious reader. Tai-Taistigon is a compelling, complex world, full of adventure aplenty, darkness, humor, and even snatches of romance. A thirty-milennia history of the Kencyrath serves as a backdrop to Jame's actions, while the Holy (some might say god-ridden) City of Tai-Tastigon has its own complicated past, all linked to the present of the story by Jame's own awakening powers. The characters are three-dimensional and believable; even the people you hate have motives and reasons for what they do. Ishtier, the renegade priest, and Men-dalis, ruthless power-seeker in the Thieves' Guild, are self-serving and hateful characters, but even they are not cardboard cutouts. And Jorin, Jame's blind ounce (something like a leopard) is one of my favorite feline characters ever. "God Stalk" and its two sequels, "Dark of the Moon" and "Seeker's Mask" are currently quite hard to find. ("God Stalk" and "Dark of the Moon" are out of print, while "Seeker's Mask" was never picked up by a major publisher.) All three can be found, however, as well as a collection of short stories about Jame; all are well worth the reading. The world of "God Stalk" is a little-known but excellent one, high fantasy at its finest, the book finely-written and entrancing. Read it.
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Summary: Better than average fare, but...
Review: Like the Continuing Time series by Daniel Keyes Moran (as commented on a few months ago), the two books detailing the exploits of the journeyman thief Jame (of which God Stalk is the first) are constant favorites of the rec.arts.sf.written crowd. It is easy to see why. Both are great adventure stories, with an unusual setting and interesting characters. Much of what passes for SF can only claim two of those three distinctions. However, I'm not going to join the club for either. While I did not have difficulty stomaching this book (unlike, say, books by Lois McMaster Bujold), neither did I feel a true excitement or enjoyment from it. I was entertained rightly enough, but that was all. And when if comes to pure entertainment, I'd rather have a book that humors me than have one that simply takes me for a ride.
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Summary: fantasy novel for lovers of English, similar to Ecklar/Kerr
Review: P. C. Hodgell loves the English language ... and writes with grace that borders on poetry, of the Kencyrath and Perimal Darkling. Lovers of Katherine Kerr and Julia Ecklar, will enjoy this lovely work, in my opinion .... Written by "someone best forgotten," who lies --- "under Shadow's Eaves."
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Summary: A unique story set in a brilliantly contrived world
Review: PC Hodgell tells the compelling story of a young woman who has lost herself for 10 years and must rediscover who she is amongst the backdrop of Rathilian, a very interesting world surrounded on all sides by the entity known as Perimal Darkling. I thought the Holy City of Tai-Tastigon was very unique, both in its outward appearance and in its internal intrigue. The role of the Kencyrath is vague, but also overwhelming. The whole city of Tai-Tastigon exists, in a sense, because of Jame's people. In unraveling the mysteries that surround the strange city, Jame discovers who and more importantly, what she is. Absolutely brilliant. Read this (and any other books by PC Hodgell) if it is the last thing you do!
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Summary: Wishing for more!!!
Review: Since I read this book and "Dark of the Moon" many many years ago, I had been waiting for the sequel. I thought that the third in the series had never been written, but after reading the reviews and finding out that there is a third in the series, my search will be once again begin in earnest. One of the best books I have ever read. In fact every few years I go back and read it again.
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