Rating: 
Summary: Engaging characters, good story, but abrupt ending
Review: It is an interesting world and some great characters. But there are sections that are very abrupt (could be a much longer book) and the ending is too abrupt and apocalyptic. I think a more experienced author could have made a good trilogy out of it. Definately worth reading, but it leaves you wishing for more (and as far as I can tell there isn't more to be had).
Rating:
Summary: Engaging characters, good story, but abrupt ending
Review: It is an interesting world and some great characters. But there are sections that are very abrupt (could be a much longer book) and the ending is too abrupt and apocalyptic. I think a more experienced author could have made a good trilogy out of it. Definately worth reading, but it leaves you wishing for more (and as far as I can tell there isn't more to be had).
Rating:
Summary: Forget the cover..
Review: It was great read for a die-hard SF reader, as well as the soppy young things the cover was aimed at. Wasted on them, I'm sure. Quirky characters and a great turn of phrase make it sparkle. The sequel is just as good and they dovetail nicely. Lack of depth is a valid criticism, but then, deep novels don't romp! I highly re-read it.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguingly Different Fantasy Novel
Review: Lisane crashlands her spaceship on an unfamiliar planet when she is forced to flee for her life from the Enforcers on her home planet. She was the princess of her old world and destined to rule her people for the rest of her natural life, but all that is gone now. Lisane is not sure what to make of the new world and is slowly starving to death when Simon finds her. Simon is a wizard and a teacher at a school where other wizards are trained. He is unaware that Lisane is a girl and takes her to the school, where all the other students are boys. Lisane doesn't exactly fit in on this new planet, but she refuses to let the others get her down, especially the sadistic Detter, who looks like an angel, but must surely be a demon in disguise. When her education is complete, she leaves the school with Simon and Detter to journey across the land to face the Beast and win her magebands. The lands through which they pass are varied and some like wizards and others hate them. Along the way, Lisane has the opportunity to grow up and realize that this world is no less complex than her old world. As she struggles to find a place for herself and to figure out her feelings for Kaihan, the acknowledged head of the wizarding world, she discovers that her unique way of looking at magic, or ller, may be all that can save her newly adopted planet from the Enforcers, who are heading down to destroy them all...I enjoyed the story and thought that Delia Marshall Turner was very creative in her treatment of magic and the different planets. This book is a unique blend of science fiction and fantasy that actually worked really well. I felt that the beginning of the book was a bit slow and then it was a huge rush at the end, but the storyline itself was good. This book is well written and Turner's descriptions are quite clear, although sometimes a little dry. However, the reason why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that I really hated Lisane. I know that it is good to have a strong female character in a book, but I just couldn't relate with Lisane and found myself really disliking her at times. I hated Detter, of course, but Turner portrays him in a way that you have to hate him. I was also disappointed at the lack of interaction between Kaihan and Lisane. It was like Turner was building up to the moment when the romantic tension between them would come to a head and then it is over in one page! What is up with that? I would definitely have liked to read more about Kaihan and how he fits into the world there, but he was left a shadow figure in the background. Very disappointing. I think that the book is appropriate for mature teens and adults, but I would be careful about recommending it to all young adults (even though it is considered a young adult book) because the book deals with quite a bit of sex, including homosexuality, S & M, etc. and is not for all readers. Also, bear in mind that this book is rather hard to get into at first, it took me weeks to get through it, and that is very unusual for me. A good book, but not necessarily likeable, if you know what I mean.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguingly Different Fantasy Novel
Review: Lisane crashlands her spaceship on an unfamiliar planet when she is forced to flee for her life from the Enforcers on her home planet. She was the princess of her old world and destined to rule her people for the rest of her natural life, but all that is gone now. Lisane is not sure what to make of the new world and is slowly starving to death when Simon finds her. Simon is a wizard and a teacher at a school where other wizards are trained. He is unaware that Lisane is a girl and takes her to the school, where all the other students are boys. Lisane doesn't exactly fit in on this new planet, but she refuses to let the others get her down, especially the sadistic Detter, who looks like an angel, but must surely be a demon in disguise. When her education is complete, she leaves the school with Simon and Detter to journey across the land to face the Beast and win her magebands. The lands through which they pass are varied and some like wizards and others hate them. Along the way, Lisane has the opportunity to grow up and realize that this world is no less complex than her old world. As she struggles to find a place for herself and to figure out her feelings for Kaihan, the acknowledged head of the wizarding world, she discovers that her unique way of looking at magic, or ller, may be all that can save her newly adopted planet from the Enforcers, who are heading down to destroy them all... I enjoyed the story and thought that Delia Marshall Turner was very creative in her treatment of magic and the different planets. This book is a unique blend of science fiction and fantasy that actually worked really well. I felt that the beginning of the book was a bit slow and then it was a huge rush at the end, but the storyline itself was good. This book is well written and Turner's descriptions are quite clear, although sometimes a little dry. However, the reason why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that I really hated Lisane. I know that it is good to have a strong female character in a book, but I just couldn't relate with Lisane and found myself really disliking her at times. I hated Detter, of course, but Turner portrays him in a way that you have to hate him. I was also disappointed at the lack of interaction between Kaihan and Lisane. It was like Turner was building up to the moment when the romantic tension between them would come to a head and then it is over in one page! What is up with that? I would definitely have liked to read more about Kaihan and how he fits into the world there, but he was left a shadow figure in the background. Very disappointing. I think that the book is appropriate for mature teens and adults, but I would be careful about recommending it to all young adults (even though it is considered a young adult book) because the book deals with quite a bit of sex, including homosexuality, S & M, etc. and is not for all readers. Also, bear in mind that this book is rather hard to get into at first, it took me weeks to get through it, and that is very unusual for me. A good book, but not necessarily likeable, if you know what I mean.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting book and kept me laughing
Review: Lisane has spent her whole life training for her eventual role as the living goddess of her planet, and all that comes to an end when the Enforcers destroy her world and take her people. She escapes and ends up on a world where the only mages are male and no one seems to have the proper reverence for magic. Young mages are dangerous (every student at the school is there because he killed someone when his powers came into being), and the school Lisane stays at also functions as a kind of prison. Many students don't survive the methods used to teach them, but Lisane is determined to get through it all and find a place for herself on this backward planet. Although this isn't a ha-ha sort of book, like, say, the Discworld series, the author has a sense of humor and it shows. Lisane's observations about this new culture she's found herself in are highly amusing. The author did a great job writing characters that, although not always likeable, were fascinating the read about. The book drops in quality at the end, when the author condenses a planet-wide event/conflict into about 15 pages. The author didn't spend nearly enough time fleshing out the character Kaihan, considering how much larger his role in the book gets near the end. In spite of all that, I love this book and plan on reading it again any time I need a good snicker along with an interesting fantasy environment and plot.
Rating:
Summary: interesting book and kept me laughing
Review: Lisane has spent her whole life training for her eventual role as the living goddess of her planet, and all that comes to an end when the Enforcers destroy her world and take her people. She escapes and ends up on a world where the only mages are male and no one seems to have the proper reverence for magic. Young mages are dangerous (every student at the school is there because he killed someone when his powers came into being), and the school Lisane stays at also functions as a kind of prison. Many students don't survive the methods used to teach them, but Lisane is determined to get through it all and find a place for herself on this backward planet. Although this isn't a ha-ha sort of book, like, say, the Discworld series, the author has a sense of humor and it shows. Lisane's observations about this new culture she's found herself in are highly amusing. The author did a great job writing characters that, although not always likeable, were fascinating the read about. The book drops in quality at the end, when the author condenses a planet-wide event/conflict into about 15 pages. The author didn't spend nearly enough time fleshing out the character Kaihan, considering how much larger his role in the book gets near the end. In spite of all that, I love this book and plan on reading it again any time I need a good snicker along with an interesting fantasy environment and plot.
Rating: 
Summary: Not impressed
Review: Ok I read the back of this book and was interested cause it sounded good. Well I read it and I must say that I was very unimpressed. I thought that Lisane was kind of a flaky character, and I thought that her background wasn't as throughly explained as is could have been. It also seemed that the author, I don't know, got tired of writng at the end of the book. It was like she just wanted to end the book and so she just lumped everything together in the last chapter and ended it. Everything happend at once and then it was over. And ever that was left kinda vauge in some points. All in all I found it unentertaining and I wouldn't recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Not impressed
Review: Ok I read the back of this book and was interested cause it sounded good. Well I read it and I must say that I was very unimpressed. I thought that Lisane was kind of a flaky character, and I thought that her background wasn't as throughly explained as is could have been. It also seemed that the author, I don't know, got tired of writng at the end of the book. It was like she just wanted to end the book and so she just lumped everything together in the last chapter and ended it. Everything happend at once and then it was over. And ever that was left kinda vauge in some points. All in all I found it unentertaining and I wouldn't recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: will be read again on multiple occasions
Review: One of my new favorites; this books has a place of honor on my shelf with "Freedom and Necessity," "Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary," and "A College of Magics." What fun it was to read! I was so thrilled to find it (completely by accident)! By the end of the first chapter, when I read the line, "As I staggered ahead of him, guided by brisk but not unkind shoves, I reflected that there was nothing like complete calamity to take one's mind off the daily grind of starving to death in an inadequately rat-infested wilderness," I knew I was in for a treat.
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