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Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful fantasy novel, first in a trilogy. Buy it!
Review: A Breach in the Watershed is a wonderfully written, grippingnovel. It's full of interesting characters who engage thereader and make him or her really care about them. Most fantasy and science fiction is very poorly written, as the action drives the book, not the writing. This book has the best of both worlds. It's an exciting read and it's very well written to boot! The dialogue sounds like the way real people talk, not like somebody trying to hack out phony medieval speeches. It's a fantasy novel, the first in a trilogy. The usual fantasy races are present, but with enough twists and differences to make them fresh and exciting. Humans, fantasy creatures, and evil creatures live in three separate realms, physically separated. The novel begins with the evil guys quietly penetrating the barriers. This sets into motion a series of avalanching events that take the human hero of the novel across the breadth of his land and into that of the fantasy creatures. Throughout the action, you get glimpses behind-the-scenes in the evil realm, which gives you insight into the motivations for the bad guys. They're not just cardboard cutouts like in so many other fantasy novels. Parts of the novel are told from the bad guys' points of view, which is kinda fun. The second book in this trilogy, Darkenheight, just came out. I grabbed a copy as soon as I saw it (in the Waldenbooks booth at the GenCon game fair, as it happens) and read it right away. It's just as good as the first one. My favorite book in the whole world is The Hobbit. I've read literally thousands of other fantasy books and nothing has ever topped that one. The writing is generally too poor, the characters too uninteresting or hackneyed, or the plot is just a rip-off of Tolkien or another author. Douglas Niles' book suffers from none of these problems. It's about as close as any fantasy book has ever come to being as well- plotted and well-written as The Hobbit, in my opinion. I heartily recommend this book for any fan of fantasy books or anyone who wants to support good writing over bad regurgitation of tired plots and characters.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasy in all its Glory
Review: For someone with a short attention span it is hard to fully read a book and enjoy it the whole way through, but let me tell you that this book is the begining to the best trilogy ever. I admit that in the begining it was a little slow but after that you are absorbed in Niles's world of evil, good and a world on the brink of armaggeden. If you like fantasy you'll love this book
Rating: 
Summary: Timing is terrible
Review: I read all the books in this series. Although the plot is good, and the world is interesting, there were several things that made me really consider stop reading.
First is passing of time is terribly unrealistic. A trip which was taking 2 weeks on foot in the first book cannot take 3 days in the second book. A trip that a brutox takes in a few months is returned in one month or so, etc. There were so many examples of such trip-length inconsistencies that I had to keep forcing myself to overlook these and enjoy the rest of the book.
Fragmentation of parallel events thorughout the books could not be any worse. They are always ending too quickly and the book jumps to the next so your enjoyment of the current event is kept too short. I think the author should look at Dragonlance classics series to see examples of how this should have been done. Also, those events do not occur in a proper time order. When you start reading the next section which writes about some other hero group, you sometimes understand current time should be before the previous section, or timing is much much more unrealistic than you've previously thought (even cases such as a few months trip taken in moments). These are very amateurish in my idea and had a quite bad impact of my enjoyment of the book. Actually I'm pretty surprised how other people rated this book so high.
Rating: 
Summary: A well paced engaging read.
Review: Just stumbled across the book online and decided to take a chance. I'm glad I did! This is an incredible book (and series!) I'd pretty much burned out on epic fantasy--they all run together after awhile. Cliche after cliche, ripping each other off, etc. But the ideas here are fresh and original. And the characterizations are very good. So rarely do you get inside the head of a villian, as you do here with the Lord Minion. The journal excerpts actually help the story move along rather than sorta sitting there as is too often the case. I've already recommended the series to several friends!
Rating:
Summary: Just good ole' fashioned fantasy
Review: Nothing special here...but nothing bad here either. A good fun fantasy book. Non-committal but engaging all the same.
Niles does a decent job in portraying his characters and his world. Although some instances in the book seem contrived and a little too convenient, the characters are likable and the book is just a good quick read. I don't know if I'll continue the trilogy but the first in the series gets a big OK.
Rating:
Summary: Just good ole' fashioned fantasy
Review: Nothing special here...but nothing bad here either. A good fun fantasy book. Non-committal but engaging all the same. Niles does a decent job in portraying his characters and his world. Although some instances in the book seem contrived and a little too convenient, the characters are likable and the book is just a good quick read. I don't know if I'll continue the trilogy but the first in the series gets a big OK.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Start To an Okay Trilogy
Review: This book, the first in the Watershed Trilogy is the best. The reader learns extensivly about the environment, and the characters begin to peak the reader's interest. It is a typical "good vs. evil" story, and there is little question, and ambiguity as to who or what is good or evil. The villains are sometimes more interesting that the heros. Over all, a good read, and the best book in the trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best!
Review: This is a good read for those nights where you don't have anything special planned. The book is well written, and it keeps your attention quite well, although the story itself holds no new twists. The story of the Rudy and his companions is interesting and contains quite a number of trials and tribulations, but I found it a little hard to sympathise with him like I could with L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s Lerris for example. All in all, it's a pretty decent book though.
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Summary: Hero, princess in distress, evil god and magic! a sure win.
Review: Very engaging fantasy romp. Well written, fast paced, characters you care about and story line that leaves you waiting for the next book. If you enjoy Robert Jordan (the first book or two), you will be in for a grand time!
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