A WHIRLWIND IN TIME
It was a storm to end all storms, and when it was over Sebastian Foster and his five unexpected house guest - all refugees from the fury of wind and rain - should have been happy just to be alive. But when the clouds finally cleared, the world outside Bass's home was no longer the twentieth-century America they all knew. Instead, through some bizarre twist in time, the six of them had ended up in England's past. But it was a past that never existed in any history book, a place where the Church was waging a holy war to depose Arthur III and make his nephew king of England and Wales.

Thrust into this barbaric world of bloody combat, the time travelers were quick to realize that thier modern weapons and knowledge could change the whole course of this Englands's futer - and maybe help them find their way home again - if the warring factions didn't destroy them before they even had a chance to get started... ( )

Grey fantasy. In my opinion, a great twist from high fantasy in the likes of Tolkien or Robert Jordan. A genre where the line between hero and vilain, good and evil, right and wrong is blurry. The past few years, there have been amazing novels of the sort, with the best examples being George R. R. Martins "Fire and Ice" and Steven Erikson's "Malazan" series. And then we have Goodkind, Robert Adams and other "authors" of the kind. I am an avid fantasy reader, and I read anything of the sort that falls in my hands. And I had the misfortune to get Adams "castaways" series. I don't have any positive things to say about this book, so I will start hitting it with all I have. Adams is a poor writer. I mean a REALLY poor writer. He cannot build strong images, his books are emotionaly dry, there is no plot buildup and no climax, and his use of the english language is average at best. The tale is boring, with no cohession and no interest to the characters. The characters themselves are so paper thin, except Bass for reasons I explain below. The only thing that came to mind after I finished the last page was "so what?". And that is not the worst part. Ok, many writers put a version of themselves in their stories. Stephen King is one example. But to put yourself as a good looking, strong, valorous, intelligent, caring great strategist who although he despises bloodshed kills roughly the equivalent of the population of a small country in the space of the book series, well, mr. Adams, it is plain stupid. And yes, it is that obvious. We also don't care if you got a divorce with your wife and got a woman-hating attitude. The change of Krystal between book one and three shows that. And last but not least, a good writer of the genre you are trying to delve in should not put his own political views in his books, at least not as crudely as you. I am not so fond of homosexuals, and I have no love for communist counties and regimes, but I honestly could not stomach reading about how gays, lesbians and communists are the root of all that is evil in the world. And a World without Muslims? Maybe in mr. Adams dreams. Oh, and the use of crude language does not make your book more realistic, only more juvenile. One would think that after the first book, the rest would not be so tragically mediocre. One would be wrong. It only gets worst. The writer later makes an awful attempt to introduce pure fantasy themes in his books, which only makes them laughing stock. Enough with that. The book is crap. The only reason why I kept it is because I NEVER throw out a book. ( )

Um. Yeah. Why did I keep this book? I remember that I had several in this series once, and culled down to this one...I think this one goes now. It's not _bad_...just kinda flat. And derivative - two bits (sacred gunpowder and the battle that turned at right angles) are _so_ Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen! There are other bits that remind me of stories written since, and better. Though I must say I was holding my breath at the end - couldn't remember if Krystal made it out before the house went back to whence it came. Pfff, culled. ( )