Submitted by Richard K (Sep 08, 2006)

Couldn't disagree with this review more. I just purchased and read "The Lightstone" having seen it in a bookstore while on vacation. I was totally surprised and delighted to see Zindell had written a fantasy book as I found his earlier Sci-Fi books to be works of genius. Maybe I should go on talking about his Sci-Fi books, because his foray into the fantasy world seemed nothing more than a wanna-be version of Tolkien. "The Lightstone" wreaks of Lord of the Rings in so many ways. There is no imaginative language whatsoever in the story. Whereas Zindell was able to mix mathematics with prose in his earlier novels, satisfying even the most technical of mindsets, his Lightstone reads as if it were written for grade-schoolers. To make matters worse, each of the characters (and in some cases locales, names, and even ships!) are completely derivative and taken straight from his earlier books. Rather than come up with new and interesting characters, he just re-packaged his previous ones into a shiny new hardcover. A very disappointing read. And one that I don't plan on continuing.