Customer Reviews
Wonderful - By: Vivika McKie, 26 Nov 2002 
I enjoyed this series from start to finish but have to admit that this one is my favourite. McKenna has crafted a dynamic & believeable world with genuine history & politics, & her characters are well rounded & very likeable! This has definately been the most real seeming fantasy series I have come across. Many books in the genre are two dimensional, with things explaned as "by magic" or "just because". These books don't leave anything unexplored, & I found myself utterly caught up in the lives of the characters. I can definately reccomend it for a truely engrossing read.
Great fun, highly recommended. - By: treesilhouette, 13 Nov 2000 This is the third book in the five book Einarinn series. I have enjoyed this series from the beginning, & am greatly looking forward to the sequel. Juliet McKenna has a vivid imagination, & a knack for storytelling; each book in the series has been better than its predecessor as she has developed as a writer. Gambler's Fortune has some subtleties to the plot which are best appreciated by first reading Thief's Gamble & Swordsmans Oath. The underlying themes of the series are that of cultural change & also of conflict between cultures, & these appear in many ways. There are changes in agriculture displacing peasants who move on or become highway robbers. There are 'settlers' moving in to the mountains where hunting & trapping are the traditional way of life, & the supposedly 'unowned' land is no such thing. Above alll there are the Ice Islanders who have very poor land, historic grudges & are busily, but quietly, moving in on the varied nations of the mainland. Gambler's Fortune follows Livak, who is trying to discover more about aetheric magic, which is used by the Ice Islanders. It is known that it once was the main form of magic, & Livak is hoping that by visiting two of the least 'modern' nations she can find old songs which hold useful spells. Juliet McKenna has created a real & fascinating world in which people are busily getting on with their lives, rather than stopping in awe because a quest is passing through. The main characters are alll very human people & are not the porcelain Princesses of high fantasy, but instead are travelling thieves, swordsmen, gamblers, singers & one Mage who is a bit startled by the realities of life outside his ivory tower. Great fun, highly recommended.
Ok whats the next one called and when is it coming out? - By: , 13 Oct 2000 Another very good book from Juliet, well done keep them comming!
This book felt a little slow to get going but suddenly I found myself halfway throu it & racing towards the end of the book... SO if you do find it a lil tough at the beging stick with it!
Its nice to see old characters coming back, & new characters (or peoples names that were just mentioned previously) flourishing into fully fledged people.
Juliet has written anouther great bit of high fantasy.. so go get this book (and the previous ones if ya not read em) & sit back & enjoy.
Another winner! - By: , 19 Sep 2000 One of the delights of Juliet McKenna's books is that she avoids so may of the standard pitfallls of fantasy writing. Characters develop, narrator perspectives change, & although the beautifully-depicted (and entirely believable) fantasy world remains, its currents & politics are constantly in flux. This is fantasy for grown-ups;original characters, great dialogue, convincing battles. Juliet McKenna is one of the rare fantasy writers who have not succumbed either to Tolkien Frenzy or Trilogy Fever;each book stands on its own merits (although I defy anybody, having read one, to resist buying the rest). "Gambler's Fortune" is another great read from a very talented & imaginative young author; I eagerly await the next volume of what, I hope, will be a long & satisfying series.
A good read, but the story is getting stretched.... - By: , 08 Sep 2000 
Juliet delivers another good follow on to the previous two novels in the series. I enjoyed reading it, & will buy the next one, whenever it appears.
However, it seems that she is succumbing to the, 'lets stretch the story out, maybe can we can sell 10 sequels' syndrome.
Which is a shame, because the first couple (thieves gambit & swordsmans oath) were both well written & well paced.
Accordingly, it only gets 3 stars from me.
Jon
