A Secret Atlas: Book One in the Age of Discovery Trilogy

by Michael A. Stackpole

Book Overview

From New York Times bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole comes the first book in a fantasy saga unlike any you've ever read. " A Secret Atlas ] has it all--wild magic, the excitement of epic... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553382373
• ISBN13: 9780553382372
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Spectra Books
• Length: 460 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent series

I'm a big fan of Stackpole's writing. The first book in The Age of Discovery struck me as a bit different than some of this other work. And I'll honestly say that it took a little more time than usual for me to get into Book 1. But the book builds and the series as a whole is an excellent read. I can't recommend the book, the series, and this author highly enough.

Amazing

This guy knows how to write! This series takes fantasy to a whole new level and is so awesome. I really recommend his other series that starts with Dark Glory War.

Great book!

I loved this book! I thought the charactorization was amazing and more improtant the history provided creates a rich and incredible world that left me hanging on for more. I loved the twists and turns in the plot and I expect those who love a complex story line will get much injoyment from reading this book. I must confess though the first few chapters where a little difficult to follow with maybe a few too many charactors introduced very quickly.

A masterpiece of storytelling.

Though I understand that perhaps the type of format and the locales used by Stackpole in A Secret Atlas aren't necessarily the most regularly popular, I must say that this is the first book since the lovely works of Patrick O'Brian that I've actually felt a real sense of adventure and wonder in a novel. Stackpole in crafting this world has managed in my opinion to bring to light an interesting setting that combines perhaps one of the most romantic, yet unexplored eras of history with the typical dash and mysticism associated with his fantasy works. He's a fine novelist period, and I think A Secret Atlas is also very much proof of his general ability to blend his training as a historian with his natural talents as a writer. If you enjoyed reading the works of Patrick O'Brian and marvelled at how he described distant vistas with such vibrancy that they were brought to life, you'll love how Stackpole manages to craft this world and bring its exotic and supernatural elements into a tangible, graspable goal. Though some may call it slow, I personally found it a wonderful trip through unknown vistas, something that tickles the adventurer/explorer in all of us.

Stackpole does it again

The first in the new 'age of discovery' series, A Secret Atlas is the next excellent book from Michael A. Stackpole. The book starts slowly, but quickly speeds up and gets very interesting. I was forced to pause in my reading for about two days roughly two-thirds of the way through, and when I went back to the book it had not lost any of its page-turning magic from the delay. Understandably, the first half or so has some extra explainations in it, making the story a bit slower, but this is not a bad thing at all-- rather, it is very smart, as without these explainations a reader would be lost in this new world so totally unlike any of Stackpole's previous. Also this allows the push of the end of the rising action to be that much more powerful when the book devotes itself to telling the story, making it go faster. The end left me eagerly wishing that Stackpole would finish the next book quickly, yet also hoping he takes his time with it, making it as good a book as possible. And I know, as this is Michael A. Stackpole that we're talking about, he will most definitely do the latter.