Review Detail

Reader reviewed by J. Mitchell

A young boy's fencing skill earns him a prize at once beautiful and terrible: a ring which contains the power to enslave a world. To his sorrow, young Mathew Lewin learns the true cost of wearing the awesome ring.

The Fifth ring is a dark fantasy tale; mostly action with few completely developed characters. Those few characters are of both necessary types: the ones you can care about and the ones you love to hate. The book also contains a couple of nice features; a map of the fantasy world occupying two full pages near the front of the volume and a six page glossary of names and places in the back.  If one reads the glossary first, this creates a foundation for better understanding the story.

The well-placed bits of description in this tale don't slow the pace of the action, as can happen when too much descriptive detail is provided. Recommended for readers ages 12 and up who favor action over description and enjoy tales set in fantasy worlds.