The Fifth Ring

The Fifth Ring #1

by Mitchell Graham

Intricately plotted, with compelling characters, The Fifth Ring by Mitchell Graham is the first volume in an epic fantasy trilogy that tells of a young man's survival against insurmountable odds.

Despite a massive defeat decades ago, Karas Duren, Lord of Alor Sator, is again attempting to conquer the neighbouring kingdoms and bring them under one rule – his own. Now the evil ruler holds a weapon of mass destruction: a single ring left over from the Ancients that will allow him to control people and destroy everything and anyone who chooses to oppose him – including his own brother.

In a small village, a young boy wins a ring in a fencing tournament. Born and raised on a small farm, Mathew has little contact with the outside world, until the day his father is murdered in front of his eyes. Mat kills the murderer in revenge and must run for his life. Joining him is a mysterious priest, a few friends, and his love, Lara. During his flight Mathew discovers unusual powers in the ring, powers that make him one of the most potent men on the planet – and bring him to Duren's attention...A story of courage, love, and valour, this is epic fantasy at its best.

Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure

516 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 2003

About the author

Mitchell Gross is an American writer and convicted con man, writing under the pen name Mitchell Graham. Gross has written two fantasy series and several mystery novels.

Preceding the publication of those novels, Graham ran a fictional writing contest called the "Delmont-Ross Writing Contest". The Writer Beware website run by the SFWA investigated that contest, and . Gross has made similar claims of a history as a world-class fencer and a movie project with Steven Spielberg for which no evidence can be found.

Gross was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison in 2012 for defrauding two women and one couple of more than $6.5 million.

Series:
* The Fifth Ring
* Katherine Adams Mystery

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

‘The Fifth Ring’ is a fantasy similar to those we have seen that are beloved stories (such as Lord of the Rings). An unsuspecting farm boy is granted great power and he is the key to saving the world. It has been done before but thankfully this book has interesting plot points that make this storyline engaging, fast paced, and easy to read.

My one complaint is that the style of writing is often cliche and juvenile, in the sense that there are leaps from item to item. For example, one moment Mathew and Lara are together laughing and in the next page they have decided that their relationship has drastically changed and a massive shift/growth in their relationship has resulted. It is common for this to happen when a writer wants to convey something but in the excitement loses the transition. (It happens to the best of us!)

Overall, I am interested to see what book 2 of the series will bring!

[Indigo Crow · Rating 3 out of 5]

From what I understand, this was Graham's first book. As far as first books go, this is a lot better than others I've read. Overall, the story kept me interested and I found I could like most of the characters well enough. Not bad.

Unfortunately, it's lacking in the originality department, as other reviewers have noted. It most definitely has inspiration from other works of fantasy. It was also made into a trilogy, and I don't think I really felt like it should have been. While loose ends were left at the end of the book, I still think that it was fine to leave it where it was. The other two books felt really forced compared to this one. It really should have been left as a stand-alone.

[Nick Ligthelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed this book. Hamfisted as it might be sometimes I really like the characters amd the storyline never felt boring

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this at our cheesy used book store for a buck. Good story and it moved right along holding my interest. Going to research this author--see if he's done anything else.

[Olalekan Salami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool

[Jenny Delandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

set on Earth thousands of years into the future and some things still exist.

Seeing a set of escalators through the characters eyes was quite an experience

there are lots of things 'the Ancients' left behind...

books - some that crumble away .. people trying to learn how to read the writing

They learn that the Ancients killed their planet and themselves
They were trying to destroy rose gold rings that apparrently lead to the dimise of the ancient race... there were only 8 left



a mad king of a country wants to rule the world and kill everything standing in his way.... he finds 4 rings and while reading Ancients books he discovers that one of rings works for him
He gives one to his sister and one to her daughter

One finds its way to a small hamlet and is offered as a prize in the local fencing competition. It is won by Giles. The mad king finds out about the ring and he wants it so sends some nasty creatures called Orlocks to retrieve it.
Surprisingly the people fight back and in the fighting Giles is killed saving Matt's life - Matt puts Giles's ring on to keep it safe and he notices a tingling ...

the ring magnifies thoughts and manifests them as real.
of course in the hands of a mad man you can imagine what is happening in the war as he gets closer to Matt

MAtt and his friends are fleeing a constable who is going to arrest Matt for killing other boy who had in turn killed Matt's father.

Matt's father and their local prient used to be in the army together and the priest promises Bran, Matt's dad that he will save Matt from Prison....

Epic journey -
there is even a boat trip

Matt finds navigation facinating and that will no doubt be important later in the story.

when the boat reaches the far port they are captured and Matt barely escapes..... later he learns that the mad king had the entire crew killed... Matt is sad and angry

Matt uses crystals found in a hillside to help him defeat the sister of the king who was on a fleet of ships bound for them
The mad king only has one crystal and he can not get it to work
Matt realises that the crystal help him recover and also strengthen anything that he does with the ring..

Matt defeats the king and his niece whisks Matt into an underground city called Henderson
Described like a multi storey shopping plaza she tries to convince Matt that they must take control and rule the world....

He refuses and surprisingly she sends him back

then suddenly we are 6 months later and the world is trying to get back to a normal life then Matt sees the constable arrive at the abbey where he has been learning more about the ring that he now refuses to wear


there is a lot of detail around the sword fights, and you learn how they parry and lunge etc and the main character manages to fall in love..

here is my favorite scene from the book:-

Matt is rushing off somewhere to save the world and his lady love, Lara, is cranky that he put himself in danger and she is just getting ready to blast him when he kisses her in front of everyone and she turns and says
"He's in love with me. I can't seem to do much with him"

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

67/100 good writing, run-of-the-mill story, poorly handled development of the story.
Very typical fantasy story. Too much time 'wasted' on the introduction and setup and not enough time spent on the development of the protagonist's newly acquired 'powers'. The final confrontation with the 'bad' guy was handled poorly. I often wonder why people even bother to write books if all they can come up with is another run-of-the-mill story. Judging however by so much mediocre fantasy out there, writing a truly interesting story is a lot harder than it seems. I did like the style of writing but instead of 510 pages I would have expected 200-300 more pages devoted to the development of the main character's understanding of his abilities, politics, and a much more detailed and interesting final confrontation with the generic evil/bad guy. The story ends quite abruptly as if the writer was forced to stop. The setup for a follow-up is clear but I'm not going to read it anytime soon.

[F · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was bad. It was horrible, the plot was ripped off from Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings and possibly some other books. Too many examples, but halfway through the book you can see all of the references. The story was dragged for no reason, dialog was incredibly lame, for example, they were narrated instead of given a dialog form which would have been more interesting. But we are narrated on what they say. God damn it. It hurts to see something like that for something that had so much potential. Though the journey from the boys POV was disappointing, the king's was interesting. Here was a character that was evil as you can imagine, but the details was left for the readers to draw themselves. Could have expanded on the king and made it more interesting. Reading about the lame journey that reminds me of Moraine's party doesn't deserve a place. Regretted. But will finish the series. Who knows what I might find.

[ItBetterBeGood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read and delightfully unexpected! I did not think I liked the fantasy genre but picked up this book anyway because I like the other murder mystery work of the author so much, I was craving anything else. I am now working on the second in this series titled "The Emerald Cavern" and it is great too.

This author really knows how to hook the reader with fast moving story line and really interesting characters. I found myself completely transported into a land unlike any other and am glad there is a third book to follow the one I am in now. This story is captivating and perfect when you are snowed in somewhere!

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young Matthew Lewin acquires a ring in a fencing match, however, it is no ordinary ring. An artifact of the Ancients, it possesses great power and though rare, it is not the only one of its kind. Karas Duren, a man who thirsts for power also possesses a ring and he'll do anything to eliminate a threat to his plans for domination. First in a series, this is a great fantasy read that is full of epic adventure, love, suspense, and smatterings of well placed humor.

[Claudia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started out with a cool premise but become unfocused and boring as it went on. Also, this is obviously a man writing typical fantasy and there is a typical fantasy female character who is spunky and wenchish and of course beautiful. Between that and the "but you're just a girl" lines that came far too frequently and the girl's typical fiery-eyed response, it was super annoying. But I could have lived with that if the story hadn't become boring and untight.

[Nat Howler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very dynamic read, particularly as the quest really begins with the main character being spirited away by his friends who want to protect him from an over-scrupulous law enforcer who is prosecuting the main character for doing something justified. It really is a fresh approach to see a personal life combined with the need to combat a world-wide danger. Too bad the author's in prison.

[Chanel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave this book one and a half stars. The plot was good, but roughly planned out. The main character is a bit wimpy, but on the other hand, he was brave when the moment was right. I was too inconsistent in the development of the characters. I got more than half way through, a good 65%, before I had to call it quits.

[Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creative story, entertaining storytelling. This was my first science fiction book, and I was not wierded-out by it, like I expected to be.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun read, but very hackneyed. Reads as a single book, but appears to setup the author for sequels.

[Trent Mikesell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found out the author is a known con man, so that made me enjoy the book less for some reason. Never find out about the author until you're done with the book...

[Pj Szynski · Rating 4 out of 5]

very fun