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On Earth, the Barbed Coil is a ring that transports Tessa McCamfrey to another world. After Tessa appears in the city of Bay'Zell, she quickly meets up with a mercenary named Ravis, who takes her under his wing just in time for the pair to be drafted by Camron of Thorn. Camron is bent on defeating the mad king, who is being controlled by a larger version of the Coil. And Tessa's newly discovered gift for magical illuminations might be the best weapon in the fight. J. V. Jones, one of fantasy's hottest new authors, provides plenty of action in The Barbed Coil.Download Description
Tessa McCamfrey, young and rootless resident of Southern California, has never found much in life that interests her. All of that changes when she stumbles upon a ring that transports her to a distant time and place. There she discovers her unexpected talent: She can create luminous, magical illustrations that have the power to influence others' lives. She becomes involved in the fate of kingdoms when her power is brought to bear against an evil king whose mind has been taken over by a golden crown called the Barbed Coil. As in The Book of Words trilogy, J. V. (Julie) Jones imbues every one of her characters with personality, from the dashing mercenary Ravis, who becomes Tessa's protector in this strange new world, to the sailors, innkeepers, soldiers, and others who populate her lush, involving story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (61)

Good concept, Hollywood ending
(...)
Good idea for a story, and for the most part well done, but Jones lacks maturity in her need to tie up all of the loose ends into a neat little package. Every character that was met along the way got a mention in the last chapter and without fail: the good guys were rewarded and the bad guys were punished. The treatment of the banker was especially strange, as it did absolutely nothing for the plot, and only served reassure everyone that every bad person always gets it in the end. Honestly, it's almost as if Jones finished the book, read it to an eight year old child, and then rewrote the last chapters to make sure all of the child's questions were answered.
4 stars for the first 90% of the book/1 star for the ending

J.V. Jones writes an interesting story
This book took me a while but after reading it. I found out that it was well worth the time put into it. Tessa and Ravis make up very interesting characters in a tale about mystery and murder. Tessa from the future is pulled back into time to fulfill a density which is to free the barbed coil from its slavery under Izgard of Garizon. My only complaint about this book is the length. She could have cut out about 100 pages here or there and it would have held together even better. But I will definitely read The Book of Words series eventually when I get to it.

Yes, it WAS wonderful
I couldn't put it down.This was one of my favorites!It was delightfully descriptive, I could tell exactly what was happening.It has great vocabulary too.This is definatly a book I would recommend to big-time readers (or anyone who likes action/adventure mixed a little bit with mysteries).I am definatly going to read this again, and I would suggest other people do the same!

A book worth reading more than once
This book has so much packed into it that you need to read it more than once to catch all the details. I loved this book! The story is rich, dynamic, thought-provoking and the characters have more than just the author's story to tell - they have pasts, they aren't perfect, they have been manipulated for years by a scribe who knew their meeting was imperative. I have already read this book twice and know I will read it again someday.

A uniquely new way of looking at magic
I grew to respect J.V. Jones in her Book of Words series.She is truly skilled in making an adventure feel very real.The Barbed Coil puts an interesting new spin on magic.It is almost refreshing to have a different method to fantasy books.Instead of the usual pattern -- bad thing happens, group forms, journey ensues -- Jones gives us something entirely new.There is a journey, but the problem has to be solved through ink and paper rather than battles and conventional ideas of magic.So why did I give it four stars??I spent well over half of the story trying to decipher just what the story was.Plus, there is a huge rush at the end to tye up loose ends that is almost completely unsuccessful.I was left unfulfilled at the end, after hundreds of pages of fighting that should have killed all of the characters anyway.This would have made a five star rating if Jones had managed to find her story a bit faster.I think it took her half the book to decide where she was going with her ideas. ... Read more