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Sanctuary (Dragonlance: Elven Exiles, Vol. 1)

The first book in a brand new trilogy by well-loved Dragonlance authors!Two of the authors of the Elven Nations trilogy now continue the story of the elves! The fortunes of war have driven the once-great elven nations into exile in the desert land of Khur. The elves must overcome extraordinary perils including treachery to establish a new homeland.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Pretty Good Start to Trilogy
Sanctuary is the first in the Elven Exiles trilogy. I bought this trilogy because I had previously read the War of Souls trilogy and always wondered what happened to the elves. At the end of the last book from the War of Souls, the story with the elves was left very open ended. I had liked the elven characters, especially Gilthas. Although I was a bit skeptical about reading a Dragonlance book not by Margaret Weis or Tracy Hickman (I had not had the best of luck before), I enjoyed this book. The characters seemed true to those found in the War of Souls trilogy (as far as I remember) and were still interesting. The writing style wasn’t the greatest, but it was still overall an enjoyable read. I would recommend it to any Dragonlance fans and I look forward to reading the other two books in this trilogy.

2 Stars Unsatisfying
I’m not sure exactly why people are giving this book 5 stars. To me this book falls short on many accounts.

First off, the writing ability of the authors got to me in a bad way. The point of view is constantly changing, in many times even mid-paragraph. This leads to some confusion in action scenes as suddenly new names and people show up whom the original character didn’t even know. The amount of typos gets tedious as well. When the mystical symbols ” and ” are not used when someone is speaking, it does tend to ruin a conversation. Also, I have never in my life so far seen anyone use a 0 instead of an o in a book. But then, if you are the kind of person whe tends not to be drawn away by these things don’t worry, there are other reasons to dislike this book.

I found many of the characters to be rather shallow. Some are evil for no other reason than the plain fact that the authors wanted them to be evil. The reasoning ability of many of the characters also falls far short of logic at times. You have Gilthas, the elven ruler who is supposed to be intelligent and wise constantly making the same stupid mistakes since the authors won’t let him learn. Then you have the Lioness, a great and mighty general, who is about as stupid and dense as they come.

To all of you who liked this book, I apologize. I am sure that there are many books that I like that you would disagree with. But, this book is certianly not one of those. I won’t bother finishing the series. I wasn’t captivated in anyway by the story and I almost found it a chore to finish. This is rather sad as I usually whip through these things in a day or two.

If I could I would give it 2.5 stars and peg it just below what I would expect from an average book.

2 Stars A slow start
This was a very slow and disappointing start, to what I was hoping would be a good trilogy. The only thing that kept me going was hoping that all the setup would eventually end the the later books might better. The only reason I was interested in that is because of my love for the story of the elves of Krynn.

The writing in this book was subpar. The characters were shallow and the points of view that kept shifting from one paragraph to the next was diconcerting. Even the well established characters such as Gilthas and Kerianseray did not absorb me as they have in previous books. Not to mention the nomads and khurs, who were abominably boring.

The ending started to pick up some pace but since I never really cared for most of the characters I felt it was too little to late. However, I’ll keep reading because I want to see what happens to the elves of Krynn.

4 Stars Pretty Good book in the Dragonlance setting
I’ll admit, what fascinated me most about this novel when I started it is that it shows conventional elves (typical long-lived, magical, forest people) in a very atypical situation, where the elves are living in a tent city in the middle of a desert, at the mercy of the humans they live under the shelter of.

But what makes this book a good read (not a superb read, but a good one) are two things. First, the main characters are an interesting group. You really get a feel for the burden they have, and how they react to the lack of a good answer for the problems facing the Elves (such as how they don’t have the military strength to reclaim their homeland, and they don’t really have a place of their own to head to).

Second, the feel of the book is good. The way Thompson describes it, you really get a strong mental image of the Elves’ condition - how they are weakening and becoming more impoverished the longer they stay where they are, the anger they feel about being in their humiliating position, and their frustration about not being able to reclaim their homeland, and being forced to bribe a corrupt desert ruler simply to stay ahead of their enemies.

4 Stars Good book!
I am currently reading the second in this trilogy which is even better but this was certainly a good beginning with characters that were well developed.

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Steel and Stone (Dragonlance: The Meetings Sextet, Vol. 5)

Hate At First Sight

The tempestuous affair of Kitiara Uth Matar and Tanis Half-Elven begins with the sword.

Life isn’t simple for the hotheaded pair. They must contend with a carnivorous, two-headed troll; a deposed leader who believes Kitiara is the cause of the ruler’s troubles; a vindictive mage who seeks peculiar vengeance; and Kit’s hulking former lover. They also meet a beautiful magic-user hiding a painful secret, and a giant owl with a sardonic sense of humor.

Here is the long-awaited story of the meeting of Tanis and Kitiara, a tale of love, lust, betrayal, and revenge that takes the reader through Krynn and south to the glacial Icereach.

Ellen Porath, co-author of Kindred Spirits, tells this exciting new tale, the fifth in the Dragonlance Saga Meetings Sextet.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Not very exciting
Tanis should have known better than to have gotten involved with Kitiara Uth Matar, but he did, and this book tells the tale of how all this gets worked out. And of course there is another man involved with Kitiara. And there’s fighting. And some backstabbing. And a strange trip to Icereach. This book was okay. Not the best in the Meetings Sextet. Read it if you like the characters involved. A little of the plot becomes important later on in the Dragonlance Series. It might be interesting to know the background details from this book.

3 Stars Decent, but…
This is definitely better than Oath and Measure, so if you’re reading the Meetings Sextet in order then at least things improve. The meeting between Tanis and Kitiara is VERY lacking in drama–they simply fall into each others arms in a mixture of battle and unexpected lust. This should have been handled much more carefully.

The non-Chronicles characters are extremely enjoyable in the sense that they add a depth to the novel and allow it to be an original story. However, the plot itself isn’t very complex–a bad guy wants power, yawn. Also, there are almost too many other characters–I felt like the dynamic between the two mages could have been its own novel, but Ellen was “forced” to write about Tanis and Kit instead. As a result, neither relationship is developed appropriately.

Still, a decent read with good characters in a great realm.

4 Stars Pleasantly surprised
… NOW TO THIS BOOK. I am not really sure on timeframes since I am reading in chronological order so that doesn’t bother me like it did the previous reviewers. They seemed disappointed in this book for that fact. I was not. The meeting between Tanis and Kitiara is quick and unbelievable, which is too bad. The addition of Caven (Another of Kit’s men) is a great addition to this book when he teams up with Tanis. The story is fine, the characters are pretty good. I enjoyed this book. The only complaint is the end is not that action packed as one would hope and it’s over rather quick and boring. But this book is better than I expected.

3 Stars Kit is a (…)
I have to admit that this book did have its high moments. But it was overall lacking the drama and intrigue that should have gone along with Tanis and Kit’s first meeting. I didnt like the way that Kit acted throughout the story. There was a little action here and there, but the story was not as good as it could have been. It really made me not like Kit. I mean i know she is a fighter, and she doesnt care about anything cut her sword. But the way she acts in this story is totally degrading to her character, read it if you must, but this book could be easily skipped.

3 Stars Good book
Good book, plain and simple. Not the best but still good. If your a Dragonlance fan you’ll enjoy the read.

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The Gates of Thorbardin (Dragonlance: Heroes Volume Five)

The fifth in a series of recovers of classic Dragonlance novel tales. This attractive new re-release of The Gates of Thorbardin showcases a new look for the Heroes series. Each title in the series will reflect the new series design and feature entirely new cover art.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Blah
I was disappointed with this book because I was expecting it to be as good as Stormblade, which it was not. I could definitely see Dan Parkinson’s Western (as in “spaghetti” and “wild”) influences from the moment the story began. This lent a different feel to the book than the other Dragonlance books that I have read. Parkinson’s descriptions of place were very detailed and interesting to read. The main character was hard to get into, and I found myself hoping that this would be a story that ended with the good guy’s untimely demise. Oh well. Can’t have everything. Read Stormblade instead.

5 Stars An exceptionally well told story!
I hope that Mr. Parkinson will write many more Dragonlance novels. While his characters weren’t too developed, they were also not overkilled with detail (such as the details of 4 generations of their families, etc.). The story itself ran smooth as silk, no contradictions in itself, just the right amount of humor too.

Chane Feldstone, an orphan dwarf with no traces of his lineage, has a dream. Not like that of great men, but a dream that reoccurs constantly about an old helmet. He loves a dwarven woman who’s father hates him (such as in-laws are, lol), and when Chane reveals that his dream is actually fate calling him… her father plans to have him “taken care of”… thus beginning Chane’s quest and his adventures. Along the way he meets ‘Chess’ a kender, Bobbin- an insane gnome (you’ll understand when you read it, lol), a human that goes by Wingover, and some others… then along the way Chane and his friends have to face armies of a Highlord (goblins, Hobgoblins, and a few Ogres).

The whole “concept” in the synopsis of “uniting Thorbardin” is barley skirted upon… instead its about the finder of Grallen’s helm bringing Thorbardin to a time that it once was…

Very descriptive in battles, features and other things, and the combination of Kender and Gnome (insane remember) is a thoughtful added spice of humor. I highly recommend this book to Dragonlance fans.

4 Stars Should Have Been a 5 Star Book
This book was great!

The frist chapter kinda dragged on. It does begin with the hero of this book “Chane Feldstone” about to kill a panther who has been chasing him through the wilderness outside “Thorbardin”.

Despite the action sequence right in the very begining, it took the book about 3 chapters to get good. This book was a great page turner after that. You almost couldn’t wait to see what was gonna happen next…

Now, the reason it was a 4 star and not a five was (1) The beginging that I allready mentioned.. and (2) The ending. No Im not gonna give that away, but, Despite this being a great book, the ending left an opening for a sequal. Thats ok, not great, but the way it ends leaves allot of questions, which is bad.

Overall this was a pretty good book. Depsite the Flawed Beingings and Endings, I enjoyed this book and and Really looking forward to the sequal. If your a DL fan, dont miss this one, but look out for the stuff I’ve talked about, but if you are new to the Dl Saga…Don’t start with this one.

4 Stars Better than Volume 2….
I own the Heroes books from when there was two three-volumes series: Heroes I and Heroes II. Needless to say, the books in Heroes II built upon the books in Heroes I. Anyway…. This book was written to build on ‘Stormblade,’ which is a very sad book. ‘The Gates of Thorbardin’ kept me interested until the very end; I truly enjoyed this book.

It is a very interesting story that combines a dwark, a kender, a gnome, and a human. Although the kender in Volume 2 was irritating, this one was funny. I am pleased that I bought this book, and I enjoy occasionally rereading this book. The characters are well-place and well-written. The storyline seems to actually have a purpose.

I reccomend this book to all, but it doesn’t make a good book with which to start the Dragonlance series. Try the ‘Chronicles’ books first; that trilogy started this whole thing!

2 Stars Gates of Thorbardin (Dragonlance Heroes, Volume 5)
In my opinion this book has problems from the get go. The main character of the book, Chane Feldstone seems very hard to get into, and I believe if it wasn’t for his supporting cast, this book would be unreadable. The kender, Chess, while not Tasslehoff, is always a good edition to a Dragonlance book, providing a fun-loving aspect to any story. Jillian, the dwarven woman, is annoying as far as I can tell, but even she adds good depth to the story. Wingover, the human (ranger i think), at times i believe adds to much to the dourness of the dwarves. (DL Fans, wasn’t the name Wingover used in Darkness and Light for one of the gnomes that went to the red moon with Sturm and Kitiara?).
All in all I find the book difficult to get into, and though I was not a big fan of Stormblade until the 3rd time I read it, I believe that to be a much better book.
I believe this to be only good for completionists who absolutely must read every Dragonlance publication that comes along, or dwarf fans, who would like to know a bit more about the mysterious Thorbardin.

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City of the Lost (Dragonlance: Linsha Trilogy, Vol. 1)

The first title in a new trilogy that explores the Dragonlance world after the War of Souls. City of the Lost is the first title in a new trilogy centering around the character of Linsha Majere, the grandchild of one of the central characters to the entire Dragonlance saga. One of the author’s previous titles, The Clandestine Circle, introduced this character to Dragonlance readers. This new title and trilogy will advance the story of the world after the events of the best-selling War of Souls trilogy and will also introduce a major new villain to the setting.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Mary Herbert is staking her claim to the Dragonlance world
City of the Lost is the first book in the Dragonlance: Linsha Trilogy. With any first book of a trilogy a good deal of time is spent setting up the story and characters. Mary Herbert does it in a way that doesn’t feel like an ‘information dump’, it feels more like a part of the story, which is a nice change of pace.

Th story itself deal with Linsha being a knight and some of the trials a female knoght faces. Yet, that isn’t all. Throughout this book there is a good mix of action and story building.

The past 3-5 years have been a down time in the Dragonlance world as there hasn’t been many ‘good’ bboks. Yet, Herbert stands tall with a captivating story and a hero that we can believe in.

If you’re a fan of the Dragonlance world I suggest you pick up this book. Herbert is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. Hopefully you will feel the same.

5 Stars Worth the read and then some!
This is one of the most engrossing Dragonlance novels I have read, outside of the core storyline. Linsha’s character is well-developed and interesting, and the politics and intrigue of the book had me turning page after page. I can’t wait for the next one! One suggestion for improvement: a map of the city and its immediate environs would have made the story easier to follow. Otherwise, nigh perfect.

2 Stars Overwrought
Linsha Majere lacks charisma. There are a lot of details poured into her character, and she definitely comes across as a courageous, if unconventional, knight; but somehow I get the feeling that Mary Herbert is still trying to convince herself as to who Linsha Majere is. The writing seems a little overwrought, and the fantasy in the book (e.g. a modern city built around a spirit city) really doesn’t serve the story. I’m still trying to finish this one, and I’m not sure I’ll continue with the trilogy.

4 Stars A good start to a trilogy
This was indeed an engrossing novel. I couldn’t stop reading. Most of this novel takes places before DOAFS in an intriguing part of Krynn. Herbert did much better here than on her long-winded Clandestine Circle novel. This was a much easier, well-paced story.

Linsha & Varia are more entertaining & fleshed out too. There were plenty of other interesting characters including two very likeable Dragonlords & one not so likeable one. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of villian the Brutes commander turns out to be.

5 Stars Now Reading
I was waiting to read this because the third book of the tilogy is not available. I took this on a recent flight, it is great and I see why the third book sold out. I am hoping that by the time I finish the second book there will be a re-print. This is a don’t miss in the Dragonlance series, but don’t buy it if you can’t wait for the third book to go to print again.

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Wizards’ Conclave (Dragonlance: Age of Mortals)

The latest title in a series based on characters from the best-selling War of Souls trilogy.

This title is the next in a series that explores the lives of key characters from Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman’s New York Times best-selling War of Souls trilogy. Wizards Conclave describes events that directly overlap events during the War of Souls, and it features two lead characters familiar to any fan of the Dragonlance world. Author Douglas Niles is well-known to and popular with both recent and long-term Dragonlance novel fans.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Stars Quite probably the worse DL book ever released
Really, I’d give negative stars if it was possible. Before I get going, I’d like to point out that I’ve always liked Douglas Niles’s DL works, The Last Thane aside. In particular, I’d recommend Fistandantilus Reborn, The Kinslayer Wars, and Emperor of Ansalon as excellent examples of how good a writer her can be in this setting…even if each has slight flaws, they don’t add up enough to detract from the book.

In Wizard’s Conclave, it seems like all there are, are flaws. As far as the issue of Dalamar the Dark’s hair color, he WAS killed and resurrected. The shock of that COULD have bleached his hair - it happens in real life sometimes when people experience a severe trauma. That was the least of it in my mind.

For starters, the heroine (Coryn) was far too naive and STUPID throughout the book. The idea that a kender could just show up (in Icereach, of all places, without being a god, as in The Icewall Trilogy) at Scharon’s door and guide a 15-year old girl to Palanthas WITHOUT INCIDENT is ludicrous. Plain and simple. Any ship they took would have had to pass close enough to the Gale off the coast of Southern Ergoth to experience negative weather patterns from its fallout, yet we hear nothing of a storm-tossed ship or anything. Just smooth sailing!

Secondly, the Tower of High Sorcery in Wayreth has a whole big piece of source material on it (Raistlin’s Legacy: The Tower of High Sorcery) that was readily available to Mr. Niles that he apparently didn’t look at once. Wayreth Forest is just that, a forest. No caves, no mountains, NO SECRET TUNNELS! It is guarded by a COPPER dragon, not some massive green holdover from the Third Dragon War. It is also a structure that CANNOT be harmed. Raistlin, in Test of the Twins, was a god in an alternate future and even his DIVINE power couldn’t harm it, never mind some wild magic.

The villain was, in a word, boring. The writing was kiddie (he should have named Coryn Harriet Potter and just have been done with it) and there were so many problems that they got in the way of telling a good story. Not the least of which is the idea that every wizard had the “fly” spell memorized for every day use or that they suddenly had a full compliment of spells after years of having no access to them. Oh, and lest I forget, they made good time from all corners of the continent, all arriving at the SAME EXACT TIME the day AFTER the Night of the Eye. I wasn’t aware Ansalon had Leer jets.

The Master of the Tower has his own form, but it was not once used, and is more powerful than just about any wizard because he IS the Tower. Why he didn’t lock the villain and his toadying sidekick in a room and allow them to suffocate is beyond me. The Tower’s physical layout was incorrectly described, or should I say incompletely described. No mention was made of where the fence went from the foretower.

And for all of Coryn’s unbelievable (literally) powers, she HAD to use her little copycat spell on that arrow to win? What about, oh, I dunno, casting a haste spell on the arrow so it would get there before Kalwhatshisname had time to turn around?

Was there anything about this book I liked? Yes, actually. I liked that Jenna became the Head of the Conclave, even if she’s far too old to have withstood the punishment she took. She was no spring chicken in Dragons of Summer Flame as it was, yet here she is 40+ years later and still running around like she was in the prime of her life. Even Elminster would have a problem bouncing back from the kind of injuries she sustained!

The best part, though, was the scene with Palin and Dalamar. I felt that it was an excellent closing of the book on the Majere family (Linsha aside) and their involvement with the future of Krynn. Palin sacrificed magic at the end of the War of Souls trilogy and in this book - released shortly after Prisoner of Haven and, thus, a great piece of loose-end-tying - we see him happy for the first time in years. A family that rose from peaceful common stock returns to peaceful common stock…a great way to bring their saga full circle.

In short, though, Mr. Niles took far too many liberties with the story, not the least of which was betraying the tone of DL with a kiddie fantasy story, dialogue sequences, and pace. As I said, though, I like Doug Niles’s DL stuff, by and large, and will just be forced to file this in the Miss category for him…which is still far outnumberd by his Hits. I really hope that he phoned this in due to personal feelings towards the story idea and the supposed story arc that is supposed to come with it. Coryn is rumored to feature prominently in his upcoming trilogy…I can only hope he doesn’t continue the trend established in this book, but rather takes the story seriously and attempts to make the read not only fun, but worthwhile as well.

4 Stars Okay…
This book is okay but one reviewer does have a point…Why does Dalamar have blond hair instead of black hair? Also, in the War of the Souls trilogy it is mentioned that he was thinner and looked much older? Never mind the questions though. The book was okay but it left out some important details. Although Niles does capture Dalamar cool and aloof nature perfectly. Aside from that, the book was okay. It ended too quickly perphaps he could made it longer? Try The Hunter’s Blades trilogy instead by R.A. Salvatore.

3 Stars Eh….
As many other reviewers have stated, Dalamar the Dark is -not- blonde. He is, in fact, a black-haired elf. It was also my understanding that he had been physically changed during his time serving the ‘One God’ in the War of Souls, (i.e. he was weaker, thinner, possibly even going gray. Appearing to age faster then an elf -should-.) This was not portrayed in the novel at all.

The writing style was wonderful, and I enjoyed the story. But there were massive holes in it. Unfortunately, this seems to be a running theme with some of the newer Dragonlance books. (If you haven’t read ‘Lake of Death’ yet, don’t.) If you’re a hardcore dragonlance fan, and want to know about the current status of High Sorcery, this book delivers. But you can definitely live without it.

4 Stars Fair
I admire Mr Niles skills in writing, and he is one of the founders of the DragonLance Trilogy. I enjoyed reading more of Dalamar, an often neglected but fascinating character.

Still he did make a crucial error in that Dalamar is indeed dark-haired (confirmable, if one asks Larry Elmore or Mrs Weis) and that the novel was woefully short. . . or that no kender were killed in the procession of this novel.

Still, it’s a good read.

3 Stars Not great,but not bad either
i like the new direction DL is going at the end of this story..Coryn is going to be a major character in the DL world,and I liked how Dalamar,Jenna,and Coryn all worked together to reach their goals… The reason why this gets 3 stars and not higher is because of the horrible villains..Kalrakin and his dull and boring sidekick are by far the worst villains I’ve ever erad about..Kalrakin should be on some low budget saturday morning cartoon..They were the type of villains u want to hate and hope die soon cause they were just awfully stupid and dumb..

I did like the overall storyline and the rest of the book flowed nicely..It took me just 3 days to read,which is a plus in my book…I just wish the villains were cooler than how they were portrayed.. If you like Dalamar,Jenna,and a newcomer mage “coryn” that might one day rival even Raistlin himself,then go read this book.

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