The Irda (Dragonlance Lost Histories, Vol. 2)
The Irda (Dragonlance Lost Histories, Vol. 2)
In the Beginning . . .
Given life by gods, the Ogres were the most intelligent and beautful of the early races on Krynn, and they reigned supreme in their perfect kingdom . . .
Until that fabled race was weakened by clan rivalries and evil ambition, their downfall orchestrated by the hand of the Dark Queen, Takhisis . . .
Until the once-proud Ogres were cursed by their own mistakes and transformed into one of Krynn’s most ugly, despised, and villainous species . . .
All except a small group, the Irda, who learned to accept goodness, fight for their freedom, and escape to build a utopian civilization of their own on a paradise island in the Dragon Isles.
The Irda
The Lost Histories Series probes the historical roots and epic struggles of the heretofore little-known peoples of Krynn. Author Linda P. Baker sheds light on thelegendary origins of this mysterious race, The Irda.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars A very original work
Not the best book from the Dragonlance world, but a pleasurable read none the less. The truly intriguing thing about this book, is that I could not tell which characters were the antagonists and which ones would ultimately become the heores. Every chapter was a guessing game, following Khallayne’s selfish desires, then Lyrralt’s, then Jyrbian’s, never really being told who the champion of the Irda was going to be. It could have been all of them or none of them at all, and that is was makes this such a solid read. Fantasy books sadly, can become quite predictable and this book was anything but that. Another point I enjoyed about this book was the setting. Imagine having a wonderful gift that could significantly alter your life for the better, but the pratice of it was illegal. Not only that, imagine living in a society where any teaching contrary to the status quo brands you as a heretic and worhty of death. The conflict and plot is thick and other than a few glossed over character transitions or spans of time this novel is a pleasant change from the mainstream yet still true to the Dragonlance saga. Probably the best thing about this book is no other Dragonlance novels need to be read before opening this one. This story is not entertwined into others and proudly stands alone.
3 Stars Starts slow and ends too quickly
This book follows a group of characters, mostly Ogres, in the months that lead up to the downfall of Ogres from the favored of the gods to the brutal beasts that most people know them as. It also explains how the Irda separated from the Ogres, and how they ended up on the Dragon Isles.
I think this book could only appeal to fans of the Dragonlance world and would be confusing to those who’ve never read Dragonlance. Overall it is a decent novel, but it starts very slowly and ends too quickly. Instead of a sweeping history of the Irda, it is a snapshot of the downfall of the Ogres. Instead of relating the history of the Irda through the War of the Lance or even the Chaos War, it ends with their arrival at the Dragon Isles. I think this topic could probably have been handled in a short story, rather than a novel.
Due to the extremely slow start, it is very hard to become attached to any of the characters. Even after one begins to relate to some of the characters, they do things that seem inconsistant with their character quite often.
True fans of the Dragonlance series should read this, as it does give some insight into the fall of the Ogres. Anyone who wants to start reading the Dragonlance series should stay away from this one until you’re hooked- else it might scare you away!
5 Stars The writing has a mythical sound
I have to take issue with a couple of reviewers who gave this book a lesser rating than mine. You can’t slam an author based on the editing of her book. Take the time to look past the editing problems of a book and let yourself enjoy the compelling unfolding of the plot and characterizations. Granted, many people who are into gaming may not have the attention span to stay with a novel that is deeply plotted and well written. With games,(and I, too, enjoy them) it’s the fast pacing of adventure following adventure following adventure that keeps the players interested and excited, rather than the love of words and word pictures that Readers love and celebrate.
2 Stars Definitely not the best Dragonlance book.
Don’t waste your time or money on this waste of paper.
This is one of the most boring Dragonlance books period.
Just read the first 2 chapters and the last 2 chapters of the book, and you got the essential storyline of the whole book.
It is that pathetic of a book.
Hardly anything intresting happens in this book at all.
I don’t want to read 300 pages of how Ogres enslave humans and elves, and mistreat them through-out the entire book, and the only excitement in the whole book happens at the end, when some good Ogres break away and make their own civilization.
This is not essential reading for Dragonlance at all. You can skip this book completely and still not miss any crucial storyline or timeline elements of the whole Dragonlance Saga.
5 Stars I really loved this book
I read the other reviews before writing this one, so I would like to address them as part of my review. Even though I DO love this book I agree you would have to read “Dragonlance Chronicles” and “Dragonlance Legends” before reading “The Irda”. (and if you don’t like Legends, then don’t bother). Now for the negativity of most of these reviews, I would like to say that I have read lots of fantasy novels myself. Over 40 Dragonlance novels and many others (wheel of time, forgotten realms, etc.) and I really think this book stands out purely on the basis of character development and general flow of the story. In fact, out of the non-Weis/Hickman novels in the Dragonlance Saga, The Irda is in my top ten. This jumping around effect someone referred to I didn’t notice at all.
I will qualify my high marks with this concession of sorts. I really liked the story “Raistlin’s Daughter” (in Tales, Love and War, I think) and wanted to know more about these Irda from then on. And, I’m a role-player and my first Dragonlance character was an Irda mage, so I could be partial. Still there have been other Dragonlance titles (Dalamar the Dark, and Soulforge come to mind) I wanted to love, but was sadly disappointed.
Another qualifying remark about the choice of material in the book. Like many on going Saga worlds, at some point TSR just wanted to find stuff to tell people to write a book about. I think most of the books written under this “people will buy it just ’cause it’s Dragonlance” ideology are sub-par. But titles like First-born, and The Irda (in my opinion) were expections. Baker’s book kept me interested despite the fact that as a big fan of all things Dragonlance I was already familiar with key points in the timeline that she had to work with. I really thought she brought the Orges to life.
Filed under: Dragonlance Reviews
