Book Description
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.
Customer Reviews:
Not great,but not bad either.......2006-06-25
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.
Quite probably the worse DL book ever released.......2004-11-08
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.
Eh...........2004-10-06
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.
Fair.......2004-09-28
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.
Okay..........2004-09-03
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.
Book Description
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. Prisoner of Haven describes events that directly overlap events during the War of Souls, and it features a character originally introduced in Dragons of Summer Flame. Author Berberick also wrote The Lioness, a previous title in this same series.
Customer Reviews:
Terribly Boring and Dreary.......2006-07-21
First off I would like to salute Richard Pierson in his fatally accurate description of this book. I had orginally planned to write more but he expressed much of my dislike for this book already, so I will just add some additional points.
Over the years I have read many Dragonlance books, and by far this is the worst. From the very get go the plot was boring and predictable, a characteristic that did not improve over the course of the novel. The characters of Usha and Dezra are underdeveloped and down right annoying at times. Usha is an especially weak maincharacter throughout the entire book.
As others have said this book is a good example of recent DL books that have gone awry. Other minor descrepicies present themselves as well. One being spelling mistakes that should have been spotted in editing.
Of all the DL books I have read this is certainly the least appealing to me to recommend or re-read. Whiny, boring, and weak are the three most important words I can convey to you about this book. People that havent read alot of other DL books, enjoy little action, and annoying aristocrats might kinda like this book. If you are reading it because you want to complete the Age of Mortals series then I am truly sorry for you and hope that you can finish quickly.
Romance Novels dont belong in DragonLance........2005-02-17
Unfortunately, Nancy Varian Berberick Ruins a book series about a world that i have come to love. Between this Soap Opera Style Romance of a book, and the "Inheritance" book she wrote that completly contradicts the whole Original history of the world. Her writing style is good and she is a good author i just dont feel that her writing belongs in the Fantasy/Sci-fi genre especially not DragonLance. Any dedicated DragonLance reader will find many flaws in this book. Usha was a TRAINED rogue, but now she is the most harmless of women. Very dissapointed.
A realistic touch to fantasy...what a novel idea.......2004-10-14
First off, at the risk of starting a war of words, to Mr. Pierson, with all due respect, the point you bring up is a strictly chauvinistic one and makes it clear that you missed the whole point in Usha's "betrayal." While Palin may have been off saving the world, that's not the point. The point is that he was her husband and, in fantasy, that's as important a fact as it is in real life. He was being a poor husband and, in real life, when wives have husbands that are acting like, to use a polite term, jerks, it affects them. So, while you're crucifying a fictional character for having a real person reaction, maybe you should sit back and realize that it's one of the few time that people in these novels have acted like ::gasp:: real people!
I, for one, applaud Mrs. Berberick for having the courage to "taint" one of the series' more recognizable characters and will agree with the other two reviewers that this was an excellent novel. As far as continuity within the series, it never has been and never will be a mistake-free series. Weis and Hickman are as guilty as anyone else of breaking the "rules" and I have long since stopped caring if their precious little "vision" is changed now and again by an author trying to tell a good story. This was a good story and was, at times, very poignant. The villains didn't need anymore background than we were given, just as Usha and Dezra didn't need fleshing out beyond the simple synopses of their recent history. They're Dark Knights of the new age, thus they're evil and hardly representational of the honorable Knights of Dragons of a Summer Flame.
For a good story, you don't have to make the bad guys sympathetic...you just have to establish that they're bad. Hanging innocents and taking over a town qualifies pretty much as bad in my book, though I dunno about anyone else's. While this is far from the greatest DragonLance book ever penned, it's pretty damn good considering the small setting and content. Read away!
An avid reader from Kenosha.......2004-10-07
What a nifty book. Well-written, engaging characters, and tightly plotted. Ms. Berberick's work always impresses me. It was nice to have major characters with real-world problems, and to have characters with maturity. The characters drive the story. Very happy to have this book on my shelf.
A mature & thought-provoking work.......2004-08-15
This latest offering from Nancy Varian Berberick presents a more mature and thought-provoking work than much of what passes for genre fare these days. In the book, Usha is a heroine confronted by very real difficulties in her marriage and makes choices that are all too easily dismissed as simple acts of betrayal. But these are choices faced by flesh-and-blood people, not hollow, shopworn idealizations. That doesn't mean what she chooses should be condoned, and indeed she bears the consequences of her actions, but that is what sets this work apart -- there are real-life decisions to be made and real-life consequences to be borne. All of which is dealt with in Ms. Berberick's beautifully crafted language. All in all, this is a work to be savored, to be relished, although it is not, perhaps, a work that will satisfy those who have yet to achieve a certain level of life experience.
Book Description
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. The Lake of Death describes events that directly overlap events during the War of Souls and is an unofficial sequel to Rabe's Dhamon Saga trilogy. Author Jean Rabe is well known by both recent and long-term Dragonlance novel fans.
Customer Reviews:
Worth the read.......2007-09-24
This was a much better book than I had expected...I could not finish Rabe's "Dragon's of a New Age" series and was very skeptical about this book. I'm glad I picked it up. The only problem with the book is her in accuracy with draconians...they are NOT thousands of years old. they were created during the war of the lance.
Sad but expected.......2006-06-25
Let me first say that I love Jean Rabe's work..I know many people think her characters are to powerful and behave inhumanly and unrealistic,but these are fantasy characters,not real people.. One thing you must do when you decide to read any of her novels is try not to compare the characters to real life people..If you do that,then none of her books are for you..Matter of fact,reading fantasy DL or FR novels aren't for you...
Anyway,I loved all of the main characters in this novel,especially my favorite character of all,Dhamon.. Ragh was also pretty cool and some senes had me dying laughing.. I kinda felt bad for the Draco..For a Draconian,Ragh had a high sense of honor which I liked..The best part was of the story was Dhamon being reaquainted with Feril..It would have been nice If the 4 book quest ended differently,but the series was great nonetheless..
I hope Rabe writes moer about Ragh and Feril..I've really come to enjoy Ragh's character,and I liked Feril from the New Age trilogy... If you haven't yet read these books,you definitely should go out and get it...
Could have been better.......2005-05-18
Jean Rabe has done many good books, but this one he lacked alot of suspense, danger, and excitement. Most of the characters is this book are just lead ins from the other books about Dhamon and his adventures. The Lake of Death looks at trying to get a cure for Dhamon to turn him back into a human after being tricked by a shadow dragon and then becoming one. Throughout the whole book he is constantly fighting himself trying to figure out if he wants to become human or stay a dragon. He enlists the help of his only love of life the elf Feril. She sets out on a journey to help find him a cure in what they call the lake of death which was the lake that was made when Qualinesti was flooded after the green dragon Beryl buried it when dying. The fun part was Feril going into the lake to find the sunken city, but Rabe doesn't go into detail about the lake, I thought this was the most interesting part. To go down to a lake and find a sunken city with treasures and adventures of finding something down there. The final act of Dhamon was also one of the best parts, by this time it was the end of the book and anything in between wasn't needed. It acted more as a filler than adding anything to the main line of the story. Could have been much better, by looking at some of his other books.
Another Fine Book by Jean Rabe.......2004-10-08
This is another fine book, indeed. Jean Rabe has written some of the best of the Dragonlance novels and she does herself proud with The Lake of Death. She's negotiated the many shifts and changes in the world of Krynn with grace and managed to tell exciting stories throughout.
To Ms. Rabe, I say: Way to go!
This was a disappointment..........2004-10-06
Jean Rabe is perhaps best known in the Dragonlance fan-community for her `Dragons of a New Age' trilogy. The Dawning of a New Age, The Day of the Tempest, and The Eve of the Maelstrom were the first Dragonlance books to come out after Weis and Hickman's Dragons of Summer Flame. Rabe's trilogy ushered the world of Krynn into its new age; the Fifth Age, known as the Age of Mortals. Opinions on these books vary, though none can deny that the changes made to the world were drastic and irreversible. I, personally, was disgusted with what was done to the world I'd been escaping to since I was nine years old. I was horrified by the destruction of Kendermore, and the `Dragon Purge' really irritated me. The writing, however, was quite good. I found myself enjoying Rabe's characters, despite being nauseated by the story. Because of her fantastic cast, I was able to read through all there books without any trouble. However, I could never say that I `enjoyed' them, because... Well, let's face it. Krynn was raped and abused and can never, ever be the same again. Change is good, but the author had trouble with the `global scale' of things. I was very displeased, overall, with these books.
Years later, a new trilogy came out. `The Dhamon Saga', which focused on arguably the main character from Rabe's first trilogy. I picked these books up as they came out with a great deal of hesitation, expecting the chances that I would hate them to be very high. However, I was mistaken. These books, while not the absolute best that I've read, were quite good. Her characters, once again, intrigued me. Her story was original, and -small scale-. No more of those world-changing events she had so much trouble with in the first round... This was a trilogy about a man, not about a world or a grand quest. It was about individual character interactions, progressions, and relationships. It was fantastic, believable, and definitely helped redeem the author's standing in my eyes.
So, when `Lake of Death' came out, I was thrilled. "Yes!" I thought, "Another great Dhamon book!" Wrong. I can't even finish this. It was, quite simply, not worth the money I spent on it. Sure, the story telling is fine. The characters are the same ones I loved before. But the horrible, -horrible- inconsistencies make me want to puke different colors all over the pages. At least then it would be something worth looking at. Despite having written in the Dragonlance world for YEARS, Rabe seems to have forgotten basic Krynn chronology. Sorry, Jean, draconians are NOT `centuries old'. They were created for the War of the Lance, in the year 342 AC. (That's about 85 years before the War of Souls.) Some things just don't even make any sense at all, and left me wondering what the heck Rabe was thinking when she wrote that. Or, what the heck her editor's were thinking. (Compare the description of a certain body of water found in this book to the description of the same lake found in Douglas Nile's new book, `Wizard's Conclave', which hit shelves in June, for an example of this.)
All in all: Jean, I love your characters. I really do. You're a gifted writer, with a lot of talent. (You made me cry over a kobold's death, for god's sake. That character was truly beautiful.) But this book will go unfinished, at least for the time being. I just can't get through it. I've tried. One thing after another make it impossible for me to see it through to its completion. I haven't lost complete faith, but this was a major disappointment.
Book Description
The latest title in a series based on characters from the best-selling War of Souls trilogy.
This title is the next in the series that explores the lives of key characters from Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman's current Dragonlance trilogy. Dark Thane describes events that directly overlap events during the War of Souls. Author Jeff Crook also wrote the kickoff title for this series, Conundrum.
Customer Reviews:
The Worst of the Best . . . well, Second Best.......2005-05-09
Jeff Crook is my favorite Dragonlance author--after Richard Knaak, anyway--but I have yet to understand why he wrote this the way he did. One event in Thorbardin's history, an event which never proves significant to the plot of the novel, is described in excruciating detail no fewer than seven times! Other than that, this novel mostly seems dull, unlike Crook's other, funnier works.
Short humans?.......2005-03-10
Maybe i'm expecting something else but I expect some clear guidelines between humans,dwarves and elves. there is some grey in the differences between humans and elves but to me dwarves were always different.In this book Jeff crook has made the dwarves out to be conniving and subject to mass hysteria and in almost every other dragonlance book I have read the dwarves are mostly level headed and have are always willing to band together in times of crisis..
From an interview of Jeff Crook's i read that he wanted to create a feeling similar to 9/11 however if 9/11 had happened to the dwarves by their very nature they would have built back from the rubble united as never before
The dwarves in this book are well.........short humans..No thanks!!!
Jeff Crook Rawks!.......2004-09-12
:D I really enjoyed this book. As always, I wanted to hear more about the gullydwarves, but otherwise it was a fun read. I hadn't read much about the Dragonlance dwarves before. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because I liked Crook's _Conundrum_ much much better.
Not as good as The Last Thane.......2004-08-14
The first part deals with the events immediately following DOALS with Tarn having to report the disaster at Qualinesti to the council, some of whom are looking to use his defeat for reason to dethrone him, ending in Thorbardin once again being sealed off from the world.
The second part picks up almost a year after the WOS has ended, although they don't know it, with Tarn's enemies getting ready to overthrow him & the discovery of a leftover Chaos dragon. It ends with Tarn & a group of followers being exiled...
And you get the feeling this is the last you'll read of Thorbardin because no one believes Tarn's warning of the dragon, especially when the dragon isn't where he told them it was.
DND,DragonLance.......2004-05-24
This book i think was great!But Warning:if you do not like violent books dont read this it is very violent.Also if you like DND (Dungeons and Dragons) you will like this.
If you are the person who sits and watchs Lord of the Rings for hours after hours you will for like this this.
GOOD NIGHT
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA
Customer Reviews:
This book was a disappointment. .......2005-10-30
Dragonlance is my favorite campaign setting. I have read the Dragonlance Campaign Setting d20 manual, and despite its poor reviews, I thought it was still useful, and was not sadden by the loss of money. This book is completely different.
The biggest problem with the Age of Mortals, is the constant repetition. The book relates the history of the Dragonlance setting from the end of the Chaos War to the death of Takhisis, and the sacrifice of Paladine. The story itself is rather interesting, but it was already written in the main Dragonlance Campaign Setting book. As if repeating it once was not enough, the authors decided to place the story in several places of the book. The story is written in the introduction. The story is repeated in the beginning of the chapter on religion. The book also has a time table of events, which tells the same tale with the slight difference of separating events by the years on which the event took place. Further, on almost every character profile presented in the book, parts of the story were repeated again.
The art also is in need of repair. It isn't so much that the quality of the drawings is poor, as the quantity is. There are very few pictures compared to that of a typical roleplaying manual. This wouldn't have been a big deal, but there is obvious room for the pictures in the book. There are huge gaps at the end of each chapter, where there is nothing but blank page. This space could have easily been occupied by a picture or two. Had the book cut down on the repetitive story, even more room could have been made for art work. To top the space issues, the problem of the first d20 Dragonlance book was not corrected. This book still has inch thick margins.
The meat of the book lies in the few prestige classes presented. There is also a page of feats, and a couple pages of spells. The balance of the spells and feats is in question, but since I have not yet gotten a chance to use any of them, it would be unfair of me to grade them on their usability. Still even if all the spells and feats were the best feats and prestige classes ever written, this one chapter would not be enough to make up for the poor planning of the rest of the book.
There is a chapter on towns, cities, and strongholds. This is by far the best chapter in the book, but a few of the descriptions of the cities repeat larger parts of the main story. This wouldn't be so much of problem if it weren't for the boredom of having read the story several times already. This chapter had a major flaw. It doesn't have enough maps. Only three cities, or so, actually had a map of the city. Further, this chapter would have been helped greatly had it contained a map of the world, which showed the location of each city in the chapter. The only world map in this book contained directions of seasonal winds, followed by a small description of weather and climate.
There is a chapter of descriptions, which seems to say that the Dragonlance setting has the same main qualities of any other Dungeons and Dragons setting. This Chapter talked about the weather and the people. The only thing new was a small description of a few plants, and their nativity in Dragonlance. It isn't really important to the average gamer, but to someone who likes the poetry of Dragonlance, they might have some uses.
The religion Chapter describes each deity and their new role in the world. The Dragonlance Campaign Setting book already listed the deities. Thus, it was another disappointment that the deities were described again. Luckily a few of the descriptions had insight into what the deities planned for the future, instead of just telling who the deity was.
The structure of the book was also poor. It was rather annoying reading about a race description or a city description and then moving strait into a character profile. Why put Goldmoon's profile in the introduction of the religion Chapter? There really should have been a "Hero" chapter of the book, which contained all the character profiles instead of plugging them into random sections of the book.
By eliminating the unused space, and the repetition of this book, the publishers could have made a decent soft cover book, and lowered the price by a good 10 to 15 dollars. Even with Amazons low prices, this book isn't worth the money.
dragonlance is a most read. all of it.......2004-02-12
I haven't read this book but, i've read the war of the souls and that was great.(I can't wait to get this one)
Buy it! Must buy!.......2003-10-22
I am planning on running a DL campaign using 3e rules but after reading the campaign setting book, I had a lot of questions. One example - do all wizards of high sorcery have to specialise?
This book answered all the questions. It is quite literally an extension of the campaign setting book (think of it as book 2).
More classes, races, prestige classes, etc More magic items, more history, more info in general, FANTASTIC art (MUCH better than the art served in the campaign setting). Infact the art is the best I've seen in any Dungeons and Dragons (3rd edition) book to date.
I loved this book more than the campaign setting itself and it was this book which really sold me on the idea of a Dragonlance under the 3rd edition rules.
Highly recommended. Especially so if you buy the DL Campaign setting.
Customer Reviews:
Well Done.......2006-03-19
This is an extremely well-written campaign, filled with tons of optional encounters. I was very impressed with the number of options many parts of this campaign had, taking the pressure off of the person running the setting. Highly recommended for a Dragonlance gamemaster without a lot of spare time to come up with homebrewed ideas.
Not a problem.......2006-02-24
Did not have a single problem with this item. Came well packed and wrapped. No complaints.
Book Description
On a dark spring night, nine weeks behind schedule, the MNS Indestructible, a Class C Submersible Deepswimmer, departs Sancrist Isle with a crew of twenty and a callous disregard for the inevitable.
Armed with top-secret devices, a band of intrepid gnome explorers sets out on a legendary journey to sub-navigate the continent of Ansalon and determine why very large rocks float. Though the fate of the world does not hang in the balance, theirs certainly does.
This is their story--and the story of a single member of that ignoble crew: Conundrum, the heroic gnome featured in Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's best-selling War of Souls trilogy.
Customer Reviews:
The book that drew me in..........2002-09-02
This was the first Dragonlance novel I had ever read. It was the cover art that attracted me to this book (...a stupid reason to decied to read a book, huh?). I knew nothing about the characters, their history, or the World in which they lived, but I decied to give it a chance.
Quickly (much too quickly) I became emotionally attached to most of the characters in this book; those foolish, scatter-brained, bumbling Gnomes, the very child-like yet irrepressably curious Kender. They all drew me into the story, and kept me interested in what would happen to them next- all the way to the last page.
Give this book a chance, you won't regret it...
Loved it..........2002-01-29
This was a thoroughly enjoyable novel, and a great addition to any DL collection. While some die hard fans may find some inconsistancy between the Conundrum in this book vs. the Conundrum in Weis & Hickman's War of Souls Trilogy, I didn't find anything worth throwing a temper tantrum over. If anything, this book will make you want to pay more attention to Conundrum when he appears throughout the War of Souls Trilogy. Jeff Crook has a great knack for Gnomish humor. As some of the situations the crew of the MNS Indistructible run into make others laugh out loud (or run for cover), the predominantly Gnomish crew takes their scientific expeditions very seriously, making it even funnier. Their Chief Engineer is also their Mishaps Guild representative!
I stopped reading DL novels a few years back but the War of Souls trilogy and books like Conundrum are bringing me back to Krynn. Kinda like visiting an old friend.
Average customer rating:
- Nice try, but try again.
- Fun, but some problems
- This book has serious problems
- This book has serious problems
- For the Love of Dragonlance...
|
Bertrem's Guide to the Age of Mortals: Everyday Life in Krynn of the Fifth Age (A Dragonlance(r) Novel)
Nancy Varian Berberick ,
Paul B. Thompson , and
Stan Brown
Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Heroes and Fools (Dragonlance Tales of the Fifth Age, Vol. 2)
ASIN: 0786914378
Release Date: 2000-10-01 |
Book Description
Come wander the highways and byways of Krynn in the Fifth Age.
If you've ever wondered what kender children learn in school, what the dwarves of Thorbardin eat for breakfast, how the people of Solace elect their mayor, this guide is for you.
Bertrem of the Order of Aesthetics, keeper (since the disappearance of Astinus) of the Great Library of Palanthas, gathers fact and rumor, tales and gossip from across Krynn to answer your questions.
Learn more of the world of
Dragonlance, the largest shared-world saga ever created.
Customer Reviews:
Nice try, but try again........2000-11-06
That's right, two stars, I would have given it more but only two thirds of the book was readable. Any one that has read my other reviews knows that I'm not the biggest Nancy Varian Berberick fan, and this book didn't help her score any points to win me over. You should remember before buying this that it is a source book, if you are coming in expecting some story that gives info on the Fifth Age as it goes along than you are wrong.
What you get is good old information, in a half way cool fashion. The way that the authors did that is that they made it as if they themselves were working for Bertrem in Ansalon, and he was nice enough to give a foreword, notes on the writings, and an afterword. I liked this better than just throwing out info and stats like most source books do.
Now the authors themselves, best to worst (and we all know who that is). First is Paul Thompson, he did a great job, the section about Politics is one of the most interesting source readings about Ansalon ever. Stan as always was funny and solid, but nothing that really kept me reading.
Last of course is Mrs. Berberick. She's not a bad writer, I just don't think she is a dragonlance writer, she is way too descriptive and flowery. An example is "Can we say with certainty that they yet pile up their lovely tresses of silver and golden so they may wear the shimmering veils of sheerest silks flowing from their coiffures as clouds stream round the glimmering sun-shining mountains?"...excuse me? I mean does that really belong in dragonlance? I personally think it is a bit overboard for DL, good for some other novel (romance?), but not in the Dragonlance shared world.
Final Thought: You really have to love the Fifth Age to get this and enjoy it totally, if you have money and want to buy a DL book then go ahead, but don't expect something that will change your view of Krynn.
Fun, but some problems.......2000-11-03
For die-hard fans (like myself) this book is good, I did like the Arms and Armor section, and the games and stuff are cool. What really bothers me is some loss of continuity with the rest of the Dragonlance world. The most glaring example comes as a footnote in the aformentioned Arms and Armor section where Laurana was supposedly standing next to Sturm Brightblade while shooting a dark knight, I assume that means knights of Takhisis/Neraka which did not exist until 20 yr after Sturm died. Also, elves getting married at 20 yrs old or something, I thought they weren't even adults until the age of 80. If you can get past these few problems, though, it really can be an enjoyable read, but for the best filler information pick up one of the Leaves From the Inn of the Last Home titles.
This book has serious problems.......2000-10-30
If you're new to Krynn and you want to learn more about it , go straight ahead an buy this book , it explains a lot of stuff , including a nice amount of history about the various races in the book . However if you have been with Dragonlance for a while and , then pass it up , it has some nice stuff , but it doesn't describe a lot of stuff on the land of the Dragon overlords, talks a LOT about culinary stuff . Doesn't say anything about gnomes or gully dwarves but talks a lot about elves and kenders and ogres and humans , interresting but doesn't fo much for those who read the books and already knew everything about the current situation for the races listed above(except for the ogres) . The authors who wrote this did include a bunch of games and some celebrations and that was a litle original . All in all it is sort of entertaining but if you want to learn about the Legion of steell or the Knights of Nerak or any group ( except the knights of Solamnia) then don't bother picking this book up. I could go on about the weapon section simply talking about clubs and swords, nothing on weapons found only in Ansalon, such as the Hoopack , but I'll just let you choose for yourself....
This book has serious problems.......2000-10-30
If you're new to Krynn and you want to learn more about it , go straight ahead an buy this book , it explains a lot of stuff , including a nice amount of history about the various races in the book . However if you have been with Dragonlance for a while and , then pass it up , it has some nice stuff , but it doesn't describe a lot of stuff on the land of the Dragon overlords, talks a LOT about culinary stuff . Doesn't say anything about gnomes or gully dwarves but talks a lot about elves and kenders and ogres and humans , interresting but doesn't fo much for those who read the books and already knew everything about the current situation for the races listed above(except for the ogres) . The authors who wrote this did include a bunch of games and some celebrations and that was a litle original . All in all it is sort of entertaining but if you want to learn about the Legion of steell or the Knights of Nerak or any group ( except the knights of Solamnia) then don't bother picking this book up. I could go on about the weapon section simply talking about clubs and swords, nothing on weapons found only in Ansalon, such as the Hoopack , but I'll just let you choose for yourself....
For the Love of Dragonlance..........2000-10-12
krynn really is a fantastic place. i love the dragonlance books, i really do. i am to the point where it has almost been too much. i've read every dragonlance piece i could get my hands on. this was a great book, it really was. for you true die-hard dragonlance fans out there who are just in it to read more about krynn, you'll enjoy it. to tell you the truth, it was almost a little too much for me, and i love the series. this book isn't a must read, it doesn't advance any storyline, it just describes krynn in more depth. interesting, yes, but only to a point. for anybody out there who hasn't read any dragonlance books, don't start here. read "dragons of autumn twilight." read it now! it's a great series. enjoy!
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