margaret weis | The Obsessive Bookseller

Title: Mistress of Dragons

Author: Margaret Weis

Series: Dragonvarld #1

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 2/5 stars

The Overview: Welcome to the Dragonvarld… In Mistress of Dragons we are introduced to a world where political deception, greed, and avarice have lead to a violation of the “hands off” policy of the Parliament of Dragons concerning the affairs of men. Indeed that violation threatens more than policy and order it threatens the freedoms and survival of the entire human race. -Goodreads

The Review:

Unfortunately even dragons couldn’t save this from mediocrity.

The beginning of the story had me feeling like I was in for an excellent dragon book. But aside from that kickstarting scene, it didn’t contain a lot of dragon action. Granted, there were dragons in almost every scene, but they were in human form and may as well have been slightly more perceptive humans. I do tend to prefer my dragons to be more bestial, but even for human-shifting dragons, these were just okay at best.

The premise of the story sounded interesting, but in execution there were a lot of things that made me scratch my head in bewilderment. Foremost of which is why a human had to be involved in this “grand mission” at all and why the dragons didn’t just buck up and take care of business themselves? But I suppose if that were the case, how would the two main protagonists meet? It’s bothersome when a story feels contrived just to get a character from point A to point B.

I did enjoy the basic flow of the writing style. This is a very relaxed read and one I devoured quickly. I even found myself curious at the end to see where things were going to go next, and that just might get me to pick up the next one if I can find an audio copy on discount (I’m not curious enough to dedicate any of my precious physical reading time).

I read a few reviews before venturing in that cautioned of a possibly triggering scene within the book, which were accurate, so keep that in mind if you plan on reading it.

Overall I wish I’d like it more even though I picked it up knowing it didn’t have the best reviews. Both the plot and the characters were thin, but there were just enough interesting components to make me think I’ll pick up the next one eventually, but it’s definitely not a priority.

Recommendations: with all of the amazing dragon books out there, this is not the place to start. Pick this one up for a very light fantasy read that just happens to have some dragons.

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by Niki Hawkes

Title: Dragonlance: Dragons of Dwarven Depths

Authors: Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Series: The Lost Chronicles #1

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: Tanis and Flint seek out a haven in the dwarven kingdom of Thorbardin while Raistlin is strangely drawn to the haunted fortress known as Skullcap. Sturm seeks the legendary Hammer of Kharas, and Tika embarks on a perilous journey to rescue those she loves from certain death.

But it is the Dwarf, Flint Fireforge, who faces the most crucial test. The heroes race against time to save the lives of those dependent on them and Flint is forced to make a difficult choice, one on which the future of mankind may rest.

The Review:

Even though the Lost Chronicles are the latest in publication, they actually fall in the middle of the Dragonlance saga chronologically. It is an expansion of some events that happened that didn’t quite make it into the original series. Happy to have anything new from these authors, I was thrilled when it was released, and found it to be an incredibly nostalgic read.

I don’t think the original manuscript was a full trilogy, and so the authors had to add quite a bit of additional scenes to create a more sustainable storyline. This might be the main reason why certain elements were a bit repetitive. The perspective jumps around between about a dozen characters, and unfortunately that means we get the thoughts on certain events and behaviors several times over as we go through each character’s mental assessments. There was also quite a bit of series recap, but that didn’t bother me much – it’s been ages since I read the original story.

The characters are what make this saga so enjoyable, and I must say my favorite in this book was Tasslehoff – he is so delightfully irritating and cheerful that I have to give kudos to the authors for creating such a memorable character (one of many).

Overall, it was a fun addition totally entertaining the whole way through. I highly recommend it for fans of the series.

by Niki Hawkes

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