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poisonenvy's review against another edition
4.0
I'm pretty sure this is my first time reading Chris Pierson's Dragonlance novels, but I was pleasantly surprised. It took a while for me to sink my teeth into it, and it had some pretty bad sentences sometimes - but they were relatively rare, and the occasional kitschy scene, but that's to he expected (honestly, in other Dragonlance novels I wouldn't even mention it, but they felt almost out of place in this novel, which is fairly serious compared to the majority of the Dragonlance canon). Overall, I was very happy with this book.
There was the issue with the use of the Istarian language; there was a lot of it, and all translated immediately after. It had one decent payoff about mid-way through the novel, but that was it. I dig Conlang stuff as much as the next nerd, but it felt distracting - like Pierson was stoked that he either made up this language or had learned it from somewhere else and just wanted to use it - to the detriment of the overall story.
The characterization is strong - Cathan and Beldyn's relationship was especially good - and the plot and the storyline are solid. Most of the things I thought I didn't particularly like ended up really paying off by the end of the novel.
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
There was the issue with the use of the Istarian language; there was a lot of it, and all translated immediately after. It had one decent payoff about mid-way through the novel, but that was it. I dig Conlang stuff as much as the next nerd, but it felt distracting - like Pierson was stoked that he either made up this language or had learned it from somewhere else and just wanted to use it - to the detriment of the overall story.
The characterization is strong - Cathan and Beldyn's relationship was especially good - and the plot and the storyline are solid. Most of the things I thought I didn't particularly like ended up really paying off by the end of the novel.
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
tiamatq's review
4.0
After reading the rest of the series, my opinion of this book has gone up quite a bit. It really sets the stage for the story of Cathan and Beldyn. If you've ever read any of the Dragonlance series, you've most likely heard about the Kingpriest and the fiery mountain that was dropped onto Istar as punishment for his demands upon the gods. Well, this is the series that fleshes that out and its probably one of the best crafted of the Dragonlance series.
Chris Pierson incorporates elements of gaming into his stories while also reconciling those elements with the DL folklore (which sometimes varies a great deal from traditional D&D). He also breathes life into characters that have become almost goofy caricatures... Fistandantilus and Beldinas, the Kingpriest. Here we see why Beldinas was so awe-inspiring - and you wonder how it all goes so wrong. We also see that Fistandantilus was cruel, powerful, and calculating wizard... Pierson doesn't shy away from gore that you normally don't find in DL books. But the best character, by far, is Cathan, a young man who throws away his faith when his family is almost completely wiped out by disease and he must resort to life as a bandit. Cathan's role in the story of Istar is much larger than you would ever suspect.
I really enjoyed this series and was actually a little surprised at it. The opening is definitely dry... maybe a little too much description of the opulence of Istar and the fabulous feasts for me. But as things get moving and we see how Beldyn came into power, the story will start to grab you. This was, for me, the weakest of the trilogy, but it was still a good book.
Chris Pierson incorporates elements of gaming into his stories while also reconciling those elements with the DL folklore (which sometimes varies a great deal from traditional D&D). He also breathes life into characters that have become almost goofy caricatures... Fistandantilus and Beldinas, the Kingpriest. Here we see why Beldinas was so awe-inspiring - and you wonder how it all goes so wrong. We also see that Fistandantilus was cruel, powerful, and calculating wizard... Pierson doesn't shy away from gore that you normally don't find in DL books. But the best character, by far, is Cathan, a young man who throws away his faith when his family is almost completely wiped out by disease and he must resort to life as a bandit. Cathan's role in the story of Istar is much larger than you would ever suspect.
I really enjoyed this series and was actually a little surprised at it. The opening is definitely dry... maybe a little too much description of the opulence of Istar and the fabulous feasts for me. But as things get moving and we see how Beldyn came into power, the story will start to grab you. This was, for me, the weakest of the trilogy, but it was still a good book.
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