Reviews

Драконы Зимней Ночи by Tracy Hickman, Margaret Weis

mercenator's review against another edition

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4.0

I love this series. Mostly out of nostalgia, but rereading has confirmed they still slap.

jamessmith82's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

scroggin_cooper's review against another edition

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2.0

2.5/5
Eeeeh, das ist sehr schlecht!
Liked:
1. Some permanent death. Well, that's a nice change. We actually have some permanent death in Sturm, whom I genuinely thought was going to survive to the end.
2. The gnomes. The gnomes were kinda cool, I like that they were little tinkerers and how they kept the Dragon Orb.
Now to the bad stuff.
Dislike:
1. The sheer amount of characters. This book has way too many characters. Now that isn't necessarily a bad thing, my favorite series, the Wheel of Time has thousands of characters, but that is across a fifteen-book-long series. This is a trilogy. There are long stretches of chapters where I completely forgot some of the characters were even still alive. There are chapters where they don't say a word, Hell, not even mentioned. For about half of the book, I thought Goldmoon and Riverwind were both dead, which I wouldn't have minded, since I don't like either of them.
2. The 'oh, it was all a dream,' shock. This might be writing law 4 that I will never violate. The entire dream sequence where a good half of the party was massacred was something I was loving so much because it would've been some great stuff for development and shaved down the party. But no, it had to be a FUCKING DREAM SEQUENCE!!! JESUS H. CHRIST!
3. Tika tagging along. Why is Tika here? I understand her home is gone, but why is she here with everyone else?
4. The lack of character development. I understand that this is in 1980s fantasy, but I'd expect for there to be at least someone other than Tanis to have at least some garlic of character. Tanis' confliction was quite interesting, having to pick between Kitara and his other friends, but no one else has any other development. Tas is still annoying, Laurana's still very honorable, and Flint's stubborn as a jackass.
Scared to see if this last book can redeem this series.

iam_griff's review against another edition

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4.0

This book is the continuation of the Dragonlance: Chronicles series as the companions are split into 2 groups after a dragon attack on Tarsis. Sturm, Laurana, Tas, Flint, & Gilthanis go to the Icewall to find a dragon orb from a Dragon Highlord. They work to get the orb & a dragonlance to Sancrist in order to elicit help from the Knights of Solamnia. While Tanis, Caramon, Raistlin, Goldmoon, Riverwind, & Tika are rescued by the Silvanesti elven princess Aylana Starbreeze & encounter a dragon orb in the possession her father in Silvannost. With each group struggling to stay alive as the war becomes more intense.

I know this series was published in the early 1980s & is based off the lore of 1st edition of Dungeon & Dragons, but this series was one of the first fantasy novels published at a time when there wasn't a lot to choose from. I've read this series several times & these characters are like old friends. While the plot isn't as complex as some of the more current published books, the characters have a depth to them that is unique. I will never get tired of this series as this was something that I grew up on & is a everlasting classic.

abigcoffeedragon's review against another edition

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2.0

Yeah, this is where it all started, but this is just not able to stay with the times. The writing is very dated and this just does not have an even flow to the tale. This was going to be my gateway into the D&D novels, but I will not finish this series. On to a different one to try and get through as many Dungeons and Dragons novels as I can in one year!
Ready ... Steady ... Go!

wynwicket's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

sobolevnrm's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

marmoset737's review against another edition

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4.0

3 stars for fantasy series revisits (felt more derivative than I remember) - 5 stars for great comfort food while in a hospital for post c-section recovery and the first few weeks of motherhood

zenithharpink's review against another edition

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3.0

2.5 stars. This was a bit disjointed from Book 1 in terms of where it picked up. There were several recycled turns of phrase that I found grating as a reader. I often had difficulty understanding why characters were doing something-context was oft lacking. There were some downright confusing passages, and the wrap-up wasn't quite there, unfortunately-it felt like a specific action ended, but the story itself was climaxing (which I suppose is generally the case for 'book 2 of 3's).

This book definitely more of the levity, generally provided by Tas, to help with the storytelling-in my opinion he was far too absent. Additionally, the characters/heroes had split up and some dynamics that I had enjoyed in the previous book were lacking. Again, there was virtually no character development.

I recommend this book to those who read and enjoyed the first book in the series.

alexisb213's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0