A chance for Faramir, captain of Gondor, to show his quality. Quality is the name of the game this week, with fantastic stuff like Pat Rothfuss interviewing Jim Butcher, Daniel Abraham on writing the Game of Thrones comic, and Lev Grossman on wizards and orcs getting their due respect. Wait, Daniel Abraham on the GoT comic? That’s like the geekiest triple-combo ever.
In case you haven’t been watching our Amazon’s top 5 fantasy books over the past few months, USA Today has summarized nicely: Record sales for George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons. It shows, as A Dance with Dragons is being reviewed in more mainstream publications, and the author himself is popping up to discuss the novel all over the interwebs. If you squint enough, you may be able to see the reviews of books by Ari Marmell, N.K. Jemisin, Steven Erikson and Brent Weeks amid the Dance maelstrom. Tack on a pair of interviews with Lev Grossman and Tracy Hickman, and I’d say this week will leave you with a belly full of fantasy.
A great week in fantasy literature, with an impending update from GRRM on A Dance with Dragons, Amazon emailing clients who have previously purchased Scott Lynch works (me) announcing the launch date of The Republic of Thieves, reviews of The Heroes and Shadowheart, interviews with Ursula K. Le Guin and Tracy Hickman, and it seems LOTR has gone Beatles. Whew!
A few good reviews this week, including Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb, but the real story is the number of quality interviews crossing this week. Patrick Rothfuss, Tracy Hickman, Brandon Sanderson, James Barclay, N.K. Jemisin and Peter V. Brett all offer their wisdom to the fantasy blogosphere this week. The cover for Tchaikovsky’s 7th novel in the Shadows of the Apt series, Heirs of the Blade was released this week, and its gorgeous. News on The Dark Tower movie, Moorcock’s Elric series, and the Frank Frazetta feud. A trailer for the forthcoming The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie dropped this week, check it out below.
A pair of reviews of Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, accompanied by reviews of books by Brent Weeks, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Chris Northern to kick off this week’s fantasy blogoshpere. Check out the interviews with Brent Weeks, Tracy Hickman, and Terry Brooks, and round out the week with good news regarding the Game of Thrones HBO series and more Guildy goodness!
Great reviews of Dragon Keeper and Tongues of Serpents this week, followed by interviews with Brent Weeks, Peter V. Brett, Neil Gaiman, Tracy Hickman, and more. A few interesting moves in the eBook industry this week as well. Finally, I can’t believe Neil Gaiman is about to start receiving royalty checks for my favorite comic book hero.
We’ve got a fantastic blend this week, kicking off with both a review and interview with Tracy Hickman, and following up with a great review of Leviathan Wept and Other Stories by Daniel Abraham over at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. Adding to the variety this week is an analysis of reading on eBook readers at SFSignal, and a few Hobbit steins for all you Lord of the Rings fans out there.
Get in some good reading this week and stay out of the heat!
Brandon Sanderson is making the rounds, with The Way of Kings slated for release in August. He’s interviewed at The Dragon Page, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist and Tor.com over the past few weeks, and The Way of Kings sounds like its going to be a great one. Also reviewed this week is Swords & Dark Magic, an anthology in the classic sword & sorcery genre featuring tales by newer authors like Steven Erickson, Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, and many others you’ll recognize. We’ve found reviews of books by Jim Butcher, Tad Williams, Scott Lynch, Stephen King, and Guy Gavriel Kay among other reviews that hit the fantasy blogosphere recently. Wrapping up this week don’t miss the cover art that was recently released for Scott Lynch’s forthcoming The Republic of Thieves; its a beautiful cover for what is likely to be an equally beautiful novel.
Book review of Weis & Hickman’s Dragons of a Lost Star
I picked up Dragons of a Lost Star out of sheer desperation. I had just concluded Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson, and was sorely in need of some familiar characters. Gardens of the Moon presented me with an overwhelming cast of characters, and not enough time to get to know any of them, which is a recipe for disaster in my opinion. What better way to get back to my roots than to throw in a Dragonlance book? And off I was.
Dragons of a Lost Star picks up where Dragons of a Fallen Sun left off, and all the familiar faces are here. To my delight, much of the story follows Tasslehoff, who I’m sure Weis & Hickman have as much fun writing as I have reading. Weis & Hickman combine classic Dragonlance characters, like Tas and Goldmoon, with some of the transitional characters like Palin Majere and Dalamar, along with fairly new characters like Mina and the idea of the One God. It is this blend of old familiar characters and fresh new faces that makes Dragons of a Lost Star such a pleasure to read.
And an easy read it is. The pages of Weis & Hickman’s Dragonlance books have always been easy to turn, and Dragons of a Lost Star is no different. This is a very easy plot to follow, without all the layers of intrigue that weigh down many current fantasy novels. I’m not saying that multi-textured novels are of a lower calibre; not at all. I absolutely love a story with overlapping plot lines and complexity. What I am saying is that Dragons of a Lost Star accomplishes my main goal of reading fantasy novels: to transport me to another world and distract me from the real world for a short time. Dragons of a Lost Star accomplishes this goal, without any additional padding.
Dragons of a Lost Star is a medium to fast-paced novel. While not completely action-packed, there was no point where I felt as if I was trudging through unnecessary background material. Here you’ll find war, love and best of all dragons. So many dragons.
This is a good novel, plain and simple. For fans of the Dragonlance series, this novel is a delight. For newcomers, I’d recommend reading Dragons of a Fallen Sun first, since Dragons of a Lost Star directly continues multiple plot lines from the first novel in this trilogy. But for first-timers, you definitely don’t need to read any of the earlier Weis & Hickman Dragonlance novels to fully enjoy this series.
I would strongly recommend Dragons of a Lost Star to anyone looking for a quick escape. It is easy to read, and Weis & Hickman have certainly still got their touch.
@ Amazon.com
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