Twisted Kingdom

Completion Date: July, 2007
Pages: 395
Publication Year: 2000
Purchased in 2007
Dragonlance Chronicles Volume II

Now the people know that the dragon minions of Takhisis, Queen of Dragons, have returned. The people of all nations prepare to fight to save their homes, their lives, and their freedom. But the races have long been divided by hatred and prejudice. Elven warriors and human knights fight among themselves. It seems the battle has been lost before it begins.

The companions are separated, torn apart by war. A full season will pass before they meet again--if they meet again. As the darkness deepens, a disgraced knight, a pampered elfmaiden, and a rattle-brained kender stand alone in the pale winter sunlight.

Not much in the way of heroes.

After reading The Dragons of the Autumn Twilight, I was looking forward to reading the next book in Weis and Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles. Sadly, this book suffered the fate of most second books in trilogies. It was good, but it was not great. It dragged for me, there was not a lot of action, so it was not a captivating read.

In this book, the main characters split up into groups, so the book covers many different scenes as it follows the main characters around. A lot of interesting things are set up in this book, but you have to wait for the third book for them to come to fruitation. So, onward to the pros. The pros of the book were that there was Tas in a large portion of the book. The mood of this book was a bit darker, so Tas was very serious for himself in this book. He had his humourous moments, but for the most part he was serious. I understand why, but I miss my funny Tas. The goblins in Weis and Hickman's world are HILLARIOUS! They are inventors, and they talk a lot, people have never heard them complete a sentence. When they speak it is in a very jumbled mess. I loved the goblins, I hope to see more of them. One of Tas's more humourous scenes was when he met the goblins because they use sling-shots as elevators. Pretty funny!

Tanis surprises in this book. He is the leader of this group and people look up to him for the next step in their adventure, but the pressure is getting to be too much for him it would seem, and when a character from his past returns it will be interesting to see if he remains the leader or takes easy way out. Some of the other characters develop, and some of them were not in the book enough for me. It was not that the book was written badly, it was that I missed action. The book was all about getting reading for the action, and while there was a little bit near the end, it was a long time coming. That being said, I think it really sets up the trilogy for book 3 where all the action happens.

So, while not a great book, it was readable and I think it will be interesting to see what happens in book three. An enjoyable series.

Margaret Weis has written a lot of books during her career, she had several books out this year alone. For the Author of the month challenge, though, I will be concentrating on her work on the Dragonlance novels. I will not be able to read all of them, of course, but I am hoping to read a couple between now and July 15th and then continue with more throughout the year.

Dragonlance : Chronicles (with Tracy Hickman)
1. Dragons of Autumn Twilight (1984)
2. Dragons of Winter Night (1985)
3. Dragons of Spring Dawning (1985)
Dragonlance Chronicles (1988)
4. Dragons of Summer Flame (1995)
The Annotated Chronicles (1999)

3. Test of the Twins (1986)
2. War of the Twins (1986)
1. Time of the Twins (1986)
Dragonlance Legends (1986)
The Annotated Legends (2003)

Dragonlance
Dragons of Glory (1986) (with Douglas Niles)
The Best of Tales (2000) (with Tracy Hickman)
The Best of Tales Volume 2 (2002) (with Tracy Hickman)
Spectre of Sorrows (2004)
Dragons in the Archives: The Best of Weis And Hickman (2004) (with Tracy Hickman)
Intro to Dragonlance Boxed Set (2004)
The Magic of Krynn: Tales, Volume One (2005) (with Tracy Hickman)
Holy Order of the Stars (2005)

Dragonlance : Tales (with Tracy Hickman)
3. Love and War (1987)
1. The Magic of Krynn (1987)
2. Kender, Gully Dwarves and Gnomes (1987)
Dragonlance Tales: Magic of Krynn, Kender, Gully Dwarves and Gnomes and Love and War (1991)

Dragonlance : Tales II
1. The Reign of Istar (1992) (with Tracy Hickman, Richard A Knaak and Michael Williams)
2. The Cataclysm (1992) (with Nancy Varian Berberick, Tracy Hickman, Roger E Moore)
3. The War of the Lance (1992) (with Tracy Hickman, Richard A Knaak and Michael Williams)

Dragonlance : Dragons (with Tracy Hickman)
1. The Dragons of Krynn (1994)
2. The Dragons at War (1996)
3. The Dragons of Chaos (1996)
Dragons of Time (2007)

The Second Generation (1994)

1. The Doom Brigade (1996)
2. Draconian Measures (2000)
Dragonlance : Raistlin
1. The Soulforge (1997)
2. Brothers in Arms (1999) (with Don Perrin)

Relics and Omens: Tales of the Fifth Age (1998)
Heroes and Fools: Tales of the Fifth Age (1999)
Rebels and Tyrants: Tales of the Fifth Age (2000)

1. Dragons of a Fallen Sun (2000) (with Tracy Hickman)
2. Dragons of a Lost Star (2001) (with Tracy Hickman)
3. Dragons of a Vanished Moon (2002) (with Tracy Hickman)
War of Souls Gift Set (2003) (with Tracy Hickman)
The Search for Power (2004)

Sovereign Stone (with Tracy Hickman)
1. Well of Darkness (2000)
2. Guardians of the Lost (2001)
3. Journey into the Void (2003)

Dragonlance : Tales from the War of Souls (with Tracy Hickman)
1. The Search for Magic (2001)
2. The Players of Gilean (2003)

Dragonlance : Young Adult Chronicles (with Tracy Hickman)
2. Night of the Dragons (2003)
1. A Rumor of Dragons (2003)
3. The Nightmare Lands (2003)
4. To The Gates of Palanthas (2003)
5. Hope's Flame (2004)
6. A Dawn of Dragons (2004)
Chronicles for Young Readers Gift Set (2004)

1. Amber and Ashes (2004)
2. Amber and Iron (2006)
3. Amber and Blood (2007)

Dragonlance : Dark Chronicles (with Tracy Hickman)
1. Dragons of the Dwarven Depths (2006)
2. Dragons Of The Highlord Skies (2007)

Not even all of these books interest me, but hopefully the ones that do, I will read in the coming months.

So, last months author of the month has been over for a few days, but I sort of lost track of the date. I find that June has gone by very quickly! That means that I meant to have Colleen Gleason's book read by the 15th, but I lost track of when the 15th was! Many apologies, but she is giving away an advanced reading copy of her new book, so it was a good author of the month month.

Now, we move on to the new author of the month: Margaret Weis. So, my plan is to read as many Dragonlance books as I can between now and the 15th (or so) of July. Tomorrow I will post a bit of a biography and a book list. I really like her writing, so hopefully I can get through a lot of her books! First, though, I am going to read Colleen Gleason's new book and post all about it!

Lifelong friends, they went their separate ways. Now they are together again, though each holds secrets from the others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales of strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets. Not then. Not until a chance encounter with a beautiful, sorrowful woman, who bears a magical crystal staff, draws the companions deeper into the shadows, forever changing their lives and shaping the fate of the world.

No one expected them to be heroes.

Least of all, them.

Dragons of the Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, 4.5/5
Published by Wizards of the Coast in 1984

I have read Margaret Weis before, back in the days when I used to read science fiction predominately I read her Stars of the Guardian quartet. Well, that's a lie. I bought the first three and was not aware until recently that their was a fourth. This was the days before Amazon and things to search and see that I missed a book. One of these days I will see if I can track the quartet down and read it in its entirety.

I know lots of people that are big fans of the Dragonlance series. There are people that collect the whole set, buying them second-hand every chance that they have. I have always wanted to read Dragonlance, but it is a big under-taking. When you start a series you feel like you should read all of them at some point and time, and there are a lot of books in this series. But, Weis is the author of the month for June, so I thought I would finally give these books a try. The reason that I read this in non-June is because I am really bad with reading the same author in a row.

Anyways, on to the book. It is amazing how many times I have been told to read these books over the years. Even people that do not really read all that often told me to read this quartet, and I just kept putting it off. That was bad of me because in all honesty, I loved this book. I needed a good fantasy story, and this really rewarded me for taking the time to read it. It's Tolkeinish. There are dwarves, elves, humans, and other creatures. There is a quest that they have to complete in order to overcome the "bad" people. There are also dragons, fire-breathing ones. But, really, it is hard to come up with original ideas anymore, it is just up to the authors to make the story their own.

The characters in this book are great. There was none that I disliked (of the good people). There is Tanis, the apparent leader of the group. To the humans, he is a half-elf. To the elves, he is half-human. He is also the bit of ill-fated hero. He was kicked out of his home, in a manner of speaking, because of some complications. He is also the tormented lover, but I think that will be dealt with more in the later books. An interesting characteristic for this fine hero is that he does not like to fight. That is the characteristic of most elves in this book, though.

Then, we have Sturm Brightblade. He is your typical knight in shining armour. He is all about honour and protecting the damsel in distress (or just women in general). He takes his vows very seriously and he always keeps his word. He can be a bit annoying at times, especially for those that are not big fans of the damsel in distress scenerio. Moving on, we have Goldmoon. She is the female main character in this book, but thankfully does not fall subject to the roles that women sometimes takes in fantasy. She is very empowering and she plays a special role in this book. She suffers a lot in this book and has one of heart-breaking scenes in the book. Riverwind is her boyfriend of sorts. It is a long story, but it is because of a quest that he goes on to win the hand of Riverwind that starts the group on their adventure.

There is also Raistlin, a magic-user. He is a dark character and you are never really sure of him, but he balances out the characters nicely. There is also his twin brother Caramon, who is the exact opposite of his brother. I feel bad for him a lot during the book because he is very protective of Raistlin and I do not find that he appreciates it very much. He is the warrior of the group. Then, there is Flint, who is funny. He does not mean to be, but he gets himself into some interesting situations because he is very stubborn. He is also the oldest member of the group, but not always the wisest. Lastly we have Tasslehoff Burrfoot who is a kender (handler). I love him, he was really my favourite character. He is incapable of fear and he has a tendency to "borrow" interesting things. He is just great! So funny and he really gets himself into the most interesting situations.

They really are an unlikely group of heroes and a heroine. I enjoyed every page of this book. It has quite the overview of emotions in it, and it is very promising for the other three books in this series.

All right, today was supposed to be a guest review, but we still haven't received any except for Stephanie's which I already posted. Need I remind you our contest? LOL :) Anyway, as a result, you guys will have to content with a review of mine... which was supposed to be posted on Friday... what can I say? I was a bit busy, reading other books ^^; Anyway, here we go...



I've discovered Margaret Weis through her fabulous Dragonlance Saga co-written with Tracy Hickam (just read their books, you can skip all the rest which are spin-off written by other authors based on her world and characters). It is really an awesome saga - a bit similar to Lord of the Ring. In any case, I think she's a great author... So when I saw Warrior Angel at the bookstore, I didn't hesitate to purchase it, even though I wasn't aware she had this book coming out. You'll find Warrior Angel in the romance section - her first attempt away from fantasy- but I mean, there's angels and demons so it fits this blog :P By the way, just in case you're wondering, Lizz is her daughter.



Warrior Angel by Margaret & Lizz Weis: 1.5/5
published by Avon in February 2007

Dereck de Molay was a knight of the Knight of Templar and was tortured to death by the Inquisition. Angered at God for abandoning him, Dereck refused to ascend to Heaven and instead, became a reputated general Warrior Angel, defending Heaven against Hell. Centuries later, Dereck is given an important mission which requires him to become human again.

Rachel Duncan is a commodities trader with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and loves working at the pit, making trades and money. Everything is going wonderful at the moment and she believes to have met the man of her life, Andreas Zanus. He's rich, romantic and the dream, perfect man every woman dreams about. Her only problems: he's a client and although he's a dream man, she is unsure of her feelings for him. Instead, she's attracted to the new doorman with a very old vocabulary and manners.



Genre: paranormal romance, angels, Hell
Series: none

Review: What can I say about this book that the grade didn't say? Seriously, I was really disappointed by this book. I was expecting something much better, given what I've already read by Ms. Weis Mother. Even the romance in her fantasy saga was better than in this book ^^; I guess she tried too hard to write something "romantic" and so missed her shot.

The Characters - BORING! Really, I dislike Rachel, I thought she was a bit superficial and she didn't know herself either, what she wanted and what she needed. She just went out with Zanus because he was supposedly the dream/perfect man. You get emotions from her, but I thought it was shallow. Dereck is not as bad, but still... I thought he adapted himself too quickly to this new era... remember, he lived centuries ago! and poof, suddenly, he's a doorman in Chicago and doesn't ask too much questions... didn't fly with me. There was lack of developement for the characters and worst, no chemistry between them. I can't really understand why Dereck fell in love with Rachel... There were other characters, most of them superfluous in my opinion, but they don't appear much.

The Story & Writing - the writing style was okay, but the story? Not enough world-building and the plot wasn't interesting. I think that Ms. Weis (mother and daughter) didn't know what to focus about... the romance or the story, and it showed, unfortunately. All in all, you are told facts and things without details or how it happened. When I read a book, it's for the journey, the adventure. But there was none here - the reader wasn't brought along, didn't witness anything. Even the ending... why did Dereck come back?

The Cover - interestingly enough, that's the best part of the book I think ^^;

Am I keeping this book? Don't think so...

Anything else? Really disappointed. Hope that Ms. Weis' next venture in romance goes better. I mean, if she wants to write romance, she doesn't have to change much her writing style. Still write a good adventures with good characters and just emphasizes a little more on the romance... In the worse case, her books will still be shelved in the fantasy section. Better write a good fantasy book than get bad reviews.