 | | |
| Amber and Iron (Dragonlance: The Dark Disciple, Vol. 2) | 
 enlarge | Author: Margaret Weis
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $3.63
You Save: $4.36 (55%)
Buy New/Used from $2.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  (35 reviews)
Sales Rank: 8354
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0786940867
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780786940868
ASIN: 0786940867
Publication Date: November 7, 2006
Release Date: November 7, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 A little better than the first... June 2, 2006
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
At least something happened in Part 2 that made me want to pick it up and finish. Not at all like Part 1. Character development is great but you must throw in a little adventure, too. After all, this is Dragonlance, isn't it? Am I anxiously awaiting the finale'? No. But, I will read it. Lastly, the the infatuation between Mina and Chemosh is still dis-jointed. Still don't understand it or like it.
 AWESOME SECOND!! March 29, 2006
13 out of 18 found this review helpful
I seem to be in contrary beliefs to some of the previous reviews, I loved this book, and I thought the first one was great. I thought the advancement was great, and it was easy to pick up and read without a recap of the first book (although it was so awesome I remembered what happened by the time I was finished skimming the cover flap). The plot twists in the story came as a surprise for me, because I do not look for things to happen, I prefer to be surprised by them rather than think about what I'm reading while I read it. I particularly love how the book ends, with a mild climax, but finishes the book, so you aren't having a fit to see what happens next, but enough mystery to make you want the next book...just not enough to freak out about it or be angry that "it ended that way" as some books do. I would definitely recommend the Amber set to anyone who likes dragonlance, especially as a follow up to the War of Souls!
Better than the first March 21, 2006
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
Though still not up to what I expect from Weis, this work is stil enjoyable. I like a bit more action. The character developement is expertly done and many of the side characters I actuallay came to care about.
If you like her works, you will enjoy this one. Hope the third is better.
If you like books like this one, might I suggest another I've recently come across. The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. It's another fantasy adventure sure to please. I highly recommend it.
Margaret, How Far you Have Fallen! March 17, 2006
18 out of 32 found this review helpful
I should begin by saying that I believe Amazon.com reviews suffer from grade inflation. "Grade inflation" is that process in schools whereby good grades have become easier and easier to get over the years, so that by now some schools have half of the students making the honor roll. Surely nothing else can explain the high reviews given to this book. If this book rates five stars, what does "Hamlet" rate? Or "Don Quixote?" Or, as far as fantasy literature is concerned, "The Lord of the Rings?" I really think five star reviews should be rare, reserved for truly great books. And "Amber and Iron" is far from a truly great book.
Even when compared to earlier "Dragonlance" books, this tale really falls short. In neither plot nor characters does it measure up to the original "Chronicles" or "Legends." The plot has little excitement in it -- not a whole lot happens, when compared with other fantasy literature. In the course of the book one evil creature is destroyed, out of a huge number that are killing great numbers of people. As an action-adventure tale, this book fails miserably.
As a character study it is worse. There are no characters in the story I found interesting, for the author does nothing to make them interesting or likeable. In the original "Dragonlance Chronicles" characters were defined through humor (Flint vs. Tasslehoff, Fizban vs. just about everyone), and through romance (Tanis and Laurana and Kitiara, Caramon and Tika, Sturm and Alhana). In this book, if there is any attempt at humor, it surely escaped me; and the only romance, if it can be called that, is the absurd lusting relationship between Mina and the death god Chemosh. This relationship begins to be explained by the end of the book, but I must confess I did not much care about that, because both characters are so disgusting.
"Amber and Iron" exists only as the middle part of a longer tale. By itself, it makes no sense. Reading the first book of the trilogy, "Amber and Ashes," is absolutely necessary to understand what is going on in this volume. And little is resolved by the end. Almost everything waits for the upcoming third volume. Although the original "Dragonlance Chronicles" and "Legends" also each told a single story over three volumes, in those earlier series each book concluded with at least somewhat of a climax and at least some plot lines resolved. "Amber and Iron" resolves very little, and thus leaves the reader with no satisfaction that something has been accomplished.
The book does end with the beginning of the revelation of just who the character Mina is. This should be interesting to Dragonlance fans, but the fact that I really care very little for Mina made this revelation a lot less interesting than it should have been. This disappointed me because I really wanted to be interested in Mina. Weis apparently is attempting to contrast two different kinds of religious characters: Rhys,who questions things, and Mina, who follows her god blindly. Needless to say, Weis thinks that Rhys, by his questioning, is far ahead of Mina, with her blind faith. But then, it is no great insight to recognize that following an evil god will get one into trouble, whether one follows blindly or with eyes wide open.
As far as the physical appearance of the book is concerned, I found the cover art very rigid and unnatural-looking, and the type set was absurdly small. Do these publishers think that all readers are under 30 and have eyes that still work as they should? The tiny type is ridiculous.
I don't believe in grade inflation. This book is a mildly interesting fantasy read but falls far short of some of Weis's earlier work. It gets two stars.
What? You didn't see it coming? February 28, 2006
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
Hmmm...well, unlike the previous reviewers, I didn't find the last 20 pages or so at all shocking or surprising. Well, maybe part of one sentence, but the rest Weis had foreshadowed from page 1 of this book, and even a bit in Amber and Ashes. Actually, even the other part had been foreshadowed, but I was too slow to pick up on it. In spite of that, the character development is terrific, and I'm very much looking forward to book 3. Weis continues to amaze, and even though I still miss Raistlin and Tas and the gang, I enjoy the new generation of characters and the new crises that occur. The most amazing thing is that every time I think she's written herself into a corner, she pulls another rabbit out of her hat and surprises me. Well, there's definitely going to have to be a pretty big rabbit in book 3 if she's going to continue to do that.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| | |