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Title: Death of the Dragon (The Cormyr Saga) by Troy Denning, Ed Greenwood ISBN: 0786918632 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: May, 2001 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.82
Rating: 3
Summary: Mediocrely done, Ed and Troy
Comment: This book is the result of a collaboration between two authors, one an experienced, artful writer of fantasy fiction, and the other, Ed Greenwood. They seem to have divided the chore up by setting the novel's four characters in different areas within the realm of Cormyr, with Troy Denning handling the action with Talaslanta and Vangerdahast, and Ed Greenwod handling the war in the north featuring Alusair and Azoun. As a result, half of the novel is competently done. It is pretty easy to figure out which author did which section, because Denning's half completes the story he started in "Beyond the High Road" and is written in fairly engaging prose. Greenwood, on the other hand, writes as though English literature reached its apotheosis in the lesser works of Sir Walter Scott. Consequently, his sections are peppered with snappy dialogue such as the following: "Sir Messenger, rest your horse. We shall tarry here for a time, while the Princess Alusair essays an attack, planned yestereve, on those who harry us." Bad prose and worse dialogue were not a problem in the first book of this series, "Cormyr: A Novel," which was also a collaboration with Ed Greenwood. The first book had as a coauthor Jeff Grubb, one of Greenwood's fellow game designers at TSR/Wizards of the Coast. My theory-- and this is just a guess-- is that due to his greater prestige at TSR Grubb had either the confidence or the clout to tell Greenwood what to do with his dialogue. (I could make a few suggestions along that line myself.) The story is good, with only two plot holes, and Denning's half is easily worth reading. But if you want a combination of story and unleavened writing ability set in a world that looks suspiciously like Cormyr, read Simon R Green's "Blue Moon" series.
An additional note about the series. This is the third book in a trilogy. If you do choose to read this book (not an altogether bad idea-- I've read much, much worse books, like one of Greenwood's solo efforts, for example), I would suggest reading "Beyond the High Road" first, as it does set up much of the plot of "Death of the Dragon," and I rather suspect that someone who read the latter book without reading the former would find "Dragon" confusing. Additionally, volume 1, "Cormyr: A Novel" is genuinely quite good in its own right, beyond what it adds to the understanding of volumes 2 and 3. I'd advise picking that one up whether or not you have any plans to read the last two novels.
Rating: 4
Summary: Almost a masterpiece
Comment: Though it's presumably the third book in the Cormyr Saga, Death of the Dragon is more the continuation of events that begin in Beyond the High Road. I didn't much like that story, but taken in whole the pair of novels is excellent. These two books should really be one, and probably would be if they weren't so long. A lot of things that didn't make much sense in High Road are cleared up, for example- what made the ghazneths and what exactly is their purpose other than wreaking wanton carnage and destruction. You also learn what exactly happened to Vangerdahast, which was a bit perplexing at the end of High Road. There's a lot of orc-killing in Death of the Dragon (hard to do Forgotten Realms without at least some of that!) and visceral battle. While the plot isn't precisely ingenious, it is exciting and generally fun to follow.
As a matter of fact, Death of the Dragon is great reading- I couldn't put it down... at least for the first 375 pages. I seriously urge readers to STOP there! It is odd, really, since I've found that usually fantasy novels either stay strong all the way through or start weak and end strong. In Death of the Dragon, it starts strong, stays strong, and concludes with a whimper- the ending is probably the lamest conclusion I have EVER read in a novel. It's a real pity, because the rest of it is so great. I'm baffled as to why Greenwood and Denning chose to drag it on for 12 more pages of what amounts to useless drivel that breaks the breakneck pace of the plot and is sopping with ridiculous sentimentality. For a second it looked as if they were trying to end on a happier note, but they didn't succeed in that- and I don't think this would be a good idea anyway.
If you've already read High Road, definitely read Death of the Dragon. It would be a shame to suffer through that novel and not get to this rewarding read. At this point, I see two ways the Cormyr Saga can be resolved- either another book with a well-written finale, or a truncation of the last 12 pages of this one. Since Death of the Dragon was so good for the better part, I would recommend the latter.
Rating: 5
Summary: Now thats a combo!
Comment: Other reviews of this book say that you should read Cormyr: a novel and Beyond the high road before reading this book. I say you should read every FR novel bfore this one if you really want to get everything out of this book. This book has a huge impact on the realms as a whole. I was so wraped up in this climatic book that I didn't do any homework the whole time I was reading it. If you are a long time realms fan this book is gong to have a great deal of meaning to you, if you are a casual fantasy reader this book is going to be a hack and slash book with minor other characteristics. Me being a long time FR fan found this book to be very emotional. It shows the horrors of war and the casualties.... It is noce to see author collaborations such as this, because Denning and Greenwood have played such a big part in making the realms come alive in the past, it only seemed fitting that two authors such as this would take on such a task. Anyways read this book if you enjoy FR novels. If you don't read them, you may be dissapointed.
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Title: Beyond the High Road (Forgotten Realms: The Cormyr Saga, Book 2) by Troy Denning ISBN: 078691436X Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Cormyr (Forgotten Realms: The Cormyr Saga, Book 1) by Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb ISBN: 078690710X Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Sorcerer: Return of the Archwizards (Return of the Archwizards) by Troy Denning ISBN: 078692795X Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Siege (Forgotten Realms: Return of the Archwizards, Book 2) by Troy Denning ISBN: 0786919051 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Summoning (Forgotten Realms: Return of the Archwizards, Book 1) by Troy Denning ISBN: 0786918012 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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