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Fortress Draconis (The DragonCrown War Cycle, Book 1)

Fortress Draconis (The DragonCrown War Cycle, Book 1)

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: one generation after the prelude novel [no spoilers]
Review: "Fortress Draconis" is the first novel in The DragonCrown War Cycle series approximately one generation following "The Dark Glory War" prelude novel. It is a spectacular book filled with creative battles, detailed descriptions, and interesting characters.

One could understand the novel without having read the prelude, but the continuing characters have a history and the small details will be lost on those who don't invest the time. There is mystery on other individual fates from the prelude novel, hopefully to be resolved in the future novels. It is curious to note how countries and people change and/or remain the same over the 25-year difference.

I found the novel better than the predecessor in all things. It has imaginative magic and great encounters. Two youngsters, Kerrigan and Wilburforce, are interesting to follow as they mature with the events unfolding, likewise Alyx with her unusual background. General Androgans and Dranae are intriguing enigmas while Resolute and Kedyn's Crow form an awesome fighting duo with personal limitations.

I highly recommend this series to any fan of the fantasy genre and look forward to reading the future novels.

Thank you.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superior fantasy
Review: A quarter of a century ago, the evil sorceress Chytrine made her bid to conquer the world and be named Empress. King Augustus led a mighty army that engaged her in battle to try to stop her achieving her ambition. He proved partly successful in that he captured her stronghold FORTRESS DRACONIS, but he failed to kill her. Augustus managed to restrain her in the north.

Still many lands are under her control and she is now once again making a new bid for power. She is trying to gather all the pieces of the magical artifact called the Dragon Crown together because once she has them she will be unstoppable. A new generation of heroes has risen up to destroy her including Will, a teenager from the Yslinn's slums who is part of a prophecy that will spell Chytrine's doom. Also battling the tyrant is Princess Alexia, a royal from the conquered land of Okrannel. She fights under the aegis of King Augustus using the moniker General Alex. Vilwan sorcerers have created the most powerful mage ever known, Kerrigan Reese, as their contributor to the upcoming war. Kedyn's Crow and Resolute the Vorquelf whose land is also under the tyrant's rule are training so Will can become the man that the prophecy describes.

FORTRESS DRACONIS is an epic fantasy on a par with the Lord of the Rings and the Shannara saga. There is enough action to keep readers turning the pages and the author develops his characters so well that the audience understands them and their motivations. It will be hard if not impossible to wait for the sequel to this exciting novel.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Stackpole does it again
Review: After reading the Dark Glory War I Wondered how it could get better... question answered. An amazing cast of characters old and new brings this story to life. If you are a fan of Stackpole's work with Star Wars and Battletech, I would highly recommend this series of original fantasy.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Awful.
Review: Alright ,if you want a book about sex and violence,go ahead .If not ,go for someone else.In the beginning basically all that happened was action.They solve every problem involving the enemy with action.Also ,as soon as Wil meets a woman,he falls in love with her .Unrealistic ,isn't it?I looked ahead a bit ,still fight fight fight.Even Eddings awful Belgariad is better than this .If you want really good stuff ,try Terry Brooks ,Robert Jordan,or maybe Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman.Don't waste your reading on this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: As good as the previous novel....
Review: and I thought that equaling Dark Glory War would be difficult. While Stackpole is an acknowledged master of first-person narratives, I enjoyed this novel's multi-character storyline. The introduction of a wide variety of characters expands the overall plot quite nicely. The disparate nature of these characters drives the story and will keep you hooked to the last page. I only have one complaint with the character situation: the identity of Kedyn's Crow was too obvious. It should either have been blatantly revealed earlier in the novel, or hinted at much less.
There are plenty of battles in the story, but character background and development seemed to dominate amidst the fighting. The setting of these events is described succinctly; it is enough to give you a general picture without being tediously unnecessary. The overall mythology/history of this new land is consistently engaging. Altogether, any fan of character-driven plots, fantasy, well-described battles, or just good stories should seek this at their local bookstore immediately.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: As good as the previous novel....
Review: and I thought that equaling Dark Glory War would be difficult. While Stackpole is an acknowledged master of first-person narratives, I enjoyed this novel's multi-character storyline. The introduction of a wide variety of characters expands the overall plot quite nicely. The disparate nature of these characters drives the story and will keep you hooked to the last page. I only have one complaint with the character situation: the identity of Kedyn's Crow was too obvious. It should either have been blatantly revealed earlier in the novel, or hinted at much less.
There are plenty of battles in the story, but character background and development seemed to dominate amidst the fighting. The setting of these events is described succinctly; it is enough to give you a general picture without being tediously unnecessary. The overall mythology/history of this new land is consistently engaging. Altogether, any fan of character-driven plots, fantasy, well-described battles, or just good stories should seek this at their local bookstore immediately.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Truly great epic fantasy
Review: Being the first book in the Dragoncrown trilogy, Fortress Draconis takes place 25 years after the Dark Glory War. In the end of that book, we see nearly all of that generation's heroes perverted into the service of the evil queen of the north, Chytrine. The only one to escape was the previous novel's narrator, Tarrant Hawkins. Having been named a coward and a traitor, for being the only one to return, he now goes by the name of Kedyn's Crow (Kedyn is the God of Warriors in this world).

While there are several notable characters from DGW making significant contributions to this work, the focus is really on three new heroes for this age. Will, an orphan turned street thief, may just be the crux of the entire war against Chytrine, based on a prophecy from the prequel volume. Kerrigan is a young wizard who has been bred and trained to be better than any other human wizard in memory, yet his sheltered upbringing may be his own doom. Alexia, whom we saw in DGW as an infant barely being rescued from the invading forces, has grown into a true warrior princess, having been raised among the Gyrkyme, half-breeds of elves and giant birds.

This novel takes the reader to many of the same places as in DGW, allowing us to see the effects of time. While some places have improved in the previous quarter-century, others have decayed. Those characters who were of good character still are, while those whose might have been questionable have only grown worse. The armies of Chytrine have grown more powerful, mostly due to the larger number of Generals, the evil-perverted, magically-altered heroes of the previous age. Also, her technology has grown further. Whereas in the first novel, she had but one cannon, the first usage of gunpowder in this fantasy world, now there are musket-like weapons and cannons abounding, for both sides, but she manages to have innovations to counter the growing armories of the good. As before, there is the presence of magic, but it is not overwhelmingly done.

Again, Stackpole gives us some characters to love, some to hate. It is difficult that now some of those to hate were just the opposite in DGW. Again, we have a depressing ending, but one that can be seen coming from a great distance. But never fear, a provision was made earlier with the character Resolute in regards to a certain magical enchantment. Comeuppance will be delicious.

As far as fantasy novels that have been published recently, I rank this easily among the top of any author out there. You get all the elements you might want from a fantasy novel, and you get a LOT of it, with over 500 pages to satisfy you. Happy reading!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dragoncrown War Begins!
Review: Finally, after a year and half long wait; Stackpole gives us the sequel to classic epic fantasy, Dark Glory War. Fortress Draconis is very impressive military fantasy epic set 25 years after the events told in the first book.A young thief, Will is caught trying to steal a strange artifact and is saved by two mysterious warriors: One is Vorquelf called Resolute who is determined to free his land from the tyranny of the evil sorceress Chytrine and the other is shadowy human warrior called Kedyn's Crow.Will finds out he is center of a prophecy where he will defeat Chytrine and her terrifying forces. This epic novel has unforgettable characters like Princess Alexa who is obessed in freeing her own homeland from Chrytrine. Kerrigan Reese, the young wizard who is born with powers far above normal humans but is also naivete on the ways of the world. General Adrogans, who's pompous outward personality hides a brilliant military mind.Stackpole's skills in the world-building department shine in every page as he gives you guided tour of his wartorn world and the various races that live there like Vorquelf elves who battle their ouw prejudices against wing-people called Gyrkyme
who they share a tragic history with. The human nations who must rally together to battle Chytrine's menace. Stackpole also succeeds in his vivid and brutal descriptions of battles as you see our heroes fight the Chytrine's terrifying army of monsters like the dreaded Sullanciri, beings who were once human now are souless monsters created by Chytrine's twisted magic! Finally our heroes adventures will take them to fortress Draconis where they must stop Chytrine from getting a piece of dragoncrown in which she will use to control dragons! So pick up this book and travel will Will, Resolute, Crow and Princess Alexa as they battle for the lives against evil Chytrine and don't forget the surprise on the last page!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hard to avoid, but not his best
Review: First of all - don't get me wrong, because I'm a really big fan of Michael Stackpole and don't want to do the man any injustice. This book, however, is not his best work and pales just a bit in comparison with The Dark Glory War (which set up this story-universe). As many books that are part of a cycle, this ones serves to further the entire concept - but perhaps invests too much pages in the introduction of new characters and the jump of some twenty years forward from the "prequel".
As I read the book, I often felt that great things were about to get there any moment ... but they usually didn't: the most important among the former heroes who became dark lancers, were only lightly touched upon - and their relationship with Kedyn's Crow clearly left for future volumes (guess Stackpole had to wait for the new characters to learn about Crow's real identity to develop those aspects). As I said, not his best book, but definitely a must read considering that I expect the following parts of the cycle to blow my socks off.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Pricetag didn't fit the bill
Review: First off I was as dissapointed as the rest when I found out from Stackpole's website that Fortress Draconis (FD) is set decades after Dark Glory War (DGW), with a different set of main characters. This isn't the first time Michael A. Stackpole has pulled a fast one i.e. An Enemy Reborn (reasons were given in the novel). I must say, although I was a tad outraged, I was looking foward to seeing what Stackpole had in store.

After grabbing the first book off the first shipment I was practically buzzing with excitement, until that is when I read the novel. I didn't write a review earlier because I felt others would write reviews that would share my dissapointment, but none seemed to voice any objections to this new novel so here I am.

This novel was like a jewel and had so much potential due to the fact that this was 25 or so years later. Stackpole could have let the excitement, mystery, and suspense build to a mind-numbing proportion. But in the end I just felt fruastrated and cheated. For all his cloak and dagger we all knew who Tarrant Hawkins was from the beggining, and you would think that his battle skills would have improved over the decades, and Stackpole made it abundantly clear that he was still strong and vibrant. Not only does he seem like a helpless baby in some of the battles, he couldn't even lift a finger against the Queen's champions (this from a guy that defeated the champions from DGW with a bit of ingenuity). I do understand that its the new generations turn to spank the bad guys but give Hawkins a bit of credit. And unlike the ending in DGW which left your hair standing on end, this books ending was a ripoff and left you feeling like someone pulled the rug from under you. Like I said the build up of story and climax just isn't the same as his old novels. Not only can't you relate to the characters, the plot seems a bit stagnant at times. I even found myself methodically skipping pages because of the dryness of Stackpoles warfare, not because it was to boring but because it was TOO MUCH and to indepth that it distracts a reader from the story. I do love reading about historical warfare and strategies but the novel at times read just like that, a dry history book of strategies. In his previous novels he sprinkled just enough to keep things interesting but in DF he went way overboard, btw Michael I think we are all very impressed with your knowledge ;P.

Although I had many gripes with this novel Stackpole is still one of my favorites. This is his first "own" real big-time Epic Story so it's understandable if everything was a bit overwhelming with all those characters, plots, and subplots. I just hope that this was a primer and the next novel will develop the new characters more (enough so that I can actually start to like some of them).


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