Servant of the Dragon

Rating:
Summary: give me more!
Review: a few years ago, i bought the book Lord of the Isles because i wanted something fun to read to pass the time. now i'm completely hooked on the writings of this imaginative author. this series has everything: great characters, descriptive settings, wizards, villians, etc. Serpant of the Dragon upholds this series' tradition of creative reading. i recommend this book to anyone who is interested in science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: What happened??
Review: After the first two books, this reader expected the characters and the plot to develop. Unfortunately, Servant of the Dragon reads like a shopping trip to the fantasy stacks at the local bookstore! Drake established some really promising characters and world building in his first two books in the series, then in this installment, the reader is forced into all sorts of confusing battles where the main characters are seperated are tossed about from world to world facing unrelated situations. I really enjoyed his first two books but Servant is almost unreadable.

Rating:
Summary: A decent book...
Review: David Drake has written another solid book in his own style. In this book he does what he does best, he draws on plots from mythology and history and populates them with characters who exhibit believable emotional responses to stress. While this is not his best effort, it is very readable. For the past 10 or 11 years I have bought Drake's books as they are published and I have always been entertained even by the terrible ones like Patriots and Lacey & Co.

Rating:
Summary: Pedantic and silly
Review: Gods knows there is enough standard fantasy fare out there these days. Queen of Demons was a second rate book, with superficial characters and a plot that kept moving because when it stood still it fell apart. The first book had promise, so I decided to give the third a try. I should have saved my money. This is just the same rehash of every other Sword and Sorcery plot, only not as well done, without any depth or colors of real characterization. [How seriously can you take a villian called "Great One", anyway?] My advice to David Drake is to try something else. There are already too many far more talented writers in the epic fantasy field.

Rating:
Summary: A strong showing in this excellent series
Review: I gave the other two showing in this series 5 stars, and this one would have received 5 also except for some small points. In certain chapters especially the first few, the story thread seemed to be disjointed in parts. But these were few and far between. The storylines regarding Sharing, Cashel, and Ilna were all extremely well done, letting us see deeper into their characters as a whole (especially liked Cashel's part). Garric was busy being King, so his was a tad weaker than usual, but the others easily made up for it. All in all, highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Good but like the others
Review: I liked this book but they have become a bit predictable, at the beginning they are alltogether then early on they are split apart like billiard balls. Then the stories go on until they all come together again at the end. Still a well writen and thought out book that keeps you reading on til the end.

Rating:
Summary: Good but like the others
Review: I liked this book but they have become a bit predictable, at the beginning they are alltogether then early on they are split apart like billiard balls. Then the stories go on until they all come together again at the end. Still a well writen and thought out book that keeps you reading on til the end.

Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable book
Review: I read the first book in the series and gave it a marginal thumbs up. I listened to the second book and enjoyed it. I listened to the Servant of the Dragon and was transported into the land of the Isles. The story lacks some action and the ending really is nothing more than Drake tying up all his plot strings at once (too quickly and at odds with the pace of the rest of the novel). Given Drakes writing style it might be fair to say that Servant of the Dragon is little more than small vignettes strung together, but that would sound more critical than I intend. I found myself transported beyond the traffic and the grind of the commute as I listed to the book and I was terribly disappointed when it was over. I also have to add that the development of Ilna and her relationship with Chalkas was excellently done.

Rating:
Summary: very immaginative and exciting
Review: I really enjoyed the series. Right from the beginning you plunge into a world where the excitement never seems to end and one adventure is followed by another. The characters always entering new worlds, of which the rules are largely unknown and present immediate danger, which gives the whole story interesting twists, and even over large distances the ends of the seperate adventures always come together nicely. The characters are drawn very well, they seem to come alive. Their behaviour is mostly realistic and funny. I only found Ilnas behaviour a bit annoying, as she always complains about how much she hates everything and everyone, and then still is so nice to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Good book.
Review: I think this might be one of my favorite of David Drake's books yet, if for Ilna and Chalcus if nothing else. The only problem was that the pattern of the "group" being together at the beginning, breaking up during the book, and getting back together in time for the end is beginning to grate on my nerves. Otherwise, it's a brilliant story with brilliant writing...and I love the constant reminders of Nonnus.