Rating: 
Summary: Sovereign Stone...Just Get's Better! (Minor Spoilers)
Review: 200 Years after the fall of Vinnengael, after Dagarus led his army against his brother to become king and claim the Human portion of the Sovereign Stone. 200 years after the human portion was lost, it is found...Dominion Lord Gustav's life quest comes to in end as he finds the lost Sovereign stone. But all is not well, A Vykral, an undead creature of the Void has followed him. With orders to claim it. And a race to collect all portions of the stone commences. This book was great. One of Weis and Hickman's best to date! They explain everything in such detail is as almost as if you are there in the fray. The character really come to life, gone are the normal straight forward evil characters. They develope them really well, giving some there own subplots that may well end up playing a huge role in the third and final book in this series. Do yourself a favor. Pick up Well of Darkness if you have yet to do so. When finished pick up Guardians of the Lost. Then when finished with that, you can eagerly await the release of the third and final book in the Soverign Stone Trilogy (Journey into the Void)
Rating: 
Summary: smooth flow, enjoyable plot
Review: Although Guardians of the Lost jumps 200 years after where Well of Darkness ends, it continues the story of the fate of the Sovereign Stone and Dagnarus' (Lord of the Void) designs for gaining the stones' power and taking over the world. There are several plot threads - Dominion Lord Gustav who entrusts the Trevenici youth Bessan, pecwae Bashae and Grandmother with his mission; the unhorsed Dwarf with Trevenici woman Raven journeying to dragon mountain; a Trevenici chief trying to save his village from a void curse as he runs afoul of Dagnarus' army; an elven Dominion Lord and her wizard husband, and a rogue "almost Dominion Lord." Although this second book doesn't have the complexity and character depth of the first, the pace is fast and doesn't become bogged down. The ending is nicely unresolved, leaving the reading hanging and wanting more. A fun and fast read.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT 2ND IN SERIES
Review: ANOTHER GREAT READ. I WILL BE WAITING FOR THE NEXT ONE
Rating: 
Summary: Too Obvious, Backward Characters, and Nothing Accomplished
Review: First off, Dagnarus was and still is my favorite character (even though I know, like all my favorite characters, he's going to have to die.)I ploughed through this book like I plough through winter when the snow's up to my waist. Not because the book was bad, mind you, but because I hated to see Dagnarus constantly being thwarted time and time again -- and I knew he would be. But, I didn't take off any stars since that's a personal thing, and not all people love Dagnarus.
That mentioned, and my love for Dagnarus aside, this book lost one star because of the ending. Normally I like a book when something is ACCOMPLISHED at the end, but nothing was accomplished here. New Vinningael hadn't even CRUMBLED at the end of the book. Oh, it was obvious that it would, I have no doubt it will be, but it DIDN'T; The book ends with what could be a guarantee that the stones will be captured, but throughout the book there's been so many times when the same thing was promised, the odds were infinite, and they STILL escaped with both stones. The promise at the end doesn't make you WONDER anymore -- you KNOW that it won't happen; The Grandmother and Bashae, alone and with the human portion of the stone, are ordered to be captured. But again, they weren't CAPTURED, which makes me believe there's a 100% chance that the capturing of these two pecwae, despite that they are weak and cowardly and small, will again be a FAILURE by of an all-powerful Vrykyl.
I didn't like any of the main protagonists, and the ones I did like had the worst ending imaginable - Wolfram and Ranessa. The only two decent characters in the book. Their role was a huge letdown, for several reasons: They were the only flawed characters, and deserved to have a much larger part; Dagnarus knew that they were decoys, so why the hell was he ordering them captured?; and instead of being creative and having a Trevinici who's unlike any other Trevinici, she has to be a dragon, which just shows you how robotic and similar that race is. I was hoping that she would teach the snotty, proud, and ANNOYING Trevinicis a few things.
Success for the good became too obvious (it would have been better if the success of DAGNARUS was obvious, because then you would think, "How the hell are the protagonists going to beat him NOW?") -- furthermore, I was hoping that at the end, Dagnarus would have at least been HOLDING at least ONE of the stones - not promised it AGAIN. I thought the main characters deserved smaller roles whereas the background characters should have deserved larger roles, and the fact that nothing was accomplished made the plot and storyline nowhere near as strong as the Well of Darkness.
Furthermore, I didn't like how a Vrykyl turned its back on Dagnarus when they were linked, and yet a Dominion Lord who has their own free will can't turn a little evil now and then.
I had been about to give it 2 stars, but since there was Dagnarus, Wolfram, Ranessa, Valura, and Shakur (as small parts as these characters had) I bumped it up to 3.
Rating:
Summary: Good begining, ending too quick
Review: First off, this book truly engrossed me for the majority of the time that I read it. That said, I was tremendously disappointed by the way that this book was ended. The book is diveded into three sections. The first section was extreemely well writen in true Weis/Hickman style: tons of character development, plenty of exciting action and plot to carry the book along at a good pace. However, the second and third parts of the book lack all the detail that made the first part of the book interesting. It seemed like the last two books were just extensive plot summaries for the last part of the book. I wish they had took the time to fully flush out the last parts of the book, even if it had made the book 800-1000 pages long. Yes, I am eagerly awaiting the last book, but hopefully it will be a fully detailed story from cover to cover rather than all character development in the beginning and a plot synopsis at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent addition to a great series
Review: For years, Dominion Lord Gustav has pursued the quixotic quest of recovering the lost human segment of the Sovereign Stone--the mystical stone that gives power to its holder and, when united with the stones held by the other races, creates a direct link to the gods themselves. Now, Gustav has finally discovered a reliable clue, but he is not alone in his search. Dagnarus, prince of the Void, seeks the stone as well. If he recovers it, he can achieve his goal of absolute control over the entire world. Although Dagnarus was frustrated in his attempt to seize power two hundred years earlier, he has regrouped his forces and prevail even if the power of the stones unites against him. With the stone, Dagnarus is unstoppable. A Dominion Lord is a powerful entity, but so are the death knights or Vrykyls that Dagnarus controls. In the conflict that follows, both are badly wounded. Unable to fulfil his quest, Gustav passes off the stone to a pair of young men who must bring the stone to safety across thousands of miles of dangerous territory. Meanwhile, Dagnarus has launched his attack and no one, especially not a pair of young men with an ancient woman, is safe. Authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman use multiple narrative paths to describe the fates of the two young men (Jessan, a human and Bashae, a pecwae), the Dwarf Wolfram, and the warrior Raven, Jessan's uncle. The relatively small number of intertwined plots allows the reader to stay grounded rather than being overwhelmed with a large number of characters and story lines. In GUARDIANS OF THE LOST, the lines between good and evil are more brightly drawn and Dagnarus never becomes a sympathetic character (unlike WELL OF DARKNESS where Dagnarus is a major protagonist). Unlike many 'middle' books in fantasy trilogies, GUARDIANS OF THE LOST is a complete and fascinating narrative with both characterization and world-building to entertain the most critical fan.
Rating:
Summary: review of teh sovereign stone series
Review: From the well of darkness comes the second in the series- Guardian of the lost. 200 yrs later and Dagnarus is still trying to become king. Exellent cast of new characters along with the old EVIL ones. This book was amazing! I read it in a week! I couldn't put it down. Looking forward to the 3rd-"Journeying into the Void!" Can't wait Hurry up Weis and Hickman. YOU RULE!
Rating:
Summary: More story less Defining
Review: Guardians of the Lost is a large improvement over its predecessor, Well of Souls. Weis and Hickman move away from large chunks of detailed lectures about their new world and let the story take precedence, like its supposed to anyway. Unfortunately, they fall back to their old ways. Honestly, if I want to be told directly why one race hates another race or why one race wears pink instead of blue, I'll go to the gaming world guidebook. In a novel, just show me, I'll figure it out. With that out of the way, the second improvement is focusing away from the spoiled, obnoxious, I'm a bad guy because I wear black armor and you don't, Dagnarus , to the other side with actually capable heroes, something the first novel truly lacked. Often in a trilogy, the plot just creeps along, just enough to set you up for the third concluding novel. Guardians of the Lost differs here, particularly with an ending to make you wait impatiently for the next novel to come out in a year. The tide shifts back from the first novel, suggesting a good final ending, but not necessarily. I think they have written better novels than this one, but 'Guardians of the Lost' is a book in the right direction.
Rating:
Summary: Book 2 keeps up the pace
Review: Guardians of the Lost keeps up the pace introduced in the first book of the trilogy. Freed from having to build a new world from scratch for the reader, the authors can devote their pages more to new plot and the resulting story flows much better. The book is a very quick read, and at times I almost feel guilty for sucking down this fantasy mind candy, but there is enough creativity in there to keep things honorable. My only complaint is that for a book that purports that good and evil exist in balanced harmony, the bad guys sure seem a lot more powerful than the good guys. As one example, consider the fact that the Vrykrl can communicate with each other over any distance by using their blood knives, whereas the Dominion Lords have no comparable skill. This small complaint is not enough to keep me from yearning for the publication of the third book, however!
Rating:
Summary: Book 2 keeps up the pace
Review: Guardians of the Lost keeps up the pace introduced in the first book of the trilogy. Freed from having to build a new world from scratch for the reader, the authors can devote their pages more to new plot and the resulting story flows much better. The book is a very quick read, and at times I almost feel guilty for sucking down this fantasy mind candy, but there is enough creativity in there to keep things honorable. My only complaint is that for a book that purports that good and evil exist in balanced harmony, the bad guys sure seem a lot more powerful than the good guys. As one example, consider the fact that the Vrykrl can communicate with each other over any distance by using their blood knives, whereas the Dominion Lords have no comparable skill. This small complaint is not enough to keep me from yearning for the publication of the third book, however!
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