Rating: 
Summary: A masterpiece of fantasy
Review: When it comes to fantasy, Well of Darkness has it all. Weis and Hickman have packed into this book an array of events that continue to surprise and intrigue the reader. The conflicts throughout the book are magnificently described and all the while intricately tie into eachother. The characters are brilliant, ambitious, ingenius, and the enigma that surrounds them reaches an awe inspiring resolve. By reading this first book in the Sovereign Stone Trilogy, a reader will be compelled to complete the series post-haste.
Rating: 
Summary: If you're looking for a fun, light read, pick another book
Review: Being a huge Weis/Hickman fan (I've read Foraging the Darksword, Rose of the Prophet, and various Dragonlance), I had high hopes for this series. I should begin by saying that it is nothing like these.
I won't bore you with a summary. It is clear that from early on this novel will be about pitting one brother against another in a good vs. evil type of book. However, this is more than just hero vs bad guy: each of the characters are very complex. Even the secondary characters: Dagnarus's whipping boy, the elven advisor, and the just,well-loved king are excellently developed and each have an interesting take on the events of the story.
I agree with the other reviewers who said that the book starts of slow but definitely speeds up in the middle and will have you captivated by the end. I don't want to give too much away except to say that book 3 (the third section of this book) will provide interesting surprises as the reader finds out who really holds the power in their universe: Dagnarus, Helmos, the Void, or the Gods.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting story
Review: Picking up a Weis and Hickman novel provides that easy familiarity of plot, characterisation and narrative technique that is fundamentally flawless. I have found few authors with whom there is no need to get to grips with the novel, rather be instantly pulled into a totally plausible world.
The Sovereign Stone trilogy opener attempts to take us through a microcosmic world of Vinnengael and its portals from the viewpoint of the traditionally evil protagonists. The anti-heroes, Gareth, Dagnarus, Silwyth and an assortment of 'henchmen' are displayed in a manner to explain how they arrive at the point of choosing the dark path to obtain their powers. Weis and Hickman have portrayed the stepping towards evil through the somewhat safe manner of an abandoned childhood, jealousy, character weakness and a driving ambition to be acknowledged rather than as a force for absolute evil as denoted in the DragonLance series with Takhisis. One characterisation jars slightly; unfortunately that of the traditional 'ragged child to position of magical power' in many fantasy novels. Gareth's rising magical prowess, excellence at Void magic suggests a precocious intelligence, one the authors are at pains to stress during Part I where his and Dagnarus' ten year old characters are defined. However, given this intelligence his constant capitulation, in in the face of a conflict where intelligence must surely send him on a different route, is a trifle irksome. You leave the first novel wondering how he has managed to grow so powerful he can destroy rivers where nothing so far suggests he has (l)earned this.
The other faintly worrisome aspect to this attempt to write from the anti-hero stance, is the fact that the forces for good are displayed as naïve, foolish, despairing and, at the end, so pathetic that any pathos is immediately lost. The entire characterisation tends to come across 'as way out of depth' and, thus, entirely loses all credibility.
However, the novel is also all we come to expect from the current masters of the fantasy genre: brilliantly written, technically excellent and grippingly spun. The danger must be that all characters are sub-consciously compared to those on Krynn, but the authors effortlessly spin away from them so we now have credible bickering elves, nomadic dwarves without a mountain in sight, a new race of orken who sail the superstitious seas and only one dragon in sight who comes to rescue the new keeper of time, the new Astinus.
As I said, the comparisons to Krynn must come and it is no surprise to find that this new world doesn't need those images. The Well of Darkness is a story of a second-born prince, Dagnarus, who seeks ultimate power and achieves it through the forbidden magic of the Void learned by a childhood 'whipping boy', Gareth, who constantly must be his conscience, his physical pain carrier. Subverted by the politics of the elf, Silwyth, loving the deeply tragic Valura, aided by the blinded 'unhorsed' Dunner and the lure of absolute power, Dagnarus uses everything necessary to achieve absolute power (which corrupts absolutely) through the creation of himself as a subverted Dominion Lord, the death of the King and his final battle with Helmos, his brother.
We end with an uncertain future for both good and evil and the promise of a titanic struggle that ensures purchase of the next installment.
Then again, it wouldn't be written by the masters of the fantasy genre, if it didn't....
Rating: 
Summary: Well of Boredom
Review: I love Weis and Hickman.....at least I used to. The changing of historical dispositions for the races was the only inspired thing in this book. Its one of the few times I don't want to read the sequels. I think its funny that the reviews are either great or abysmal and if you want to see for yourself, get it from the library!!!
Rating:
Summary: Well of Darkness (Minor Spoilers)
Review: Larry Elmore's world comes to life with an explosion by renowed Dragonlance authors (Margerete Weis, and Tracy Hickman). A world where dwarves ride the open plains on shaggy ponies. Where intelligent Orken sail the sea's, where elves spin webs of lies and deceit, and where humans war with each other. Where dominion lords, the chosen of the gods try to keep peace. This is the world of the Sovereign Stone.Young Gareth is chosen at a young age to become the companion and the whipping boy of young prince Dagarus. Son of king Telmos. Dagarus at a young age dreams of becoming king, but his brother Helmos is to be king, not Dagarus. This of course frustrates Dagarus who believes that his father does not love him as much as he should. Overtime Gareth ends up finding a book on void magic, magic so evil it was outlawed. Dagarus makes him learn to use it, which will lead to the creation of the Dominion Lords oppposites, the undead Vykral. Creatures who drain the very life out of their victims bodies. Pick up this book, I doubt you will be dissapointed...
Rating:
Summary: Grating...
Review: Before I start writing I just know I'm going to get bad ratings for this after seeing most of the other reviews, but what the hell. To begin with, most of the characters are distinctly un-appealing. The whipping boy Gareth, for example, is willing to stoop to anything, even selling his soul and becoming horribly disfigured, for his master Prince Dagnarus. Dagnarus is a spoiled brat in the beginning, with a mean streak, who grows up to be very evil and very, very lucky (Handsome, brave, good soldier, charismatic, leadership qualities, etc.). Nearly everything goes his way, but he still treats Gareth like a used rag. But I'm getting side-tracked.
The plot is weak, pretty stereo-typical, with Dagnarus being wholly evil and his brother, the heir to the throne, extremely good. Personally, I usually favour the evil side, but that's when they (as in the case of Raistlin from Dragonlance) are better formed, with more facets to their personality, and good and bad attributes. Characters here are completely predictable. Contradictions keep cropping up along the book if you care to notice. You can tell that in this book your SUPPOSED to like the evil side, which is not nearly as interesting as when you have many characters, both good and evil and are free to decide who appeals to you more. The authors have tried to experiment with standard fantasy races, giving dwarves horses and a nomadic nature, and making elves very political minded(enough to murder their opponents) and making orcs like normal people, the only difference being that they're a race of seamen? If you want to make your own races you should go the whole way, not just adapt old races. Either you use your own, or the standard issue, not half and half.
I found this book to be a great let-down from the authors' phenomenal Dragonlance series and will most certainly not lay hands on the second part if I can help it. Maybe if I have a lot of money on my hands and am locked in a bookstore for the night...maybe...
Rating: 
Summary: standard fare, not particularly well done
Review: I gave the book to my brother to make sure I wasn't missing something. He agreed.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good fantasy mind candy
Review: Pretty good fantasy mind candy from the authors of the Dragonlance series. I saw this book in the library and wondered if these authors, who had so captivated me as a young teenager, still had the touch. This, their latest series, holds up just fine, although it is certainly not as fine as some of their other books. The character development was a little less than ideal (I would like to have seen more time spent explaining why certain characters turned evil, as the explanation given seems a bit flippant), but overall, very enjoyable. I am looking forward to the next in the series...
Rating:
Summary: FIRST WEIS BOOK IVE READ
Review: I REALLY ENJOYED THIS AND WILL BE READING MORE
Rating: 
Summary: Something old, something new
Review: Weis and Hickman's style is changing. Yet their ideas of magic, characterization and plot remain much the same, and this book might prove frustrating (or delightful) for the readers who can detect the same story elements being used over again. Style: Weis and Hickman's language is becoming ever more confident with every book; on the other hand, the writing has become verbose. The start of the book is especially slow-moving--the introduction of Silwyth, Lady Valura and the Shield also tries to describe Loerem's elven culture--a culture that is obviously steeped in and inspired by Oriental culture and ideas. How unusual and un-Tolkien! But-- I have to say I found this chapter infuriating, coming from an oriental background. The elven rules of etiquette and protocol were exagerrated and ridiculous to the extreme, yet described with apparent perfect seriousness that contained no trace of humor--or at least--humor that failed. This was a verbose chapter filled with condescending remarks that really raised my hackles. Characters: Readers of Weis and Hickman's most recent Dragonlance books will find this familiar territory--the authors' love and attention being heaped onto the evil characters. If you're a reader who cheers for the good guys, this book WILL be disappointing. (Come to think of it, is it such a crime to want good to triumph over evil? Weis and Hickman would now seem to answer yes.) Good characters like Helmos, King Tamaros and Dunner are constantly misled, hoodwinked and fooled. Their IQ seems deliberately kept down below 100. (Again, familiar stuff for current Dragonlance readers.) The bad guys here have all the strengths: will, wiles, diplomacy, spirit, fighting prowess and magic. Hard for a reader to decide who to sympathise with. Gareth is a principle character who teeters between good and evil, but unfortunately is weak in character and lacks in skills of logical reasoning. Evil Prince Dagnarus is, to keep it short, a man whose strengths all stem from him being a spoiled brat. Weis and Hickman's concentration on evil characters may come from the hope of creating another Raistlin, or Lord Soth, or even Xar, but it just isn't happening in this book yet. For readers not that familiar with Weis and Hickman, this book may be worth picking up for some of its unusual fantasy ideas and strong writing style. (Don't compare this with G.R.R. Martin though.) For readers familiar with gaming: there's not much new here. For readers familiar with Weis and Hickman, it depends--do you side with Good or Evil?
|
