Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing sequel to a great first book
Review: I have always appreciated Barbara Hambly's books. While they may be a bit formulaic, on the whole they are absorbing and memorable, with complex characters and a plot worth thinking about. I enjoyed the first book in this series, Dragonsbane, very much.However, Dragonshadow is terrible. I was sickened by the gratuitous violence and sexually-charged scenes in this book. I am at a loss to discover what possessed the author to imagine the acts she describes, much less inflict them on her characters and on her readers. There is no rule against portraying violence in fiction - after all, bad things do happen in real life - but the violent scenes in Dragonshadow were neither illuminating nor well written. Rushed, poorly thought out, above all in bad taste, the second half of the book ruined the story for me and made me wish I had never heard of this sequel. Did Hambly want to tap into a mass market which favors violence in science fiction? Was this a bid to break away from her earlier books and try something new? A cross between an R-rated comic book and a B-grade horror movie, this is an unworthy sequal to Dragonsbane and I don't recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing - wait for the sequel
Review: I have no objections to sequels if done well, and Ms. Hambly can do them well, as evidenced by her Darwath Trilogy and "Those Who Hunt the Night"/"Traveling With the Dead". However, this "semi-sequel" to her brilliant "Dragonsbane" should have been left on the shelf. Terrible things happen to her protagonists, the witch Jenny Waynest and the reluctant hero-scientist John Aversin, and to their 12 year old son, Ian, in a dreary, hopeless world. Neither fortitude, intelligence, or honor wins the day; only a screamingly-obvious plot device, the flawed gem which holds Jenny's soul (and who doesn't see that coming from the first instant) allows a partial measure of physical, but not emotional, victory to occur. The book is such a downer after the brilliant "Dragonsbane" that the author was compelled to state -- right in the book -- that a sequel to this one would be forthcoming. However, unlike this one, which I rushed to buy in hardcover, I'll wait for the next one to get to paperback. Not recommended, but her other books -- particularly the ones I mentioned above and "The Ladies of Mandrigyn" -- are.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing and predictable
Review: I loved Dragonsbane and when I found out about this sequel, I rushed to get it. But I was disappointed by the story -- it was predictable, left me with so many questions about the motives of the characters, confusing, and just made me wish I had not read it.
Rating:
Summary: I wish she had never written this book!
Review: I read Dragonsbane (the first book about John and Jenny who are the 2 main characters in these stories) many years ago and really enjoyed it. When I recently found out that Barbara Hambly had written a sequel to their story, I could not hardly wait to read it. What a disapointment! I wish I had never picked up this book, and just left the characters where they were at the end of Dragonsbane. I can take some hardships happening to the characters in the books that I read, but this was terrible. I have since got the 3rd book in this series from the Library (thank goodness I did not buy it) and "skimmed" through it first to see if anything finally got better. Believe it or not, it was worse than Dragonshadow. When I do get a chance to read, I would like to finish the book and feel uplifted instead of depressed. Please pass on Dragonshadow unless you like a lot of unresolved heartache in your stories.
Rating:
Summary: I wish she had never written this book!
Review: I read Dragonsbane (the first book about John and Jenny who are the 2 main characters in these stories) many years ago and really enjoyed it. When I recently found out that Barbara Hambly had written a sequel to their story, I could not hardly wait to read it. What a disapointment! I wish I had never picked up this book, and just left the characters where they were at the end of Dragonsbane. I can take some hardships happening to the characters in the books that I read, but this was terrible. I have since got the 3rd book in this series from the Library (thank goodness I did not buy it) and "skimmed" through it first to see if anything finally got better. Believe it or not, it was worse than Dragonshadow. When I do get a chance to read, I would like to finish the book and feel uplifted instead of depressed. Please pass on Dragonshadow unless you like a lot of unresolved heartache in your stories.
Rating: 
Summary: the sequel seems rushed
Review: I really liked Dragonsbane the book before this one and was eager to enter the world of John and Jenny again. However, I felt let down by the sequel. It didn't feel as polished as most of her books have been. The plot seemed disjointed at times, moving from one place to another without much transition. Characters popped in and out of scenes unexpectedly and repeatedly. On the whole the book was enjoyable just disappointing and rather bleak. I'm also getting frustrated at books that don't come to closure. I need closure!
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully complicated
Review: I really liked this book, but it is much darker than any of the other Hambly books I've read (which is pretty much anything she wrote). I can see why it wouldn't appeal to a lot of people, as there is something too close to reality in the way the heroes, both Jenny and John, interact with the demons - neither good nor bad are ever pure, or separated. The dragons are just beutiful, and I would have liked a few drawings, like the one from Dragonsbane. I hope the sequel comes soon, and that all ends well, never mind the reality and the analysis of the complex human nature.
Rating:
Summary: Dark and great!
Review: I won't bore you with the plot line again! I loved the first book, but I loved this one even more. The characters are wonderful, and true to themselves. It has a dark feel, with dark things happening. I don't like goody-goody stories, and as in life, bad things happen to good people. Hambly does a wonderful job of evoking feelings. My heart went out to John and Jenny. I could barely wait for the next book to come out to see how it all came out.
I am a huge Hambly fan, and I think there has been only one book of hers (that I have read) that I didn't care for. The rest are all worth the read! In fact some of my favorites are falling apart and I have to search used books stores to replace them! Now I buy them all in hardcover. :)
Rating: 
Summary: haven't read it, but needed to comment
Review: I'd just like to let everyone know--there's a customer review here that pretty much tells the ending to the book. Kind of annoying, since I was thinking of reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Wrenching and wonderful
Review: I'll admit right off the bat, I am a very big fan of Hambly's works. I'd probably buy the telephone book if she re-wrote it. So I bought 'Dragonshadow', and I loved it . . . but it was horrible to read what she put these folks through. I adored 'Dragonslayer', and I love the characters of Jenny, John, and Morkeleb, and she puts them all through the wringer in this one. Jenny in particular. By the end there is hardly a gleam of hope showing, and the note on the last page about the sequel was the best thing I had read in chapters. The writing, characterization, and description are all up to Hambly's usual brilliance. It's a definate buy; but you may want to wait to read it until the sequel is out, and you can read them together!
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