Dragonshadow

Rating:
Summary: left me spell-bound and wanting more, in spite of grim end
Review: This fantasy is a sequel to "Dragonsbane", and Morkeleb the
Black is in of danger of turning into a smarmy, cocker spaniel type
dragon (a la Anne McCaffrey) in "Dragonshadow", but Hambly
writes him out of that undignified fate.

Unpleasant but wondrous
adventures are the daily lot of Lord John Aversin, Dragonsbane, and
Jenny the Wizard as they attempt to rescue their son Ian from
Folcalor, the king of the Demons. Jenny has the added handicap of
being possessed by a demon herself, while her true self is trapped in
a wizard's gem. This book could be subtitled, "When Bad Things
Happen to Good People"...

Luckily, there is a sequel,
"Knight of the Demon Queen". I hope it has a happier ending
than "Dragonshadow", but with Hambly you never know. She is
one of the true originals in this hackneyed genre. Her dragons,
demons, gnomes, heroes, and heroines will leave you spell-bound and
wanting more, no matter how it ends.


Rating:
Summary: left me spell-bound and wanting more, in spite of grim end
Review: This fantasy is a sequel to "Dragonsbane", and Morkeleb theBlack is in of danger of turning into a smarmy, cocker spaniel typedragon (a la Anne McCaffrey) in "Dragonshadow", but Hamblywrites him out of that undignified fate.

Unpleasant but wondrousadventures are the daily lot of Lord John Aversin, Dragonsbane, andJenny the Wizard as they attempt to rescue their son Ian fromFolcalor, the king of the Demons. Jenny has the added handicap ofbeing possessed by a demon herself, while her true self is trapped ina wizard's gem. This book could be subtitled, "When Bad ThingsHappen to Good People"...

Luckily, there is a sequel,"Knight of the Demon Queen". I hope it has a happier endingthan "Dragonshadow", but with Hambly you never know. She isone of the true originals in this hackneyed genre. Her dragons,demons, gnomes, heroes, and heroines will leave you spell-bound andwanting more, no matter how it ends.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing sequel
Review: This is the first Barbara Hambly book that I've found disappointing. Maybe my expectations were too high because I loved Dragonsbane and everything else that she has written. I couldn't believe that a sequel had snuck out without my hearing about it. Now I wish that I hadn't seen it either. I guess that she was due...

Rating:
Summary: :( :( :(
Review: This is the sequel to Dragonsbane.. I have all three books in this series and I completely loved the first one, though it one of the best books I've ever read and I fell in love with the characters..

I read the backs of the two other books and put off reading them for the longest time, I was so afraid that terrible things would happen in them to the characters I had grown to love. Well I finally did read them and well I was right..

I have this dilemma which is a mental thing but I have a hard time seperating fiction from fact to some extent. This book was absolutely torturous. Well-written definately, but I had to drag myself through it without stopping to cry and scream and all that. Of course the instant I finished it, I HAD to start the next one which did a little better for me but not much.

Overall though this book is incredibly depressing and heart-breaking but it is very well-written and I would easily give it five stars did it not depress me so much.

The other thing I found wrong with it is minor and my opinion, was the state of the dragons. Dragons I look on to be massively wise and powerful beings (and they are in the book) but I believe them to be more a force of Light and definately not so dang susceptible to being possessed. That's me though. That almost made it seem less real to me.

If you can keep your suspension of disbelief reined in a bit for this book I highly recommend it.. but read Dragonsbane first, no demons in that one AND it has a happy ending. If you can't take bad things then ONLY read Dragonsbane, like I should've, silly me..

Rating:
Summary: Dragons & Darkness
Review: This isn't Barbara Hambly's best book, but I still enjoy anything by her more than I do from the majority of fantasy writers. She easily draws the reader into her unreal worlds. I liked Dragonsbane and I liked the character Jenny Waynest as she was depicted in it, an older woman who could handle a sword and who was neither unrealistically tough nor ditheringly feminine. This book did not have the same impact on me. The pacing is uneven and characters that she went to considerable effort creating, and I was curious about, are summarily dispensed with. I don't mind a glimpse into the darkness, not all moral problems are as neatly solved in real life as they all too often are in stories, and I felt that the adult characters having to deal with it was the strong point of the book. But I was uncomfortable with the son's involvement. Still, Morkeleb makes up for a lot.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant follow-up to a Brilliant original story.
Review: This sequal does stand alone, but be sure, sure, sure to check out the first story as well. So great to be with these characters and their flaws, again. So great to see how human they are and how much more so they become. Deep frustration when left waiting for the third installment and our heroine (and hero)is in such a heart wrenching pickle. Brava, Barbara. Loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Wow...
Review: Typically, sequels are not as good as their predecessors, but there certainly are exceptions. This is one of them. Not only does it equal _Dragonsbane_ on every count, it surpasses it. This isn't your typical sequel, though. It is clear that when Hambly wrote _Dragonsbane_ 15 years ago that she wasn't planning on continuing the story of her protagonists. I, for one, am glad that she did.

In this book, we find that a mage is enslaving dragons by means unknown, and capturing mages to control them. John Aversin and Jenny Waynest, trying to figure out what's going on and how to stop it, enlist the aid of Morkeleb, the greatest of the dragons, and discover that the evil mage is controling the other witches and dragons by infesting them with demons. John, Jenny, Morkeleb and their allies then predictable set out to stop this threat.

What is unpredictable is how the author goes about doing this. More on that later.

Let me note now that in the beginning of the book I was a little concerned with a couple discrepencies from the first book. The horse Battlehammer, belonging to Gareth in the first book, now belongs to John, but as this book takes place a couple of years later, this can be forgiven. There is also an evident change in John's character and speaking style.

Moving on, I was pleased to find out that this book was written from both John and Jenny's POV's as opposed to solely Jenny's as in the first book. This allowed for much greater character development and depth.

Also new features in this book are the antagonists, the demons. This book shows chillingly clearly what temptations can lead to letting a demon into your head, and the devastating results of such. The demons are original, not your run of the mill goat legged horned red monstrosity, but are nonetheless chillingly disturbing.

This book starts out more slowly than its predecessor, but it sure makes up for that going into the book. There's a lot of action, from fortresses under siege to underwater battles to all kinds of things. There're also new contraptions, as John has constructed a hot-air balloon type thing and a mechanism called an Urchin, which is basically a dragon-slaying tank.

This book is really wonderfully written, fast paced, with three-dimensional characters and creatures all the way around, revelations that ring disturbingly true, and tragic losses to all sides. Jeez...talk about ending on a down note. I think that with the ending Hambly was trying to create suicidal urges in her readers. Although this novel is complete, and it doesn't end with a cliffhanger, there is a sequel promised at the end, so keep your eyes open.

My biggest gripe with this book had nothing to do with the book really, but the fact that in the last few years Del Rey has started using really cheap paper that won't last for a real long time; added to the fact that their books are a little more expensive than some of the opposition, I think they'd better get their act together.

Highly Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Ooof.
Review: Uhh.. uh... okay. I loved "Dragonsbane", despite seemingly every other reviewer on amazon.com yowling that it was boring boring boring. And I have nothing against characters suffering, or flaws, or tension.. but this is overdoing it.

After more than half a book full of endless sex, violence, and angst (it takes no time starting off on a down note, though it's still incredibly boring) it gets almost routine, but not routine enough so that you don't care. Just so that you're bored *and* sickened at the same time. I only slogged through the entire thing because I had hopped for some sort of closure, but it seems as if I'll have to go out and fetch yet another sequel. Boring hack and slash. It's a bad combination. Yeesh... either save them or kill them already...

Also, the endless parade of characters.. they're all given names, and some are given descriptions, but most of them are pointless. Like all the family members and the mages who have.. like.. one line, then get posessed by demons and killed.

With all fairness to Barbara Hambly, it was really well written and she probably took a lot of time and effort on this, but content is everything...

This is a book where things happen.. but nothing really happens. You'll just have to wait for the sequel.

Rating:
Summary: not a book for those who insist on happy endings
Review: While there were some unoriginal plot devices, Ms. Hambly refused to take the easy path out to a happy ending. Although the writing is not as tight as some of her other books, I think it is well worth reading and I look forward to the final book.

Rating:
Summary: Dragon's leftovers.
Review: Why did Ms. Hambly ever let this book be published? I have read all of her works and this is just terrible. I found it depressing, cruel, and predictable. It was a chore to read. I kind of feel like a good friend has let me down.