Rating: 
Summary: Quite simply, the best!!!
Review: Mr. McKiernan, you've done it again! Noone in the fantasy genre
today spins a yarn nearly as well as you. Not since Tolkien has
someone created a world of such depth and immersion as you have with
Mithgar. This fact doesn't change with your newest addition _The
Dragonstone_. This is an epic tale of adventure and romance that covers
very nearly all of known Mithgar. The characters are the centerpiece of
story, and can immediatly be loved, and/or hated, as the emotion of the
tale is so very vivid and relayed in a fashion that allows the reader to
picture every physical, mental, and emotional characteristic. The details
of the story are revealed at the perfect pace, making the book almost
impossible too put down. I almost hated starting this book, because I
knew that within the span of a couple of days, it would come to an end, and there would be no more.
The story itself covers the adventure of an Elf named Arin Flameseer, and
a particular vision that she has. Along with others, who are revealed rather
cryptically, in a rede (riddle), applied perfectly by the author, she searches
for an artifact called, you guessed it, The Dragonstone. Hoping to avert
the Final War, her band ventures all across Mithgar, fighting and loving to this reader perfect contentment. The book also reveals a bit about Mithgar's
future, and it's end, as well as it's past.
I can't say enough good things about this book. Even if you aren't a fantasy
fan, this book is a definite must. You'll laugh, cry, and cringe in fear and anger
moreso than with any other book you may read. If I had been the publisher
of this book, I would not have hesitated to put a guarantee on it! This one is off
the scale, a 10++++!!!
You really have done it again, Mr. McKiernan!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: McKiernan Sells Out!
Review: One of the great things about McKiernan's earlier works was an aire of believabilty about a classic fantasy epic, i.e. the assertion by McKiernan that the stories are taken from ancient and recently found manuscripts written comtemporarily with the events described; the maps used in his books roughly approximating modern-day Europe, etc. However, when he makes one of his central characters a sword-wielding 5'2" girl who is unstoppable in battle, his credibility as a writer snaps. I assume McKiernan, wanting to be accepted by the liberal, feminist elites in the literary community, thought he better do something to show them he's on board. Frankly, I was sorry to see him sell out.
Rating:
Summary: Best fantasy I've ever read!!!!!!!
Review: The Dragonstone is about an elf named Dara Arin, and her companions, who must search out and find a precious emrald stone called the Dragonstone. The stone is suppossed to be the doom of the world of Mithgar, the home of Dara Arin, and the known world. This stone is stolen by an evil Mage (Wizard) who wants to use the stone for the distruction of Mithgar, and its up to Arin, and her friends, to stop this evil mage from destroying the world. I thought it was a wonderful book, and it got me back into fantasy. I would like to read it over and over again. I give it ***** stars!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: The Dragonstone
Review: The Dragonstone Pp. 575 Dennis McKiernan wrote a fabulous, exciting and incredibly suspenseful story called The Dragonstone. The Dragonstone is a fast paced fantasy fiction novel with so many different ideas and plots, it will keep you thinking about it for a very long time, even after you've read it. I found myself staying up late into the night just so I could read one more chapter, and then, once I finished, I couldn't just put it down so I had to read another book by the author. This book is like a big puzzle. It gives you so many ideas, and slowly, as the story progresses, you start to put them together. You won't know what the ending will be like until you read it. What's even better? It's a 575 page book so it will keep you occupied for at least a couple of months. The story starts off in the land of Mithgar and stars a young Dylvainian Elf named Arin who has had a terrifying vision, a vision of bloodshed, riding hordes, and raging dragons. Arin is faced with the burden of trying to stop all that is good from complete annihilation. She must go on a very dangerous journey to find the answer to a mysterious riddle. She must find the cat who fell from grace, the One Eye in Dark Water, the Mad Manarch's Rutting Peacock, the Ferret in the High King's Cage, and the cursed keeper of Faith in the Maze. Only when these mysterious things are found can she begin her real journey to save the land of Mithgar. But it isn't as easy as it seems, for more plots with their own plots arise and must be taken care of before they can find the jaded soul. Mithgar is a very fun place to enhance your imagination since there are so many places filled with beautiful scenery and the most interesting characters you will ever read about. Monsters with six wings and deathly scary teeth, images that could twist a human soul, and an army of soldiers are only some of the dangers that await the travelers. This book is Definitely the best book I have ever read, and I have read many good books. Words can't describe how amazing this book is, but one thing is for sure, the ending is truly a real thriller! Have fun reading Dennis McKiernans' The Dragonstone.
Rating:
Summary: The Dragonstone
Review: The Dragonstone Pp. 575 Dennis McKiernan wrote a fabulous, exciting and incredibly suspenseful story called The Dragonstone. The Dragonstone is a fast paced fantasy fiction novel with so many different ideas and plots, it will keep you thinking about it for a very long time, even after you've read it. I found myself staying up late into the night just so I could read one more chapter, and then, once I finished, I couldn't just put it down so I had to read another book by the author. This book is like a big puzzle. It gives you so many ideas, and slowly, as the story progresses, you start to put them together. You won't know what the ending will be like until you read it. What's even better? It's a 575 page book so it will keep you occupied for at least a couple of months. The story starts off in the land of Mithgar and stars a young Dylvainian Elf named Arin who has had a terrifying vision, a vision of bloodshed, riding hordes, and raging dragons. Arin is faced with the burden of trying to stop all that is good from complete annihilation. She must go on a very dangerous journey to find the answer to a mysterious riddle. She must find the cat who fell from grace, the One Eye in Dark Water, the Mad Manarch's Rutting Peacock, the Ferret in the High King's Cage, and the cursed keeper of Faith in the Maze. Only when these mysterious things are found can she begin her real journey to save the land of Mithgar. But it isn't as easy as it seems, for more plots with their own plots arise and must be taken care of before they can find the jaded soul. Mithgar is a very fun place to enhance your imagination since there are so many places filled with beautiful scenery and the most interesting characters you will ever read about. Monsters with six wings and deathly scary teeth, images that could twist a human soul, and an army of soldiers are only some of the dangers that await the travelers. This book is Definitely the best book I have ever read, and I have read many good books. Words can't describe how amazing this book is, but one thing is for sure, the ending is truly a real thriller! Have fun reading Dennis McKiernans' The Dragonstone.
Rating:
Summary: My tiger growls at this book
Review: The earliest of the Mithgar books, this is definitely not better off for being so. A generic quest with stock characters, it fails to be epic and instead meanders over a plot that is easy to forget. Two travellers arrive in a small town, seeking a man with one eye: Arin Flameseer, an Elf who sees the future in fire; and Aiko, a disgraced female warrior from Ryodo. They find two men with only one eye, a town drunk and a very battered warrior. They take both men with them (and a rotting troll eyeball -- GROSS!) on their quest. The quest, told in flashback form, is that Arin had a vision of armies, blood, death, and dragons, all centering around a green stone called the Dragonstone. To find the answer, she must uncover the "cat who fell from grace, the mad monarch's rutting peacock, one-eye in dark water, ferret in high king's cage, and cursed keeper of the faith in the maze." The problem is, none of these are riddles easily unraveled... Well, you won't find anything new here. We have an elf, a couple of warriors (man and woman), and a slobbering drunk battling an evil wizard. It's like a D&D game, but less fun. Attempts at humor fall utterly flat; I was bored by the quibbling between the dragons, and Aiko's bickering with Alos is annoying, not entertaining. Alos himself seems like a half-hearted attempt at creating a funny character, but most readers will like him as much as they liked Jar Jar Binks. Maybe less. The writing itself is obsessed with detail; we get descriptions of the physical characteristics of the characters over and over. McKiernan also has a distracting way of stopping the action dead with short two-page chapters that tell the history of an area or the background of a species. I will admit, the explanations for the various parts of the rede were clever... but as one of the prior reviewers said, a nympho-nutso queen? Oh, great idea; this was probably the weirdest and least tasteful part of the book. McKiernan's repetition problem rears its ugly head again, not only within the confines of the book but within the series as well. We have a very intricate description of Aiko early in the book, and a nearly identical description only a hundred pages later. We're told about the eyepatch and "white-filmed eye" about a thousand times. Alos must throw up dozens of times during the book. Vanidar keeps cuddling with his sweetie in the middle of an important discussion. And if Aiko says that her tiger senses danger ONE MORE TIME... Within the series, we have the same ol', same ol'. I ask you: Why does Mr. McKiernan give us detailed descriptions of what Elf males wear, since they all look alike? I've seen the same description in every other book I've read: blond hair, headband, same clothing... On the same note, McKiernan only gives his good female characters one kind of dress: "simple yet elegant," with a straight skirt under a bodice, and with the character's hair tied up in ribbons that match the ribbons on the bodice. Oh yes -- and her feet will always be peeking under the hem. (How many people have feet that peek?) When describing the Elf seasonal ritual, we're told "... yet their hearts were full of joy," a line from the Hel's Crucible duology during the same ritual. (Yes, we have to read about the season-changing ritual again, which is identical to the prior descriptions of it) The characterizations are flat -- the characters are given tragic pasts, in an effort to give them dimension. But they rarely act based on those pasts, and never step out of their stock roles. They also seem pretty clueless; Arin is supposed to be incredibly old and experienced, but she has less of a clue than Aiko or Egil. This is also not one of the Mithgar books that can be given to kids; there is some pretty steamy content, as well as disgusting injuries and references to torture and mutilation on a living person. Being a McKiernan book, we have a love story: hardly surprising that Arin and Egil get together, since she is a beautiful (and feminine) elf and he is a strong, silent, virile type. But don't be surprised that others get paired up as well. Or die. And, in the manner of "Fox Rider," modern languages such as German are assigned to supposedly ancient civilizations, untold thousands of years ago. Or Pendwyr, which seems to be a pseudo-Wales (with words like "caer"). Frankly, the only way this book could have irritated me more was if the Warrows were in it. Pass by, and read Tolkien again.
Rating:
Summary: Best yet
Review: This book is another stage setter, like _Voyage Of The Fox Rider_ it left unanswered questions as to the future of Mithgar. What was interesting was how many new places the book took me. I never thought I would actually find out what Dragon's Roost was like. I also thought I would never fond out what Daagor was like. I also did not want to start the book because I knew that when I did it would end in a week or so, if I was lucky and remembered to read slowly. I also loved the philisophical discussions that the characters had. It gave me something to mull over when I had finished the book. I also don't remember reading about any child in Moku with a Dragonlike mark in any of his other books, I'd better go read them again. Dennis, you are not allowed to stop writing. I have yet to find another author I like as much as you.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: This was a great book. I didn't want it to end. The characters that McKiernan writes are so full of emotion and action, it makes reading a 600 page book easy and fun. One thing that appealed to me was that McKiernan uses a map that is very similar to Europe and the Middle East. He corresponded the cultures of the races in the book with the cultures that actually live on earth according to where they live on the map. Very intelligent. He also blends 5 or 6 languages into his fantasy names and languages, which makes it very interesting. For example, the inscription on a doorway was printed in acient Hebrew. The journey that the characters take is very entertaining and full of suspense to the very end. A few unlikely people make pivotal moves at the climax, which pleased me immesely. It is a great epic adventure which somewhat reminds me of the Hobbit, in the way that it is formatted.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book for any fantasy lover
Review: This was the first book of McKiernan's I have read, and I must say that it was without a doubt the best book I have ever read. He masterfully intertwined love and adventure, without having too much of either aspect. There were also many philosophical questions raised in this book concerning religion, the afterlife, and freedom of choice. The story moves slowly at first when the Elven heroin, Arin, is retelling the tale of her vision, but in the last 150 pages it is nearly impossible to set the book down due to the excitement that McKiernan has built up. I have since bought McKiernan's "Voyage of the FoxRider", it too is a great book, though it falls short of this one.
Rating: 
Summary: An enjoyable read
Review: This was the first McKiernan book I had ever read and I must say it wont be my last. I was pleased with the story (although "simple"-group of characters on quest [tm]) and thoroughly enjoyed McKiernan's style of writing. About the only thing that got to me while reading it was the "land of the Yoda sounding peoples". If you've read it you know what I mean and if you haven't...you will soon. Other then that I found the book, as a whole, very entertaining. If you are new to McKiernan and his wonderful world of Mithgar then start with the Dragonstone. As is said in the forward of another of his novels the Dragonstone is, historically, the "beginning" of the series (though not written in that order).
Sorry for the "simple" review.
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