Rating: 
Summary: A bit difficult to follow, but worth the trip!
Review: I thought this was going to involve dragon's more, but really it is a story of dark fantasy about a lot of tormented characters. The plot is thick and the language is dense. It was a bit of a challenge, and definitely is worth the read. I would recommend it, but probably not for young adults.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing read
Review: I was probably just starved for a good read, but I enjoyed reading this book! It needs a bit of an open mind, but the plot kept me interested, and the characters were actually real for a change. None of the usual "okay, she's pure, good and perfect, and she's really evil, bad and wicked" that I seem to trip over again and again. As much as we like having characters that fit in little boxes, it's not very real is it? Oh and yes, it is definitely not something for young ones, but I'm not that old either. The only thing that kind of annoyed me about this book was the epilogue. Okay, since when do you introduce a new character in the last five pages? But other than that I don't regret picking up this book, it did what I expected it to, it entertained. I will definitely look for more Storm in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Not For Every Taste
Review: If you like your neo-pagan gothic fantasy liberally sprinkled with feminism, incest, freewheeling sex, and Byzantine political plots, Storm Constantine's Sea Dragon Heir is your perfect ticket. Constantine has a marvelous power of description coupled with a wonderful sense of inventing complex characters. Her creative ability to generate an entire, multifaceted world out of whole cloth is nothing short of miraculous. However, for this specific reviewer, the story's dedication to a gothic worldview with its dark, tragic, and amoral atmosphere, ends up a distraction. Almost without exception, all the major characters are despicable, highly sexualized to the point of caricature and self-centered. A speech by one of the main characters is a summation of their motives: "None of us are divine or righteous. We are all motivated by small concerns ... All we can aspire to is ... greed." The end result is the reader will complete the epic to see how the plot unwinds, but end up caring little for the characters, as complex as they may be. One caveat, readers who are dragon lovers will be disappointed. The resident dragon stays mostly off stage.
Rating:
Summary: Seas of change
Review: Pharinet Palindrake and her twin brother Valraven are united by their desire to free the hidden powers of Caradore, their home, from the Magravandian Empire, as well as their forbidden lust for each other. When the Magravandian Prince Bayard offers to help them reconnect to the power of the sea dragons, the three get involved in a dangerous game, which fails because of their unbridled lust for each other. A few years later, Bayard's sister Varencienne is brought to Caradore through an arranged marriage to Valraven. She falls in love with the land, and slowly learns its secrets. Through Varencienne, the Palindrake clan has a possible way to reclaim their heritage as the heirs of the sea dragons' powers, but do they want this, when they are controlled by Magravandias? Varencienne struggles to become her own person away from the manipulations of others and find a way to salvage the land she loves for the future. I was almost put off by some of the disturbing incestuous relations, but Constantine's storytelling power held me in sway and pulled me through the grand tale. I was also captivated by how she related the lives of the women left behind in Caradore, while their men were off fighting for the Magravandian Empire. It is through them that the true power of the land is gained (this all reminded me of the movie version somewhat of "The Mists of Avalon", I have yet to read the book, so). A few times I couldn't help but think that Storm Constantine is almost a female Clive Barker in her large stylings and massive storytelling, and this certainly makes me want to read more by her. This is certainly not a book for the dour, but a sweeping epic in the making that explores the place of magic in people's lives.
Rating:
Summary: Moments of brilliance, long stretches of torpor
Review: Set in a generic fantasy world vaguely reminiscent of medieval Western Europe, Sea Dragon Heir is a long book with painfully little to say. The first part of the book focuses on the self-indulgent, whiny Pharinet, whose greatest ambition is to sleep with her brother. It takes her, as I recall, 84 pages to get there. Pharinet rather abruptly becomes a secondary character in the second part, which focuses on Varencienne, ingenuous sister of the Imperial Prince Bayard. Throughout the book, there are moments of decadence which bring happy recollections of the Wraethhu books, and hints of fascinating political maneuvers -- the book ends with one of these, offering some hope. However, the book is much longer than it needs to be, with many scenes lacking action, drama or interest. We learn very little about the world in which the story is set, even though the natural environment, in the form of sea and fire, is vital to the plot. The writing has a mundane quality which compares badly to that of genre masters such as Tanith Lee. In short, throughout most of Sea Dragon Heir, your reviewer was bored.
Rating:
Summary: Dark frantasy with an edge.
Review: Storm Constantine is undeniably a fine writer. The technical and artistic use of her prose is excellent -- but I just wish that so many of the themes didn't make me flinch. She brings a darkness to nearly every relationship in the story, and keeps moving with her head held high. Adultery, incest, paracide, rape... you name it and you will find it here. It is an oddly compelling story that disturbs, makes you think deeply, and then leaves you wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: Taking a standard and twisting it
Review: The Magravandias series (starting with this book) is probably the easiest Storm book to get your hands on. Out of all her books, this series is closest to what I always thought regular "fantasy" books would be like -- has a Medieval type setting, castles, dragons, heroes on a "quest" for artifacts, noble ideals, forces of darkness to be overcome, etc. That said, I think Storm turns a lot of the cliches on their heads and makes it all quite twisted :) The books have a big undercurrent of sexuality, notably a strong same sex attachment while at the same time tying in with things like Medieval sagas and German myths. Best of all, the books really lead up and up to a cool conclusion which you don't see coming and which is very satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: I love this book to death
Review: The reason I didn't give this five stars is because it absolutely cannot be read as a book by itself. In order to understand the significance of all the events and characters, you need to read the trilogy. There is a reason certain characters die, disappear, or are mentioned without really doing anything at the time. Almost everybody and every event is vital to the setup of the third book. I first read this book over summer break when I was bored out of my mind and decided to go to the library. I saw this on the shelf and immediately became interested. I absolutely couldn't put it down because I wanted to understand the characters and find out what happened. I was very unsatisfied with the ending of the book, but then I found out about the sequel. The ending was not an ending, but a setup for the next novel. It worked for me. I bought the other two books as soon as I found them. The darkness and sexuality of Sea Dragon Heir is not for everyone and I can see where it would turn people away from this book. I loved the characters and the air of mystery shrouded about them. They were so... human. There isn't a Mary Sue or Marty Stew in sight in this story. I never once regretted buying this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Author played with plot too much
Review: There are more than a few places in this novel where the author abruptly "comes up" with something that felt to me to come out of nowhere--the Chair, the ruins, the notion that a dead man is lost... I'm willing to suspend my disbelief, but I don't like feeling as if I'm being told to keep closing my eyes while something new is created. The ending in particular felt "patched on", as if to increase demand for a sequel. I expected the book to end--and it didn't. None of the characters were particularly likeable, and that didn't help either, although they were compelling. I wouldn't seek out other books by this author--it wasn't bad, but it wasn't strong enough to make me really want to read more.
Rating:
Summary: Author played with plot too much
Review: There are more than a few places in this novel where the author abruptly "comes up" with something that felt to me to come out of nowhere--the Chair, the ruins, the notion that a dead man is lost... I'm willing to suspend my disbelief, but I don't like feeling as if I'm being told to keep closing my eyes while something new is created. The ending in particular felt "patched on", as if to increase demand for a sequel. I expected the book to end--and it didn't. None of the characters were particularly likeable, and that didn't help either, although they were compelling. I wouldn't seek out other books by this author--it wasn't bad, but it wasn't strong enough to make me really want to read more.
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