Rating: 
Summary: New Novel Different from usual fantasy fare
Review: I have never read anything by Lynn before but this latest work is very enjoyable. Lynn has a different style that quickly becomes apparent. Her storytelling abilitities are in fine form. Her style is like a tale told in front of the fire. Simpler yet more personal. A new find from what I understand is someone who has been around in the genre for awhile. Definitely a great book to add to your library.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but violent!
Review: i have not been so enthralled with fantasy since i read susan cooper when i was 11... this book whisks you away to a land so realistically created, i almost expected to see dragons sculpt themselves from the air around me... lynn has done a wonderful job developing her characters into people you care about... the dragon king is suberbly mastered, but shem and wolf stole the story! i don't want to say what happens in the book, but it is a definite must read for someone picky about their fantasy and wanting a novel with well developed characters, and masterfully written.. the only thing i did not like about this novel was the battle scene as i thought it was over very quickly and seemed haphazardly written... overall, i am eagerly awaiting the sequel!
Rating: 
Summary: eloquent fantasy!
Review: i have not been so enthralled with fantasy since i read susan cooper when i was 11... this book whisks you away to a land so realistically created, i almost expected to see dragons sculpt themselves from the air around me... lynn has done a wonderful job developing her characters into people you care about... the dragon king is suberbly mastered, but shem and wolf stole the story! i don't want to say what happens in the book, but it is a definite must read for someone picky about their fantasy and wanting a novel with well developed characters, and masterfully written.. the only thing i did not like about this novel was the battle scene as i thought it was over very quickly and seemed haphazardly written... overall, i am eagerly awaiting the sequel!
Rating:
Summary: Sleep stealer!
Review: I read quiet a few fantasy books. Most of them are good and entertain me. However Dragon's Winter is the first fantasy book that ever caused me to stay up till the wee hours of the morning reading. Not many books of other genres do that either, but this is a special one. One thing that makes this such a great book is the breaking of convention. As another reviewer before wrote "why did my favorite character die?" Yes, I asked the same question. Killing a favorite character is unusual-another example of breaking with tradition. I was swept away by the majestic detailing of the landscape and the various creatures. Their is no way to predict what is coming next as you read this book, as is often the case, so you are compelled to keep turning the pages. As I said in my title-Sleep Stealer!!
Rating:
Summary: Sleep stealer!
Review: I read quiet a few fantasy books. Most of them are good and entertain me. However Dragon's Winter is the first fantasy book that ever caused me to stay up till the wee hours of the morning reading. Not many books of other genres do that either, but this is a special one. One thing that makes this such a great book is the breaking of convention. As another reviewer before wrote "why did my favorite character die?" Yes, I asked the same question. Killing a favorite character is unusual-another example of breaking with tradition. I was swept away by the majestic detailing of the landscape and the various creatures. Their is no way to predict what is coming next as you read this book, as is often the case, so you are compelled to keep turning the pages. As I said in my title-Sleep Stealer!!
Rating: 
Summary: Disjointed, improbable behavior, undeveloped, unsatisfying.
Review: I thought this was a dreadful book, and am surprised at the good reviews it's gotten. First, the characterization of the main (not the minor) characters seems half hearted. Wolf and Thea don't say or do much--their development occurred before the story in the past perfect. (The same goes for Hawk and, to some extent, Bear.) Dragon has a little more action and much more potential, but he is likewise inactive. (His three battle scenes are cursory.) When an author describes a character not by his actions or his words, but rather by reference to past events, innuendo, and the reactions of other characters, the reader has to work hard to create the character. In this case, too hard. I expect Lynn means to use the characters in subsequent books. To my regret, I do not care about any of them.(As a minor point, the dialog of Shem, the toddler, seems to have been contrived by an author who hasn't been around baby boys in a while. For example, his phrase "Shem get down" seems anomalous when compared to the rest of his lines. ("Shem get down" comprises 40% of Shem's contribution to the book; "Boof!"; "Boppy"; "Shem go home?"; "Dragon coming"; "Shem sure"; "Dragon come"; "Shem warm"; "Dragon gone"; and "Where dragon go?" account for the rest) I have never met a child who, after mastering at least one subject/predicate combination, still had a vocabulary of less than 10 words, as Shem has. Perhaps my experience is not typical.) Second, the structure of the story is disjointed; it has no sense of direction. The two (apparently) main characters are dumped after 150 pages and we are switched to a new character, Dragon, who quests to defeat his arch enemy, his twin brother. The climactic battle lasts about a page, the reconciliation another page, the aftermath 30 pages, and then Lynn tacks on part five, which comprises 30 pages of forgettable stuff, including a spat with a band of outlaws. Third, the psychology of Lynn's characters seems to be a little off. Dragon has no friends (except Azil, his homosexual lover). All of his followers (including Azil) live in perpetual fear of him. (The fact that Dragon goes into a tantrum and accidentally kills six of his men is remarked not at all by his followers or, beside the bare description of the event, by Lynn.) Yet, according to Lynn, Dragon somehow inspires self-sacrificing love and loyalty. How? Wolf sets his toddler son down in a busy courtyard at the immanent, trumpeted arrival of a mounted hunting party and says "Shem, stay here," and actually expects the child to stay. He then does nothing with respect to this toddler son, either to pick him up or watch him or even think about him, even after the courtyard brims with a pack of 15 dogs, armed men on horseback, mules, wagons, and boys running to seize reins Thea, the child's mother, stands by and allows it. Wolf watches his wife meet savage violence and doesn't lift a finger to save her, his child, or himself. All pretty unlikely, say I. Finally, Lynn makes little effort to endear her characters to her readers. I did not mind the two homosexual love scenes, but I also did not relate to them. It seems to me that if you want the reader to relate to a character, you should have the character do something to which the reader can relate, e.g., mourn his bald spot, pet his dog, roll big rocks down hills for no reason, etc. The two characters to whom I could almost have become attached meet gruesome, gratuitous violence half way through the book. Why? What profit? If Lynn intended to get the reader angry and make him care about the quest to save Shem, the scene was counterproductive overkill. If Lynn intended to avoid predictability, why should a reader become attached to any character? In contrast, the two evil characters, who practice horrifying violence, meet tame, unsatisfying ends reminiscent of a Disney villain. Arbitrary. The book combines underdeveloped main characters who are ditched halfway through the story, odd, improbable behavior (lending zero contribution to understanding the human condition), and a meandering storyline that doesn't know where it's going and doesn't care when it gets there. Who needs it?
Rating:
Summary: Where's the Sequel
Review: I thought this was a pretty good book. I did dislike the massive amount of gore and the fact that the best character died, but it's a good story that you want to follow. What disappoints me is, I have heard nothing of a sequel of any sort. The book just leaves you hanging, wondering what happens next. Are there any more dragon changelings or is he the last one? Where'd the story go...?
Rating:
Summary: Where's the Sequel
Review: I thought this was a pretty good book. I did dislike the massive amount of gore and the fact that the best character died, but it's a good story that you want to follow. What disappoints me is, I have heard nothing of a sequel of any sort. The book just leaves you hanging, wondering what happens next. Are there any more dragon changelings or is he the last one? Where'd the story go...?
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing. Lynn tries to tell too many stories,
Review: I was disappointed in this new book from Elizabeth Lynn. I was so happy to see that she is writing again, but this book does not hold a candle to her earlier novels. I found it disjointed; Lynn tries to tell too many stories, none of them satisfactorily. Just as I became engrossed with one set of characters she dropped them to focus on another group. She attempts to give depth and background to each of these people by off-hand references to earlier events in their lives, but this is more annoying than tantalizing. Perhaps she needed to make this into two or three books.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down!
Review: I'm a BIG reader (about 2 books per week) and I'm still waiting for the next book, Ms. Lynn! It has everything a fantasy reader could want: a different country setting, people with changeling powers, an evil(-ish) relation trying to take over the world; it's definatly a great read. I really can't wait until the second comes out! ^_^
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