Mistress of Dragons

Rating:
Summary: Better than Expected
Review: At first, it is easy to dismiss Margaret Weis' Mistress of Dragons as yet another in a long line of tired rehashes on fantasy stereotypes and plots, but it ends up being much better than expected. While, yes, there is that age-old fantasy plot of magic and dragons, Weis manages to create enough originality from these old stand-bys to make the story worth reading. In addition, the characters are all very well-developed and engender much interest. Chief among is Draconas and Melisande. The plot itself is also interesting enough to keep your attention through the last page. Overall, Weis manages to wring enough originality from this genre to make Mistress of Dragons well worth reading and its sequels worth checking out.

Rating:
Summary: soaring sword and sorcery fantasy
Review: Dragons rule much of the world though they do so secretly with human props serving as monarchs and much of the enslaved race unaware of their existence. Perhaps the only exception is the isolated mountainous matriarchal nation of Seth where the Mistress of Dragons rules. The current Mistress is near death and her chosen replacement Melisande waits her turn to rule the nation and keep its people safe from dragons, last spotted two decades ago. Melisande will do her duty, but prefers her current lifestyle in the amazonian monastery living with her lover.

However, King Edward of Idlswylde turns to Draconas for help with a dragon causing death and destruction. Draconas advises the monarch that his only hope reside among the amazons in Seth and he will personally go there. However, Draconas, a dragon in human garb, has his own agenda using Edward as a pawn so he can complete his mission as a member of the ruling Parliament of Dragons to find the law breaking renegade. When Melisande and Draconas meet, the world will never be the same.

MISTRESS OF DRAGONS is an exciting opening tale that demonstrates Margaret Weis' abilities to make a world governed mostly by dragons seem real. The story line is fast-paced, loaded with action, and filled with strong charcaters of both genders. Several twists add to the fun of a soaring sword and sorcery fantasy.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Paradise Island meets Red Sonja
Review: Have you ever read a book you just wanted to finish to find out what happened, but weren't particularly interested in the characters? That's how I felt about Mistress of Dragons.

The plot was a sort of hackneyed: wonder-woman-meets-sleeping beauty, complete with lesbian amazons, a clueless prince, and an all-knowing dragon. The baddy is of the 'I'm so eeevil variety.' My main problem with this book is it felt like a prequel, and the characters were not very likeable. The author writes the story with several well-developed relationships already in place. Yawn. I scarcely cared weather Melisande would be true to Belona, or whether the king would prove adulterous. There was not an iota of romantic suspense, (Which I sort of dig in these type of novels), and the ending was depressing and screams: Read the sequel!

Overall, I think this novel would work more for me, if the relationships between the main characters were new and we could experience them unfold with the characters, rather than so deeply entrenched. To surmount this, the author tries to tease us with a potential relationship between two main characters but this was so forced the outcome was easily predictable from the start. Feh.

This book left me feeling dismayed rather than entertained. Perhaps the sequel will be better...But, I'll wait until paperback.

Rating:
Summary: weak, weak, weaker ..
Review: Having read lot of this author's work I was looking forward to reading this new series. I'm not sure if the fact that I read the George R R Martin books before this one but I was sorely dissapointed. The book seemed shallow, rushed, and uninspired. I'm not sure if the lesbian theme was meant to draw in the 15 year old readers, but it certainly didn't add anything to the story. If you are expecting anything similar to Dragonlance or The Deathgate Cycle, don't waste your time!

Rating:
Summary: Shallow, Simplistic, and Stupid
Review: I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, they were quickly dashed. I don't know why Weis didn't team up with Hickman as is her wont. But, the lack of a second author dooms the effort. The book has an interesting premise, but is filled with inconsistencies, triteness, and plain ol' stupidity. If Hickman had been around, they could have bounced the material off each other and corrected most of the bad writing before it hit the shelves. As it is, it's practically un-stomachable. I put the book away about half way through it as not being worth the effort. But, I later picked it up and finished it in the hope it would get better. It didn't. It got worse. I was practically gagging by the end. Stay away from this book and its series.

Rating:
Summary: Shallow, Simplistic, and Stupid
Review: I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, they were quickly dashed. I don't know why Weis didn't team up with Hickman as is her wont. But, the lack of a second author dooms the effort. The book has an interesting premise, but is filled with inconsistencies, triteness, and plain ol' stupidity. If Hickman had been around, they could have bounced the material off each other and corrected most of the bad writing before it hit the shelves. As it is, it's practically un-stomachable. I put the book away about half way through it as not being worth the effort. But, I later picked it up and finished it in the hope it would get better. It didn't. It got worse. I was practically gagging by the end. Stay away from this book and its series.

Rating:
Summary: As good as expected
Review: I wasn't expecting more than light entertainment from something written by Margaret Weis, and I got...light entertainment. This is a pleasant, quick fantasy with a simple but involving plot that will keep you turning the pages until the story ends. None of the characters are particularly likeable or unlikeable, with the exception of Draconas, who was actually interesting. His inner conflict is unusual--he is a dragon and owes allegiance to the dragon government, which stops him from helping humans.
There is little information about any of the three societies, but there is enough to get by on. The writing is clean, and if not brilliant, certainly not painful. The tale was compelling enough that I will pick up the next book in the series at some point.
If you don't really like fantasy, don't bother reading this. You'll think it's stupid.
But, hey, it was nice for a dreary afternoon.

Rating:
Summary: Humans Are Revolting
Review: Mistress of Dragons is the first novel in the The Dragonvarld series. Long ago, the world was ruled by the dragons. They were greedy, capricious and deadly, especially the younger ones. Then mankind appeared in the world and the dragons saw them as another prey. In fact, they savored the taste of human flesh.

But the Dragon Wars had exhausted the dragons and despoiled their world. The twelve dragon families formed a parliament to govern their own behavior and eventually the parliament outlawed predation on humans and proscribed any interference whatsoever in their affairs without prior parliamentary approval. Moreover, they limited contact with the humans to one dragon, Draconas, who wore human form.

The kingdom of Seth was isolated from the rest of Dragonvarld by high mountains. Three centuries in the past, a dragon had entered the kingdom and devoured both animals and humans. The kingdom was saved by the magic of the Mistress of Dragons, who asked only that the kingdom construct and maintain a monastery to provide a vigilant watch for intruding dragons.

In this novel, High Priestess Melisande of the Temple of the Watchful Eye performs her daily scan for intruders and discovers a dragon approaching the monastery. After alerting the garrison, she reports to the current Mistress of Dragons and is told to continue to observe the beast. She warns off the dragon and he claims that he only wants to talk to her mistress, but Melisande does not believe him. As he draws close, the Mistress releases the collective powers of the priestesses and the warriors attack with spear and arrow, thus driving away the beast with various wounds.

When the dragon Braun reports his reception to the Dragon Parliament, they consider once again taking action against Maristara, the dragon who rules Seth through the hierarchy of the Temple. And once again, nothing is decided. However, Draconas himself devises a plan and implements it with the aid of Braun.

In this story, Draconas begins to suspect that someone in parliament (or close to it) is aiding Maristara and keeping her informed of parliamentary actions. He starts to keep his plans secret from all except Braun and Anora, the Prime Minister. He subsequently encounters the conspirator in human form, but is not able to determine his true identity.

This story shows Draconas learning for himself that plans seldom survive contact with the enemy. Time after time he finds himself struggling to respond to the unexpected actions of his opponents (and his allies). This segment ends with him taking desperate action to save a few parts of his plan from total failure. It is time for a new and better plan.

The story is action packed and abounds with surprises and plot twists. However, the characterization is a little wooden. Moreover, the good guys seem to be hopelessly naive, but probably that conclusion just reflects my frustration with their foolish actions. The sequel may show a little more savvy from Draconas and Anora.

Recommended for Weis fans and for anyone who enjoys tales of slow reacting and very conservative dragons trying to respond to the fast moving pace of human society, with a few dragon traitors pulling the strings of the humans.

-Arthur W. Jordin