World Famous Comics: Bones of the Dragon (Dragonships of Vindras)
Bones of the Dragon (Dragonships of Vindras)
By: Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman Publisher: Tor Books Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 416 Publication Date: January 06, 2009 Release Date: January 06, 2009 Studio: Tor Books
Skylan Ivorson is a sea-raider of the Vindras and eventually becomes the Chief of Chiefs of all Vindras clans, an honor he truly feels he deserves as one who has been blessed by Skoval, the god of war.
But sometimes a blessing is a curse in disguise.
Skoval and the other ancient gods are under siege from a new generation of gods who are challenging them for the powers of creation⦠and the only way to stop these brash interlopers lies within the mysterious and hidden Five Bones of the Vektan Dragons.
It will be up to the Vindras people, as the dragon-goddessâs champions, to undertake the quest to recover all Five. The fate of the Old Gods and the Vindras rests on their recovery--for this is not only a quest to save the world. It is also a quest for redemption.
Filled with heroes and heroines young and old and exotic adventure in a magic-forged world, this is a series that fully illustrates the mastery of world-building and storytelling that has made Weis and Hickman into the bestselling fantasy co-authors of all time.
Disgrace of the Dragon ^ Here is a book you really have to be a nerd to want to read, there's no way around it. Dragons, sorcery, orcs, ghosts...I'm a nerd, I admit it! I love that stuff, and I loved The Death Gate Cycle by these two authors, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. But I'll be completely honest when I say that this was one of the most disappointing books I've ever read. No beating around the bush, this book was pretty terrible. But book two, Secret of the Dragon, is coming out this week and I'm going to buy it anyways. So I guess this review will have to explain two things: why the book was so bad, and why I'm going to risk wasting my time with the second one.
1- Bones of the Dragon had so much potential. Orcs show up in one of the human villages claiming superiority and demanding submission. Their argument...the Orc Gods went to war and slayed the human Gods, leaving humankind with no other choice but to fend for themselves in a world that doesn't want them anymore. I mean come on, nerd or no nerd, that's a pretty good synopsis. But the execution of it was such a miserable failure.
Battle scenes where boring, the storyline was totally predictable, the descriptions were choppy, and the characters were difficult to get into. Characters are a big deal to me, and I found that I didn't like any of the ones in this book. The main character is a moron, completely unlikable and I couldn't have cared less if he'd fallen off a cliff from sheer stupidity at the end of the book. Even the other, secondary characters lacked depth. The one's that actually have a shred of good sense are so cliché I was rolling my eyes half the time.
I actually found myself skipping paragraphs in this book. Couldn't handle just finishing sentences that were in front of me. Where I come from that's called blaspheme, but there was no way around it. Chapters became so dull and slow, you could have skipped a good 15 or so pages every now and then without ever missing anything important.
Any morals in this story? Anything worth taking back with you into everyday life...the only think that come to mind might be, "Don't hang out with self-centered, stupid people." Wow, that's profound.
If you're looking at starting a nerd series, don't start here. If you've heard good things about Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and wanted to give them a shot, don't read this book. Read the Death Gate Cycle.
2- I've contemplated getting rid of this book. I've thought not to waste my time trying to read on past the first volume of this highly anticipated series, but I'm going to give the next book a shot anyway. Why? Well, call it stubborn, but other books from these authors, like Fire Sea or Hand of Chaos have left a taste in my mouth that I still crave every once in a while. The Death Gate Cycle didn't actually get good 'till the end of book two and it didn't get really good until the third book. So, I have hopes for redemption on behalf of this duo. They have the skill, the storyline has potential, if they tighten up a few things here and there, such as character development and description, they might grab my interest again. If not...well, I guess that will be the end of my fellowship into the realms of Dragon Lance for many years to come.
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More Vindras Dragonships Please ^ I accidentally left home without any book and my son suggested that I read Dragonships of Vindras which he happened to have in his vehicle. LOVED IT!!! Hoping to find a waiting list to be among the first to order the next book in the Dragonships of Vindras SERIES!?!
Vikings with real dragons--kind of cool ^ Food has been scarce, hunting rough, and plunder non-existant for the Vindrasi raiders. Cocky Skylan Ivorson manages to kill a boar but when before he can bring it home, ogres arrive in his town, bringing news that a great battle was fought in the heavens and that the gods worshiped by the ogres defeated the gods worshiped by the Vindrasi. Unfortunately, the Vindrasi priestesses can't dispute this fact (although they do deny that their gods are completely dead. Skylan learns that his village was targeted because the chief of the Vindrasi bought them off at the price of Skylan's clan and decides to seek his revenge. The gods, however, have their own plans and Skylan's revenge gets twisted up in plots and lies.
Skylan's life becomes more complicated when he lets greed (or maybe a god's words) take control and claims the title of chief-of-chiefs for himself. Skylan is strong and impetuous but not necessarily clever or wise. He didn't even know that chief-of-chiefs came with a built-in wife, in this case a woman far older than he who doesn't bother concealing her secret...she poisoned the former chief to allow Skylan to win.
With its battling gods, dragon-based ships (these associated with actual dragons who will, under certain conditions, respond to the priestesses and fight alongside the Vindrasi), raid-based economy, and blond-barbarian warriors, BONES OF THE DRAGON owes a lot to the historical Vikings of the European dark ages. Skylan himself is a tough character to like. He doesn't notice that the girl he's in love with actually loves his best friend, offends his new wife without a thought, never bothers to question his cousin who sets him on countless paths to destruction, ignores the words of his own dragon when he wants to set sail, and breaks his own oath to his father and his god. Still, he has the bumbling good intentions that suit a hero well and his bad luck with women (or lack of sense with women) makes him human. Still, he has a lot of growing up to do, and barely gets started with that in this novel.
Authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman create an intriguing fantasy world, don't mind killing off key characters even though they're setting up a series, and give us a protagonist who has plenty of growth and change ahead of him. I would have liked to see a little less setup, a bit less of Draya whom, it seems, the authors quickly tired of, and perhaps an occasional bit of common sense out of Skylar. I'm interested enough that I'll be looking for more in this series.
200 page story in a 500 page book ^ The story is OK but the book is way too long. Half as much would have been better. (Maybe one author instead of two would help.) It was really tedious to read all of. It's hard to believe there will be a whole series of these.
I'm always looking for new authors. I guess I'll keep looking.
Not the best i have read ^ for fans of the dragon lance chronicles you are not getting the same writing as you would get in the chronicle books. what i mean is the pace, action and magic are far from what you have come to expect from the two great authors of fantasy. this is the first book in a news series, so i expected the character build up and and story line to be the start. i was not disappointed with the book but i expected what almost all readers if weiss and hickman do, a generally faced pace book that gets to the core of the story and characters. that said it does and it does to slow for my liking. the action is not so much there but like i said it is the first book and that is what you get in first books of a series. the battles are their but few in my opinion. some people like few battles but was expecting more from a band of viking raiders and norse mythology which this book is close too. i am no historian to say the least but reading this book from these writers i got spoiled to the dragon lance chronicles just i expect other readers will also agree with me, or not. i expect that i will not read part two unless i can get is for five bucks. i hope i made this easy for others if not then oh well i tries. and that being said this is my opinion. good bye.
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