Customer Reviews

Before the Mask (Dragonlance Saga, Villains Series, Volume 1)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Before the Mask is onw of the only Dragon Lance novels that I have read that really describes what made a man the way he was. The author starts from the very begining of Verminaard's life and shows why he became evil. It show how he changed from a reletively good person to one that is truly evil. Before The Mask is a very well written book that could be interesting to most reasonably intelligent people. Ones looking for gratuitous violence ought to look somewhere else. However, to those of us who are interested in the making of an evil man this book is well worth buying

This book tells the tale of the life of Verminaard, the Dragon highlord of Dragons of Autumn Twilight. I have to say that I liked this book, to a degree. It starts very slowly and I had a hard time keeping focused during the boring beginning. But the book does pick up and become more interesting when Verminaard begins to fall from grace. The characters aren't the greatest, but the the ending is good. I see this book as a regular Greek tradgedy. Many people die and Verminaard cannot be saved from the hand of evil. But the most sad thing was that through this story, the Dark Queen gets her revenge on Huma. I won't say how, but to a person who's first Dragonlance novel was the Legend of Huma, it can seem really devastating. Read it, and you might enjoy it.

This is the story of Verminaard, unloved [...] son of Solamnic Knights, and his road to evil. Though far from being a bad book, it just didn't draw me in. Verminaard's evilness seems to be inborne rather than reactionary, to the point that the supposed contributing factors - the unloving father, the loss of the beloved brother - seem more like asides and much less sympathetic. Likewise with his half-brother Aglaca, who is unfailingly upbeat and loyal for no apparent reason. I understand the story the Williamses were trying to tell, and it took a while to put my finger on what was wrong. Then I realized it was missing a vital element of all great drama: levity. The human experience is not serious all the time. Even in the grimmest tales there is laughter. The unrelenting depression of this book left me frankly unmoved.

This book had a lot of promise and potential but any experienced reader can tell that the writer rushed the ending and left to many items poorly explained. Verminaard was not the Fearless warrior that I had pictured him to be at first (which gave me a low opinion of him from the first confrontation). It was only when he was consumed by evil did he fight without fear. It wasn't horrible but it could have been a lot better.

The first two words that come to my mind when I think of Beforethe Mask are:hauntingly beautiful. That probably sounds weird, butit's the best way I can think of to describe it. It created imagas both horrible and wonderful. True, there was not as much action and adventure as in most DL books, but over all, I loved it. It did what it was supposed to do - show how Verminaard became so twisted and evil. They created the perfect story line (I really enjoyed how they tied Verminaard and Ember together, creating a strange love/hate relationship between them). The Voice was really creepy, always hiding in the darkness, waiting to distort the way Verminaard thought. If you want a book with tons of action, adventure, and magic, then this isn't for you. But if your looking to read a book that's all around dark and gothic and very well written, consider this a must. Loyal DL readers should read it to.

This book attempts to tell the tale of Dragonlord Verminaard beginning with the dark omen associated with his birth through his ascension to dark cleric of Takhisis. It is set in the Khalkist Mountains near Neraka. Due to the limited amount of information the authors had about Verminaard from Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Dragonlance Chronicles, Volume I), the story angles were limitless. The only things they had to describe were why he wears the mask, where he got his mace (Nightbringer), and how he became a cleric of Takhisis. Otherwise, the entire story was theirs to write.

The only one they even come close to satisfactorily accomplishing is how Verminaard is wooed by Takhisis. The answer as to why he wears the mask feels thrown together at the last minute, and improbable. Throughout the entire book, I don't think you could point out one time where Verminaard acted vain, and after acquiring Nightbringer he surely didn't concern himself with how others perceived him. They really could have come up with a better reason for the mask and still tied it into the theme of the opposite faces on the runes.

As for Verminaard's "finding" of Nightbringer....come on. [Spoiler Alert] He finds it in a cave? Really? He could have found it in the temple in Neraka or been gifted it from Cerestes. Anything but the cliche cave discovery. Also, the source material describes an oak handle. This book makes it sound like it is a broken off piece of a stalagtite. If not for the illustrations, that's exactly how it is described (or at least, not described in the contrary).

And finally, the climactic face-off (pun intended) with Aglaca made no sense whatsoever. Basically, Aglaca is faced with two choices: 1. become Verminaard's leiutenant in his Dark Army and keep the girl, or 2. leave and lose the girl to Verminaard. Instead he chooses to directly oppose him and seek out the "good" in Verminaard. We already know Verminaard is no Darth Vader. That plot only works if he is Darth Vader.

I'm just terribly disappointed in this book. Save yourself the time and come up with your own back story for Verminaard. I'm sure it will be better than this.

This book really didn't get going. It seemed things were just thrown on top of each other. It is an acceptable boog for the begning of Vermnard's life, but it could have been alot better. Plus, It is kind of hard to get into a character if you know he is going to fail and die.

The book really is about the life of Verminaard, before coming to be a Dragon Highlord. It starts pretty good, but ends with a sizzle. Reading about characters, who were invented by others and of whom we know that they die, just isn't that exciting. The writers are quite good and should stick to the other kind of non-limit Dragonlance writing.

Before the mask is definitely recommended for those who would like to know why, actually, is Verminaard the way he is? You get to find out what really drove him to be an evil and powerfull addition to the ranks of the dragon army. Also it tells of his mace "nightbringer"(MIDNIGHT!!!). Got a druid in there too. All in all a good book.

Before the mask is a really good book, except for the fact that it is a bit short and rather easy to read. I liked it because Verminaard is a very interesting character (in my opinion), and if you're wondering the origin of his mace or why he wore a mask, or if you're just looking for a good fantasy novel, check this out.