Customer Reviews

Dark Heart (Dragonlance: The Meetings Sextet, Vol. 3)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is A good book if you want to know about Kitiara and her early days of roaming. I found it exeedingly boring. It tells about Kitiara, yes, but it doesnt lead anywhere and the ending was stupid and dull. First she meets this band of outlaws and she gets in trouble with them. Then she has anoter adventure with absolutely no connection, then she meets up with them again, then she goes off and has some irrelavent romance with this guy and then she has the final battle with the group of outlaws and by the time you get to the end, you're just plain bored.

While I have been reading the Dragonlance books for more than 25 years now, I generally avoid the books that focus on the main characters--the Companions--that were not written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. "Dark Heart" by Tina Daniell serves as a reminder why. Daniell has a journalistic and non-fiction background and it shows. You can write literature that way--look at Hemingway--but the style simply does not do well with fantasy novels.

Daniell shows some familiarity with the world of Krynn in the book but there are holes in the continuity--which Weis cleared up in "The Soulforge" by basically ignoring the entire Meetings Sextet out of existence. There are some charming moments here but Kitiara is not the most solid of leads (even Weis and Hickman struggled with her in the spotlight in "Dragons of Highlord Skies"). It may tell you something that Raistlin--even as a 4 year old--steals the spotlight from Kitiara. She simply is not a compelling lead.

If there was a solid plot, it would make up for the lack of a compelling lead. But the story is weak and the book rambles on with little direction. Daniell takes us way too much in the head of Kitiara and lets her thoughts dictate the story. It's annoying.

While not the total failure that some of the other Dragonlance books are, "Dark Heart" does nothing to add to the saga. While a weak book, it is not offensively bad and there are much worse books in the series. Be warned. The book is poorly edited--with messed up geographic names and a few punctuation errors.

A good Dragonlance: The Meetings Sextet books. If you like the Dragonlance series than you should diffently read it.

Any story about Kitiara Uth Matar is bound to be filled with intrigue and shadiness. This story tells about her childhood as well as those of her brothers Raistlin and Caramon Majere. Kit will possibly surprise you with how non-evil she could be before she sold out to Takhisis. As she grows up she wanders around after the ghost of her father, a Solamnic Knight, and ends up joining a band of thieves. I enjoyed reading Dark Heart because it explained a lot about how Raistlin got into magic at such a young age. The parts about Raistlin make this book a 3 instead of a 2.

This book is well-written, but it just isn't quite "there".... The story is interesting enough, but this book just has never really interested me. I have read almost all of my Dragonlance books many times, but I never could manage to read this one more than two times or so. It just kind of drags and makes me look forward to the next book in the 'Companions' series.

However, for true Dragonlance fans, this book gives some insight on Kitiara's childhood and background. From this book, you can see how she came to be where she is in the Chronicles trilogy and Legends trilogy.

I thought it would be a good DL novel... It wasn't. The story just drags on and on without certain direction. I could barely read to the end of it, and when I did, i was very dissapointed. If you really like Kitiara and just dying to know more about her early years, then borrow this book from someone. If you don't, I suggest you do not read it.

This was a well written book that worked well from beginning to end. I think that Tina Daniell was able to capture the essence of Kitiara. She is out to help herself and can cut ties with the past, but there are some ties she can't break - like thinking about her brothers and looking our for them.

There were some inconsistences with this book and some others, like Soulforge. However, you have to cut the author a break - look at the publication dates for the two books. Also, these inconsistences only happen when dealing with Caramon and Rastlin's childhood, which is only a tangent of this book.

If you want to get a better feel for Kitiara, read this book.

... This by far is the best book of Dragonlance I have read yet! ... I hate giving out fives but this book is perfect! I love the story of Kitiara's and her two brothers beginnings. Also, her travels are very interesting and she meets some unique characters. It's so hard to believe that this is Tina Daniell's first book! Wow! A must read! Now! This book will fill you with anticipation with what will happen next. I wish all Dragonlance books could be this great! I had to finish it in one day! Fantistic character development and you see Kit develop over the years into a warrior, along with her brothers in their own right. I don't think I can find anything wrong with this book except that it ended. BRAVO TINA DANIELL!

I have to say that this book was well written, and did have its exciting points. I have never really been a Kitiara fan from the start. When I read the chronicles I never really liked reading about here, but I am on a mission to read all of the dragonlance books. I have to say that every book I read about Kitiara, whether it is "steel and stone", or this book...my opinion of Kitiara drops very low. I know she is an "evil" person, but her character is a disgrace to all women, and she makes me sick when I read about her. Don't get me wrong, the book is written well, and does have its points, but Kitiara is a sickening character, and whenever I read about her I want to close the book.

Dark Heart was a excellent written book. Though for me i started reading the Chronicals and Soulforge before i read this. Tina I believe did a good job at showing how Kit became ruthless and bold but did not get her brothers right at all. Raistlin was too exceptionally smart and Caramon seemed a little out of place. Between Soulforge snd Dark Heart the contradictions were very high and noticable such as how Raistlin got into mage school and Gilion's and Roseamum's death. Over all the contradictions Dark Heart was a very good book. Sometimes a little boring but when the excitment started it got real good. It was definetly 100% better then Kindred Spirits. Out of that its a real good book and not a waste of money!