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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Returns and Confrontations, August 19, 2003
The Dragon of Despair (2003) is the third novel in the Firekeeper series, following Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart. In the previous volume, Firekeeper and her companions had traveled to New Kelvin to confiscate three magical artifacts taken there by Lady Melina Shield in collusion with agents of the Isles. At least one of the artifacts, a mirror, had exhibited powerful properties and King Tedric had no desire to allow Melina, or anyone else, to acquire such powers. The Hawk Haven party managed to steal the articles with the help of Grateful Peace, a high official in the New Kelvin government, and Firekeeper then carried the items to the Royal Beasts for proper disposition.
In this novel, Hawk Haven learns that Melina has married the Healed One, the hereditary Chief of State of the New Kelvin government. Nobody knows what her intentions are nor how much authority she has in New Kelvin. Even Grateful Peace, who is now living in exile within Hawk Haven, is uncertain about her position, especially since Melina has certain powers to influence the thoughts of others. Consulting his heirs and councilors, King Tedric decides to send a party to New Kelvin under the pretext of establishing trade relations, a party that will consist basically of the persons who gone on the previous mission to New Kelvin, including Firekeeper, Derin Carter, Elise Archer, Sir Jedred Norwood, Edlin Norwood, Wendee Jay, and Elise's maidservant Ninette. When Grateful Peace volunteers to accompany them, he is added to the party in the disguise of a local guide.
Melina's daughter Citrine has become very disturbed by events that occurred while she has held hostage by the pirates and then subsequently abandoned by her mother. Moreover, attempts to break the possessive bond placed on Citrine by Melina have failed. Now the healers have suggested that Citrine's only hope of recovery is to confront her mother, so Citrine is added to the party in disguise as the guide's son.
During this time, another problem is found west of the mountains. A fairly large grouped of pioneers have established a new colony. They have settled on the same ground as Prince Barden's colony and have even named the budding town Bardenville. The Royal Beasts are not pleased and have requested King Tedric, through Firekeeper, to dismantle the town and remove the settlers.
This novel delves deeper into the people and politics of Hawk Haven and New Kelvin. It also explains more about the days when the fire plague killed so many magic users and the remaining colonists were abandoned by their mother countries. In particular, the author shows how many of the customs and governmental institutions in New Kelvin were shaped by the first Healed One, the only magic user to survive the plague, and his expectations that the homeland would soon re-establish control of the colony.
Highly recommended for Lindskold fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of exotic cultures and strange magics.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, September 15, 2003
First a word about this series. It is not a trilogy as such, because there's no overall story arc that binds these volumes together. This could be best called The Adventures of Firekeeper and her Friends, with each new volume being a complete story within itself. However while these are fairly standalone, they do assume character and world knowledge from previous volumes, and so should be read in order. Evidently a book 4 is in the planning also. I have to admit I expected something more from this book. I really liked the first two books in this series, because I enjoyed watching the characters grow as Lindskold presented us with interesting political situations and other problems inherent to her world. However in this book not only did the characters not really grow much, they seemed to be at odds with themselves. Derian, who had been growing into a self-assured counselor for the king, is mostly relegated to the role of lackey. Doc is there just to heal everyone and on rare occasion look wistfully at Elise. Firekeeper spends half the book doing stupid cub things that she seemed to have grown out of in previous books, getting the group into trouble which just extended the plot (which really didn't need it). And why has her speaking regressed? You'd think a year of immersion would give her some improvement since she was able to reach her current point in a matter of weeks. Even Blind Seer loses his playful charm. The plot revolves around Melina, Citrine, various people within New Kelvin's political structure, and Grateful Peace, and frankly I didn't care about them. I thought the plot fairly dreadful. Melina marries the mostly powerless ruler of New Kelvin and binds everyone in sight with her power, and searches for ways to extend her power, while some of them search for ways to dump her. King Tedric finds the most useless way he can fight this threat: sending our intrepid team from the second novel back to the scene. So did I like anything? I liked the ruler of New Kelvin, who shows an interesting POV. I liked Edlin's character growth. There was a small subsection of the book regarding settlers moving into the area west of the mountains and the problems this causes among the animal kingdom. That would have been a terrific novel, but it only takes up a small part of this one. That's about all. I honestly recommend that readers of the series wait for this in paperback if they're going to get it at all.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good series, but treading water in this one, November 15, 2005
This review is from: The Dragon of Despair (Firekeeper) (Mass Market Paperback)
Firekeeper is back in her third adventure. The strengths of the earlier volumes, strong characters in an interesting setting, are back, but the 'been there, done that' feeling in this book is too strong to recommend it for me.
In this book, Firekeeper returns to the same place (the capital of the neighboring kingdom of New Kelvin) with pretty much the same companions, to fight the same villain as in the previous installment. Why Firekeeper and her companions are able to return safely to New Kelvin when the authorities there know that they are responsible for the death of a Kelvinese and have guessed that they stole priceless artifacts is never adequately explained, but exactly what they plan to do when they get there isn't very well explained either.
A subplot involving a new human settlement at the site of the old Bardenville settlement that Firekeeper came from has potential, but doesn't really emerge. It seems to be intended mainly to set up a villain for a future sequel.
There is some interesting exploration of the culture and politics of New Kelvin. But the characters don't advance very much at all. Overall, I found this book mostly a disappointment after enjoying Lindskold's earlier work.
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