8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I think the anthology edition makes this a far better series than it would have been as single books, May 23, 2008
I love anthology editions. Especially when the books combined are kind of short, it makes so much more sense to just by three or so of them at the same time for much less. So I was immensely pleased when Irene Radford's "Dragon Nimbus" series came out in anthology since I'd always wanted to read it.
In the end it was good I managed to buy three books for roughly the price of one since they did not meet up to my expectations-at least as individual books. In this first book of the three part anthology (7 individual books in all) the trilogy makes a coherent whole but I can't imagine reading these books on their own, perhaps waiting for the next to be published, that the story would be anywhere near as good or complete. The novels themselves almost come off as longish short stories.
But together the whole presents a decent and very interesting fantasy with a good premis, nice back-story, magical beats, romantic entanglements and dangerous enemies, who like in real life, are not as easily foiled as we hope.
I'm sure after reading this I'll get around to the rest of the nimbus books eventually but I can't say I'm terribly compelled to rush off and read them right now. And since the next books focus on a different era I don't think anything will be lost in the time lapse.
Overall this anthology is four stars. Taken as individual books it would be a much lower rating.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Courtney, February 28, 2008
My husband gave this book to me for my birthday. Despite the numerous spelling errors, I found the story quite captivating. Ms. Radford ends each book with a portion of the story unresolved; drawing you onwards. I just had to find out what was going to happen next. I am looking forwards to finish the Dragon Nimbus Series.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pathetic attempt at - whatever this was supposed to be, November 12, 2010
Jaylor is an journeyman wizard on a quest to see a dragon and discover the reason for their rapid decline. He finds out quickly, as he journeys to the nest of the last female dragon in the kingdom, the reason that the dragons have been dwindling is that the villagers in the outlaying provence of the kingdom, have been hunting and killing dragon young to prevent them from contesting for fish. With dragons being the source of all magic and bound to the king, their disappearance is a grievous thing. Can the dragons be saved in time?
A few years ago, this books somehow managed to find its way on to my wish list. Recently I was going through my list looking for stuff to read, and I found this. I thought, gee, if it was on my wish list, I must have had a reason for wanting to read it. So I picked it up at the library. I read the premise and it sounded exciting, so I was all pumped up about reading it. I dove right in and found- it sucked. Many times I thought about putting it down, but kept I going. I thought at the very least I could finish the first book in the omnibus. I could and did, I just couldn't make it any further than that.
The story started out promising, I didn't particularly like Jaylor, but he was on an interesting quest that involved magic and dragons and saving a kingdom! Then he meets Brevelan and falls in love. This is where the book really fails. It could have been a decent fantasy, but instead it turns into lump of terrible romantic tripe. Really. The three main characters, Jaylor, Brevelan, and Darville, form a love triangle that had me gaging. Example in a tiny, insignificant spoiler - in one scene, Brevelan and Darville think that Jaylor is dead, so they sleep together (well, not much sleeping really). For comfort of course. The next morning they wake to find Jaylor just find and dandy, and it is suggested that the night before had actually been a threesome. The only way I could make it through this stuff was to skim and skip pages.
If the romance wasn't bad enough, the mystery was no mystery at all, at any point; there isn't really any action, though the author tries to make it seem like there is; and the magic was boring. The only cool thing about the book were the dragons, but they aren't very important characters.
It says a lot about the book that the only character I liked or found interesting, is the kitchen boy.
Oh, and the villein is just embarrassingly bad.
I strongly advise you seek another book.
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