The Dragon's Doom (The Band of Four, Book 4) [Mass Market Paperback]

Ed Greenwood (Author)

Book Description

Series: Band of Four Novels | Publication Date: June 1, 2004

The death of the Dragon has brought down the villainous Serpent and restored order to the land of Aglirta but the surviving members of the Band of Four have no time to grieve for their lost comrade. An anarchic berserker plague is spreading like wildfire and insidious factions are poised to seize control and resurrect their unholy deity.

Can the Band dispel this threat or must a new Dragon be invoked and thus doom yet another of their number?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Forgotten Realms creator Greenwood's fourth Band of Four book (after 2002's A Dragon's Ascension), with its gory and repetitive battle scenes, will please the faithful, many of them role-playing gamers, but fans of gentler fantasy had best stay away. Now in the position of Overdukes, sorceress Embra Silvertree, warrior Hawkril Anharu, thief Craer Delnbone, sorceress Tshamarra Talasorn and ex-regent Ezendor Blackgult must battle the priests and sundry servants of the Serpent, the wizard Ambelter and various barons in an effort to bring peace to the realm of Aglirta and keep the king on the throne. The scheming of the priests centers on a wine-induced blood plague, which compels people to spontaneously kill others before dying or to change into mythical beasts that remain under the priests' control. The action is fast and furious as the Band of Four, wielding the Dwaer (stones that amplify magical power and intensify spell-casting), contend with their double-crossing enemies as well as spontaneous attacks of the blood plague. Given the many new characters and others from previous volumes, the Dramatis Personae section at the back is particularly useful, but only if discovered beforehand.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Inevitably, a tale called the Band of Four has four volumes. Every bit as good as its predecessors--The Kingless Land (2000), The Vacant Throne (2001), and A Dragon's Ascension (2001)--this book brings things to a satisfactory conclusion. The Four--Embra, Craer, Blackgult, and Hawkril--have been joined as overdukes of Aglirta by Tshamarra the sorcereress. They are all high-ranking troubleshooters, and trouble frequently shoots back, for the dissident nobles led by the Bowdragon clan and the Servants of the Serpent are as unruly and treacherous as ever. Another part of the opposition, however, consists of ordinary folk who don't see that putting Raulin Castlecloaks, the boy king, on the throne has really solved all that many problems. As the opposing sides seek the Dragon and the Serpent, respectively, and magical and material weapons are unleashed, the pacing turns brisk and the story acquires a slight Perils-of-Pauline quality. The book's many conflicts and their resolutions are never simple-minded, and altogether this is a most respectable wrap-up to a highly readable saga. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076534145X
• ISBN-13: 978-0765341457
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,160,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ed Greenwood, creator of the Forgotten Realms setting, is the best-selling author of hundreds of novels, game products, and articles. His most recent novel for Wizards of the Coast is The City of Splendors, a collaboration with Elaine Cunningham. He is also the author of the Band of Four novels published by Tor Books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too much insanity, June 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dragon's Doom (Band of Four, Book 4) (Hardcover)

I am a big fan of the author and enjoyed the first books in this series, BUT this latest apparition is just bizarre. It is somewhat reminiscent of the hack and slash in Spellfire but there is barely any plot as the tale jumps from action scene to action scene. It is like riding an out of control train and waiting for the crash.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fun blood and sorcery tale, May 16, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dragon's Doom (Band of Four, Book 4) (Hardcover)

Though now overdukes, sorceress Embra, warrior Hawkril, thief Craer, and sorceress Tshamarra along with ex-regent Ezendor Blackgult cannot rest on their laurels. To bring peace to the realm, the Overdukes must confront those who oppose their monarch. They must fight the priests of the Serpent and the wizard Ambelter as well as their supporters if they are to make Aglirta safe.

Currently the priests and their minions are posing the greatest threat. They are using a nasty form of a plague to send innocent people into a killing frenzy. Those who survive the berserker spree become mythical creatures enslaved by the priests to reuse again. With their work cut out to just avoid becoming victims of the bloody plague, let alone going on the offensive, the Band of Four still wield the Dwaer stones to embellish their counter spells in order to defeat their enemies. However, it looks bleak and hopeless.

The latest Band of Four adventure is not a cozy as this blood and sorcery tale flows red rather freely. Fans of the series will appreciate the gore that is cleverly interwoven into an exciting story. Besides a warning label to the anemic, the audience will know the quartet remains true to their respective essences so that the apparent series final, THE DRAGON'S DOOM, is a reader's joy.

Harriet Klausner

3.0 out of 5 stars An improvement over the previous three, still completely pointless, December 14, 2010

By 

C. T. Hunter "chips_books" (Gainesville, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Dragon's Doom (The Band of Four, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)

Well, I've finally finished the completely pointless series starring the Band of Four. That is a month that I'll never get back, and time that would have been much better spent doing almost anything. The hack-and-slash fantasy by Greenwood may be attractive and fun to some, but I think most will agree that these books represent nothing more than a distraction. No meaning, no purpose, no point, and by no means memorable, I wouldn't recommend these books to anyone, and now wish that I hadn't stumbled across them in my browsing of Amazon.

This final book, THE DRAGON'S DOOM, is actually better than the first three in the series, as Greenwood's writing seems to have smoothed out a bit, becoming somewhat more refined and coherent. The insanity of the first three books, where far too many characters and plots interweave in a mind-boggling confusion, is restricted here, as Greenwood makes a decent attempt to get the story focused enough to reach an almost-satisfying conclusion. That's not to say that the action slowed here, as this one is just as full of bloody fights and unexplainable sorcery as the others, but that this book was just tighter, keeping with only the most important characters. And even though this book did improve over its predecessors, it is still impossible to take seriously. The Band of Four still go from banter and jokes, to brutal savagery and total anguish, and then back to jovialness, at the blink of an eye. Its meant to be funny, the continual wittiness and light-heartedness of the characters, but it really leads to an eye-rolling, unsatisfying read.

I think Greenwood has potential as a writer, but until he takes his job a little more seriously, and stops trying to show how ironic and funny he can be, his books aren't going to be winning any awards. I don't see myself reading any more of his work, not after this disappointing experience. Definitely not recommended. Stay away from this series!