Customer Reviews

The Dragon's Touchstone (Dragon Nimbus History)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Irene Radford does it again in the novel "The Dragon's Touchstone". The story starts out with the legendary battlemage, Nimbulan, fighting in the grips of the Great Wars of Disruption for the warlord Kammeryl D'Astrismos, trying to unite the seperate factions of Corronan. Forced to kill is own apprentice Keegan to save what remained of the raging armies from a spell gone awry during the battle. Having done this, Nimbulan meets up with the Peacemaker, Quinnalt De Tanos, a priest turned lord of a small chain of islands at the mouth of the Great Bay, who is trying to forge a peace that will bring peace to the land, although he has very little luck doing so. After the recent events, Nimbulan begins to question his the loyalty to his lord of 18 years. At about the same time, a young witch-woman named Myrilandel wanders Corronan in search of the home promised to her by the voices in her head(if you read it, it'll become clear). She ends up stumbling onto the battlefield of the recent conflict and, trying to heal the wounded soldiers that she can, runs into the bloodmage Moncriith, who has been stalking her for most of her life, condemning her as a demon. Moncriith tries to have her burned while she is trying to save a sergeant when Nimbulan saves her. I don't feel like giving away any more of the story in detail, but pretty much the plot of the story is Nimbulan starting his own school for magicians and trying to find a new magic so he can impose honor and ethics on magicians and bring peace to the war-torn Corronan, while Myrilandel tries to find her calling in life(Myri's story is better than it sounds),but if you've already read the Dragon Nimbus series, you probably already know what happens. I highly recommend this story, the entire Dragon Nimbus series, and this story's sequal, "The Last Battlemage". Irene Radford is an excellent writer and I'm highly looking forward to, hopefully, another sequal to this series as well. Enjoy!

This is one great book. I just finished reading it today. I first started to read Ms. Radford's books a couple of years ago when she started her new series about Merlin's descendants. I love those books and can't wait for the next one. This book is right up there with those. Her books are fantastic. She's right up there with my favorite authors, Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton, and Marion Zimmer Bradley. She gives the feeling that you are right there with Nimbulan and Myri. She makes you feel amost protective of some of the characters. I have yet to read the rest of her books, but I am sure that I will be as absorbed in those as I was in this.

In one word this book is riveting. From the very beginning Radford pulls you in by the string of your heart and by the soles of yourimagination. I am not usually a fan of "fantasy" or "romantacism", but this book has made me a believer. For some reason Dragons and other mythical creatures just don't seem believable to me, but Radford sparked a fire inside of me wanting to know all I could find about dragons. She introduces you to characters that aren't just characters, they are people that you trully care about and fear for their safety. The ending leaves you with a desire...no, a passion to know what is going to happen. Once I finished the book I immediately went out and bought "The Last Battlemage", the second book in the series.

The book was an insperation. The characters Myrilandel, which is also my name...hehe...and Nimbulan was a great combination. The villain of the book Monicrith made my bones shake with antisipation. Akerly was a typical bastartd, and the two children were wonderful. Powell and Kalen, here is a shout out to you! Any way I have started a new craze at school for reading, and this book is still being talked about it has been a couple months since we all read it. It is still a favorite! Hehe!

Strong points; female characters, great well thought out magic system based on several different approaches to usage (channeling energy through ley lines, channeling energy through dragons/other people, blood magic, and drug-aided magic), Amarantha the flywacket, Moncrith the blood mage, the dragons.

Weak points; male characters, repetition of situations and words. Sometimes "Kardia" should just be "earth." Point of view - changes at times from paragraph to paragraph, a writing no-no.

All in all enjoyable storytelling and I would read more.

Simply another rehashed, run-of-the-mill "story" that feels thrown together. Every "bad guy" is a delusional psychopath with almost identical traits. The entire story lacks drama -- key plot developments fail to develop, with changes foreshadowed, established, and reviewed all on the same page, and then forgotten.

Simply great. I love the style. I too wanted to be a part of the book. It practically begged me to jump in and add my own input to Nimbulan's thoughts on Ackerly, Moncriith and company. I love the way the world seems real. The connections to the other books are well thought out and not random feeling like others I've read. I too appreciate great characterization. Well Done!

I couldn't put it down! This was a wonderful book and the sequal was even better! Great Job Irene!

This is one of the best books I have read in sometime. The way all of the charaters interacted with one another was wonderful. All the magic and mystical creatures makes me wish I could have become part of the book. This book makes you wish that this kind of magic could really happen. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading fanasty. It is simply filled with magic and magical creatures.

I absolutely adored it. Myri, Nimbulan, Ackerly, etc. were depicted as HUMAN. Everyone portrays human charcteristics, no one was a super hero who saves the day, doesn't get hurt, and it all ends happily for everyone. Even though this book is set in a fantasy world, you can find some charcter that reminds you of someone you know. The story keeps moving, you don't feel it stop or stall in one scene for too long. Once picked up, you can't help but fall in love with the story.