Customer Reviews

Guardians of the Lost: Volume Two of the Sovereign Stone Trilogy

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Guardians of the Lost keeps up the pace introduced in the first book of the trilogy. Freed from having to build a new world from scratch for the reader, the authors can devote their pages more to new plot and the resulting story flows much better. The book is a very quick read, and at times I almost feel guilty for sucking down this fantasy mind candy, but there is enough creativity in there to keep things honorable. My only complaint is that for a book that purports that good and evil exist in balanced harmony, the bad guys sure seem a lot more powerful than the good guys. As one example, consider the fact that the Vrykrl can communicate with each other over any distance by using their blood knives, whereas the Dominion Lords have no comparable skill. This small complaint is not enough to keep me from yearning for the publication of the third book, however!

On Loerem, Gustav the knight feels the danger as he enters the magic field of a burial mound. There he sees the dying Dominion Lord surrounded by "guardians". The bakh-Lord has the Sovereign Stone, a magical stone everyone wants to possess, but it was lost for a couple of centuries. Gustav manages to work his way past each guardian until he reaches the Dominion Lord. Gustav takes the magical artifact, but leaves behind a non-magical ring that contains the love he shares with his beloved.

Gustav is knocked unconscious in battle and consequently his segment of the Sovereign Stone has resurfaced. The news leads to war among the varying races. Every person in power or wannabees whether they are magical or royal want to gain possession of the powerful artifact or at least the part that Gustav found. Alliances are broken and old hatreds and bias enflame the world with little hope for peace.

GUARDIANS OF THE LOST, volume two of the Sovereign Stone trilogy, is an exciting epic fantasy adventure. The story line is fast paced and the charcaters fully developed since the readers can easily delineate the different species due to reasonable distinct traits. Fans of role-playing games will especially relish this novel that mirrors the game it comes from, but other readers might object to sidebars that embellish playing rather than perusing. Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman have written an engaging tale that the role-playing crowd will find most enlightening.

Harriet Klausner

The first book in this series was very well done and in this second book, the series gets even better. The danger to the realm is much more dire than in the first book as Dagnarus now has an army plus numerous Vykrls at his command. But in typical fantasy tradition there are always heroes to rise to the challenge and defend their land. The characters in this book are very well written and a few even infuse the book with a little humour, something lacking in the first book.

All in all this is a really good book and I can't wait to read the third and final book in this series.

Guardians of the Lost is a large improvement over its predecessor, Well of Souls. Weis and Hickman move away from large chunks of detailed lectures about their new world and let the story take precedence, like its supposed to anyway. Unfortunately, they fall back to their old ways. Honestly, if I want to be told directly why one race hates another race or why one race wears pink instead of blue, I'll go to the gaming world guidebook. In a novel, just show me, I'll figure it out. With that out of the way, the second improvement is focusing away from the spoiled, obnoxious, I'm a bad guy because I wear black armor and you don't, Dagnarus , to the other side with actually capable heroes, something the first novel truly lacked. Often in a trilogy, the plot just creeps along, just enough to set you up for the third concluding novel. Guardians of the Lost differs here, particularly with an ending to make you wait impatiently for the next novel to come out in a year. The tide shifts back from the first novel, suggesting a good final ending, but not necessarily. I think they have written better novels than this one, but `Guardians of the Lost' is a book in the right direction.

Although Guardians of the Lost jumps 200 years after where Well of Darkness ends, it continues the story of the fate of the Sovereign Stone and Dagnarus' (Lord of the Void) designs for gaining the stones' power and taking over the world. There are several plot threads - Dominion Lord Gustav who entrusts the Trevenici youth Bessan, pecwae Bashae and Grandmother with his mission; the unhorsed Dwarf with Trevenici woman Raven journeying to dragon mountain; a Trevenici chief trying to save his village from a void curse as he runs afoul of Dagnarus' army; an elven Dominion Lord and her wizard husband, and a rogue "almost Dominion Lord." Although this second book doesn't have the complexity and character depth of the first, the pace is fast and doesn't become bogged down. The ending is nicely unresolved, leaving the reading hanging and wanting more. A fun and fast read.

Guardians Of The Lost, the second tome in the Sovereign Stone trilogy, follows its predecessor Well Of Darkness with more characters, more races, more action and even more oddity. The setting is 200 years following the fall of Old Vinnengael in the world called Loerem. The races distrust each other and one another while a noble few seek to reunify the sovereign stones and rid the world of evil and woe. The servant of void Dagnarus, still alive and bent on domination, has increased his army of nefarious Vrykyl and moreover used magical portals to gain indefatigable foot soldiers.
For most of the book Guardians Of The Lost bears a close resemblance to Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings. Two sets of companions traverse the land carrying precious (in this case) stones. They flee and approach dark forces bent on capturing them and possession of the prized magical stones. The choice of the companions again defies logic at first, although the gods trust in them is ultimately justified. As battles, betrayals and bewilderment ensues Dagnarus is thwarted in his ultimate dream, but so are the noble companions and their custodians. The book ends mid-saga as danger looms and confusion reigns on all sides.
The fantasy is rich and the characters motley, but one can only wonder at the semblance of the story to the well-known classic of the genre.

This is the best use of characters I've seen in a fantasy novel recently. The plot is excellent to outstanding in my opinion. I wouldn't want to give away storyline (for it is quite worth the read) but I'll say that some of my favorite characters turned out to be more than expected. The first book lacked on the action and soared on the characters interaction. This second book has action in good quanity and yet not too much. My personal favorite character (from this book) is Ravenstrike. A barbarian who is taken on a ill fated journey into dangerous lands. The ending is a tease to say the least. I can't express how much I want to read the final book (Journey into the Void) with words.

First off, this book truly engrossed me for the majority of the time that I read it. That said, I was tremendously disappointed by the way that this book was ended. The book is diveded into three sections. The first section was extreemely well writen in true Weis/Hickman style: tons of character development, plenty of exciting action and plot to carry the book along at a good pace. However, the second and third parts of the book lack all the detail that made the first part of the book interesting. It seemed like the last two books were just extensive plot summaries for the last part of the book. I wish they had took the time to fully flush out the last parts of the book, even if it had made the book 800-1000 pages long. Yes, I am eagerly awaiting the last book, but hopefully it will be a fully detailed story from cover to cover rather than all character development in the beginning and a plot synopsis at the end.

For years, Dominion Lord Gustav has pursued the quixotic quest of recovering the lost human segment of the Sovereign Stone--the mystical stone that gives power to its holder and, when united with the stones held by the other races, creates a direct link to the gods themselves. Now, Gustav has finally discovered a reliable clue, but he is not alone in his search. Dagnarus, prince of the Void, seeks the stone as well. If he recovers it, he can achieve his goal of absolute control over the entire world. Although Dagnarus was frustrated in his attempt to seize power two hundred years earlier, he has regrouped his forces and prevail even if the power of the stones unites against him. With the stone, Dagnarus is unstoppable.

A Dominion Lord is a powerful entity, but so are the death knights or Vrykyls that Dagnarus controls. In the conflict that follows, both are badly wounded. Unable to fulfil his quest, Gustav passes off the stone to a pair of young men who must bring the stone to safety across thousands of miles of dangerous territory. Meanwhile, Dagnarus has launched his attack and no one, especially not a pair of young men with an ancient woman, is safe.

Authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman use multiple narrative paths to describe the fates of the two young men (Jessan, a human and Bashae, a pecwae), the Dwarf Wolfram, and the warrior Raven, Jessan's uncle. The relatively small number of intertwined plots allows the reader to stay grounded rather than being overwhelmed with a large number of characters and story lines.

In GUARDIANS OF THE LOST, the lines between good and evil are more brightly drawn and Dagnarus never becomes a sympathetic character (unlike WELL OF DARKNESS where Dagnarus is a major protagonist). Unlike many 'middle' books in fantasy trilogies, GUARDIANS OF THE LOST is a complete and fascinating narrative with both characterization and world-building to entertain the most critical fan.

The Guardians of the Lost is the second book in the Sovereign Stone Trilogy by Margret Weis and Tracy Hickman. In the second installment the plot is moved considerably forward at the same face pace as was found int he first book. the characters are also more defined in this book and their roles are more clear than in the first book.

This world is unlike their Dragonlance books in that they have complete control over what happens and it's noticably a little darker than their other works.

The story during the Sovereign Stone Trilogy moves along at a break neck pace. There are multiple twists along the way. I thinkt he thing I like best about this trilogy is that the 'villian' starts off as a good guy for the most part, but with misguided ideals. He doesn't really know he's being evil he thinks he's doing what's best.

Overall, if you are a fan of Weis and Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles of Death Gate cycle you should give these books a chance. The world if fresh and different from most that is out there today.

If you're ready for a new journey, jump aboard and get ready for a fun enjoyable ride.