Customer Reviews

Journey Into the Void (Sovereign Stone Trilogy)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Journey Into the Void is the third novel in the Sovereign Stone Trilogy, following Guardians of the Lost. In the previous volume, Wolfram has brought Ranessa to the monastery on Dragon Mountain, where her real mother brings out the dragon in her. Dagnarus and his army of ten thousand taan come through the Tromek Portal and invade the Vinnengaelean Empire. Baron Shadamehr flees to New Vinnengael with Damra, Griffith, Jessan, Bashae, and the Grandmother. There they find the king has been murdered and Shakur the Vrykyl has replaced the young Prince Hirav. Shadamehr discovers the Vrykyl's identity the hard way; he is gravely injured by Shakur and has to escape through a fifth floor window.

In this novel, Damra and Griffith travel invisibly to the harbor and contact the Orken captain waiting for Shadamehr. The baron, Alise and Jessan go to cover in a nearby tavern. Alise determines that Shadamehr is dying from a blood knive wound. Since she in unable to use Earth magic after her use of Void magic, Alise sends Jessan to fetch Ulaf to cure the baron with his magic. However, the baron is fading fast, so she uses Void magic to transfer some of her life force to Shadamehr to counteract the wound and almost dies herself.

Ulaf finds the missing pecwae in the company of a Vrykyl and takes them to the Tubby Tabby. Jessan joins them there and then the Grandmother whaps the Vrykyl with her stick, forcing him to show his true aspect; in the ensuing havoc, Bashae is mortally wounded and Jessan is injured.

They flee back to the tavern where Alise and Shadamehr are hiding and find her close to death, but the baron conscious and much improved. However, Bashae is dying, so he gives the human piece of the Sovereign stone to Shadamehr and the baron takes it this time. The Grandmother drapes her skirt, with its bells and magic stones, over Alise and she quickly recovers from the Void magic.

The baron sends Ulaf to get Rigiswald and travel to Krammes. Jessan and the Grandmother agree to travel with Ulaf at least part of the way, for they are taking home the body of Bashae. Shadmehr and Alise venture through the sewers to reach the Orken ship. They reach the Orken with little difficulty, other than the stench and one puzzling encounter with some taan, and soon sail off to Krammes.

This novel is one dire encounter after another. Other characters, including Ravenstrike the Trevinici, Fenella the dwarf girl, the Orken Captain of Captains, and K'let the taan Vrykyl, have their moments of glory, but the final encounter is between Dagnarus and the Sovereign Stone within the Portal of the Gods.

Recommended for Weis and Hickman fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of magical quests.

I'm a die-hard Dragonlance Legends and War of Souls fan (the only perfect novels they have written). I am also a Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman fan in general, mainly because of those two great trilogies. So, of course I had to read the Stone books.

The first book, I thought, was great. Book two kinda sloped off a bit, but Shadamehr's character stole the spotlight. Book three seemed like it was going to be excellent throughout. I really found myself wanting to reach the end. But, much to my fear, I found that Weis and Hickman have a pattern that they simply cannot break. Such as what happened with the Dragonlance Chronicles and the Death Gate Cycle (which would probably be my favorite series of all time: excellent characters, an unbelivable set of worlds, and a driving plot), the ending was awful. Absolutely awful. There's this huge build up throughout the entire novel, only to be followed by one of their greatest let downs ever. The ending is so craptacular, it made me wonder if they wrote the ending with 10 minutes left before a deadline with the help of a child. This totally ruined the entire experience and the three years I spent on this trilogy waiting for each book to come out. Read it if you want an ending, but be warned, its poorly done.

The book starts where the second ended and continues with the same fast paced action and character development the second one delt with. The end however is very dissapointing, after the great journey to get to it, a big drop awaits you... Even though i liked the book alot the end made me think that they (weis & hickman) were running out of time and ambition to finish this trilogy the way they started it. The bizzare and unfit epilouge sums it up... which is a shame... I still give it 4 stars because of the great journey. which had everything you could ever want out of a good fantasy.

This final book in the trilogy succeeds in its purpose of closing the "Sovereign Stone" story but leaves many things open. I guess that is material for other books.

Though this book, and the series in general, isn't as powerful and immersive as the Dragonlance series it is pretty good and I would recommend it to any Weiss/Hickman fan.

The four star rating was given because the ending was, in my opinion, lame.

This book is the third and final instalment of the Sovereign Stone Trilogy capping another wonderfully created world by Weis and Hickman. Wies and Hickman have a knack for bringing home the story at the end of trilogies. I've read some authors where the third book is the worst in the series. Not the case here. This book finishes up the story in grand fashion and I can honestly say that I wouldn't have ended the story any other way.

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.

I loved this whole series. While the ending isn't your usual "Text Book End", I thought it was well done. Fair warning to anyone reading this, I maybe a little narrow sighted as far as these two authors go. They are my favorite.

This concluding novel of the Sovereign Stone Trilogy binds together the fates of characters from the first two novels into a satifying but somewhat rushed conclusion. The steps leading up to the confrontation between Dagnarus and the Dominion Lords were meticulously described, but the confrontation itself was short and not quite as good as the rest of the story.

As with every novel by Weis and Hickman, the characters, with their strengths and foibles, are the strongest part of the tale. One is always provided with enough details to make the villans not so villanous, with characteristics that humanize them.The threads of the story are tied up in a neat package, making one hope that there will be other novels to describe exactly what happens to the characters, particularly with Raven and his half taan spouse.

All in all, this was an enjoyable series with the second book of this series being the best.

"Journey into the void", the third and final book of the Sovereign Stone trilogy, picks up right where it's predecessor, released neary two years ago, culminated. However, it took me but a little while (read 1-2 chapters) to get fully enraptured in the series again-- despite the sabatical. The book--without divulging plot-- truly begins well.

Why then 3 stars? It runs out of gas, for lack of a better analogy. The book is subdivided into segments (4, I believe). The first 2 are excellent. 3 is short. 4, not surprising, containing the ending, peters out.

Worst of all is the "Animal House"-esque epilogue (don't read till the end, of course). I didn't, nor don't still, know what to make of it. It left a foul taste in my mouth: did the editors force it into the book? Or did they (editors), rather, prune it to the length present? Don't get me wrong: it's not hideous (no Ace-Ventura "laces out" scene or anything), but it's totally unnecessary. Baagh! Such a bitter center!

Ahh, then, the final statement: Baron Shadamerh is an excellent character! His and Alise' interactions are among the best modelled (& most enjoyable to read) relationships to the fantasy-genre in a while.

Their segments, alone, make the book worthy of reading!

Bottom line: If you're a Weiss & Hickman fan, get it. If you've read the predecessors, read it. If you're curious, read it. If, however, you're only looking for "best of breed"....

Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman have never written a bad book. This is the culmination of the first 2 books. This books takes over where book 2 left off. It looks like Dagnarus is going to take over the world with his void legions. Baron Shadmeihr and Damra (holders of 2 parts of the stone) have to figure out who has the other 2 parts of the stone and then figure out what to do with them to stop Dagnarus' domination. Shadmeihr had dream that they all had to come together in the portal of the gods in Old Vinnengael. But how to do that when they are being dogged every step of the way? Its a book you will not put down till you are done reading it.

OH I just finished reading the first 3 books in this series and can't wait to read the next one. I must say I read them translated into Russian. It was a very good translation! Now I get to read it in its native language and compare... OHOHoh i can't wait!