Customer Reviews

The Lake of Death: The Age of Mortals

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Jean Rabe is perhaps best known in the Dragonlance fan-community for her `Dragons of a New Age' trilogy. The Dawning of a New Age, The Day of the Tempest, and The Eve of the Maelstrom were the first Dragonlance books to come out after Weis and Hickman's Dragons of Summer Flame. Rabe's trilogy ushered the world of Krynn into its new age; the Fifth Age, known as the Age of Mortals. Opinions on these books vary, though none can deny that the changes made to the world were drastic and irreversible. I, personally, was disgusted with what was done to the world I'd been escaping to since I was nine years old. I was horrified by the destruction of Kendermore, and the `Dragon Purge' really irritated me. The writing, however, was quite good. I found myself enjoying Rabe's characters, despite being nauseated by the story. Because of her fantastic cast, I was able to read through all there books without any trouble. However, I could never say that I `enjoyed' them, because... Well, let's face it. Krynn was raped and abused and can never, ever be the same again. Change is good, but the author had trouble with the `global scale' of things. I was very displeased, overall, with these books.

Years later, a new trilogy came out. `The Dhamon Saga', which focused on arguably the main character from Rabe's first trilogy. I picked these books up as they came out with a great deal of hesitation, expecting the chances that I would hate them to be very high. However, I was mistaken. These books, while not the absolute best that I've read, were quite good. Her characters, once again, intrigued me. Her story was original, and -small scale-. No more of those world-changing events she had so much trouble with in the first round... This was a trilogy about a man, not about a world or a grand quest. It was about individual character interactions, progressions, and relationships. It was fantastic, believable, and definitely helped redeem the author's standing in my eyes.

So, when `Lake of Death' came out, I was thrilled. "Yes!" I thought, "Another great Dhamon book!" Wrong. I can't even finish this. It was, quite simply, not worth the money I spent on it. Sure, the story telling is fine. The characters are the same ones I loved before. But the horrible, -horrible- inconsistencies make me want to puke different colors all over the pages. At least then it would be something worth looking at. Despite having written in the Dragonlance world for YEARS, Rabe seems to have forgotten basic Krynn chronology. Sorry, Jean, draconians are NOT `centuries old'. They were created for the War of the Lance, in the year 342 AC. (That's about 85 years before the War of Souls.) Some things just don't even make any sense at all, and left me wondering what the heck Rabe was thinking when she wrote that. Or, what the heck her editor's were thinking. (Compare the description of a certain body of water found in this book to the description of the same lake found in Douglas Nile's new book, `Wizard's Conclave', which hit shelves in June, for an example of this.)

All in all: Jean, I love your characters. I really do. You're a gifted writer, with a lot of talent. (You made me cry over a kobold's death, for god's sake. That character was truly beautiful.) But this book will go unfinished, at least for the time being. I just can't get through it. I've tried. One thing after another make it impossible for me to see it through to its completion. I haven't lost complete faith, but this was a major disappointment.

Jean Rabe has done many good books, but this one he lacked alot of suspense, danger, and excitement. Most of the characters is this book are just lead ins from the other books about Dhamon and his adventures. The Lake of Death looks at trying to get a cure for Dhamon to turn him back into a human after being tricked by a shadow dragon and then becoming one. Throughout the whole book he is constantly fighting himself trying to figure out if he wants to become human or stay a dragon. He enlists the help of his only love of life the elf Feril. She sets out on a journey to help find him a cure in what they call the lake of death which was the lake that was made when Qualinesti was flooded after the green dragon Beryl buried it when dying. The fun part was Feril going into the lake to find the sunken city, but Rabe doesn't go into detail about the lake, I thought this was the most interesting part. To go down to a lake and find a sunken city with treasures and adventures of finding something down there. The final act of Dhamon was also one of the best parts, by this time it was the end of the book and anything in between wasn't needed. It acted more as a filler than adding anything to the main line of the story. Could have been much better, by looking at some of his other books.

warning spoilers
as a DL fan I was always fascinated by the dragon overlords.

sadly, they didnt get the time they deserved or the development because the ( boring) gods have returned to krynn without takisis - the coolest goddess and the true mover and shaker in krynn .

the overlords world was exactly how a world bereft divine supervision should have been- a few over-powefull creatures doing exactly what they wanted without care. - beryl attacks chalsea - great!. malys has her own human puppet show - amazing. skie destroys the tower in palanthas just for spite?- yeah baby!! sable creates abominations and further brings decay and hopelesness to anasalon - even better!!.

sadly the way the authors got rid of these godlike beings was disappointing . the only exception was the death of green beryl- which took the whole elven nation to take down- and her death brought a terrible destruction to her killers as should be when u kill an overlord. malys' death was really disappointing but u can say to yourself " hey - a true god killed her" so it might pass- but the killing of sable in the lake of death novel was the worst yet. a lone dragon an elf and an old draconian can kill an overlord? - with the overlord having the element of suprise? that cant be.

if i were sable i would brought a few lesser dragons to skimrish with the dhamon dragon -send a host of spawn to kill rahg and to keep guard on feril. once dhamon is weakened - swoop in and finish him off easly -

but even alone she should have had no problem killing him- she is an overlord!!
in my book the ending was very disappointing and unrealistic. i understand WOTC needed to clean the stage of the overlords but it could have been much better


The Lake of Death: The Age of Mortals

This continues the story of "Dhamon" from the Age of Mortals books. As she does in her other books, Jean Rabe includes creatures and beasts not typically seen in the Dragonlance setting, but I wish she would focus more on character development and I'm not a fan of her general writing style, though she seems to get better with each book I've read.

This is another fine book, indeed. Jean Rabe has written some of the best of the Dragonlance novels and she does herself proud with The Lake of Death. She's negotiated the many shifts and changes in the world of Krynn with grace and managed to tell exciting stories throughout.

To Ms. Rabe, I say: Way to go!

This was a much better book than I had expected...I could not finish Rabe's "Dragon's of a New Age" series and was very skeptical about this book. I'm glad I picked it up. The only problem with the book is her in accuracy with draconians...they are NOT thousands of years old. they were created during the war of the lance.

Let me first say that I love Jean Rabe's work..I know many people think her characters are to powerful and behave inhumanly and unrealistic,but these are fantasy characters,not real people.. One thing you must do when you decide to read any of her novels is try not to compare the characters to real life people..If you do that,then none of her books are for you..Matter of fact,reading fantasy DL or FR novels aren't for you...

Anyway,I loved all of the main characters in this novel,especially my favorite character of all,Dhamon.. Ragh was also pretty cool and some senes had me dying laughing.. I kinda felt bad for the Draco..For a Draconian,Ragh had a high sense of honor which I liked..The best part was of the story was Dhamon being reaquainted with Feril..It would have been nice If the 4 book quest ended differently,but the series was great nonetheless..
I hope Rabe writes moer about Ragh and Feril..I've really come to enjoy Ragh's character,and I liked Feril from the New Age trilogy... If you haven't yet read these books,you definitely should go out and get it...